air ride height - drop?

[kyle4501]

I parked mine on flat ground, took a straight 10 ft long 2x4 & placed it on top of the roof a/c. Then measured the distamce from the ground to the bottom of the stick while a helper did the same on the other side. Tip the stick up or down until the measurements are the same on both sides. That is your height.

[luvrbus]

The vent covers are easy to remove to give you a couple more inches,it never hurt my low boy tires to let some air out for extra clearance that is a common practice in the trucking world   

[kyle4501]

You probably should define "some" .

I've seen several that were only flat on the bottom - they were only missing 'some' air.

'Some' sidewall flex won't hurt, too much will ruin a tire, BTDT

BTW, re-inflating all of your tires EVERY TIME you want to go somewhere is going to get real old real fast.

[luvrbus]

We would drop ours down to 45 lbs from 110 psi and could lower it 1.5 inches done it many times getting into warehouses never a problem for a few hundred ft lol he only has 6 tires to deflate and air up we had 32

[eagle19952]

BTW, re-inflating all of your tires EVERY TIME you want to go somewhere is going to get real old real fast.

I believe this is a one time deal...not like a daily driver....

[solardude]

Tikvah

How can I air down the bags?

I not sure if this is true of every MCI, but mine and the others I have looked at have valves you can turn that empty the air bags. Again, on mine, for the rear, the two valves are on the inside fender well, on the curb side  in the rear engine compartment, for the front, two air bags, the valves are in the driver side lower compartment below the electric panel.

Simply turn the valve and the bags deflate and sit on the stops.

that will drop my bus 8".

If your bus does have these valves, turn them SLOWLY both to open and to close, 40K lbs moving up or down 8" in a split second could be dangerous.

Good Luck.

SolarDude.

[bevans6]

I'd just try it.  It will probably go in just fine.  The approach to a garage door almost always has a down-slope ramp to it, for water drainage.  That means the bus goes in at an angle that keeps the part of the bus behind the front wheels lower, and that is where your vent covers are.  If was going to drop the suspension, I would do it by disconnecting the ride height control rods and then I could manually raise or lower the bus by reaching in and moving the lever up or down with a stick.

Brian

[Tikvah]

I not sure if this is true of every MCI, but mine and the others I have looked at have valves you can turn that empty the air bags. Again, on mine, for the rear, the two valves are on the inside fender well, on the curb side  in the rear engine compartment, for the front, two air bags, the valves are in the driver side lower compartment below the electric panel.

Wow!  I wish my bus had those - that's exactly what I need.  I have two valves for the tag axles, but not the others.
But, if I go through the work of adding valves, I'll add electronic solenoid valves to control the level when parked.

Thanks guys for all the input.  I think I'll just get a running start and hope for the best.

[Oonrahnjay]

...  I think I'll just get a running start and hope for the best. 

    That'll work!

[lostagain]

The height and weight of my bus is taped to the dash for an easy reminder. Essential info while travelling.

JC

[Tikvah]

We put kneeling systems on all our MC-9's due to drivers running over or leaving behind our boarding steps.  Easy to do; 2 way air switch on the dash plumbed through a QR valve to the front leveling valve.  You could install on the rear also to dump the whole bus.  If you want it to jump back up fast you need a recovery tank but it's not necessary, system air pressure raises it a little slower.

I'd be interested in a little more detail on this subject.  What have you folks done.  I don't need anything fancy, but I've been wanting to put tag axle air bag switches on my dash anyway.  Maybe now is the time to add some more solenoid valves with switches. 

Where do you find these?  What is suggested?

[luvrbus]

I am sure Mark has a easy way to install a kneeling system the one on my D is kind of complicated look on the MCI site for a model D kneeling system it shows the system,the thing has

4 relays
4 pressure switches
2 solenoids
2 double check valves
1 R-12 relay valve

I am trying to figure out how I can modify mine into a leveling system dropping one side or the other instead of just both sides kneeling down on the stops.I am thinking about adding another leveling on the front and I don't know for sure if that will work         

[sledhead]

sounds like its time to put in a 4 corner leveling system .
kind of simple just measure your regular on road height now then remove all lines that go into the bags and replace with 1 line for each corner that goes to a box like pic and add 1 line to add air to the system . push to remove air pull to add air

dave
http://s1280.photobucket.com/user/crane66/media/bus%20sept%2022%202014%20001_zps8djdi1pp.jpg.html 

<a href="http://s1280.photobucket.com/user/crane66/media/bus%20sept%2022%202014%20002_zpsns8n6u7k.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/a484/crane66/bus%20sept%2022%202014%20002_zpsns8n6u7k.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo bus sept 22 2014 002_zpsns8n6u7k.jpg"/></a>   

[luvrbus]

That is good but I want to keep the kneeling also I like it, no need for a step just flip a switch down it comes   

[Darkspeed]

Would not 4 double acting solenoid valves give you what you want?
Each valve could allow the bag to choose between a vent state and your existing air leveler / kneeling system.

http://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/Pneumatic_Components/Pneumatic_Valves_-a-_Accessories/General_Purpose_Solenoid_Directional_Control_Air_Valves/3-port_(3-way),_2-pos.,_Body_Ported_(AVS-3_Series)/AVS-3222-24D

http://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/Pneumatic_Components/Pneumatic_Valves_-a-_Accessories/Exhaust_Silencers/SBC-14N

Bag connects to port A
Nice bronze silencer to slow down the vent port and protect the valve from debris.