Air bag inflation /ride heighth

[D. Wendal Attig]

On the shakedown trip from Jackson, Mississippi to Colorado Springs we experienced a very smooth ride, even though some of the roads were in rough shape.

Since the first time.I played with the leveling system, I have noticed a marked difference in the front suspension and several times when the front seems to bottom out.

When trying to figure out the leveling jack operation, I did do an air dump, then manually retracted the jacks.

Seems since then the front air bags have not reinflated.

Any advice or simple solutions would be appreciated.

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

D.,
Can you manually inflate the front or rear bags using the control panel?
Steve

[Edward Buker]

D,

I think by the year you may have the SMC jack to axle hydraulic system. If so there are 4 push button sensors that are wired in series and are actuated by the jack feet to provide the all up indicator light. Those switches with age can stick. If you had the all up indicator on but a jack remained partially down then it could conceivably bottom against the axle and provide that kind of issue. If you have this system you should physically check and see that all of the jack metal pad feet are pressing the sensors and are full up. Once a year, part of my spring maintenance is to use a dowel and push those sensor switches in and out a few times to be sure that they are not sticking. I have changed two of mine out preventatively and the newer ones have rubber boots that keep the dirt out. As always take care if you are going under the motorhome if it is not blocked up and safe. If you do not have this system then ignore this input.

Later Ed

[D. Wendal Attig]

Yes this coachis equipped with the SMC leveling system. At the moment I am not in a level position nor do I have the Jacks and secondary equipment necessary to safely check the switches. Is there anyway to manually inflate the front airbags or some other workaround using the SMC control panel? If so step by step would be helpful since this is a very confusing interface. Thanks

[Karl Welhart]

You cannot control the air bags from the SMC control panel other than using the "air dump" button on the dash board.

[Edward Buker]

D,

If you have run the engine recently and are aired up then the coach is sitting on the air bags. You can verify this by checking the air gauge and seeing if it is up over 110lbs of air and that the coach is not listing to the side and each wheel well has approximately the same distance to the ground. In other words the coach is sitting properly on whatever slope it is resting on. The air gauge will lose some pressure over time with the engine off and that is normal.

You could assume that a jack is down with the all up light on just in case it is the bottoming out issue that you are having. If the suspension is bottoming out it would tend to likely be less abrupt then a wheel position at the axle contacted the hydraulic jack plate. You would also tend to hear a metal on metal sound if it was the jack. If you suspect that a jack down is more likely then a full suspension travel scenario then you can hold the manual retract button down for around 20 seconds or until you hear a slight change in tone with the motor and pump slowing slightly.

You try and not run the pump very long against the stops but if you suspect that you may have a jack down better to run it in retract and be sure. Once you know the jack up switches are working properly then you can follow the indicator light and be sure that the indicator is correct. Hope this helps.

Later Ed

[Gerald Farris]

D,
It is possible that the linkage to the ride height sensor that connects to the center of the front axle came loose when you dumped the air, and if so, it will need to be repaired before the front air bags will inflate.

Gerald