Adjusting the Leveler Valves

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Guy's,

I'm sure the answer to this question will be for me to drive to US Coach and have Bill do it over the pit... But..

It seems that there is no real safe way to adjust the leveling valves without either crawling under the bus and

risking crushing myself.. or doing this over a pit.. Which I don't have. "yet"

After installing the new bags, my drivers side is 3" higher then the Pass side. I can attest that the old bags were

3 different sizes and they may have compensated that with the levelers. Now that all the bag's are of the same,

I need to do this on a level flat street like my shop driveway but, I just don't think it will be safe to be under there..

Anybody have any ideas? or i'll just drive to Luke's.

Thanks
Nick-

[oldmansax]

Nick,

You probably already thought of this & discarded it... LOL  BUT,

If you have enough HEAVY lumber around, like railroad ties, you can drive the bus up on them and adjust the levelers. The ties need to be in good shape (no rot or cracking) & ONE layer needs to be high enough for you to be safe under the bus if you let all the air out of the bags.

I happen to have a 12" curb I put one side of mine up on to get under, one advantage to being thin!

TOM

[bobofthenorth]

Not sure where your level valves are Nick but basically what Tom said.  I can get under mine when its down on the stops but just barely.  Even having it up on a 3" block makes a huge difference.  My front level valve is more or less inaccessible but my rear valves are accessible from the sides of the bus. 

[FloridaCliff]

Nick,

I did mine while up on run up blocks/ramps.

I did put some 4X4 blocks between the axle/body stops just to make me feel better.

Have you already run it down the block to see if it corrects or is this what it aired up to on first fill up?

Cliff

[Utahclaimjumper]

Nick, determine what the distance should be between the shock absorber mount stud centers, then block to that level, that should give you enough room to adjust your levelers, then adjust the levelers to the neutral position on the leveler.>>>Dan

[Utahclaimjumper]

If you need more room to work, put blocks under the wheels and do the process.>>>Dan

[gus]

Nick,

In the rear the valves don't adjust the bus to be level, they adjust it so that the body is parallel to the axles, so it doesn't have to be on level ground while you adjust it.

The front adjusts so that it is parallel with the rear in a fore and aft plane.

This system was designed to compensate for different loads of passengers, it doesn't keep the bus level like with a bubble level.

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Gus,

Oh... I didn't know this..

Ok, what's the best way to level out from side to side?  Or, should I say what is the right way to level my bus?

Thanks
Nick-

[wildbob24]

Nick,

If you'll look in your manual, there should be a measurement given for the correct distance between the axles and the bump stops. On my 4905 it's 3.5" in the front and 3.25" in the rear.  It should also give you the original height of the rubber bumpers as the do tend to get crushed as the years go by.

You can run it up on the blocks and set the height using the correct dimensions for your bus and you should be good to go.

[DaveG]

Nick, for the some of us (okay, just me) what is the procedure from the MCI manual?

[John316]

Nick,

All I did was take a measurement from the driver side, and adjusted my passenger side the same. It came from the PO adjusted to where the driver side was a little lower then the passenger side. Only thing I can think of is to compensate for the crown of the road. We haven't had any clearance issues.

Our leveler arm was attached to a bracket with holes in it. All I did to make the heights match, was to simply count the number of holes on one side, and do the same on the other.

I know, kinda simple . I redneck it sometimes KISS

God bless,

John

[buswarrior]

Something way fishy, 3" difference is a very big difference...

Ride height is very important for the rest of the suspension geometry to function as intended.

Do you have symmetry between the sides in the leveling valves and their mounting points and the length of the arms?

If Luke's pit is close, I'd go there because I'm lazy.

At home, wheels off, axle on the railroad ties, safely fiddle with the leveling to my hearts content in through the wheel wells where I can't be squeezed.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Chuck Newman]

Nick,

Gus is right on regarding the leveling valves (MCI calls them Height Control Valves).  If you want a "level" coach while stopped, you need a separate leveling system.

As John said the easiest thing to do is run the drives up on a block, engine off, apply shop air, and set the bolt and nut on both to the last hole in the vertical brace connected to the HCV's horizontal control arm.  When you remove the locking bolt in the brace push up on the HCV arm, and the bus will rise.  And the opposite is ture.

Do the same thing with the front HCV.  This will give the bus the highest chassis above ground driving solution for intersection dips and driveways.  No, it does not affect the ride or stability.

If the wheels are on level ground and the bus still sags in any direction, you probably have a defective HCV or the wrong size bag somewhere.  Assuming no leaky bags.

For reference, my recent bag replacement on the drives were the Goodyear 1R12 566-24-3-048.  The Firestone equivalent is W01-358-9392.

Hope this helps.  Chuck

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Chuck,

All the new Drive Bags were identical. as were the tag bags too.

I just gotta get under there now and set the HCV.

Thanks guy's!
Nick-

[Chuck Newman]

Nick, you literally burn the Midnight Oil, don't ya!