Can air system be used to get over low spot in a drive way?

Chubs bus wrote:
Do you guys always go at it like this or did you find a new friend to spar with? New to this forum, just asking! I think I have what I need. I appreciate the feedback from everyone.

Only when a new person is getting some really bad info. You can test who you should be listening to: measure the distance from the hitch to the ground and with the engine running and aired up ready to travel, raise your tag axle which will “load up” the weight on the drive axle by 6-8,000 lbs. Go measure again. Did you loose several inches of ground clearance or did the airbags go boom?

Not familiar with your leveling system but even with jacks, you usually have a air dump option on the leveling control pad. You also might have a raise option which you can manually hold on and after the rig raises up, drive across the low spot while still holding the button down.

I know better than to ask for you to post a picture of the leveling control pad…near impossible for a new person but do to: http://photoposting.is-great.net/?i=2 and select the picture. Copy and paste the resulting link into a new post. Good Luck!
PS: Welcome to the forums!

Chubs bus wrote:
Do you guys always go at it like this or did you find a new friend to spar with? New to this forum, just asking! I think I have what I need. I appreciate the feedback from everyone.

I feel I should apologize in case you where offended. I do not know how much you know about air suspension. If you know nothing, then "Boom!" could scare you. I have had a few bags leak, mostly from abrasions. The only time I have had 1 blow, driver had lift axle cranked up to carry 22000 lbs, and went straight across a ditch deep enough that when the front drive dropped in the rear drive tires hit bottom of bed, locked tires, and twisted off axle. (His last day on the job)
2 out of 3 of my air-lift tags, the lift bags got full tank pressure when truck was MT, and axle was lifted. On those, (and the spring lift) adjust the weight carried on that axle with a adjustable regulator, increase pressure more weight. A RGN I pulled some, when I had to run down a rough dirt/gravel road, I would walk to back, reach to the leveling valve, and change which hole the rod was in to keep from dragging. I assume that option is not available to you.
If you only need to use the bridge at your house, and you can go straight across, you could get by with 8 ft long board. I would think a 2X would be better than stacking plywood. But if you make something to carry with, might not want to bridge over the space between inner tires. I think most carry something to put under jacks. Could you put eye bolt on the side, tie dog leash clips on a line so they where spaced right? IMHO, you will want the bridge, no matter what you use, made so that the driver will know hit 1 side, the other can't miss.
Afterthought; For your driveway, position boards to work, use paint to mark where the need to be?

Yessir

Again, to be clear, the OP has a 2014 American Coach Revolution.

Full air suspension!

I am also a fan of boards to ease the angle of transition.

When I bought my Mountain Aire it road like a tank, simple solution was to change over to all air system and get rid of springs, went to Freightliner and ordered suspension from a FL70 and bolted it in as the mh was on a FL frame, added a air pump and tanks and can raise and lower the mh to any position I want, 60lbs in the rear and 30-50 lbs in the front, can raise and lower it about 8-10" differance depending on load or parked and it rides like a Cadilac, no problems in 19 yrs and have only seen one air bag blown in my 50 some yrs driving over the road, they are very tough bag.

Do you guys always go at it like this or did you find a new friend to spar with? New to this forum, just asking! I think I have what I need. I appreciate the feedback from everyone.

OMG, these are some of the worst statements ever: “You can easily lose several inches of ground clearance when you load 'er up” and “BOOM, the bag blows and goes flat”.
The bags are sized for the weight they will be carrying and the ride height valves will add the necessary psi to support the load at a set height. If you watch when your rig starts to raise when airing up it will be around 70 psi. If you could measure the psi when the bag was fully extended it will be aprox 90 psi…we’ll below the 120 psi our air systems build to. You can test the “90 psi” by seeing if you can raise the rig from travel height with only 90 in the tanks and the engine off.

wa8yxm wrote:
There is still a maximum pressure.
And if the unit has a leveling valve. Well you have to override it to get the rig higher than the set point.. So with a leveling valve system the answer to the OP's question is easy: NO.

Yes there is a Maximum pressure. But what is it? the pop-off on the tank will let go before the vehicle system gets to that pressure.
I don't know anything about the OP's tool or skill set, but like I posted before;

OP, I never did it but I'm sure you could plumb in a couple of solenoid valves, 1 to bypass the leveling valve, another to block the LV exhaust, and do what you want.

There is still a maximum pressure.
And if the unit has a leveling valve. Well you have to override it to get the rig higher than the set point.. So with a leveling valve system the answer to the OP's question is easy: NO.

wa8yxm wrote:

JRscooby wrote:
Lose several inches of ground clearance from load? Don't they use leveling valves on MH? I don't know RVs, but on trucks and trailers load it, rig goes down, opens valve to increase pressure to raise it back up. (My last tractor, 62 lbs of air was 34,000 on the tandem. 95 lbs, was 45,000)

You can only put so much pressure in the bags and then BOOM you flat.

The air bag works kind of like a spring in that if you put pressure on a sprint... it bends and lets you down.. Same with the air bag only there is a more complex relationship between pressure of the "load" and air pressure ... But if you exceed the maximum air pressure (The real maximum not the rated one) BOOM. the bag blows and you are flat.

So yes. you can lose several inches. Now there are other ways to do it where you'd need like 100 tons of cargo to compress. but that's goiong to give you a very rough ride and loss of control so I won't even speculate as to those methods other than say "Eliminate springs and air bags entirely" (I've worked on farm wagons like that)

But air bags are kind of like springs in that the more load you put on 'em the more they "let you down" only difference is the math is a lot harder.

For example if 100 pounds compresses a spring 1" then 200 pounds likely would compress it 2
But with an air bag if 100 pounds compressed 1" I'd expect 200 only to get to about 1 1/2.

, I have owned, driven, and maintained air suspension on tractors and trailers for millions of miles. I don't know what bags are on the OP's MH. They might be more like the puny thing that Dad put on his pickup because he overloaded it. But I assume that if they are factory installed as the suspension, they are designed to carry well over axle rating at a pressure well below the max pressure the vehicle air system is designed.

Reading what you post, I'm not sure you understand how a air-ride with a leveling valve works. MT truck, the gauge will show a low pressure, the distance frame/axle is the distance the valve is set to maintain. Add weight, frame moves a little, the valve opens, pressure increases in bag until it returns to the pre-set level More weight/more pressure. Now a sudden change in weight, like pulling out from under a trailer, or dumping a load, can cause the height to jump up.
The OP is much more likely to have issues over-extending than over pressure, unless he hooks up another compressor.