Was planning on taking off for a few days, starting on Monday.... but now that isn't going to happen.
Took the motorhome to the nearest gas station (5 miles) this afternoon, to fill it up before the trip... and somewhere between home and the station, I blew the high pressure power steering line, right where it connects to the gearbox. The steel line rusted, and the pressure from the system blew a hole through it.
So, I bought 2 small bottles of high quality convenience store PS fluid, topped the reservoir back up, and limped it back home. And granted, I'm veerrry glad to have it home, sitting in my driveway... without having a large tow truck involved. Last trip I took in this thing was to Iowa.
So, I look it over to see what I'm in for. And I'm a little confused with how this system works. So, I start with the leaky connection at the gearbox, follow the steel line back up and through the firewall, and up the firewall on the front side. Steel line changes to blue rubber hose, and back to steel... and then it goes to the back side of the master cylinder.
Does the power steering on this thing use the master cylinder as some sort of a booster? Or is the brake booster utilizing the pressure from the power steering system?
I must admit, I've not seen anything like this before... but this is my first experience with a heavy duty chassis.
When I saw all of the red fluid on the pavement at the gas station, I about peed my pants, thinking it was something with the transmission. But all of the fluid was coming from totally the wrong area to be the tranny. Then I assumed it had blown a line on the tranny cooler. But the transmission was still full of fluid.
So, process of elimination uncovered an empty PS reservoir. And then it dawned on me that the guy that I bought this from had probably using ATF in the power steering system... and that's why it was leaking red fluid.
Took the motorhome to the nearest gas station (5 miles) this afternoon, to fill it up before the trip... and somewhere between home and the station, I blew the high pressure power steering line, right where it connects to the gearbox. The steel line rusted, and the pressure from the system blew a hole through it.
So, I bought 2 small bottles of high quality convenience store PS fluid, topped the reservoir back up, and limped it back home. And granted, I'm veerrry glad to have it home, sitting in my driveway... without having a large tow truck involved. Last trip I took in this thing was to Iowa.
So, I look it over to see what I'm in for. And I'm a little confused with how this system works. So, I start with the leaky connection at the gearbox, follow the steel line back up and through the firewall, and up the firewall on the front side. Steel line changes to blue rubber hose, and back to steel... and then it goes to the back side of the master cylinder.
Does the power steering on this thing use the master cylinder as some sort of a booster? Or is the brake booster utilizing the pressure from the power steering system?
I must admit, I've not seen anything like this before... but this is my first experience with a heavy duty chassis.
When I saw all of the red fluid on the pavement at the gas station, I about peed my pants, thinking it was something with the transmission. But all of the fluid was coming from totally the wrong area to be the tranny. Then I assumed it had blown a line on the tranny cooler. But the transmission was still full of fluid.
So, process of elimination uncovered an empty PS reservoir. And then it dawned on me that the guy that I bought this from had probably using ATF in the power steering system... and that's why it was leaking red fluid.
