1998 Patriot Thunder Alternator and Jack issues among other things.

[Troy Rutten]

Hello thanks for having me in the group I have been learning a lot by reading the forums!

To start with I just brought this 1998 Patriot Thunder from an estate sale basically for the value of the drive train so as such its up to me now test and get things working.  It was sitting for last 6 years in a Quonset and the fellow that owned it was long past so no one to tell me or show me anything about it.  I have my work cut out for me, but its a task I'm willing to tackle!!

Drove it home 300km and it drove solid, drive train and transmission seem strong just will need to change out oils for sure, even though the engine oil and filter look brand new. It was likely change before being put away so has likely been in there for past 6 years.

Getting it home realized I alternator wasn't working, local truck shop was no help as even I at the time new nothing about Duvac alternators so I took it out and had it test and was told it was good. Howvere, he Sense wire and or ignition wire, one of them doesn't have power. There is power to a wire with key turned on but that wire also has a small diode on it at the alternator side creates a voltage drop of ~1.0v.  Seems that should be the sense wire but it works when ignition is turned on? Back of alternator is not labled  the small post beside the large + post is circuled in read with an H  make me think it means Hot and is sense wire.
other post also has a small wire that is attached to it and goes inside alternator  when it was tested that is the post that was touched with 12v to get it working which tells me its the ignition wire.

Anyways I have an SSI battery isolator  that the center post shows a 0.3-0.5v on when there should be nothing? So maybe that is failing as a result I just odered a Blue Sea ML-ACR charging relay to convert coach so if I have future issues a normal alternator will work.  Seems straight forward I hope.

Plan to just hook sense wire to + alternator post as it will now be hooked to the chassis battery side of relay and the I'll remove diode and hook the wire thats hot by ignition to the ignition side.

As for the jacks the previous owner had them unhooked in the driver side fuse compartment.  when I hooked wire back up the bong alarm kept going off. and when I pushed buttons nothing would move for jacks.  Upon some research it appears that is possible the reservoir could be low on fluid and that is why alarm is going off.  When i get home I will have to check that.
SO questions:

With alarm going off should the jacks still operate?  How do I test the switches?

Its has a slide and slide operates its my understanding that its hydraulic and works off same system so that means hydraulic motor works at least?

Again I'm away from home and have been doing this research so I haven't had a chance implement or test anything like seeing if jack motor runs when I operated slide.

Just looking for things to check and how to check them as it would be nice to get jacks working so I can jack up coach and put it on stands to inspect and work on other items.

Any help is appreciated and I'm sure I will have  a million more questions especially when I get into the hurricane hot water heater.

thanks

[Eric Maclean]

Troy
1)     the ignition feed wire to the alternator may have the diode in it to stop it from back feeding ignition source once the alternator is energized as the ignition or I terminal will be hot with the alternator running they sometimes use this for a charge indicator light feeding ignition voltage through a light bulb to energize the alternator and once the alternator comes to life the I terminal is now feed from the alternator and as the light has 12 volt on both sides and the light goes out. don't be surprised if the engine won't shut down with the key without that diode .
I'd hook it up as it is with the diode as for the small volt drop through the diode it should be of no consequence when energizing the alternator.
2) replacing the isolator is a wise move as it allows you to use the non Duvac type alternator which is easier to come by and much cheaper. Just remember for now that the Duvac type alternator requires that sence terminal to be connect to your chassis battery bank positive terminal to allow the voltage regulator to do its job , without it the voltage will fluctuate and be too high ( above 15 volts) as the regulator trys to raise the voltage on the sends terminal.

3) I assume we are dealing with an RVA leveling system. The bong alarm is controlled by a float switch in the hydraulic reservoir if
For some reason the reservoir is low the bong will not shut of when all the jacks are retracted.
First make sure all the jacks are retracted and then top up the reservoir with Dexron with the system turned on untill the bong alarm stops.
To my knowledge the system should still work with the alarm active.
There is some information on the RVA systems in the coach assist technical information that might help.

Below is a link to a Duvac terminal configuration to help sort out your alternator wiring .

https://www.google.com/search?q=duvac+alternator+wiring+&client=tablet-android-lenovo-rev2&sxsrf=ALiCzsYegGTd_4szKVeGq0_4SUZOsLUaqA%3A1665323824254&ei=MNNCY5iND96y0PEPwc-k6Ao&oq=duvac+alternator+wiring+&gs_lcp=ChNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwEAMyBQgAEIAEMgYIABAeEBYyBQgAEIYDMgUIABCGAzIFCAAQhgMyBQghEKABMgUIIRCgAUoECEEYAFCoBFi_GmCsIGgAcAB4AYAByAqIAaMVkgELMC4xLjEuNi0xLjGYAQCgAQHAAQE&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp#imgrc=8b2fCWeIgSiJFM

Hope this helps
Eric

[Eric Maclean]

Troy
The hydraulic leveling jacks according to the manufacturer are not meant to lift the vehicle off the ground although they will lift the front end the pressure relief valve is set to not allow the rear wheels to come off the ground .
This is done deliberately because most of these coaches use a drive shaft mounted parking brake and an open differential and lifting one of the rear wheels off the ground would allow the coach to roll away even with the parking brake on.

Your best bet for getting under the coach is to park it on wooded blocks or pads high enough to give you safe working room under the coach with the suspension air dumped to avoid being crushed in the evening of a suspension air lose.

Once it's on the blocks I have been known to disconnect the rear ride height valve links and fully extend the rear air bags to raise the vehicle higher and then slide heavy jack stands under the frame rails just behind the deferential then let the air out of the air bags.
The wheels will still be on the ground and if you need to remove the rear wheels you'll have to jack up the axle but this way the coach weight is sitting on the jack stands and you don't require as large a jack to simple lift the axle and wheels of the ground.

Of course the best way is to use a bus hoist but most of use don't have access to one.

For the front I just use the hydraulic leveling jack to raise it high enough to get jack stands under the frame.

In any case don't go under there infill you get enough clearence to do so with out air in the suspension
Work smart and work safe.

Any questions don't hesitate to ask , there is an immense amount of knowledge here on this form and someone here will likely have an answer for you.

Hope this helps
Eric