Ride Height Valve Replacement - Luxury Coach Lifestyles
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Old 05-25-2011, 05:13 PM   #1
Richard and Rhonda
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Default Ride Height Valve Replacement

Over the winter I noticed that I heard hissing from one of the rear ride height valves. I knew I had an air leak. If you study the air diagram provided by Steve Bare in another thread, it will be apparent that a leak in the HCV will quickly cause you to loose supply air because the HCV is supplied directly by supply air. The leveling solenoids are AFTER or BETWEEN the HCV and the air bags. That's why your supply air can go to zero but the bags stay inflated.

The valves were made by Ridewell, but the model is no longer available and has been replaced by a new model also made by Ridewell.

Here are the things I learned during the replacement process. They may help you with this little project some day. You can read about the valve at this link. http://www.ridewellcorp.com/Web/Site.nsf/Files/HCVLit0409.pdf/$file/HCVLit0409.pdf?bcsi_scan_6E1440D72CECFFE5=384QHIGC Kyk1DUxz9jY0elzwxj9RAAAARBJbCg==&bcsi_scan_filenam e=HCVLit0409.pdf
It is available from many sources on line.

First the existing valves use through bolts to fasten the valve to the frame. There are nuts on the back of those bolts, so you do have to access the nuts to get the original valve loose. You will find this a challenge unless your arms are nine feet long. I jacked up the coach and blocked it of course. I ended up sitting up behind the rear duallies so that I could snake my wrench to the nuts. Remember how you do this, because you will have to do it to reattach the new valve. The new valves don't use through bolts. They use studs that slide into the back of the valve. No fear, the studs line up with the old holes.

Second thing is the air supply line is the one on TOP of the existing valve. Mark it, or you will have to pressurize the system to identify which one is the supply line.

Third thing is the new valves have 3/8 push in fittings. My coach had 1/4 tubing going to the HCV, so I had to fab an adaptor. I used male female DOT fittings I sourced from McMaster Carr to do this.

Fourth thing. Get all the air lines attached BEFORE you bolt the valve to the chassis. It's a lot easier that way. Trust me.

Fifth thing, study the black dial on the new valve carefully. You can spin it 360 degrees. Alignment in one direction causes raise and lower with up and down movement of the rod. It is opposite for the other side (right vs left) Look carefully at this feature and figure it out before attaching the action arm to the valve. Easiest thing to remember is that if the arm is pointing down, you want the black disc to be exhausting air. If you find you are backwards from this on the side you are working on, rotate the black dial 180 degrees.

5.5 thing, the front HCV needs a tee to split into both sides. The old valve has two ports, the new one only one, so plan both for the tee and conversion from 3/8 to 1/4 tubing.

Sixth thing, replace one, replace them all. I knew one was cracked, another had a crack that just started.

Seventh thing, utitlize a helper, preferably one with nine foot long arms that doesn't mind crawling under the coach multiple times.

Eighth thing. GOOP is wonderful at removing grease from your hands, and face, and hair ( oh wait I don't have hair, so your head)

Have fun.
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Old 05-26-2011, 07:17 PM   #2
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Excellent post- Thank you Richard

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Old 05-27-2011, 04:39 AM   #3
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Richard......an entertaining, informative "how to" post.....thank you, as always we are in your debt.
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Old 09-29-2011, 07:50 PM   #4
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Default Ride Height Valve Excitement

This seems like a good place to add my adventure with ride height valves. A little over a year ago I had the right rear ride height valve fail in such a way it leaked system air when parked, and lots of it. I was a very new Newell owner at that time and was not comfortable tackling the job on my own. I called and emailed a local truck repair service and was assured they replaced ride height valves all the time and could adapt a universal valve to my vehicle as I had already been told my Newell the original was no longer available. The two good old boys showed up and after some starts and stops and runs to the hardware store proclaimed the job done. Call them if I had any trouble, they said.

Fast forward until this week when I was pulling out from fueling up at a local station. I had checked the place out earlier and thought I could maneuver the bus there. I had planned on full the bags as I exited to deal with a little slope from the station to the road. All when well until I was slowly making the right turn onto the road when a police car came blasting out of the other exit at the station and seemed he needed the outside lane which I had planned on using to complete the turn. I cut it a little sharp and caught the edge of the small curb with the rear wheels, but I was raised and it was only a small bump and on I went.
About 3 miles down the road I was passed by a professional driver honking and waving frantically in my direction. Not a good thing and fortunately I had a wide firm shoulder and I pulled over and smelled burning rubber the moment I came to a stop. Burst air bag or blow tire were my first thoughts. When I got out the right rear body was on the tire and had cut a nice little groove in my regoovable tire - drive axle. No other damage was evident and the groove was shallow. Now what to do.
I did not hear any air exhausting so maybe the bag was okay. I hit the HWH raise button and watched the coach raise away from the tire. Figured at that point it was a problem with the "new" ride height valve and decided I was only 10 miles from "home" and devised a plan to get there. I used the HWH controls in manual to get to a reasonable drive height. I then unplugged both rear travel solenoids to trap the air in the bags at that level. I then put the HWH into travel mode and waited some time to be sure everything was holding as I wanted. The drive was uneventful and I arrived safely.
I then raised the coach fully to stand and stare at the leveling valve. If you look at the first picture, that is what I saw. You will notice that the leveling rod is straight up and down, not off to one side. You guessed it, when I bumped over the curb the rod rotated to the other ( wrong ) side of the valve and exhausted all the air from the bags. The real root problem was that the rod the guys used was just too short and instead of getting what they needed, they left me with a time bomb.
I purchased a rod and mandrel to bend the 3/4" loop in the end from the Home Depot and replaced the one that was too short. At that point my biggest concern was that the new one not be too long and contact the wheel well when the coach was in the lowest position. I think I added 2 1/2" and used maybe 3/4 of that to achieve a nice angle when raised and get the correct ride height. I know all about the grease Michael was talking about now but saved myself a roadside service call or a tow.
If you are still reading along, take a look at the last picture. That's my vise I carry for just this kind of thing. Very handy!
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Old 11-22-2011, 05:20 AM   #5
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does anyone know the partnumber of the ridewell valve that is in my 2002?

i know richard said they dont make the one that was in his and i wonder when they changed to the new ridewell extreme air hcl valves?

is is the dump or non dump version?

would be nice if someone knew the old part number and the new one.

thanks

tom
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Old 11-22-2011, 12:00 PM   #6
Richard and Rhonda
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Tom
Can you dump air from the control panel? Probably not I would guess. The difference between the dump and STD versions is the dump valve has an extra port on the valve exhaust side. I had one dump valve unintentionally and I had to fab a plug for the port

The part number should be in the link in my original post. I don't know the part number of the original part. As far as which one is on your ride, the old ones are black, the new ones are blue
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Old 08-20-2012, 05:11 AM   #7
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I want to provide an update to this post. After I installed the blue Ridewell universall replacement ride height valves, I noticed that my air compressor seemed to be cycling a lot more. By more I mean cycling every two miles or so. It didn't do it unless the coach was moving. I also noticed my supply side air guage would seem to bounce when I hit a bump. Hmmmmmm. Could it be that these valves were misadjusted or something else. I have been known to make a mess of things.

Fast forward. A talk with an engineer at Ridewell confirmed that they had changed the design of the valve to be fast responding. It adds air quickly and dumps air quickly at the slightest misadjustmet in height. He said that I need the GREY bodied Slo Response Valve. A Ha.

Seeing that those didn't seem to exist on the internet for purchase, I used an alternative valve from http://heightcontrolvalve.com. I ordered the standqrd deadband, delayed response valve. They are different for right and left, and make sure you tell the person you need 1/4 quick connect fittings since they normally come with SAE threads. The guy told me that Newell used these valves at one time. And, by the way, they are half the cost of the Ridewells and all metal in construction.

After an afternoon spent under the coach, think greasy and nasty, I can say the excessive air use is gone. It was the Ridewell valves.
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Old 08-20-2012, 02:02 PM   #8
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Richard,

Great post! I have an appointment with Newell on Sept 24 for a front end alignment. I think I will order 3 of these HCV and have them changed after the front end is done.

Thanks for the update.
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