How to - Airbag Replacement

[waiter]

When I first got my Dolphin 1 1/2 years ago, the airbags held pressure. They made it all the way to Alaska, But our trip to the west coast last winter, the right bag wouldn't hold air.

I climbed under the Toyhouse a few weeks ago and it was obvious both bags needed replacement as they were delaminating with the cords showing and cut.


I found the replacement bags from 3-T RV Products, A call to their parts department, and they had them in stock, along with the special Toyota base plate (T-9E3 Repair Kit), $240 with shipping. This also included new hose and connectors, but does not include bolts.


Removing the old bags.

Jack the truck up and block it with stands. I didn't take the tires off.

Getting to the top hose and bolt is difficult, but doable. On the right side, the gas tank is in the way, on the left side, the exhaust pipe and the shock is in the way.


I used a die grinder to cut the bottom bolts off. and then spread the bottom flanges apart to get them off the spring.

I cut the top hose as close as I could to the fitting with a pair of wire cutters. This helped a little in getting a 9/16 box wrench on the top bolt. you can only turn it about 1/8 turn at a time, but it does come out.



A trip to the local hardware store to buy new bolts, In this photo you can see the small original top bolt (left) and the new top bolt, about 1/4 longer. I also bought grade 8 bolts for the bottom, these are 5/16 x 3 inch, I used flat washers and two nuts to jam them locked.

ALSO Very important - Replace the original top bolt with a new bolt that is about 1/4 inch longer. The top mount plate on the new bag is a plastic material. The original bolt is too short and only grips about 1 - 2 threads. I overtightened one of them and stripped out the top two threads of the new bag. Not a problem, get the longer bolts and do not reuse the original bolts. DO NOT over-tighten the top bolts, snug them up, but not honker down tight.


Installing the new bag,

1) Remove the old air lines and fittings and install the new airlines and fittings, Tie the air lines down with wire ties, make sure they are clear of exhaust pipes.. There should be plenty of hose, so cut it a little long.

2) On the new air bag, I removed the bottom bracket thing, remove the two bolts that hold it to the bottom plate. I did not install this bracket, as the original bags did not have it.

3) Position the bag up near the top plate, then bend/ fold the bag to get the air fitting up through the hole in the top mount. The new air fitting is a 90 degree fitting, turn the bag/top plate into weird positions to get that fitting up through the hole. Once the air fitting is in the top hole, bend/fold the bag to position the bottom plate and clamps over the spring

4) Use the new longer bolt on the top and get it started by hand (there was a star washer on top, use it also). I stuffed a chunk of Styrofoam between the spring and the bottom plate to hold the air bag up against the top plate while I played contortionist to get that top bolt started.

Snug the top bolt up but not to tight. Remove the Styrofoam. Connect the air line, and put a little air in the bag so it will press down against the spring.

5) I used a "C" clamp to pull the bottom flanges together so I could get the nuts on the bottom bolts. Tighten them up and then jammed another nut to lock them.

In all, this job took about two hours. New bags are pressurized at about 75 lbs and ready for our Washington DC trip.



John Mc
88 Dolphin 4 Auto

[troyrobo]

nice i need to do same thing to mine

[tumolt]

Hi. Very good job. What material did you use for the hose? I used what the manufacturer used, a cpvc clear 1/4" hose with compression fittings but I am going to replace the lines with copper. Plastic is not reliable and I have had to fix it twice since I put new bags on my Huntsman. Have a safe and great trip. Matt

[Derek up North]

I can't say I'm overly impressed by the 'engineering' of the 3T brackets. But I guess they work.

[90toydolphin]

after doing the replacement do you think removing the wheels would have made any of the process any easier?

[waiter]

3T supplies new hose and fittings with the repair kit. The hose is a 1/4 inch black poly something or another. Should last years as long as you keep it away from the exhaust pipe. ( I think the original was 1/8 inch, very small)

The bottom bracket looks hokey, but it worked for over 25 years, see above photo. 3T includes another bracket that is meant to keep the bottom from sliding on the spring. I didn't use it, as I said, the old ones lasted a long time.

Having the wheel off may have helped with doing the contortions required to get your hand up there and turn the wrench, But I wouldn't take it off just for this..

The only "Gotcha", You definitely want to replace the top bolts with new bolts that are 1/4 inch longer, AND, don't honker down on them. remember, your going into plastic, not metal.

John Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

[jemezdave]

2) On the new air bag, I removed the bottom bracket thing, remove the two bolts that hold it to the bottom plate. I did not install this bracket, as the original bags did not have it.

I did this same repair this last weekend. I found that these new brackets wouldn't even lineup with the bolts they were intended to connect to on my 86 dolphin so off they came in my case as well.

I took the wheels off for this job which allowed for plenty of space. It also alerted me to the fact that getting the outer wheel off through the limiting wheel well opening was quite a chore. I will be opening that wheel well up in the near future for sure.

Another issue I had was that the hole for the air fitting was in no way going to receive that new right angle fitting. I used a die grinder to open it up and the hole for the mount bolt as well as there wasn't much clearance. Funny that the instructions showed both of those openings as slots. Wish they were, it would have gone a lot faster for me.

The original top mount bolts had sheered on mine and thus removing them was really easy. I went with 3/8 X 3/4 for the new ones. I also went with 5/16 X 3-1/2 for the lower bracket mounting hardware which was on there originally. Getting that top mount bolt tight is a major pain in the posterior.

I'd say 2-3 hours is about right for this job if you don't have to cut the holes out more and especially if you don't pull the wheels. Mine took significantly longer due to needing to tool up properly for the job which involved multiple trips to the hardware and autoparts stores.

Here's a list of things for this job from experience:

2- 3/8 X 3/4 hex head bots.
4- 5/16 X 3-1/2 hex head bolts and stop nuts.
Die grinder with a good set of grinding attachments. I used the bullet shaped one predominantly for this. I should mention I used an air die grinder with a 1/4 collet.
Impact wrench- Useful for getting the wheel lugs off and for getting those rusted/frozen lower mount bolts off.
Lots of tie wraps for routing the airlines.

If I did it over again I'd likely go with those airless spring helpers that sit right on the axle. I may still add those in the future.

Shocks and new exhaust system should be coming in the mail tomorrow.

BTW, after filling the gas tank for a little test drive yesterday I discovered that the breather line is leaking. That'll get done this week too.

[waiter]

Deek;

My original bags did not have the slots either. The hole for the air fitting was large enough, but I had to bend the bag (don't worry, its made of rubber ) and twist it around to get enough room for the 90 degree angle to squeeze through. Once it was in the hole, unbend the bag and turn it so the fitting faces the correct direction.

JOhn Mc
88 Dolphin 4 Auto

[jemezdave]

Hey John,

I didn't have the clearance even with bending the bag. I did use that technique after I opened up the whole a bit. I suppose I could have finessed the last bit into the whole with a hammer but thought better of damaging the new air fittings which were getting a little scuffed with my early attempts. Wasn't all that bad to deal with, just an unexpected tangent on the job :0)

As for that gas breather line replacement I mentioned, I was able to do it without dropping the tank, thank goodness. Getting at the tank side hose clamp was a bit of a challenge but with enough socket extensions I got it off. One thing I found on that job was that the hose connection on the filler side appeared to be for a 5/8" ID hose while the gas tank side was definitely 1/2". This may have been due to the fact that the previous owner had the tank replaced at some point. The hose I had removed was 1/2" and had been forced onto the 5/8" side. I cut off the end and used it as it went on easy and then spliced it with the new hose which I had busted some knuckles trying to get on in the first round.

Sorry for the topic drift. Just thought I'd follow up with my experiences for what I had mentioned.

Deek

[uthorns]

Thanks guys for all the info. I have the confidence now to do this job! My left side bag is leaking but I'm gonna go ahead and replace both. I just bought a '85 Sunrader and the last maintenance entry for the bags was 1997. I'll let you know in the coming weeks how it goes. On a auto mechanical scale from 1-10 I'm probably a 4. Something always seems to cause a hangup.

[Bob C]

Talk about a timely posting. I received my airbag kit from 3-T yesterday. My Escaper did not have any airbags so I needed everything, including top brackets. Tina at 3-t's was very knowledgeable and got my parts to me in 6 days.

The installation looks much easier than I anticipated and I will be putting everything in tomorrow while we listen to the A/C vacuum pump run for an hour and a half.

I have one question about the installation. Where do your air lines run to and where do your air valves come out?

Thanks again for all the help getting this rookie up to speed.

Bob

[waiter]

Air lines and filler valves come out behind my right rear wheel. just below the battery compartment. Not inside the wheel well, where they can get splash or damage from crap getting kicked up by wheels. Look underneath in front and behind the wheel and find a place you can drill through the outer wall.

On my top brackets, they are welded to the frame. If you have a welder, might be easier to do it that way than to do the screw thing, Put the bag in place with the top and bottom brackets, put a little air in the bag so it now presses the top and bottom brackets in place, then screw / tack the top bracket against the frame.

If you weld, you may want to tack the top then remove the bag so you wont damage it.

John Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

[Totem]

I had a slow leak in my airbags. I simply Green Slimed em and put on a pressure gauge cap set for 65 LBS. they have been at 65 ever since. Gooooo Green Slime!

[90toydolphin]

good idea on the green slime, so simple. knock on wood mine don't leak yet, will try that before replacing for sure when the time comes, and i'm sure it will.

[Bob C]

A friend of mine came up today to help me with a few RV projects. First we tackled the airbags. We jacked up one side of the RV, removed the rear wheels on that side and followed the 3-T directions. They were pretty good and it took us about 1 hr 15 minutes for the first side. The second side went faster at about 45 minutes.

Next we pumped down the A/C system and recharged it. Last seek we flushed out the system and prepped it for today. It took about an hour and a half to draw a good vacuum and recharge with 134a. Next we built and installed a receiver hitch for a cargo rack on the back. I wanted just enough room for a couple of chairs and some spare gasoline.

Well, after supper, we took the RV for a test ride. We put up a curtain behind the cab and the A/C cooled my friend and I in the cab really well.

Now for the most important part. How did the RV handle with the airbags added? Talk about a night and day difference in the way the RV handled bumps. I am super happy with the improvement. I started with 70 psi on both sides and will experiment with just a bit more. I am glad that I did this job before my ever loving wife and I take off after retirement next month.

I would like to thank everyone one this site that has offered help and suggestions. It has made me much bolder at tackling these jobs.

[Giant in a Shoebox]

I just found this thread from you linking to it John. Thank you for posting it. I need to do airbags too.

When you decided on the 3-T kit, did you find any other options out there? Was 3-T the best for some reason, or just the only kit out there?

Apparently Firestone told my tire shop that they don't have a product to replace the original; the one they manufactured. It's good to know there's an alternative short of installing an entire brand new aftermarket system.

[waiter]

This was the only one I found. from all appearances, its an exact replacement for mine.

John Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

[Giant in a Shoebox]

Thanks again, John. You've saved me (more) hours of fruitless searching, as well as a sizeable pile of cash by writing this thread.

It's much apreciated.

[Bob C]

I looked a long time for air bag kits for the Toyhouse. Nobody had a kit for the one ton Toyota. I ordered a set from a local Farm and Fleet store but they called me later in the day to say that they could not get a kit for my Toy. I finally contacted a parts guy at Firestone Industrial Products and he told me about 3-T's and gave me the information that I needed. They were very good about knowing what I needed and had very fast service. I ordered on Friday late in the afternoon and received them on Wednesday.

I am very happy with the way that RV rides with the air-bags installed. We traveled 2000 miles on state highways (no insterstates) and some of the roads had very noticeable expansion joints (280 miles through Minnesota both ways, total 560 miles) The RV rode great.

[mason]

I had a slow leak in my airbags. I simply Green Slimed em and put on a pressure gauge cap set for 65 LBS. they have been at 65 ever since. Gooooo Green Slime!

Hi totem.

Can you tell me how you added the green slime. Did you take the bag out?How much of that stuff did you put in. I met a guy today he said that they added fix a flat to the semi truck air bags and they worked good. My leak is very small so I thought I might as well try that.