No, my Fleetwood is on a Freightliner chassis. I was hoping Fleetwood did the same thing on your chassis, though it might have Freightliner that did it since the lanyards are on the chassis frame rails and not hooked to the body.
Maybe Gillig assumed most MH owners wouldn't drain the tanks (too lazy or didn't know about draining air tanks) and therefore left it to the air dryer to take care of. This is a little like Cat taking the greaseable zerk off of the fan on their C7 engine. They never got greased and went bad, so they just put a "permanently" greased bearing on it.
The picture of the air chuck fitting is interesting. If you look right behind the valve it looks like there's a bracket there to mount it someplace instead of having the hose coiled up. Gillig should have put an air chuck someplace up front for a tow truck to connect their air system into yours. However, the NH chassis fitting should be a female air chuck (and then it wouldn't need the valve) for the tow truck to hook into. If your engine is dead, your air brakes will be engaged and the MH won't move unless the tow truck provides air pressure to release the brakes. Have you located that fitting on your MH?
From the pictures, it appears there's drain valves on the bottom of some of the tanks, but it looks like they haven't been opened in ages. I be afraid of putting very much pressure on them. If you try it, I'd soak them every night in something like a PB Blaster penetrating fluid for a week. Don't try too hard because if you break a valve, you won't have any air pressure to drive it to a repair shop.
Iffn it was me, I'd call a truck shop (International, Freightliner, Mack, etc) and ask them if they would allow you to go under the MH with a mechanic to help you understand your air system. Then have them open the tanks valves so if they break, they can be fixed while you're at the shop. You may have to find a smaller truck shop (not a larger corporate one) that will let you under the MH with the mechanic due to insurance policies. I'd take it to a shop anyways for PM on the air dryer.
Since you didn't get any moisture out of the hose / air valve you opened, the air dryer is probably doing it's job, but it's going to bug you until you know for sure.
Bill
