[folivier]

We left Steve Bare's this morning and just arrived at Camp Newell. Picked a spot and set up, ate lunch.
Now we get to play!

[folivier]

Took a production tour this afternoon with Chuck Evans, VP of Manufacturing.
Just amazing how they are put together. Saw coaches in all stages from just the chassis through a finished coach.
The quality of the ingredients is simply overwhelming. The thickness of the plywood to the aluminum skin tells a lot why my '98 is still in such great shape.
The new coaches use Ipads to control all of the coach systems. The beds have a folding section at the head to allow more walk around space when both rear slides are in.
Tomorrow we'll visit the guys in service.

[Ozarkguy]

It would be interesting to see if one could retrofit the bed mechanism.
I would guess the bed base is on slides with an additional lift.
Am I close??

[folivier]

Had a nice visit with John Clarke and Tommy Keye today.
Picked up a bit of nice info on our coach. One thing was the clunking noise we'd hear in the middle of the night. Makes sense now.
Tommy pulled up the schematics for our coach on his computer to give us the tank sizes. How many other manufacturers could or would do that?
Sitting here looking out the windshield at all of the other Newells is such an awesome sight. Most of them are the newer styles, mid-2000s and up.

[encantotom]

so what was the clunking noise?

tom

[folivier]

Let's see if I can explain it like John did.
When the park brakes are on and the coach settles (especially at night with temperature changes) the tag axle brakes will stick then release suddenly which causes the clunking sound. The brake isn't actually releasing but just getting out of the bind it is in when the suspension re-levels.
Interestingly the new coaches do not have brakes on the tags.

[bikestuff]

I used to have that same problem. It stopped doing it when I changed the way that I set up the coach. My procedure is now...

1. Park coach, leave engine running, with brake set.
2. Connect shore power.
2. Put slides out.
3. Sit back down in drivers seat and press the Auto (I think) button on HWH leveler controller.
4. Wait for the coach to level. After 30 seconds or so, put foot on brake pedal and release air brake. This usually allows the coach to "jump up" to right level.
5. Set air brake again, and release foot pedal
5. If the auto-level kicked off, repress the auto button.

What this process does is take the pressure off the tag brake as opposed to the air leveling system. Since I have done it this way, I have rarely if ever heard that thunk.

cheers,
bill

[encantotom]

i thought it might be that. i have the same thing.

tom

[afrench]

Bill, I do the exact same sequence. Since, it does not seem to do it as often.

[jimg]

The clunking noise is brakes slipping from no tire rotation and why you have to release the park brake during leveling.

As the coach raises or lowers the tires slightly turn, but the brakes are applied to the drive and tag axle, and not rotating. The brakes get loaded and overtime they will slip slightly causing the clunk.

Just release the park brake and reapply park brake during or after the leveling process makes the clunk go away.