Air tank lanyard valve question

[WEC4104]

Last week, I had the new air tank with lanyard valve installed.  My bus was going in for state inspection anyway, and I decided it to have them do the air tank work.

Before dropped it off for the work, I disconnected the lanyard fro the valve, and installed the valve in the tank.  I told the local garage that I would install the lanyard cable when I figured out where I wanted it.  Right now, I just have a simple 1.25" circular ring (from a key chain) on it.  It is easy enough to get to, I may just leave it that way.

Before I close, I have a big confession to make to the bus gods.   When I first purchased my 4104 I was very much a novice and did not know there even was a wet tank in the rear.  I drained the front tank regularly, but the one in the rear was never touched.   When I did find out about the one in the rear, I tried to open the valve but part of the valve busted off in the process.  It still held air fine, but there was no way to open it.  I drove that way for another two years.  In short, I drove for 9 years and close to 30K miles without EVER draining the rear tank.  Okay, my confession has been registered, and my conscience is clear now.   [It also feels better that I have a new tank and valve installed     )

[buswarrior]

What difference do you see in brake consumption each time you put your foot on the brakes now?

How much "Stuff" did you get out when you finally drained it?

Air drier and/or other drain points that were maintained?

30 000 miles?  Not too bad a distance. Depending on the humidity where that driving took place, maybe less "stuff" than we might expect!

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[WEC4104]

So far, I've only driven the 4-5 miles from the local garage to my home. So I don't really have much experience with it yet for comparison.  But so far, I'm not noticing any difference. Of course that's a good thing since it wasn't giving me any problems before I had the work done.

I wasn't at the garage when they removed the old tank. I was curious as to how much crude was in the old tank, but I picked it up after hours and I doubt the guy behind the counter would have any idea. I did not get the old tank that was removed.

We are based in PA, and I have had the bus to most of the states east of the Mississippi, so it has seen it's share of humidity.   I was regularly draining the front tank, but never got much of any fluid out of it.  I periodically drain the ping tank in the engine compartment, over the transmission area, and do get some ooze out of it.   The 4104 has no air dryer.

Back about two years ago, in the dead of winter, I had an instance in my driveway where the bus started but would not air up.  It was below freezing, and no doubt the air lines had frozen.  That was the only problem I ever had, and was not serious since I really didn't have any plans to drive any place that day.   Once it warmed up, she was fine.

[gus]

WEC,

I can top that, I drove my 4104 for two years with the rear tank bypassed and with no drain on the front tank!! Talk about dumb, but I finally do learn, it just takes me a while! The brakes worked fine and there was nothing to indicate anything was amiss. I don't think the PO even knew about the bypassed tank.

I discovered the rear tank was bypassed only when I opened the original drain valve, that huge bronze thing, and nothing came out?

Once I replaced the rear tank my system held air much longer - surprise, surprise!

I now have drains on both tanks. I installed an automatic drain valve on the rear tank but it doesn't work, I have to drain it manually. I may just replace it with a manual valve because the automatic one drains from the side and I don't think it drains as well as the manual. Also, the automatic ones can freeze and cause problems if the heaters fail.

[Ed Hackenbruch]

Put all 4 in today, only took me most of the day. Had to figure out different ways to attach the lines to the bulkheads to make sure the tires would never catch them. Of course i also noticed several other little things that i fixed or changed while i was doing all of this.......so easy to get side tracked! 

[Tenor]

Thanks for this poennst guys!

I went out and got three of those valves so now I have one on every tank (already had one on one tank)!

Glenn