Tropical, Dump Air and Drive

My 01 Journey is right at 12' at travel height,we had to be really sure of that measurement when we converted our barn into our rv garage,used a 4' level on top of the highest point on the roof,extended the level over the side and measured from the bottom of the level to the slab and that gave us the actual height at the tallest point of the Journey

On mine you can hold down the dump air button and drive in and not have it rise up. Pain in the backside and easier to raise the door opening.

RayChez wrote:
It does not matter whether it is Freightliner, Spartan or Roadmaster. When you dump the air it does put the drive shaft in an angle. Not good to drive it like that. And Smith is correct, as soon as the engine starts the airbags will start inflating right away. If he was to drive it in he might do some damage to the top of the coach and the entrance to the garage door header.

On mine, I can dump the bags with the engine running as long as it's in park. It's when you put it in gear that the dump switch gets over ridden and the bags inflate.

Executive wrote:
He could do it one time, then while he's having the door frame repaired, they could raise it a few inches. The repairs to the door frame sould be completed about the same time his coach was coming back from the body shop ....just sayin...:W..Dennis

That's actually not a bad plan. Then the insurance would pay for the modifications to the door and he'd save some money.

He could do it one time, then while he's having the door frame repaired, they could raise it a few inches. The repairs to the door frame sould be completed about the same time his coach was coming back from the body shop ....just sayin...:W..Dennis

It does not matter whether it is Freightliner, Spartan or Roadmaster. When you dump the air it does put the drive shaft in an angle. Not good to drive it like that. And Smith is correct, as soon as the engine starts the airbags will start inflating right away. If he was to drive it in he might do some damage to the top of the coach and the entrance to the garage door header.

I have a Tropical and unless his is different than mine he won't be able to do this unless he drives really fast. You can only dump the air while it's in park. As soon as you put it in drive or reverse, the bags start to fill again regardless of where the dump switch is positioned. So he'd have to be able to get it into the garage really quick before they inflate again. Or figure out some way to over ride the safety switch. As for is it bad for the motorhome or not, I don't really know.

We had a customer that purchased a brand new Newmar Diesel Mountain Air and had the same problem. He thought the RV was just low enough to get in. He destroyed his front Heat Pump pulling in. So, He just dumped the Air and pulled into the garage. Problem was, he FORGOT about the air system air up and raising the RV. When he started the RV to bring it back in to have the Front HP replaced. He then backed out and destroyed his rear HP. You can do that, dump the air, but you risk BIG problems trying to get it out again. MODIFY the door or structure. There is no problem driving or backing a short distance with the Air bags dumped. Doug