[Bill]

Jim,

I cannot tell anyone how to position their suspension switches or how and when to raise or lower their coach for specific driveway transitions. Not all of our suspension controls are the same and I know for sure my Liberty suspension control switches are totally unlike yours which is likely to be an unmodified Prevost Level low set up.

However I can tell you the gyrations I have had to go through to navigate my driveway and get into the garage.

At the bottom, coming off the road I transition from somewhat level to the upslope of the driveway. If I leave the coach in the driving height my rear flap begins to drag and exhaust pipes are extremely close to the pavement. The hitch barely clears.

I know this because I have gotten out and observed clearances or lack of clearances.

Once the coach is on the slope there are no clearance issues.

Where the upslope transitions to the level floor of the garage becomes the second clearance issue. I have learned if I leave the rear at the driving height, but raise the front to its maximum the belly of the bus will not drag. I learned this by observing the coach as it crosses the transition by laying on my belly and watching the open space beneath the coach go down to zero. If I do not raise the front of the bus the clearance is less than zero and the end result is damage under the belly of the bus, specifically on my coach the generator baffle is crushed and other baffles and the generator exhaust drag and scrape.

Because my driveway is never level at the apron to the garage the nose is still down on the driveway while the tail is pointing up in the air, so immediately prior to the rear entering the garage I have to drop the rear to its lowest height while leaving the front fully raised. I layed on my belly to make sure when the coach hitch is at the entry to the garage that lowering the rear would not crush anything. Since the coach is mostly past the transition at that point the belly has zero clearance, but nothing is being damaged.

Then I had to get up on a ladder to verify with the front up and the tail down the top of the coach clears the door opening. I have 1/2″ of clearance so I can continue to enter the garage. Just so you can get a mental picture, the driveway slopes downhill so much when the coach is about to enter the garage, the bumper at the rear is as high as my hips. As the coach enters the garage the front continues to come up the driveway. I stop with the coach about 3/4 of the way into the garage to lower the front so the satellite dish doesn’t hit the top of the door opening.

In the phot above the coach is backed up to the other door, but you can see how close the belly is to the concrete. The front of the coach is fully raised.

As the coach is about to enter the garage the tail is sticking way up in the air because the nose is so low. The bumper height is at my hip. The only level concrete on my property is the garage floor.

[Bill]

Try http://www.obsoletepartfinder.com – I’m told they search nationally and internationally for parts. Good luck

[Bill]

To clarify, with engine at idle, the alternator is only able to put out less than half of its rating. At driving speeds, normally around 1400rpm, the alternator will seem to put out higher voltage because it can now produce its rated output, possibly giving you the results you saw on your last drive. On coaches with bus air, and an isolator between the alternator and battery banks, this was not an issue like when there are two separate alternators with no isolator for each individual battery bank. If you see the “problem” persist on future drives, you may want to consider adjusting down the voltage regulator on the alternator. Doing so below the inverter float setting of 26.6vdc will prevent the inverters from wanting to lower the battery voltage as i mentioned before by inverter the load amps like you observed.

If you would like to discuss further, feel free to give me a call.

Sincerely,

Ben Cummings

Parliament Motor Coach

ben@parliamentcoach.com

813-830-8619 (My Cell)

888-571-5755, ext 230 (Office)

[Bill]

Thanx, Orren, sorry I did not mention I am in my home town with family , Bowling Green, Ohio, at the Wood Co Fairgrounds.

[Bill]

Gil,

Since you used this before, do you recall if the fan was hard locked with the ignition on, engine not running? The fan is getting power, hence the resistance when turning by hand with ignition on.

[Bill]

Let’s keep this thought alive. We stayed there for our 50th anniversary and enjoyed the resort and the area. Best location for riding our bikes we have ever been in. (the city not the CG)

[Bill]

Sid,

Thanks for the tip on the Kane Covers…. I had them installed today and they worked and look great. Way better design than what was on it…. So if anyone with my vintage marathon is interested in some spare cover parts let me know…

Bill

[Bill]

Great! Hope to meet you both!

[Bill]

Rod,

I believe your Norgren which controls the exhausing of air on the right rear is one of the electrically actuated three port Norgren valves on the floor of the steer compartment next to the steering box. Whichever one isn’t exhausting air when you attempt to lower the rear is the one controlling the RH side.

The way I would analyze it would be to verify which valve is not releasing air and then swap the solenoid operator on the end with the one working. See if that shifts the problem to the other side.

If not the next valve in line is the five port on the bulkhead ahead of the drive axle but I don’t think that is the problem.

I assume if you raise the rear to its highest position putting the switch in the road position causes the rear to drop to the driving height?

[Bill]

Hey Bill, did ya ever get them Kane covers for your bus?Have a great time out there on the road!!

[Bill]

We had all of ours replaced, and we’re pretty satisfied. I say “pretty” because there was some adjustment for me personally as far as the brightness goes. We used the lights that are closer to the color of the old lights in most of the bus, but in the bathroom vanities, we had them switch the warmer lights to the brighter (but harsher) almost blue lights. I couldn’t see to put on make up, and John couldn’t see to shave with the warmer type of LED lighting. In the daytime in the bus, I don’t feel like I can achieve the brightness I’m used to with the lights, but at night it’s fine. I think we’ll end up having the under the cupboard lights in the kitchen replaced with the same brighter lights we had the vanity lights done.

They do dim just as our previous bulbs did. As far as the cost — we had a mobile repair guy who is a friend of ours replace them at cost for the price of a steak dinner we cooked him. 🙂 It was actually an enormous pain in the neck for him, literally, and took quite a while to do. I believe therein lies the cost of having someone like Marathon or someone else do it!

[Bill]

Truk: I am in the same boat as Gil. The application is on my desk – I have just too many other little things that have popped up, some have pooped up, plus after having come off a 3 week trip – my A is still dragging. I will get her done. Old farts just don’t move as fast as they used too. Just ask Jon.

[Bill]

If it has original starter in it I would replace it

[Bill]

It is a given that our coaches either have air leaks or they will have air leaks.

It is also a given that the effort to find the leaks, repair them and keep the coach “leak free” is a never ending job of epic proportions. I believe Prevost and our converters know this and as our coaches have evolved and the use of air for the various reasons on the chassis and the house have become more widespread some efforts have been madeto minimize the impact of air loss.

There are two ways to make the loss of air less. The first is the most difficult, time consuming, and permanent. That is to follow every single air path, correct every leak, and if possible replace leak prone fittings and devices. The most obvious change is to go from push in fittings to compression fittings, but replacing such things as check valves is also on the agenda. This method of addressing leaks ultimately ends up with the owner using every single leak detecion method, including Hector’s bubbler. When the job is done however for one minute you will have a leak free coach. After that first minute the coach starts developing leaks again, but at least the owner feels a tremendous sense of accomplishment not only for the completion of a hard job, but for the knowledge gained.

The second method of dealing with leaks is to ignore most of them and install valves to hold air back from the circuits and devices that may have leaks. That works until the valves themselves start leaking, but until that happens life is good. The coach when manufactured already employs that concept to an extent. The suspension system logic uses 5 port Norgren valves that shut off all air flow when the key is off. Theoretically if there is an air leak in the suspension system ahead of the air bags controlled by the valve, the air is at least locked into the suspension so the coach doesn’t lean. Some coaches also have solenoid valves in place that (as Al describes) block the flow of air to various devices and circuits. The device or circuit may be a leaker, but if the valve stops flow to the circuit except when needed the leak has no effect on the aux air system pressure.

Bottom line………if you want a leak free coach get ready for a lot of work, but when you accomplish that goal, however you did it take a bow. You deserve it. One piece of free advice: Never turn your coach over to anyone or any shop with the instructions to fix all leaks. To do that you need access to the gold in Ft. Knox.

[Bill]

On another note, the cards are not credit or debit. The cards can only be used for diesel fuel and without the personal PIN and VIN, they are useless.

So if you lose your card, no worry about some dirtbag buying TV’s and taking trips to DC to watch the morons at work.