Air Bag Aging & the 10 Year Plan

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Steer and tag.........1R11-296 Prevost 630104

Drive.....................1R11-088 Prevost 630126 (I think superceded by 630259)

I tried in vain once to find a generic Firestone, BFG or Goodyear but couldn't.

[travelite]

Thanks Jon!

[truk4u]

Yoo Hoo Jon, you reversed the drive & steer/tag. Were you in the squeezins at 4:40 pm?

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Truk is right. That's the problem...........I hadn't had an adult beverage.

[Steve Bennett]

We are replacing a set on a 97 Marathon XL40 that is being purchased by the founder of CruiseAir. The parts are $1,112.00 from Prevost, and we are having ABC bus do the instal for $1,000 for all 8. The air bags on this coach look much better than the ones Tom pulled. I replaced all 8 on my 92 about 2 years ago, and the old ones looked great. I think that the environment the coach is in has a large impact on how the bags/rubber hold up. My guess is that cold weather is a big contributor to the rubber deteriorating.

[Woody]

drive axel air bags 10-31-11.jpgGOOD advice. 4 new bags going on as i write.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Air bgs may age more quickly due to a variety of factors. I have no clue what determines if an air bag or tire or the O rings in our Norgren valves ages more or less quickly, but another consideration is salt and corrosion. I have had a 10 year old air bag fail because the steel can on the bottom corroded, no doubt because of living in the snow belt and driving all year.

Whatever the reason for the failure of an air bag the bottom line is the bus will drop down and rest upon the bump stops which are internal and driving it will be dangerous because every bump and pot hole will send shocks right up through the bus frame, and the coach will be down at the lowest setting at the loacation of the failed bag making it unsafely close to the ground for driving.

Peace of mind is worth the cost of air bag replacement

[Woody]

drive axel air bags 10-31-11.jpgGOOD advice. 4 new bags going on as i write.

May be my imagination but the coach now rides a bit higher, has no air loss over several days, rides better - I also changed the belt tensioner that had a diaphram leak - It's nice to have all this stuff working right.

Another year or so and I'll have a new bus.