Our first diesel - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Oregonhiker · RV-Dreams Family Member

Our first diesel

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

The Cummins ISB350 is a great motor. As for the brakes(AIR)...............Don't take it for granted like most and just jump in and drive. If you're not experienced with the operation of air brakes then take a course, even if you're not required by law, where ever you live. So many have no idea and hop out of the Cavalier and jump up into an air brake coach.................Then wonder why there's accidents and fatalities.
Not to scare you but that's the reality.

MarkS · RV-Dreams Family Member

Please tell me how air brakes differ from hydraulic. Seriously, I want to know what people find different.

Jim01 · RV-Dreams Family Member

MarkS,

I've never been able to see what is so different between air and hydraulic. I drove and 18 wheeler for a good many years and never had a problem going from one to the other.

You just have to take it easy at first to get the "feel" of them. Kind of like going from standard to power brakes.

Jim

Oregonhiker · RV-Dreams Family Member

As far as a course I assume that you mean for safety checks and maintenance. I will look into knowing more about how they work and maintaining them. The obvious difference in just driving is that the air brakes seem to need more pedal to stop, of course I understand the weight comes into play also. But with hydraulic brakes I never had to change a filter, drain off water from the tanks, watch my air gauges, wait for my air to build up before I drove off. I just watched a video and was curious does everyone do the checks and measurements of the air systems and diaphragms before they drive off each time. The video was a school bus driver not a motorhome driver but one is as dangerous as the other if there is failure. Just asking as like I said I am new to this and want to do it right and drive safe.

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

MarkS wrote:
Please tell me how air brakes differ from hydraulic. Seriously, I want to know what people find different.

Please explain what you need to go through prior to piloting your Volvo down the road. Be curious to see if you actually find nothing different.

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

So how many people do a DOT inspection of their air brake coach before motoring down the road?

Oregon hiker- Just drive it carefully for a few mile to get the feel of the brakes. You will have move mass moving and will need to relearn your braking distances. Having the diesel coach will make the mountains seem more like hills, and will be much less stressful. Plus you get an exhaust brake as well!

MarkS · RV-Dreams Family Member

TRAILERKING wrote:
MarkS wrote:
Please tell me how air brakes differ from hydraulic. Seriously, I want to know what people find different.
Please explain what you need to go through prior to piloting your Volvo down the road. Be curious to see if you actually find nothing different.

Pre-trip inspections must be done but that isn't a difference while driving. Since I do it every day, I become insensitive to the subtle differences others may notice. It's like pulling a trailer to get fuel or driving in Los Angeles traffic. Once one becomes accustomed to doing it one loses the ability to empathize with those who don't do it everyday. I am big into driving these big vehicles safely. It might sound silly, but I want to be able to see the experience through your eyes so I can better share the what ifs and how tos.

Pre-trip Air brake inspection: the purpose it to make sure your air brake system is working properly.

- Start engine.

- Pump the brake pedal until the system pressure is below 60 pounds on the gauge. The alarm should sound and the indicator light should light.

- Allow the pressure to build. The alarm and light should go off at about 60 pounds. At 120 to 140 pounds you should hear the pssst of the air drier and the pressure should stop building. For a visual indicator, you can use my poodle. He doesn't mind all the other noise but, when the air drier kicks off he panics and looks for a place to hide.

- With the pressure built, stop the engine. Depress the brakes firmly and hold for 1 minute. The pressure should not drop more than 4 pounds in one minute. You are checking for a leak in the system. Yeah well I don't know how you measure 4 pounds on those gauges either but I didn't write the procedure. The DMV folks said just make sure the pressure isn't dropping.

- That completes the pre-trip air brake inspection.

According to the book, You should do this check each day prior to operating your vehicle. In my experience, men depend on a different method. They become "one" with their vehicle and cast fate to the wind. Just reporting the facts.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

The engine braking is different with a diesel. You can have two kinds of engine brakes, an internal one (Jake brake) that often has two settings, and an external one (exhaust brake and other variants) that uses back pressure to retard the speed and only has one setting. Some really fancy diesels, Foretravel, have a transmission retarder. I suspect the motorhome in question has an exhaust brake.

Oregonhiker · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thank you for all the comments. I figure that you all are the ones who have the experience. I read through a lot of the different forums on here to get information that I can use. We still live in a sticks and bricks so I have time to get used to it before our next big trip. It was a big change to feel comfortable driving the 34 ft. gas MH from driving my CRV. Now this new one is almost 40 ft. and the length doesn't bother me anymore. I just have to get used to being aware that I am slower to go and longer to stop.

Ours does have the exhaust brake and I will use that on some drives to see how that works also. Over all we are just excited to get out there and use it and have fun. Thank you again and sorry if the way I posted my initial post got people to argue. I look up to all of you and look to learn from your experience.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Rick and Jenn,

I can't speak to the specific brand of coach or even the engine as far as that goes. However, let me address the "slow to go" comment.

When we were researching for our RV, motor homes were an option, so we test drove a couple of Tiffin Phaetons, one a 40-footer and one a 42-footer. With the 40-footer, we drove out a ways from Oklahoma City so I could "test" the acceleration of the engine with such a large coach. When we got to the hill, I came to a complete stop at the bottom, but near to where it began to go uphill.

Long story short is that the Phaeton gained speed all the way up the hill, and I certainly wouldn't say it was slow to go. Now, having said that, it is never a bad thing to be slow to go since it may very well help with fuel mileage. And, being prepared for slow to stop simply means being aware of your surroundings and ready to brake before it becomes a necessity.

Good luck with you new RV. I'll bet that you will enjoy it a lot.

Terry

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

Have to agree with Terry on the "slow to go". There should never be a need to rush. Just watch some Youtube vids from dashcams of Russians rushin' (pun intended) and you'll never be in a hurry again. There are some truly crazy drivers out there, no need to be one of them. Slow and steady wins the race.

FWIW, Brian

-- Edited by biggaRView on Friday 8th of August 2014 02:44:21 PM

Oregonhiker · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well we took it on Monday and doing a little camping trip close to home to make sure all works well. Two things I would like to ask if I may. First the Onan 8000w generator when you push the start button it doesn't turn over right away. I can hear the fuel pump ticking for about 5 seconds and then it turns over and starts right up. Is that the nature of the beast with a diesel generator? I know our gas unit turned over right away.
Second is the full wall slide. Like the generator I have to hold the button down for about 5 seconds before the slide starts to move. The two small slides on the other side start up right after I push the button.
Both items I thought I had a big problem as nothing seemed to happen when I tried to operate both. Any ideas? Thanks all, Rick and Jenn

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

Oregonhiker wrote:
....... First the Onan 8000w generator when you push the start button it doesn't turn over right away. I can hear the fuel pump ticking for about 5 seconds and then it turns over and starts right up. Is that the nature of the beast with a diesel generator?
Thanks all, Rick and Jenn

Yes that's the way the Onan works. It does an engine pre-heat then starts.

As for your slide I'm not sure.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Our Newmar front slide pauses for 5 seconds before moving, but also says so with a woman's voice warning it is about to move and to make sure nothing will be harmed. The other slide just moves.

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

bjoyce wrote:
Our Newmar front slide pauses for 5 seconds before moving, but also says so with a woman's voice warning it is about to move and to make sure nothing will be harmed. The other slide just moves.

Not going to touch that with a ten foot pole biggrin

NorCal Dan · RV-Dreams Family Member

Just a caution on the exhaust brake. Be sure to read your manual and find out the specifications. On our Monaco the exhaust brake did not work above 65 mph...important to know that as you come down a big steep hill and speed keeps building. The Allison transmission in our coach allowed me to manually downshift and I used that with the exhaust brake to find that point where we were not gaining speed. There's no hard and fast setting that always works as it depends on how steep the hill...but I found 3rd or 4th gear would normally hold us at 45 mph.

Going up the hill is much easier than coming down...

kb0zke · RV-Dreams Family Member

The day we did the test drive on our coach was the first time I had driven a Class A, the first large diesel (I had driven the neighbor's diesel pickup once before), the first time with air brakes, and the first time I drove anything with the front tires behind me. The previous owner was in the navigator's seat and didn't exhibit any signs of white knuckles. I still have less than 100 hours behind the wheel, but it didn't take very long to get comfortable with the coach. Take it easy and you shouldn't have any trouble.

Oregonhiker · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thank you Bill and Trailerking for the info on the gen. and slide. Knowing that, it all makes sense and works great. We did our second little 6 day local camping trip and all is working great. It is so nice to have so much more room in this coach vs. the Baystar.
Dan I will read up on the exhaust brake as that is new to me and am looking forward to having that for coming down mountain passes. We took the MH back to the dealer on Monday as they are doing a little paint work on some small scratches that the original owner caused. I didn't grab the books out of it when we unloaded last Sunday. As far as the transmission that to I will have to play around with to see how best to use it on steep descents.
David, I have about the same as you in driving time from the 34 ft. Baystar so going to the nearly 40 ft. Ventana wasn't that bad for me. At this point I am only at about 2 hours on the new coach but I am excited to get out there and drive it. Now if I can just get the wife to try and learn to feel comfortable with driving it.
Again I appreciate all of the comments from everyone. Rick