Air Suspension Problem

Discussion in 'Trucks [ Eighteen Wheelers ]' started by Dirty-Low-Walker, Mar 6, 2014.

  1. Dirty-Low-Walker

    Dirty-Low-Walker Medium Load Member

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    Dec 17, 2013
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    I have a 99 W900L with the AG 400 suspension hooked to a 55 ton Talbert lowboy trailer, sometimes after loading the trailer and hooking back up to the trailer the suspension won't air up.
    Just yesterday it took 10 minutes before it aired up after raising and lowering the trailers gooseneck and moving the truck/trailer and charging the brakes to make the compressor run the air up to 120psi.
    I also noticed that sometimes going down the road loaded the tractor feels like the suspension isn't fully inflated "truck leans" or feels like it is leaning.
    I always drain the air system at the end of the day and the air dryer filter has been replaced, i purchased a new leveling valve but i didn't want to replace it until i posted this problem.
    Keep in mind this is my first air ride tractor, i have only had Mack trucks with camel back suspension before this.
    Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
     
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  3. grizzly

    grizzly Medium Load Member

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    Aug 27, 2008
    Layton, Ut
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    Sounds like a leveling valve problem to me. Replace it. It should only be about $60 and takes about 20 minutes to replace.
     
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  4. Yogibear

    Yogibear Light Load Member

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    Nov 4, 2008
    Bristol, Florida
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    It is probably the leveling valve, if you replace it be careful with the linkage if it is adjustable. The wrong ride height can mess up a lot of parts.
     
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  5. GrapeApe

    GrapeApe Road Train Member

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    Jan 7, 2013
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    Probably the leveling valve. When you flip the switch in the dash, do you hear the air dump out of the switch? I've seen the switches go bad, if it wont let the pressure out of the dump line, the leveling valve will stay in "dump" mode. You can check that easy eough by pulling the dump line off the leveling valve and operating it with a rubber tipped blow gun.

    On our trailers, there is a low pressure switch that shuts down the air to the suspension under 60 psi. I've seen those act up as well. In that case, the supply to the leveling valve had no pressure.

    Just some other things to check, it's most likely the leveling valve itself going bad.
     
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  6. Dirty-Low-Walker

    Dirty-Low-Walker Medium Load Member

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    Dec 17, 2013
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    Yogibear, thank you, i looked up a thread about adjustment settings on the ag 400, very informative!

    GrapeApe, thank you, didn't know that the trailer had a valve that did that.
    The dump valve in the tractor works fine as far as dumping the air, when i first started using this tractor i would dump the air in the tractor before disconecting the trailer from the gooseneck and air it back up as i pulled away from the trailer so the eyes on the gooseneck have ground clearance, never had to wait for the tractors suspension to air up, dumped or not, its when the trailer is reconnected to the gooseneck with weight on it the suspension doesn't compensate for the weight and the air bags flatten out.
     
  7. Rooivalkpilot

    Rooivalkpilot Bobtail Member

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    Jan 16, 2014
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    when you have a air bag on one side of the trailer that leak you sometimes will find the one side of the trailers air bags don't inflate at all.
    the leveling valve shuts the low pressure side off when there is aleak. took me a while to sort this one out. but to test change the air pipes of l/h and r/h on leveling valve around. you will find the same problem. CHECK AIR LEAKS , hey might be hearable when loaded. try put air into the air bags , bypass the leveling valve to check for leaks on air bags.
     
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