Mysteries

Lessons learned. I’ve talked before about all the warning bells and buzzers we have in this coach. We discovered a new one. The first time we heard it we were blowing down the freeway in the Texas hill country. Down a hill, across the bridge at the bottom, bounce, “dong, dong, dong). Warning bell, then it stopped. Later, another bump, another “dong, dong, dong”. High speed, slow speed, bounce the coach and you get the warning bell. Has to be suspension, right? Air suspension, maybe a leak in a bag, a brief low air alarm, then resolved? Never any indication on any of the gauges, just the warning bell, then nothing.

Phone calls for service. Tech support. Then the solution. Over the phone. Nothing to do with suspension. A jack slipped. We have two leveling systems: air leveling and hydraulic jacks. We’ve used the hydraulic jacks maybe two times, to stabilize the rig in really high winds. The alarm that tells you if you’re trying to drive off with the jacks down is tied to the hydraulic fluid reservoir for the jacks. The fluid in the reservoir goes down when the jacks are extended, then it comes back up when the jacks are retracted. He said next time we hear the warning “dong, dong, dong”, push the jack retract button and that should take care of it. We weren’t traveling right then, so we didn’t actually have the opportunity to test the theory until later, but it was attractive for its simplicity. He sounded like he knew what he was talking about.

And now that we’ve driven again? He nailed it. The jacks are up. The warning bell is gone. All mysteries should have such simple solutions.