Re: Monaco Eagle I Conversion Line
Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2020 8:56 am
Mike, thanks for posting the files. Great information.
I have seen one Eagle with the Eagle air bag installation with one double lobe bag per side at a rally many years ago (have a picture somewhere). I have also seen the factory documentation for the single airbag design. However, I have not seen the documentation for the double (per side) airbag system.
I can only guess why Eagle did not want the system active during travel. I suspect that they were concerned about the dynamic loading of the system. I would guess that there could be dynamic loads of at least two to four times the static (parked) loads on bumpy roads or hitting pot holes. Don Smith (Box Car Okie) had a structure failure on his single bag (non Eagle) system after hitting a large pot hole. His bus was a Suburban with a single rear axle and it was probably pretty heavily loaded statically.
While I have not done an engineering analysis of the various aftermarket (or Eagle) designs, my engineering background makes me nervous about loading the Torsilastic tube in the center. Not only am I concerned about the Torsilastic tube, I think that the frame structure could be overloaded with that kind of design.
I am very comfortable with a well designed dual airbag system where the loads are applied to the outside of the Torsilastic tube. This design is even better when using rolling lobe type airbags that are less harsh in transferring load from the axle to the frame. There are good dual bag designs in the thread I mentioned before.
The one issue that is overwhelming in any airbag installation is the integrity of original Eagle tubing. In many cases they rust from the inside out and the tubes need to be tested and/or reinforced.
Jim
I have seen one Eagle with the Eagle air bag installation with one double lobe bag per side at a rally many years ago (have a picture somewhere). I have also seen the factory documentation for the single airbag design. However, I have not seen the documentation for the double (per side) airbag system.
I can only guess why Eagle did not want the system active during travel. I suspect that they were concerned about the dynamic loading of the system. I would guess that there could be dynamic loads of at least two to four times the static (parked) loads on bumpy roads or hitting pot holes. Don Smith (Box Car Okie) had a structure failure on his single bag (non Eagle) system after hitting a large pot hole. His bus was a Suburban with a single rear axle and it was probably pretty heavily loaded statically.
While I have not done an engineering analysis of the various aftermarket (or Eagle) designs, my engineering background makes me nervous about loading the Torsilastic tube in the center. Not only am I concerned about the Torsilastic tube, I think that the frame structure could be overloaded with that kind of design.
I am very comfortable with a well designed dual airbag system where the loads are applied to the outside of the Torsilastic tube. This design is even better when using rolling lobe type airbags that are less harsh in transferring load from the axle to the frame. There are good dual bag designs in the thread I mentioned before.
The one issue that is overwhelming in any airbag installation is the integrity of original Eagle tubing. In many cases they rust from the inside out and the tubes need to be tested and/or reinforced.
Jim