flat tire

[sticks]

Went to the local flying J to top off the fuel tank and check tire pressure before heading off to a horse show in Michigan in a few days. All tires good except for the last one I checked( the right front) which for some reason was the only one without a valve cover. While airing up, the valve stem ( the inside portion if you will) came off and jammed inside the flying J air compressor. Try as I may I couldn't get the valve out of the compressor so I scurried around to locate a spare.Ya I now know, should have taken one off another tire, but panic was setting in. Well before I could gather my senses , the tire went flat and the bead was broken. CRAP! Called roadside assistance, because of course the flying J had no mechanic or tire changing facility etc. While waiting for the truck tire emergency technician, I got to thinking, wear do we jack the front end up? My manual didn't seem to cover this so I called Liberty and waited for a forum there to give me an answer . Apparently not a common question. Roadside assistance now shows up but he has no jack that fits underneath front end . Well, the front jack position is the frame to which two tow hooks are welded. We raised the coach with the manual air settings in up position but still not high enough. He managed to pull out a small bottle jack the just barely fit and we used that to raise the front end up enough to get his heavy duty jack underneath. OK, should I be carrying with me an appropriate jack , valve stem, etc. to cover these problems? What about jacking up the back end? Or do you run it up on blocks like I do with my tandem axle horse trailers? Sorry for the long winded thread but this took a fraction of the time getting the tire blown back up and I was parked at a Flying J pump station and fortunately not in Timbucto

[Gary Carmichael]

Sticks, I also have a 2005 H3-45 but no bottle jack I have seen these in a lot of Liberty buses are they standard equipment or is this an extra, and its a small one looks like 2-3 ton do you or someone else know the answer to my question? Thanks as this is something that I need to address in case of a flat.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

All Prevost coaches have chassis support points. Access the Prevost site and navigate through it (maybe someone can provide a link) and you should see where those points are specific to your coach.

But to deal with your situation should something like that happen again, you can use your leveling system to raise the chassis so you can get a jack under the support point. But to deal with the tire you still need to raise the wheel off the ground. Again, depending on whether you have IFS or a solid axle the jacking points will vary so again check the Prevost site for the location of those points.

As to the bottle jack, I have only had the XL chassis, on those the jack was located behind a panel in the first bay, passenger side, towards the front (RH side when looking at the bay). It had a jack, a tire nut wrench and a bar.

[sticks]

thanks for your reply. The bottle jack came from the roadside tech. but looked like a 2-3 ton unit . I'll have to go explore and see if I actually have one with the coach. I raised the coach with the manual leveling system but this wasn't high enough to allow the tech to slide his 20 ton air compressed bottle jack he initially wanted to use. But it was JUST high enough to wedge this smaller bottle jack. The small one then lifted the coach JUST high enough to slide the " big boy" underneath. I now have extra valve covers, valve stem inserts with proper tool, and will be getting small bottle jack if I can't find one stowed away from the factory. How about rear wheels? jack or blocks?

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Sticks,

I have mixed feelings on this whole roadside tire repair issue. I can plug a tire because I have the tools and plugs, but that is a temporary repair. I carry two bottle jacks that I can use to support the chassis and raise an axle. I also have the X-12 so if required I can pull a wheel.

I guess if I am someplace safe I might use them if necessary.

But if I am along side of the road, I am likely to call a service guy. FWIW we changed a blown tire for a POG member at a POG rally in Spearfish and there are pictures available on this site. We have tools and are not afraid to use them.

[GDeen]

If you go to the Prevost site and navigate around, you can find the entire maintenance manual for your shell. It is organized in various system chapters in PDF format. I had one of my gals print off the entire manual and put it in a large notebook. Twice now I have had to reference the chassis section for jack points - once for a roadside repair of a tag tire. That manual has lots and lots of very helpful information in it and I would highly recommend at least having it bookmarked in your laptop. I think Jon one said, paper is easier to slide under the bus with than a computer, so I like the printed version.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

One of the main reasons I like a printed version is if I do a repair or use the manual to understand something I can make notes on the page or write out more detail to the procedure or add part numbers or refer to another document.

My manuals, not only of the chassis, but of all the devices I can find manuals for such as equalizers, air dryers, Norgren valves, appliances, TV's, etc, etc. always remain with the bus so I can access them anytime. From posts I have seen here some folks do not always get internet access when traveling. I have none so it is not a choice for me. I need the paper versions.

I do often use the computer versions when I am in my office rather than walking to the bus to look at the paper copy.