2006 Journey Air Bags

Sammie · 08-04-2006, 10:58 AM

I am thinking about buying a new 34ft Journey. My problem is that the garage area that I have has a limited amount of overhead clearence. I think I can fit the new coach in if I drive in part way and then dump the air bags and move forward a couple of feet further. Does anyone know how far, if at all, I can drive forward or reverse with the air bags dumped?

Sammie · 08-04-2006, 10:58 AM

I am thinking about buying a new 34ft Journey. My problem is that the garage area that I have has a limited amount of overhead clearence. I think I can fit the new coach in if I drive in part way and then dump the air bags and move forward a couple of feet further. Does anyone know how far, if at all, I can drive forward or reverse with the air bags dumped?

vicsryd · 08-04-2006, 11:33 AM

Welcome Sammie to iRV2.com and the Winnebago group.

Never thought about this let alone tried it. Unfortunately I have no chance to "lab" it for you in the next couple of weeks. Maybe someone else can volunteer a simulation.

I can't think of a reason why you couldn't drive it a few feet with the air bags dumped. I'd be concerned about leaving it fully dumped without offloading weight to the jacks.

The parking brake has to be set for anything on the HWH panel, including the dump button, to function. Once dumped you have keeping the air bags in a dumped state until after you are ready to back out again. This could be problematic as the system tries to be smart.

If you dump and don't deploy jacks it seems to me when starting the coach again with the jacks up and panel off the air bags would re-inflate ASAP.

On the other hand if you dump and do put the jacks down to lift just enough to take a load off when you go to store the jacks the system will re-inflate the airbags automatically.

Rock-n-hard place?

Maybe someone has a wiring mod to defeat the automated part of the system.

Then there's always the possibility of remodeling the garage some.

Sammie · 08-04-2006, 12:05 PM

I know HWH makes both automatic and manual systems. My thought is that with the manual system once the air bags have been dumped, I can drive forward and then set the jacks manually to take the load off the air bags.

smlranger · 08-04-2006, 01:09 PM

Sammie:

Perhaps it is different on newer rigs but mine starts to inflate the air bags as soon as the jacks are stored and the engine is started. Now, it does not seem to inflate them very fast as (for example) I started to move forward from a campsite when I first got the coach and could tell I had no air in the bags...lot's of 'clunking.' Not sure how long you'd have to move the rig before the bags really started to raise the coach.

I usually press the 'rabbit' button on my HWH panel which does more quickly inflate the bags (after the air pressure reaches normal).

JandM1947 · 08-04-2006, 05:25 PM

Hi Sammie, I attended Camp Freightliner this spring and this issue was discussed in class. It apparently can cause serious damage. Since I never planed to park my unit in a garage I really didn't make notes on this issue, but it has to do with the lowered suspension positioning the drive shaft in an incorrect angle. When you move the RV the drive shaft will possibly strip the heads off the bolts connecting the drive shaft. You might want to contact Mike Cody at Freightliner - he can explain the situation very well. His number is 864-206-8738.

vicsryd · 08-04-2006, 05:52 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by smlranger:
I usually press the 'rabbit' button on my HWH panel which does more quickly inflate the bags (after the air pressure reaches normal). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>For what it's worth the HWH on my '05 Journey does not have the rabbit option. I think in '04 they reserved that for the higher end coaches.

vicsryd · 08-04-2006, 06:00 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by JandM1947:
Hi Sammie, I attended Camp Freightliner this spring and this issue was discussed in class. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>I want to say hi to Jim and Michelle!! Welcome to the forum.com

.

Thanks for the excellent information/feedback. This is what this forum is all about.