10-26-2018, 07:11 AM
We are now officially Newell classic hoarders. We just bought coach #129 (1987, 37') in Maine and ran into a couple issues on our drive home to San Antonio. BTW Michael, the engine is a silver 8V92 and it is mechanical, no DDEC.
As we were leaving a cramped RV park in Pennsylvania, I made a hard right turn and heard a POP and then no power steering and a few seconds later my wife informed me that there was red fluid on the ground under the coach. The hydraulic line from the steering pump feeding the steering box had burst just over the rear air bag.
We had the coach towed to a nearby diesel repair facility. They said the hose burst where it apparently was rubbing on the frame and they repaired it. We took it for a test drive and as we made a hard turn onto the shop driveway... POP again. The same hose burst but this time up front just before the steering box. They repaired that and then the same line burst again up front but not where the repair had been made.
They suspected that the steering pump had a relief valve that was not working and sent the pump to a "hydraulic specialist" who checked the pump over and said it looked fine but he could not see any type of pressure relief valve in the pump. The plan is to replace all of the hydraulic hoses with true, crimped hydraulic hose (the existing appears to be a steel reinforced fabric hose) and in the process look for some type of relief valve in the system that isn't working.
I called Newell and spoke to 2 of the Jims there and they said they didn't know about an '87, but newer models have a distribution block after the pump.
Does anyone know if there is a relief valve somewhere in the steering system on '87s? Any ideas why the hose all of the sudden is bursting over and over?? The previous owner had this coach in storage for at least a few months this summer and only drove it in the wintertime to go south. He told us the only repair that he had done in the time he owned it (about 3 yrs) was to have the steering pump O-ring replaced because the pump was leaking a little.
As we were leaving a cramped RV park in Pennsylvania, I made a hard right turn and heard a POP and then no power steering and a few seconds later my wife informed me that there was red fluid on the ground under the coach. The hydraulic line from the steering pump feeding the steering box had burst just over the rear air bag.
We had the coach towed to a nearby diesel repair facility. They said the hose burst where it apparently was rubbing on the frame and they repaired it. We took it for a test drive and as we made a hard turn onto the shop driveway... POP again. The same hose burst but this time up front just before the steering box. They repaired that and then the same line burst again up front but not where the repair had been made.
They suspected that the steering pump had a relief valve that was not working and sent the pump to a "hydraulic specialist" who checked the pump over and said it looked fine but he could not see any type of pressure relief valve in the pump. The plan is to replace all of the hydraulic hoses with true, crimped hydraulic hose (the existing appears to be a steel reinforced fabric hose) and in the process look for some type of relief valve in the system that isn't working.
I called Newell and spoke to 2 of the Jims there and they said they didn't know about an '87, but newer models have a distribution block after the pump.
Does anyone know if there is a relief valve somewhere in the steering system on '87s? Any ideas why the hose all of the sudden is bursting over and over?? The previous owner had this coach in storage for at least a few months this summer and only drove it in the wintertime to go south. He told us the only repair that he had done in the time he owned it (about 3 yrs) was to have the steering pump O-ring replaced because the pump was leaking a little.