Remove leveling valves - install manual system

[chessie4905]

As long as I have air, no need for solenoids or any electrical components.

[sledhead]

HwH is a leveling system that uses the air bags that come on the coach and not a hydraulic jack system and there should not be any flexing of the body as it uses the same air bags that is part of the suspension of the coach . not like the system on a low end s/s motor home like a old Coachman

I agree a simple air system is all you need . buy do what ever makes you happy

dave

[richard5933]

OK - I need some help understanding how this thing is working/not working.

Took the bus to a local resort area for a one-night shakedown cruise last weekend. It sat perfectly level (parallel to the road) all the way there and back, and while parked in the Walmart lot sat just as I expect it to.

The slab at home is slightly askew - out of level in both directions. The drain at the downhill end of the slab is located at one corner, so the whole thing is sloped towards that corner with a few inches of drop diagonally across the slab from the upper corner to the opposite lower corner.

When I got home I parked the bus like I normally do. The high corner of the bus is the driver's side front corner, and the slope of the slab puts the curbside rear corner in the downhill position.

As normal, when parked on our wonky slab the curbside of the bus sat about 1/2" closer to the slab than the driver's side. It seemed like the leveling valves just couldn't quite figure out how to adjust themselves to the wonky slab.

Then came the problem. I had to reseal the black tank discharge valve, so I needed to turn the bus around so that the curbside was now parked towards the higher side of the slab. This involved a few back-and-forths on our sloped gravel back lot and then reparking on the slab. Ideally the bus would sit parallel to the slab, but since it's wonky I wasn't expecting it to be perfect. At the worst, I expected the same 1/2" problem as before, but towards the opposite side.

When I got done parking and the bus finished trying to adjust itself, the side of the bus which is now on the downhill side of the slab now sits a full 1" closer to the slab than the uphill side.

What would cause the bus to bring the downhill side of the bus closer to the slab than the uphill side? It really seems that the system just gets confused and doesn't know what it's supposed to do when parked on our wonky slab.

The rear leveling valves were replaced (twice - once here in Milwaukee and then again in Luke's shop last fall just to be sure they were good). Bill inspected the entire system and couldn't find any problems.

Is this just a quirk of the system trying to level after parking, or is there an actual problem?

[buswarrior]

Stock valve function is not to "level".

They are to set and maintain the ride height between axle and body.

If the slab leans, so too shall the axles, and so too shall the body.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[buswarrior]

But all this is acting on a rubber balloon, with rubber radius rod bushings, with uneven loading of the weight in the coach...

There's room for squirm here, if you are using a micrometer.

I can assure you, no bus mechanic is using one for suspension adjustments.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[richard5933]

But all this is acting on a rubber balloon, with rubber radius rod bushings, with uneven loading of the weight in the coach...

There's room for squirm here, if you are using a micrometer.

I can assure you, no bus mechanic is using one for suspension adjustments.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

Would the bus being 1" closer to the pavement on the downhill side than the uphill side still be within normal variance? Seems more than an micrometer here.

The bus sits perfectly parallel to the ground on level ground. Put it on a side-to-side slope and it exaggerates the slope by dropping on the downhill side.

Or, is the 'squirm' of the rubber air bags and rubber bushings allowing enough sideways movement towards the downhill side of the slope that it's affecting the relative position of the leveling valve arm in relationship to the body/axle?

[luvrbus]

The HWH Active Air only works with a bus with the computerized chassis don't do like I did and rush out and buy 1  it even reads the steering.You can solve building a system with Norgern or Humphery valves between the bags run wires not tubing base it on the low and high level the new buses are using
   

[richard5933]

The HWH Active Air only works with a bus with the computerized chassis don't do like I did and rush out and buy 1  it even reads the steering.You can solve building a system with Norgern or Humphery valves between the bags run wires not tubing base it on the low and high level the new buses are using

Not sure I understand. HWH wasn't on my radar as an option. I want to keep things as simple as possible, but still be able to have the bus ride parallel to the pavement.

Usually this is only a problem parked on a sloped pavement, but on the way home from Luke's we had a problem where the bus seemed to want to exaggerate the slope of the road by dropping the body on the low side of the road. Very frustrating since Bill had just spent hours working on this.

When we got home my local shop was able to get things set right, but it still acts up from time to time (like today).

[luvrbus]

Not sure I understand. HWH wasn't on my radar as an option. I want to keep things as simple as possible, but still be able to have the bus ride parallel to the pavement.

Usually this is only a problem parked on a sloped pavement, but on the way home from Luke's we had a problem where the bus seemed to want to exaggerate the slope of the road by dropping the body on the low side of the road. Very frustrating since Bill had just spent hours working on this.

When we got home my local shop was able to get things set right, but it still acts up from time to time (like today).

The reason I mention it was because HWH built the manual system for old buses and air bag RV's that is what most people are copying here but HWH no longer sales the kit  only the Active Air. That kit with the gauges and all the hardware from HWH for the manual leveling system was only $600.00 I installed one on my MCI 8 .You still can take 2 Norgren 3 way slider valves,a little wiring 2 -3 way toggle switches and build that system for 250 bucks

[chessie4905]

Richard, pull the coach on to plank stubs to compensate for the your screwed up pad, till the tires are on level. If that fixes it, get a dozer and fix the pad.