Level air suspension when loaded heavy on one side.

Discussion in 'Flatbed Trucking Forum' started by Mach, Sep 29, 2021.

  1. Mach

    Mach Light Load Member

    164
    79
    Nov 19, 2017
    Knoxville Tennessee
    0
    I run a expedite single axle flatbed straight truck with air ride rear. Got a load on me going from Florida to New Jersey that is some kind of milling machine. The machine is 7 feet wide and weighs around 5 to 6k lbs. Problem is all the weight is all on the driver side. I got the machine sitting as much off center to the passenger side as I can to get the weight close to the center of the bed, but it's still not the best. My air suspension is leveling properly on the heavy side but it's causing the light side to Inflate to about 2 to 3 inches higher than normal ride height and thus cause the truck to wobble over large bumps due to the differences in bag pressure

    Is there a way to drain air out of the over inflated bag to sorta level out the lean? It's drive able but looks weird and could be an easy "hey inspect me mister dot man" kind of impression. Picture is attached but looks worse than it is. Drained there air when I parked and re inflated it to take the picture. Not enough air pressure to fill the left bag but enough to fill the right lol. So in this picture the right is about 5 inches higher but y'all get the idea. I didn't feel like starting the truck just to build air
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Sep 30, 2021
    OLDSKOOLERnWV Thanks this.
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. kylefitzy

    kylefitzy Road Train Member

    3,996
    16,444
    Aug 12, 2007
    Kansas city,Mo
    0
    You could put a ball valve at the right side air bag. Dump the air, start filling and when it gets to normal height shut the valve off. That would be an okay temporary fix
     
    Patriot_Bearing_Supply and stwik Thank this.
  4. AModelCat

    AModelCat Road Train Member

    27,709
    145,170
    Jul 7, 2015
    Canuckistan
    0
    Dual levelling valves.

    Right now you most likely have a single valve that fills both sides to equal pressure. Heavy side will always sag more

    With dual levelling valves, there's a levelling valve on each side of the frame. The valves work indepenent of each other, so the heavy side will have more air and the lighter side would be fed less air.


    Right now there isn't really anything you can do to level it out.
     
  5. Mach

    Mach Light Load Member

    164
    79
    Nov 19, 2017
    Knoxville Tennessee
    0
    I like that idea of duel level valves. Might be my next little project.

    Overall I just rolled with it. Wasn't that bad but if the road banked the wrong way then I'm sure it looked weird from behind. In Richmond now.
     
    OLDSKOOLERnWV Thanks this.
  6. OLDSKOOLERnWV

    OLDSKOOLERnWV Captain Redbeard

    16,587
    245,812
    Nov 29, 2011
    West Virginia
    0
    The 1984 AT64F Autocar I use to drive years ago had leveling valves on both sides. The idea was to dump one side and inflate the other in a curve to keep the load level. Since the valves exhausted slowly it didn’t always work the best……
     
  7. Rontonio

    Rontonio Road Train Member

    6,064
    43,605
    Aug 9, 2009
    0
    that is the same set up my 2021 neway suspension uses - left and right leveling valves

    or I should say used to have

    I had to convert mine back to a single valve to run a proportioning valve for my lift axle.
     
    beastr123, kylefitzy and OLDSKOOLERnWV Thank this.
  8. kranky1

    kranky1 Road Train Member

    2,253
    8,843
    Sep 16, 2015
    Ontario, Canada
    0
    Not sure about the Autocars but I know we used to swap out KW valves for Neways and that cured the 2 valve 4bag trucks.
     
    beastr123 Thanks this.
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.