Side to Side Ride Height

[afrank1971]

Anyone ever have any issues with side to side ride height? Is there such a thing? On my most recent trip to the dealer (hydraulic leak) I noticed the coach seemed to be leaning toward the driver side and had them check it out. They said they did find the side to side ride height out of adjustment and adjusted it. Now the coach is better, but leaning slightly to the passenger side. Is this real, or am I chasing a phantom here?
Thanks,
Alan

[afrank1971]

Anyone ever have any issues with side to side ride height? Is there such a thing? On my most recent trip to the dealer (hydraulic leak) I noticed the coach seemed to be leaning toward the driver side and had them check it out. They said they did find the side to side ride height out of adjustment and adjusted it. Now the coach is better, but leaning slightly to the passenger side. Is this real, or am I chasing a phantom here?
Thanks,
Alan

[vicsryd]

The Freightliner FAQ only talks about front and rear ride heights adjustments. Not sure how side to side would even be adjustable.

[Pusherman]

Alan, the ride height is adjusted at each air bag (corner). So yes, you could be off from side-to-side.

There is a tolerance (+/- spec) also; if one is on the high side, and the other on the low side you could be visibly off from side to side. Call Freightliner to get the specs and tolerances. If you can't get the info, PM me and I will dig it out of my literature.

[jimandsue60]

You most likely have only 3 ride height valves, 2 on the rear and 1 on the left front.

The left rear valve will adjust the left rear and right front.

The right rear valve will adjust the right rear and left front ride height.

It is kind of complicated but I watched as mine was adjusted. When the left rear valve was adjusted the left rear ride height would go down causing the right front to go up and vica versi.

The front valve will adjust how high or low the front is allowed to ride.

Here are some more threads on this subject Ride Height

Jim

[afrank1971]

As always, you guys are a wealth of knowledge. At least I know I'm not just chasing a phantom that's in my head. Now to see if I can get it figured out... Thanks!

[vicsryd]

I took this discussion as motivation to go out and check my ride height as I thought I was looking a little high in the rear and low in the front. I checked it a year ago and it was fine.

It turns out I'm out of spec both front and rear.

Front low and unequal at 9-5/8" on the left and 9-1/4" right. Should be 10" +/- 1/4".

Rear are both 10-1/2". Web site says it's supposed to be 9-3/4" +/- 1/4" but when I talked to 1-800-FTLHelp they said for my VIN it should be 10-1/4" +/- 1/8".

Interestingly I paid big $$ for my local FL Oasis dealer to do a preferred spec alignment about 6 months ago. They are supposed to verify ride height as a part of that process.

In any case the coach has an appointment next Monday with the same dealer to correct the ride height.

[Bikeboy57]

Do you have any idea why you are getting conflicting numbers? You mentioned web site, was that the Freightliner site or the Winnie site?

Let us know what happens with the adjustment.

[Garbageman]

Jon, which FL shop are you going to? I am on the coast and need to take my coach to a good shop. For our work trucks I use the FL shop in Brooks but they are always a few weeks out for appointments.

Paul

[vicsryd]

Richard,
The conflicting numbers were from the FL (FCCC) FAQ web page linked in my first reply in this discussion versus actually talking to their help desk. I didn't ask why the numbers were different. I guess we should use the web page "as an example".

Paul,
I'm going to Portland Freightliner. They were busy but had room for me on Monday. Generally I find they have about a 10 day lead time for RV's for "scheduled maintenance" but will take care of anyone in an emergency 24x7. I'd say they are an okay shop but not great. They've gotten better over the last couple of years but as an indicator I don't take the coach there for PM any more even though they are a certified CAT and Allison service center. For chassis/engine PM I take it to Halton CAT and transmission service to the main Allison service center in these parts (Pacific Power Systems in Ridgefield).

[Garbageman]

Thanks for the reply Jon. I agree with you about Portland Freightliner. Seven years ago I had nightmare problems with them on a new truck we bought that finally ended with a letter from me to the President of Freightliner which finally got things resolved.

I have had no problems with the Freightliner shop in Brooks, OR (just north of Salem on I5).

Thanks again for your input

[vicsryd]

Paul,

I've heard Brooks is good too. What interesting is the Brooks shop is actually a branch office of Portland Freightliner.

Posting dealer feedback on the FCCC web site is an important piece of the puzzle for improved service. FCCC will beat up on the service facilites if they are not meeting Oasis requirements.

[vicsryd]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bikeboy57:
Do you have any idea why you are getting conflicting numbers? You mentioned web site, was that the Freightliner site or the Winnie site?

Let us know what happens with the adjustment. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>The adjustment was done this yesterday.

I talked to the tech who worked on the coach. He said my numbers were different than that on the FCCC web site because chassis built after some time in early 2003 have a different rear suspension (he called it ADL). So you need to contact 800-FTL-Help to find out for sure.

As I thought there is no side-to-side adjustment for the front per se as there is only one valve. Side to side is effect by adjusting the rear valves (kind of tricky when you think about it.

The tech said he raised the front so the spec height (10") is in the middle of the 3/8" difference between left and right . Left is now 10-1/4" and right is 9-7/8". The coach looked level for the first time.

I measured the rears at 10-1/2" but the tech said they were dead on at 10-1/4" when he measured it.

They checked caster after the adjustment but it was dead on. Since I had an alignment 9 months and 2000 miles ago he thinks the only thing that changed was ride height (no explanation given). Unfortunately this tweak cost me $275. My mistake was not removing the words "check alignment"� from the work order. That would have saved me $200.

What we really need is the knowledge of how to make this adjustment ourselves if we know for a fact our alignment is good. Anyone have a lead on this information?

[vicsryd]

I see in the FCOC Yahoo forum a lot of concern over owner/users having the information for adjusting ride height for fear someone might crush themselves. I know I can block the chassis and/or use the leveler jacks as a so I can do this safely. But I also understand that the information should probably not be published widely.

So if someone has the preisthood secrets to adjusting ride height please send me a private message.