We're Stuck in a Good Place

It’s been cold all summer long.  All summer long I would have had an enjoyable time performing repairs on the bus.  But nooooo it has to break when it is 90F outside.  But I’ll get to that in a minute.  My festidious planning seems to be helping as of late.  First we were to attend my younger brother’s wedding on Sunday (just before labor day).  We then were supposed to go to my mother’s house on Monday.  The church where the ceremony was held didn’t have enough parking so we secured parking down the street at another church.  The hotel also allowed us to park overnight, saving us some lodging costs.

On the way over we stopped at a Walmart to have some lunch.  When the rear end was rising to level we heard an explosion and the coach shook as well.  I knew immediately an air bag had blown but I was confused after a walk around to find all of them holding air.  I restarted the main engine and saw air leaking from what I thought was a height adjusting valve.  Leakdown was acceptable so I decided to just roll with it as we had places to be.  Watching the gauges the rear air tank was falling much more quickly than the front but shortly on the leak stopped and we were fine.  After we left the hotel in the morning I had to fight with it raising and lowering the coach until it stopped leaking.  It wasn’t until we got to my mother’s house that I realized it was actually the tag axle bag leaking.

You Can See Something Wrong

You Can See Something Wrong

It turns out the bead at the top plate unseated and kept reseating itself.  This worked for a little while until the bead bent and pinched.  Now it’s not going to seal.  But I got under there, cracked all the nuts and ordered the replacement bag so with any luck we’ll be on the road in a few days and we’re at a friendly place to sit until that occurs.  The only problem of course is that it’s crazy hot so we have to run the generator during the day.  But with the closest campground $50/night we can run the generator 247 and it’s still cheaper.

Inside View Bent Bead

Inside View Bent Bead

So our trip west is off to a rough start but at $134 it’s a cheap problem to fix.