2002 Patriot Thunder - Suspension and Leveling System Problems

[Robert Green]

Thanks Guys.  I'm slow and cautious.  Will look at this from all angles and evaluate ability to safely address the front air valve.  I have a healthy fear built from many years or automotive restoration work (hobby, illness - whatever you call it) out of my home garage.   

Spent a lot of time under the Class A Bounder (Gas) rig, but this big SOB scares me.  I have heavy tonnage hydraulic bottle jacks, and 8" X 8" pressure treated piling remnants (my home stands on these) - but I'm thinking LONG and hard before making any moves.  Really don't want to end up like the Wicked Witch in the "Wizard of Oz".  A crawl to the local big rig shop is feeling pretty good right now. 

[Jerry Emert]

Just don't wear your fancy slippers when you crawl under the coach, don't want them stolen!

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

One obvious note about using blocks when  working under the coach. If you are adjusting ride height, don't use blocks against the frame since you want the frame to respond to the adjustments. I run the coach up on a couple of stacked horizontal 2x6s (be sure to get all rear wheels on them). That gives me enough clearance to work and have a safety margin.
Steve

[Robert Green]

So I snapped a quick photo of what I believe are the front ride height adjustment rod, and valve assembly. 

RED Circle - Are these two rods supposed to be linked/connected?

GREEN Box - Air Valve?

YELLOW Rectangle - What is this part? 


Steve
I agree and like your approach.  Figure I just need enough clearance to be safe and to gain access. 

[Robert Green]

Image of the rod attached to the frame rail.  Seems to be complete and intact. 

[Robert Green]

I think I may have answered my own question concerning which part is the valve.  This look like a diagram of my height control valve from Haldex.  Just need to identify the yellow box and know if the rods should be joined. 

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Bob,
Not sure what the rod in the yellow box is for. Checked my coach and didn't see it.
The air leveling "level" is accomplished by adjusting where the horizontal rod in the green box attaches to the vertical rod by loosening the hose clamp and sliding the rubber collar up (increases bag height) or down. As I said in an earlier post spec on bag height is about 10" but I find it easier to use a level on front and rear of coach to determine sweet spot. You can "fine tune" with lower collar adjustment but I've never had to touch it. Get side to side level right using rear adjustments before worrying about front to back level using front adjustment.
Steve

[Edward Buker]

Steve, Bob,

I did not recall two valves there and Steve, you have just one. I was wondering if a second one was mounted lower and plumbed in as a replacement for the one that was hard to get to that is mounted above. It would not function without movement of the rod which is not tied to anything if it is a similar valve...

Later Ed

[Edward Buker]

Steve,

Not sure the level method is such a good idea.... The air springs are set to 10 inches to give the suspension the optimum range of travel. The alignment of the drive shaft was optimized in the design at this air spring dimension. Whatever pad angle the coach was parked on (yours may be perfect but others probably not) would also add to the error with the level method given you would be offsetting the coach to compensate for that. I assumed that you put the level on the floor of the coach.

Later Ed

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Ed,
Couple of caveats; 1st coach must be on level surface. I use my garage or driveway, both are concrete. 2nd, bags must be in the spec'ed range of 9.75 - 10.375. If those aren't met, I agree with you.
Steve

[Edward Buker]

Steve,

Got it, nice to have flat pads to work on to put things in spec. I was just afraid someone would throw a level on the floor and start tweaking. Life has so many caveats :-)

Later Ed

[Robert Green]

Built some pads this morning.  The Beaver has landed.  Pulled the valve and went shopping.  Part should be here early next week.

The valve was built 11/2000.  The Haldex part numbers on the valve's label were no longer valid.  Florida Springs and Axles in Ft. Myers, FL made the call to Haldex and their tech support got us to the current, correct part.  High flow is the key.  This is the only valve that will work on RVs.  The standard flow will apparently not respond fast enough.  Tech stated they've had windshield crack on rigs with the incorrect valve/flow when the suspension hardened up. 

KN27210 - VALVE ONLY.  High flow

RN10JC - Linkage Repair Kit

New skylight in the bathroom tomorrow.  Back to the suspension next week. 

Any suggestion on how to safely release the hydraulic pressure on the jacks?

[Joel Ashley]

A common failure point on the ride height valve linkage is that rubber boot/hose clamp in your photo, Robert.  You know where to look the next time.

By the way, your photos are coming through pretty small and in low res.  20kb is going too low.  Pix are best-looking and still within Forum guidelines if they're closer to 100kb, or up to a max of 300kb.

Joel

[Robert Green]

Thanks Joel. I indeed will know where to look next time. I'm getting very up close and personal with this rig!

Thanks for the heads up on the photos.  They start out at 1.2 mb. I use a toll to reduce them to 300 k.  I'll play with the sizing next time and see if I can get better resolution.

[Robert Green]

I need to drop my jacks back down. How would I do that manually as my control panel is not working?

Thanks very much.