[77newell]

Chester: my 93 coach, when the rear bags are deflated the outside tires rub against the molding surrounding the wheel well.

It's my understanding that the rubber bumpers inside the bags is to prevent a very hard ride when the bag is empty. The Firestone drawing on my airbags shows a rubber cushion inside. Despite that, the overall design of the suspension is such that when the bags are deflated the rear tires will make a lot of smoke going down the road.

Completely deflate your bags and see if anything hits, on mine it's real obvious.

[Richard]

Chester, both of the Newells I have owned would sit on the rear tires.

I agree with Russ. My first guess is that it was the airline for the rear slideout seal. Anyhoo, it's in a location that is vulnerable to road hazards. I may go back and put some protection around it, or install and metal tube and run the airline inside.

[bikestuff]

Richard,

When were your HCVs changed? I believe that Newell has a regular interval in their maintenance guidelines. I too have airlines in the wheel wells....and will look to see what can be done as well. In the meantime, I am thinking that I am way overdue for changing out the HCVs.

bill

[Richard]

About five years ago. Tuga used the King of the Road which I recommeded. It was the P connector that failed. Who knows if the original one was used when the HCV was replaced.

[lbrachfe]

Newell has them changing every year on the PM checklist. My slide seal air lines were rerouted to the inside of 2 bays. no rubber lines in my wells

[77newell]

Changing HCVs every year strikes me as rather radical. The 77 coach that I used to own still has the original HCVs, that is a couple years short of 40 years old. I changed the ones on my 93 because they had the plastic body and I wrongly suspected the left rear one of leaking. The ones from King look almost identical to the ones on the 77 coach, if they are similar, the coach will qualify for Social Security before they retire.

My King HCVs were delivered with a 90 degree bent rod in place of the P-rod, so I suspect Richard's P-rod was original and the bent rod was removed and the hole enlarged to fit the bolt through the P-rod. That is what I did with mine, and now I'm regretting having done so since I will worry about them until I replace the P-rod even though as I stated above I took actions that I believe probably eliminates the cause of breakage.

[HoosierDaddy]

I agree with 77 .. HCV's last for years on heavy duty trucks. However , I'm sure Newell is aware of the dire consequences of a HCV failure so they change them prophylactically . I would be quite disappointed if I had burnt the paint off of a newly painted coach as well as doing tire damage when my HCV failed. It seems to me that the body could be engineered to allow the coach to move without tire and body damage if the bags deflated.

[Chester Stone]

Using the HWH control pad, I dumped the air in my air bags. The coach was several inches above the tires and I could see no place where the coach was sitting on the tires. If the coach was leaning excessive, I can see where the tires may rub, but especially the edge of the outside drive tires that may rub against the outside painted part of the wheel well. I am assuming the bags were fully deflated and a solid rubber pad in the bags held the coach off of the tires.

[folivier]

A few years ago I had the rear tires on the '93 (Jons coach) replaced in San Antonio. While removing the wheels a couple studs broke so I had them replace all the rear studs. Ended up taking all day. When they were done just after quitting time and I pulled out I didn't let the coach air up completely. Yep, I saw the same smoke billowing out of the drivers side! The manager was locking the door and knew what had happened when he saw the smoke. There is a fender trim hanger that cut a groove in the tire. He was very apologetic about rushing me out. So Goodyear replaced that tire and all was good.

Chester if you feel with your hand you'll see that metal hanger touching the tires?

[Land Yacht]

As one who has also experienced the coach sitting down on the tires while traveling down a busy interstate, has anyone developed a solution to avoid this situation?