| [GMCnet] One ton front end 3500 miles later [message #151076] |
Wed, 30 November 2011 10:50  |
Gerald Work
Messages: 102
Registered: June 2010
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All good, no down side, great handling, really outstanding braking. The side to side wobble on turning acceleration I originally thought might be related to the wider front wheel base turned out to be a loose axle nut on one side. Don't know why, but it was not fully torqued. I must have missed that on assembly as I don't think those things can loosen on their own. Coach is noticeably more stable in wind, even though our coach handled and drove well before we made this change and I initially didn't think I felt much difference. The difference is real. On this trip (so. Oregon to Santa Cruz, CA - 1000 miles round trip) we hit high winds going down the coast which previously would have made speed limit travel uncomfortable. Not so this time. Also less white knuckle stuff on the very narrow roads through SF on the way to the Golden Gate bridge and through parts of the Redwoods. The coach holds lane better and returns to center more readily if you do wander out of the lane
a bit. The ride is a bit softer up front likely from the spaced out front wheels putting more leverage on the torsion bars.
Our 78 Royale requires 91 psi in the stock rear bags to maintain proper ride height with the front at the factory height setting. I will be experimenting this week with air bag raisers to see how much lower the air pressure can be and still run at factory ride height. If that gets down to around 80 psi then there will be plenty of rise leveling range with the wireless air controller. More on that later, but for now the 3500 mile report card on Manny's version of the one ton front end is all A's. Highly recommended.
Jerry
Sent from my iPad
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| Re: [GMCnet] One ton front end 3500 miles later [message #151090 is a reply to message #151076] |
Wed, 30 November 2011 12:22  |
voodoolng
Messages: 40
Registered: February 2004
Location: Colo
Karma: 0
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I thought I'd better post back on this. I to after 2000 mile had a loose axle nut. I though I didn't tighten it also. I jacked up my coach and noticed one wheen had a little free play. I was sure I had torqued the nuts.
My thought here is the higher pressure compaired to a pickup that the nut may bew working loose as the bearing race spread apart from the press of the frt wheel drive and weight.
I will be checking mine before every trip. I may even put a locking nut on top of the original. Jimmys are pinned for safety.
73 Glacier Voodoo lounge
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| Re: [GMCnet] One ton front end 3500 miles later [message #151181 is a reply to message #151076] |
Thu, 01 December 2011 10:03 |
glwgmc
Messages: 1014
Registered: June 2004
Karma: 10
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Senior Member |
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Hi Richard,
I don't recall the name of the company right now but it is the one Jim K. sells. It comes with a small 12vdc compressor that I thought would be too slow for use in our coaches and it is only rated at 30% duty cycle. As described in the posting about the wireless air 3500 miles later, I used a Senco 120vac compressor running off an inverter because it is available anywhere for $100 +-, is much faster than the small pump, comes with a tank and fits right into the stock location on my 78 Royale. I removed the air pressure switch on the Senco unit and wired 120vac from the inverter to the Senco unit through the relay supplied with the wireless unit. When the wireless manifold calls for air, it turns on the Senco compressor, draws air out of the tank and into the air bags and turns the Senco off when the air pressure in the bags and tank reach the set pressure. The tank acts as a surge protector so the output from the compressor does not overwhelm the small orifices in the wi
reless manifold. I would recommend (as does tech support for the company) a tank for use with the larger 12vdc compressors as well. I did not want to run a key-on sense wire all the way back to where my compressor is so instead installed a simple toggle switch to turn on/off 12vdc power to the wireless manifold. It remains on for the duration of our trip. The compressor rarely comes on and then only for 10 seconds or so.
Since you are leveling only by air pressure, it takes a short time to get used to how much the height will change for a given change in air pressure. Once you do, it is easy to get the coach level in most situations. I really like the one button go-to-dump-attitude and the one button return-to-ride-height when you are ready to roll. Lowering the coach is slower than the stock set up because of the small orifices in the wireless manifold but raising the coach seems to be about as fast or even a bit faster since the air tank is always up to set pressure and the 120vac Senco has more output than any of the stock air compressors. The wireless air manifold will "only" go up to 100psi so with stock air bags that will limit up travel on heavier coaches like ours where it takes 110psi or so to reach full up. I will be experimenting this week with air bag risers to see how much lower the ride height air pressure will be with those installed. if they will drop the ride height pre
ssure to around 80psi as I suspect they will, then that will provide 20psi of up travel head room which should be plenty.
The only "damn" I can find is the wireless manifold is hard wired to support the 30% duty cycle of the little supplied 12vdc compressor. That means the wireless manifold will only turn on the relay that drives the compressor for three minutes out of each ten minute cycle. That is not an issue in any normal situation, but would be if you want to bring fully deflated air bags up to ride height pressure.
If anything in your stock system is problematic or leaking, then this wireless air system is a really good upgrade. It will provide more reliability (fewer moving parts and they are all new except for the air bags and the two air lines that go from the bags to the wireless manifold), easy to obtain replacements while on the road (if you use something like the Senco 120vac compressor that is available at any big box store in the country), and an easy way to check or set air pressure in each bag independently from a remote control unit whether stationary or going down the road. You can eliminate all the air hose, switches, solenoids, valves, level controllers, etc. and replace it all with one new compressor and one wireless manifold. Installation takes only a half hour or so plus the time to remove all the other stuff you no longer need.
Jerry
Jerry Work
The Dovetail Joint
Fine furniture designed and hand crafted in the 1907 former Masonic Temple building in historic Kerby, OR
Visitors always welcome!
glwork@mac.com
http://jerrywork.com
541-592-5360
Founder of the Southern Oregon Guild
www.southernoregonguild.org
Member of the Siskiyou Guild
www.siskiyouguild.org
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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:57:14 -0600
From: Richard <bukzin@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [GMCnet] One ton front end 3500 miles later
To: gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org
Message-ID: <24e2d.4ed66e7a@gmc.mybirdfeeder.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-15"
Jerry,
Which version of the wireless air system did you install?
Anything you might do differently?
Thanks
Bukzin
--
Bukzin
1977 Palm Beach
Chico California
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Jerry & Sharon Work
78 Royale
Kerby, OR
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