Eagles International Forum

While backing into my driveway, the power steering line busted and dumped all the fluid. Very thankful it happened in my driveway. I had to remove the tile flooring and cut through 1/2 plywood to get access to the hatch where the leak is. The leak is in the tunnel above the bogie axle. I have now removed all furniture and flooring end to end. This brings me to two questions.

1) I would like to replace the entire length of all hoses in the tunnel to avoid the problem in the future. Is this reasonable and cost-effective?

2) When redoing the flooring is there a good method for keeping access to the hatches? I'm thinking about going with all wood and making the hatches accessible similar to what you may find on a yacht. I think this will be a bigger job than what I want to do, but, I want to do it right.

If I replace the entire length of all hoses, I would probably feel comfortable not having access to the hatches which would make new flooring easier. Not sure, that's why I'd like to talk through this.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Thomas
Forest VA

That's a bummer!

I ran all of my power steering hoses in electrical conduit to hopefully cut down on chaffing. Age might have something to do with your problem. I would remove all the hoses and take them to a hose supply house and have all new made up. Might cost around $400 or so, hard to say.

I would also leave all access panels accessible and do what you mentioned.

Thomas, what a bag of worms (yes pun intended).

I firmly believe that some of the hatches should be retained in some fashion. For example, about where you are kneeling is the access to the top of your fuel tank. There you can see the fuel gauge and the supply and return hoses.

Toward the rear is engine access. Those hatches make it possible to change the air compressor and power steering pump.

My recommendation would be to change the fuel supply lines (I used DOT air brake tubing) and the power steering hoses. I think that Eagle used a combination of hose and steel tubing. I would have hoses made up to run the full distance. I would recommend something like SAE 100R2 which has a pressure rating of about 3500 PSI for 1/2 inch size.

One approach would be to order the assemblies from an on-line supplier such as: https://www.discounthydraulichose.com/1 ... _s/335.htm. I am not sure what sizes you will need, but I picked 1/2 inch and you can see the price is not all that bad ($1.79 per foot plus $10 assembly fee). I am not sure what manufacturer of hose they use, but SAE (and ISO) standardize the product so anything meeting that spec should be fine. You can have the assemble made up with standard male pipe ends and use adapters to get the correct connections.

Of course, getting the hose locally from a know hydraulic hose distributor is even better and you can probably get the exact connections you need.

While you are at it, I would add a couple of 1 1/2 or 2 inch PVC tubes in the trough for pulling wire (or things like camera cable, etc) through at a later date.

If you install the PVC tubing and new hoses, you can cover many of the hatch covers. I would leave access to the front, fuel tank, and engine hatches. I left them all and used carpet in my basic conversion. I hate the carpet, but it will probably never get updated.

Jim

Thomas all the advice above is good. If it were me I would look at all the stuff in that tunnel and upgrade anything that is not in good shape. Maybe add some conduit to pull things down the road. Then but your flooring back without access and wait for 30 oddytears for something to break.

Wayne

Good advice. I like the idea of running PVC as a conduit for future needs. Looks like I will proceed with a tunnel restoration and make it as bulletproof as possible. I"ll add pictures and info to this post as I go, it may help someone else in the future.

We do have a local company that builds hydraulic hoses so that will help.

I noticed the mice had been enjoying the accommodations of the tunnel, so I will try to address that also.

Jim, you mentioned the fuel gauge and mine has not worked in the 8 years I've owned the coach. Looks like now is the time to fix that too. I have tested the gauge and that seems to work. I have assumed there is some type of pick up sensor that needs to be replaced. What should I be looking for and is there already a forum on that process?

Our next trip is Disney in December, so I have a lot to do is a short time.

Thanks again.

Thomas,

Pretty good advice from two respected sources.

I've had to do what you foresee. I've installed laminate flooring in mine. I fashioned the access so that I would not have to take up unnecessary flooring. I bought three extra boxes of the flooring. If you tile the bath, buy extra tile and store it. Your style will not be available when you need some later.

I've gone to steel pipe for antifreeze and whatever is needed for hydraulic with flexible rubber ends.

You should be able to access some of the things in the tunnel through the tunnel covers in the tops of the bays.

Put the pvc in and go ahead and put 25 or so different colored and/or numbered wires in it. Leave 10 or 15 feet on each end extra to reach whatever you decide to use them for later. I promise you, you won't have enough wires and will have to run more later! It's amazing how many things require a wire the length of the coach at some future date. I've pulled them in mine three times. It's not as easy as it sounds. Do it now while the floors up.

The problem with the fuel gauge is probably the sender. If you think you might change the dash or fuel gauge at sometime, wait until you know what sender will be required. They're seldom the same. The standpipe is famous for getting a hole in it by rubbing on a baffle. Since the furniture is all removed, plan for how you will access things in the future, which you are doing. The only way to fix fuel gauges and standpipes is to remove them through the floor. You could remove the right tank but you don't want to do that. Trust me on that one.

There are many of us that have these old Eagles and love them. Probably anything that could happen to you has happened to several of us.

I have not removed the plywood forward of what is pictured in my first post. After looking at the manual, I am questioning how many hatches there are. I assumed the entire length of the tunnel was accessible via hatches, but the manual only shows one at the front and the ones I have already uncovered.

Are there hatches end to end?

If not, how do I access the hoses in the tunnel for that 15-20 feet? Hopefully not from the bays. My third bay is holding tanks and etc. It will be a very big deal to pull all that out for access.

I attached the page from the manual I am referring to as a PDF, not sure if you will be able to see it.

Thanks,
Thomas

Here it is as a jpeg

Finally got the hoses out of the bus. The first place I went to today wanted $16 per foot. That's $1344 for the hoses! Going to shop that one around. Can anyone recommend a good internet site for hoses? Google list so many different sites, it is hard to tell who is reputable. My hoses do have reusable ends so if I could find bulk qty, I could put my own ends on.

Sorry, just reread BeltGuy's post above with an internet hose reccomendation. Thanks BeltGuy