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Belt tension

Yahoo Message Number: 68838
My maintenance schedule tells me it is time to check the belts and the belt tension. I understand how to check the belts, but how do I check the belt tension?

Al Colby

2000 Intrigue 10979

Re: Belt tension

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68864
What I have been told is that you can tell if the belt tension is still functioning properly is to:
1. start your engine.
2. view the pulley tension arm to see if it is "steady".

If the pulley is "bouncing" back and forth, the spring is weak and the entire assembly should be replaced. If it is steady.............leave it alone until is starts "bouncing".

These should last a very long time.
If the belts are not frayed on the edges they are probably good. BUT, I do not know how long belts should last and when they should be replaced even if they look good.

Den

2001 Affinity 42' B&B #5972

Hard ride puzzle

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68883
Good morning group, Here is a puzzle that is intriguing.

After standing three weeks in wet and cold weather we departed from Napa yesterday morning, heading to Bakersfield.
Immediately we had a problem with our quality of ride. The local roads are in poor condition but now every time we hit a bump it felt like the front end was bottoming out, as if the shocks had failed?

Had to make a decision, continue or stop. Being Sunday there was little chance of getting professional help and as everything else was working fine I continued to drive and on the smoother roads everything felt OK.

After about twenty miles the problem went away and from then on the front behaved exactly as it should and we arrived in Bakersfield on schedule.

The question before us, is what caused the problem?

In the last few days the local temperature in Napa fell below freezing overnight and there was a lot of ice. My thoughts are that the cold snap had frozen the ride height valve and disabled it. Then, as it got warmer it unfroze and worked normally.

Is this a rational explanation ? Would appreciate your thoughts.

David, 06 Allure

Re: Hard ride puzzle

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68887
David, also the cold spell has made the tire rubber temporarily stiff and a bit flat spotted on the bottom. Just drive easy those first few miles until the rubber warms up. There is no permanent damage. This is a common occurrence 'up north.'

--

Lee Zaborowski

07 Intrigue 12153, Cat C-13

Re: Belt tension

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68888
Quote from: Dennis Zarnt"
> What I have been told is that you can tell if the belt tension is still functioning properly is to: > 1. start your engine.

2. view the pulley tension arm to see if it is "steady".
> If the pulley is "bouncing" back and forth, the spring is weak and the entire assembly should be replaced. If it is steady.............leave it alone until is starts "bouncing".

These should last a very long time.
> If the belts are not frayed on the edges they are probably good. BUT, I do not know how long belts should last and when they should be replaced even if they look good.

Den

2001 Affinity 42' B&B #5972

Quote from: corralitos95076"

>

> My maintenance schedule tells me it is time to check the belts and the belt tension. I understand how to check the belts, but how do I check the belt tension? > >

> Al Colby

> 2000 Intrigue 10979
>
I was told the same thing as far as the tentioner bouncing. After noticing the belt tensioner on my c6 300 cummins was bouncing I replaced it. To my disappointment the new one is bouncing to. So i am not sure if this is a good indicator.
Dick

96 Intrigue 10203

Re: Hard ride puzzle

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68893
David,

I have an 05 Inspire and had a total failure of the ride height control after a hard bounce. I experienced the same kind of ride you described and continued on at slow speed, per CC's Tech. Support, to a place to repair.
So, yes it does sound like that is a very plausible explanation for your experience.

John

05 Inspire #51399

Re: Belt tension

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68895
I just replaced the belts on my 04 CC Magna with 75k miles because they had cracks in the rubber (saving the old belts for backup spares). Belts tend to bounce at idle but smooth out as RPM increases and torque acts on them. I wouldn't worry so much about spring tension as much as idler bearing condition, unless they are rusted. They idler bearing should spin freely and move against the spring tension w/o binding. But if the belts are squeaking then no doubt it's a spring tension issue. You should be able to get a torque wrench measurement on the spring tension arm and compare it with specs from the engine manufacturer if need be. ~ Chuck Lothrop

Re: Belt tension

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68897
Ken here, Also check engine belt tensioner! Our coach has 72k miles and replaced on the Cummins, Working for Cat if the tensioner turns brown from Cat yellow I would replace. Ken 99 Allure 30356

Re: Belt tension

Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68900
Ken here, I replaced Belt and a new Cummins tensioner last month and Belt a couple of years ago, It bounces FYI on our C-8.3 Cummins. Going to have Exhaust manifold relpaced this Thursday at Cummins Yuma diesel and Will have it checked out. Some bouncing is normal. BTW Coach has 72k miles. Will report back on repairs. Ken 99 Allure 30356

Re: Hard ride puzzle

Reply #11 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68909
Sorry if this is too basic. Did you give adequate time for the coach to level off to travel mode height before starting. Depending on how the coach was sitting before you started this could take a little while.

John

2007 Intrigue

Re: Hard ride puzzle Follow up.

Reply #13 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68911
Thanks for the responses on this subject. The coach had plenty of time to level before driving off. I walked around the coach (as I always do) after it had been move out of the driveway and everything looked OK, no sign of a low front end. Per Fred Kovol I checked for water in the system hydraulics bit found none.

We did for a short time think it was a possible 'cold tire' problem but the symptoms were present well over eight miles by which time any tire would have worked off the flat spots.

The gauges showed air pressure to be normal before departure.

We are now in a warmer climate (Bakersfield) where we have been 'resting' for 48 hours. It will be interesting to see if the problem starts again when we depart later today for PS.

At this point I think the original thought that something froze due to very cold weather was a reasonable assumption but exactly what may remain a mystery.

Thanks all, and have a great day.

David, 06 Allure

Re: Hard ride puzzle

Reply #14 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68913
Somehow I "missed" the instructions about travel mode in the 1 hour walk through I got. Travel mode doesn't start until you engage the transmission or push the travel mode button on the panel. Just starting the engine has no effect. In 2 seconds the light turns green but the coach is nowhere near level for several minutes particularly if you are parked uphill and the frontend is bottomed out. The first few times I used the mh I would pull out and get a lot of bouncing. I think it would be better if the light were yellow, indicating transition, then green when at height.

John

I'm with John, sounds like the front ride height valve took awhile to work.

Re: Hard ride puzzle

Reply #15 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68914
Did you check the 'travel' light on the air suspension system? I blew a fuse once and had symptoms similar to what you describe. Of course, it didn't fix itself but, your problem does sound air suspension related.

Greg Jones

'03 Intrigue 11571
 

Re: Hard ride puzzle

Reply #16 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68917
John.

There is one thing that is often overlooked when looking for Travel Mode. That is the position of the tag axle switch if the coach has a tag axle. The coach will not go into ride height mode if the tag axle switch is in the 'raise' position until the coach exceeds 14 mph or shifts into second. I have often been mislead by maneuvering around a campground with the tag raised and stopped on a site without returning the switch to normal. Set the brake and put the tranny in neutral and the tag will drop automatically getting ready for HWH controller to take over control of the air bags to allow you to level the coach. When you leave the site if you forget the position of the tag switch then you can get some confusing results.
Ride height valves have no electronics at all. When the HWH controller receives the signal to go to ride height it opens the air to the ride height valves and they bring the coach to ride height depending on the position of their sensing arm. It is totally mechanical. The orifice in the valve is very small and it can take quite a period of time to achieve ride height. Unfortunately with no electronics in the valves there is no way to differentiate between in-transit and finished to light a yellow and then a green indicator. It would be nice but the majority of ride height valves are used in vehicles that do not level with the air bags.

Don Seager

2004 Allure 31046

Somehow I "missed" the instructions about travel mode in the 1 hour walk through I got. Travel mode doesn't start until you engage the transmission or push the travel mode button on the panel. Just starting the engine has no effect. In 2 seconds the light turns green but the coach is nowhere near level for several minutes particularly if you are parked uphill and the frontend is bottomed out. The first few times I used the mh I would pull out and get a lot of bouncing. I think it would be better if the light were yellow, indicating transition, then green when at height.

John

I'm with John, sounds like the front ride height valve took awhile to work.