EAS - Blew a bag off!!

[ytt105]

A strange thing happened last Thursday.

We were driving to Talbingo for a family camping trip, towing my small caravan about 1800kg fully loaded with the P38 4.6. Half way across an intersection in Tumut there was a load BANG follwed by a bouncing Range Rover.

Pulled up and found my drivers, rear air bag folded in half and the suspension completely down on the rear.

So, in the poring rain, in a small park layby, I proceeded to reseat the air bag, reinflate and proceed to Talbingo.

Great camping was enjoyed by all and we left for home on Sunday.

Now I have an unstable caravan for the first half hour, then it smooths itself out and performs fine the most of the trip home to Canberra.

No rhyme or reason in regard to speed or road surface for when it will misbehave.

My problems are;
1) Why would the air bag, which is only some six months old, blow off on a near flat piece of road.
2) Why would the towing be upset now that the bag has been re-inflated, and why only spasmodically. (I thought the shocky might have been damaged but it looks OK)

Any thoughts.

[Hoges]

Sorry to hear what happened but full marks for making good the repair in situ :clap2:

Only reasons I can think of for the bag to unseat is that (i) it may not have been properly seated when replaced (ii) it has been over extended ..e.g servicing by lifting body and letting axles extend to full length of shocks ...usual mistake in a service garage where they use a two-post lift under the body and let the wheels hang free; or (iii) the bag over-inflated at some stage near its extension limit

BTW, you don't use load levellers with the van.... do you....:angel:

when you describe the van as unstable...swaying/bouncing... can you elaborate?

[ytt105]

I take your point on the service centres and I must admit it has had some wheel balancing done in the last couple of months without me there to supervise!

No load levellers required, its only 13.5' long.

The van can now get a sway up when over 100kph and can make the whole car bounce fore and aft whenever it feels like it.

This only started after the blow out.

I towed the van from Canberra to Townsville, via Birdsville and Karumba, last July with no problems at all.

The rear bags were replaced, complete with the top and bottom hats, after this trip and have been faultless till now.

The only thing I can think of to do is replace the shocks as the're probably past their time, 200k kms but I'm not sure if they are the originals.

Thanks for the congratulations, and I was quite chuffed with my self for being able to reseat it whilst laying in a newly forming river under the car.

Though I must admit it was probably my wife holding the useless umbrella and suggesting the use of our leftover coffee hat water that helped 'fold over' the bag after reseating.

I will say, I probably woudn't have even tried if I hadn't already done some air bag work on two previous rangies.

[Keithy P38]

I agree - champion effort!

I have a theory. You mention that you have standard bags (albeit reasonably new). I'm wondering what kind of load your rear axle had on it, and that possibly the springs have had quite a large amount of pressure in them at the time to maintain ride height. It could only take a small movement to put the bag off-centre and then the air pressure may have been too much for the seats - POP!

Kudos to you given the conditions. I wouldn't have the first idea on how to repair them at home, let alone out bush!

Keithy

[Hoges]

I agree - champion effort!

I have a theory. You mention that you have standard bags (albeit reasonably new). I'm wondering what kind of load your rear axle had on it, and that possibly the springs have had quite a large amount of pressure in them at the time to maintain ride height. It could only take a small movement to put the bag off-centre and then the air pressure may have been too much for the seats - POP!

Kudos to you given the conditions. I wouldn't have the first idea on how to repair them at home, let alone out bush!

Keithy

good thinking "99" :eek::wasntme: a check on the towball weight would be in order. Also, 200k km on the shocks... ? OEM Boges are around $50-60 ea. locally... might be worth changing them. The two issues ( displaced airbag / swaying of van) might be coincidental.

Any chance that the van might have been packed differently at some stage causing the swaying?

another thought: is the drawbar horizontal or does it rise slightly when connected to the P38? A high-set towball can cause instability in loaded trailer/caravan.

[ytt105]

Hoges

Please, where can I get Boges for $50ea in Aus?