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99 newell front airbag change
#1

today me and my buddy changed the front drivers side airbag on my 99.  it is a firestone W01-358-8087

the one on the coach was badly checked and was leaking on the side of it when i sprayed bubbles on it.  

it is not a hard task if you have the tools.  

a trick we used was to put the new bag in, we sucked the air out of it with a shop vac and then used a piece of wire to keep it compressed so it would go back in easily.  

we had to rotate the bottom of the bag to get the mounting bolts to break loose.  

the old airbag had a different rubber bag part than the new one.  the old bag had the metal bottom held on with 4 nuts.  once they were off, the bottom came off, the plate inside the airbag came loose and you could stick your hand inside the bag.  the new bag was sealed on the bottom and had one bolt that held the bottom metal mount on and you could easily rotate the bottom to align the mounting holes.  

1.  lifted coach as high as it would go with air leveling system,
2.  put 4 jackstands underneath.  let all air out of front bags using down arrow on hwh control.  
3.  put my air over hydraulic jack to jack up the wheel off the ground.  
4.  used 1" impact gun with 1 1/2" impact socket (left hand thread since we were on drivers side) and took lugnuts off
5.  used wheel dolly to remove tire/wheel
6.  broke loose air fitting and removed on top
7.  removed 4 3/4" nuts on top of airbag mount
8.  removed 2   3/4" bolts from bottom mount
9.  used two large pry bars to squash bag down to remove it. 
10.  removed air fitting using 1/2" impact gun and installed in new bag with goop
11.  loosened nut on bottom of new airbag and oriented bottom mount properly
12.  used shop vac to suck bag down and compressed and tied with piece of 12g wire.  
13.  put in mount.  started two bottom bolts into mount,  then aligned top bolts in upper frame
14.  connected air hose and partially inflated bag using hwh up arrow on panel
15.  verified bag was aligned and not twisted.
16.  put on all mounting bolts and nuts and tightened air hose
17.  put wheel and tire back on and torqued with 1" torque stick to 475ft lbs.  verified with torque wrench.  

here are a few pictures

tom


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2002 45'8" Newell Coach 608  Series 60 DDEC4/Allison World 6 Speed HD4000MH

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#2

Tom,
Great post thanks!  Mine aren't leaking yet....but in due time I am sure I will be there.  How long did it take you to source the W01-358-8087 airbag?

Steve & Doris Denton
45' Newell #525, Bath & Half
2014 Honda CRV Toad
Summerfield, FL
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#3

about 30 seconds. i had two of them on my shelf.

my offer is always there. if someone needs help and i have the time, we can do these kind of simple things here in my shop.

i still have my slide cart that is avail for doing slide seals too.

i believe newell has them though

tom

2002 45'8" Newell Coach 608  Series 60 DDEC4/Allison World 6 Speed HD4000MH

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#4

actually, it took me 5 minutes or so to get the airbag because i had to get my scissors lift cleared out so i could get up high and get them....ha

tom

2002 45'8" Newell Coach 608  Series 60 DDEC4/Allison World 6 Speed HD4000MH

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#5

working on my newells has been a nice diversion from the craziness the world is in right now. i can get into real problem fixing and do something i feel good about afterwards.

tom

2002 45'8" Newell Coach 608  Series 60 DDEC4/Allison World 6 Speed HD4000MH

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#6

Steve, we were getting those airbags from a major truck spring place, but they were special order, and we would wait months till they accumulated enough for a Firestone production run. About two years ago, the distributor told us they would no longer do that. To the best of my knowledge, Newell is the only stocking source at this time.

But knowing the interweb wizard you are, I think you will probably prove me wrong on this. :-)

Richard and Rhonda Entrekin
99 Newell, 512
Maverick Hybrid Toad
Inverness, FL (when we're home Cool )
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#7

i have looked extensively and i really doubt anyone is going to find them.

tom

2002 45'8" Newell Coach 608  Series 60 DDEC4/Allison World 6 Speed HD4000MH

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#8

Tom
Thanks for the funny, I did ask :-). I to have been searching with no luck. Looks like Newell is the place to go...thanks Richard.

Steve & Doris Denton
45' Newell #525, Bath & Half
2014 Honda CRV Toad
Summerfield, FL
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#9

Our 1984 is in the shop now for air bags  after a transport on a low boy . 1 of the left rear bags failed in a big way, but thankfully not while we were driving. I hope we have a more "generic" bag on this old coach, but we shall see very soon. Having all four rear done as they look terrible. Interestingly enough, we had a very good shop look at them 16 weeks ago during a routine shop visit, and the severe checking wasn't evident. After removal things became very clear.

BTW, we got great fuel mileage on the coach while it was on the lowboy. Smile

Guy & Sue
1984 Classic 40' #59
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#10

the severe checking on the front bag i took off was not all visible when it was installed in the coach. some was on the side and you can see that in the picture. but alot of it was on the lower part of the bag right at the metal base.

tom

2002 45'8" Newell Coach 608  Series 60 DDEC4/Allison World 6 Speed HD4000MH

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