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William Shakespeare, redux


phoenix2013

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There is one other "engineering thing" to learn from the picture above. Why the frame rails are made from tempered steel that has spring like quality and why it is important not to alter its characteristics by welding or drilling it in the wrong places.. Everything twisted but it didn't let go.

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The flopped trailer - underside pic above is a Pete which won't have KW AG100... That is Peterbilt Air-Trac. No centre away bar trunions, 2 air springs per axle vs 4. KW and Pete share the same frame specs. It is very likely this tractor was repaired and back in service...

"Are we there yet?" asked no motorcycle rider, ever. 

 

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To clarify the AirGlide situation a bit, the AG380 (the one with the silver and lime green brackets and hardware) is a Paccar corporate suspension. It is an AirGlide suspension in name only, having nothing in common the original eight bag Kenworth AirGlide suspensions. It's the one that's relatively easy to single, but the two Paccar divisions disagree on whether that's a good idea or not, with Peterbilt selling a kit to facilitate the process for their FlexAir version, while Kenworth doesn't recommend it for the AG380.

 

Other than the AG100, 200, and 400 on-highway tandem suspensions, only the AG230, AG460, and AG690 are variations of the original AirGlide suspension. The AG230 is the four bag, on-highway, single axle version of the AG400, while the AG460 and AG690 are tandem and tridem vocational suspensions.

Phil

 

2002 Teton Royal Aspen

2003 Kenworth T2000 - Cat C12 380/430 1450/1650, FreedomLine, 3.36 - TOTO . . . he's not in Kansas anymore.

ET Air Hitch

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Leave it up to Volvo guy to get a thorough education in things Paccar from the Paccar guys.

One of the things that got me thoroughly intrigued when I was under that AG 100 suspension was these tubes connecting the adjacent pairs of airbags.

AG%252520100_4_a.jpg

 

I have never seen anything like this before and a similar concept came up years ago when there was a discussion of how to improve MDT suspensions utilizing ping tanks.

The tubes are large enough to in essence create one large airbag with the volume of the two of them, but small enough to create hysteresis (resistance) to air movement from one bag to another as the wheel goes over a bump and the motion get transferred from the front bag to rear bag. I guess it creates a dampening wave across the four airbags on the same side. Very clever.

It was interesting to read comments on the truckers forums by those who "transferred" from other trucks (like Freightliners) to a Kenworth with AG 100. Since I did not experience such a "transition" I can't vouch for it, but apparently there is a marked difference in smoothness of ride and traction between the axles.

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I wish that I'd been able to keep half of my AG200, but that wasn't an option seven years ago. Russ Barnes was able to turn his AG100 into an AG230 the hard way -- lots of work and a part here and there at a time, since there was no such thing as an AG230 -- but now it's a relatively simple "parts bin engineering" job, I hear, now that the AG230 is on the market.

 

Heck, if I'd been able to do that back then, maybe Scrap wouldn't have disowned me over my Freightshaker rear suspension. :(

Phil

 

2002 Teton Royal Aspen

2003 Kenworth T2000 - Cat C12 380/430 1450/1650, FreedomLine, 3.36 - TOTO . . . he's not in Kansas anymore.

ET Air Hitch

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Phil? Phil who?? ;) You guys are lucky you only melted the small nylon line. The big hoses are actually parallel plumbed. So L->R in the cutoff pic above arrows 1&3 are one hose and arrows 2& what would be 4 are the other hose. So even if you messed up the far back section of hose you have to snake it all the way out through the bogie crossmember and up to the fwd axle. You'd still be cussin it out under there....especially under a bed!

 

 



 

AG%252520100_6.jpg

 

Boy where'd you find that old pic? We built that for Mid America show like 2003 or so. That post it is sitting on is a small hyd cylinder that moved it up and down all day long so you could see it all move. If I close my eyes I think I can still hear it! :wacko:

 

I am still a believer actually. I still order most all my trucks with it. They've got their troubles but once you've had it its hard to go back to trailing arm.

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Scrap, wow, that is a hell of an elegant engineering! Obviously, I could only see so far forward on my back under the truck and didn't realize the true "connections" between the airbags, actually from one axle to another.

Yea, I had the feeling that bad juju was gonna happen on that job, but the way the original guy built this bed and welded everything shut, we had to sort of "start someplace". And even if he had welding blanket that suspension has got so much stuff it didn't leave much room to shove anything around it, particularly with deck welded right above it.

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Intermission's over, curtain's back up.

 

“Resurrection” Act IV - Scene 3

 

While on his back underneath the back of the truck the Old Goat continued his "study" of the fine AG100 suspension. Another "unusual observation" was that in spite of the eight airbags the plumbing was relatively "dainty", all was done in 1/4 inch lines, the supply line from the tank to the leveling valve and the feed lines from the leveling valve to the air bags. Another "interesting aspect" of this suspension was that since the airbags were paired up with the cross-feed tubes, each pair of airbags was fed by one air line going to a fitting in the cross-feed tube and not to the air bags. Another "observation" was that the monitor line going back to the cab and the suspension pressure gauge on the dash was even "daintier", 1/8 inch line I "assumed". More on that assumption later and the fact that the word "assume" is actually three words.

As was discovered before, the major leak was in the 1/4 inch high pressure line supplying the suspension leveling valve, about in the area where the arrow is pointing.

AG%252520100_1.jpg

 

Just behind the driver's side rear most airbag. Remember that area is covered solidly with welded on deck on top of the rails.

DSC_0150.JPG

And to make things even more interesting we lowered that area even lower below the top of the rails to mount the hitch lower. So the Old Goat crawled on his back under the suspension forward of the rear differential, which was an interesting exercise but didn't help. Next wee took the entire left fender off (as you can see in the above picture) to try a "side approach", that didn't help either. Back under the truck, cut the tie wraps holding the bundle together and separate the "offending line". The Old Goat could feel where the "forward most leak" was so he cut the line forward of that.

DSC_0172.JPG

As you can see there was a major burnt through area in the back and a smaller pinhole 2/3rds of the distance forward with bunch of other "pockmarks" that didn't go through. We removed the entire line from the cut to the suspension leveling valve, which was actually helpful, That line was going to be cut anyway to install a tee in it to supply the ET hitch leveling valve and the Old Goat carries a coil of this line with him in his travels. However, a trip in the Smart was going to be made to town to obtain a proper D.O.T. tee 1/4 x 1/4 x 1/4 (normally, on a Volvo, it is 3/8 x 1/4 x 3/8) and a D.O.T. splice (1/4 x 1/4) from the cut back. Also needed were couple of feet of the 1/8 line from the valve forward, that's where the other leak was (dumping the air bags). We got "acquainted" various suppliers and players in the trucking industry in Crossville, TN, suffice to say that even our modest needs could not be obtained from one outfit, which usually ended in a conversation such as, "Who do you think might have it"? "Why don't try so and so". Thank the Almighty for the Smart and the phone GPS.

Back to the campground where the cut 1/4 inch line was spliced and extended, the extended line was plumbed to the suspension leveling valve, cut again, teed and extended again to feed the ET.

DSC_0150.JPG

The other hole in the deck (next to the feed line) is for the return line from the ET leveling valve to the air bag which is fed from underneath. All ETs are fed from underneath, regardless whether they have one or four airbags and require either one or four 1 inch access holes in the deck or the ET main plate (Seniors). The 1 inch hole allows for a 9/16 socket clearance to deal with 1/4 inch air fittings.

Once that was done we concentrated on fixing the leaky 1/8 line to the cab pressure gauge. The length of bought 1/8 inch line was retrieved and the Old Goat went to work.

One bit of a diversion here for those who chose careers other than engineering. Engineering requires precision and extreme attention to detail and it is pounded into young minds by enlightened engineering professors. One of the items covered in Engineering 1.01 is that the action of "assume" has actually three parts, it makes an "ass" out of "(yo)u" and "me". Old Goat didn't measure the line he assumed it was 1/8 inch, it turned out to be 5/32, close but no cigar.

Back into the Smart for another trip to Crossville, a 5/32 line was available but then we hit a snag, in the entire metropolis of Crossville a splice for the 5/32 line was not to be had and that included dog-boning searches through toolboxes of couple of truck mechanics. So we continued to Lowe's, purchased a 1/8 inch NPT plug and plugged that port in the suspension leveling valve. The owner was not too upset since he wasn't even aware that he had that "option" in his dash and was going to address it when he got back to more sophisticated environment (if ever).

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Just to let you know the air line in question did not return to the cab air pressure gauge in the dash as it still workes, after further research( and dumb luck) I would like to let you know that line is for the air dump on the suspension as if used will not lower the rear end now, which was used sometime in loading or unloading the Smart.

2017 River Stone Legacy 38MB

2001 T2000 Kenworth

2009 Smart Passion

ET Junior hitch

 

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Just to let you know the air line in question did not return to the cab air pressure gauge in the dash as it still works, after further research( and dumb luck) I would like to let you know that line is for the air dump on the suspension as if used will not lower the rear end now, which was used sometime in loading or unloading the Smart.

 

To fix it use McMaster D.O.T. splice for 5/32 line part number 51915K109, price $6.28. I cut that line just after the leak, but that one was not that far into the bundle as the others. You might have to cut some tie wraps to find the cut end. I think it's in the area where the bundle takes the turn from the rail towards the leveling valve. If i remember right we did find a length of 5/32 line, it was the splice they didn't have and the removed quick connect to the valve was temporarily attached that piece of line.

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To help make some sense of it all I think they used the 1/4" leveling valve/fill line plumbing only on AG200. I think the AG400 got the Hadley leveling valve and the 3/8" supply lines as all that stuff was coming out at the same time. It also got the AC style equalizer line fittings through the rail instead of the big "flare nut". AG100 is a totally different animal and is plumbed totally different. It still rolls with a constant pinion angle as all of the 8 bag suspensions but it does it in a different way. T2 never got an AG100. They started out of the gate with AG200's.

 

I don't remember exactly when the 5/32 lines went away and changed into using 1/4 everywhere instead but I'm thinking it was split hood/bumper in 05. 5/32 was another hot idea of the 90's that was going to allow preformed harnesses, save all this space in the dash and through the firewall, and everybody was going to do it. But in the end it was only T2 and everyone went multiplex instead.

 

So I guess the moral of my story is that when you pack your tool bag for the next hitch install then your next T2 will be totally different and your tool bag and fitting kit is guaranteed not to have a single thing you need! ;)

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Scrap, how do you remember all this stuff!!!! ?????

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
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To fix it use McMaster D.O.T. splice for 5/32 line part number 51915K109, price $6.28. I cut that line just after the leak, but that one was not that far into the bundle as the others. You might have to cut some tie wraps to find the cut end. I think it's in the area where the bundle takes the turn from the rail towards the leveling valve. If i remember right we did find a length of 5/32 line, it was the splice they didn't have and the removed quick connect to the valve was temporarily attached that piece of line.

 

Thanks Henry for the help, still, I can use all the help I can get.

2017 River Stone Legacy 38MB

2001 T2000 Kenworth

2009 Smart Passion

ET Junior hitch

 

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Scrap, how do you remember all this stuff!!!! ?????

 

He's young. His brain isn't filled with unimportant stuff like ours are. ;)

KW T-680, POPEMOBILE
Newmar X-Aire, VATICAN
Lots of old motorcycles, Moto Guzzi Griso and Spyder F3 currently in the front row
Young enough to play in the dirt as a retired farmer.
contact me at rickeieio1@comcast.net

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Long range memory stays pertinent is the subject matter is pertinent to one's existence and refreshed. For instance, in my current existence, the utility of this tool is beginning to fade.

DSC_0098.JPG

 

Also I probably could not estimate properly the time needed to make this driveway operational again.

Szmyt%252520trucking%252520terminal.JPG

 

Or how to use this tool implement efficiently anymore.

Everything%252520is%252520relative.JPG

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