1982 PT40 Air Compression

[George F. VerDuin]

Hi Curt and others interested in "air
up"...





On 10/30/2012 11:01 PM, Curt Sprenger wrote:

 

Jerry,

 

That's great. I'm always interested in WHY 'Birds won't
air-up.

This thread doesn't not sound exactly like my recent experience, but
it may find it's way into your useful info?

Mine is a 1995 BMC-37 Bird with a Spartan chassis of the MM series.

I've had three hose failures in the past year, one air and two
hydraulic -- all caused by vibration & chafe.

This week, after hydraulic hose replacement the rear failed to air
up while the front did air up.

With Spartan tech help, the problem was suspected to be related to
my use of the leveling jacks to provide maximum crawl space under
the rear end [and lift the tire off the ground].

I learned there are three level control valves -- two front and one
rear -- for 3-point support [IMHO kewl engineering].



With focus on the level control valve and the dump valve, my likely
fix came down to trying:

[*]Cycle the leveling/storage functions a few times [reestablish
the regular operating sequence again]
[*]Tap the valves with a rubber hammer [sticky valve again but
worse]
[*]Lift and flip the level control valve actuating arm [a design
shortcoming?]
[/list]
The first two are draconian but typical prior to valve replacement.



The "flip" solution came as a surprise to me.  It is described as
the result of overextending the valve arm & adjustable link to
the chassis.  It seems that occasionally the arm can return in the
wrong direction when storing the jacks.  The test for this solution
is to visually inspect the linkage.  If the link is not essentially
vertical then the valve arm probably is on the wrong side of the
valve.  The solution can be to raise the chassis again and guide the
valve arm as the chassis is lowered.  Best done from a pit?  Or the
solution may be to disassemble and reassemble in the correct
orientation.







Any resolution information that you can provide? 

In my case the first option worked.  After cycling a couple times in
the "barn" I use for winter storage where we did the maintenance,
then moving the rig to another spot [for an unrelated reason], when
moving back into the barn, the rear did air up.  Now I'm wondering
exactly what went wrong because I never got to the hammer nor the
flip options.







Also, I'm currently tracking more than 1,700 'Birds.
I'd like the two fellows contact information if you have
it.



If you explained how I might search your database, I missed it.  I'm
sorry.

What you are doing seems like a worthy work.







Thanks.

Thank you and others on this reflector.

I do hope my experience might be useful to someone in the future...









Curt Sprenger

1987 PT38 8V92 "MacAttack Racing"

Anaheim Hills, CA

"curtsprenger@gmail.com"

One of the "Birds of a Feather" (BoF) Organizers



George