funflair
LIFE MEMBER
If you have air suspension, and I am talking more about "full air" rather than air assist or semi air what would you do if you had a problem with the pump or control side of the system and had no air, I dont think you would want to drive it far with the bags bottoming out and banging.
We have "full air" on the rear of our van and it has developed a fault where it won't drop or raise the suspension, I spoke to Mick at SAP who was good enough to point me in the direction of a VB service centre which is part of the IVECO main dealer North East Truck and Van and much closer to us as I didn't want to go all the way to Doncaster will very little air in the system. While talking to Mick he asked if we had emergency fill points on the suspension and offered to fit them for us when we were passing anyway cutting a long story short it seemed like a good idea and I decided as we were short of air it would be best if I got the pipes and valves off Mick and did the job myself to make it easier to drive to NET&V.
We were passing in the car so we called in for the bits as I had already decided that our pipework was 6mm dia, I have been wanting take off the back wheels for a long time and get the rims powder coated so this seemed like a good chance and do the pipes at the same time as the top of the air bag connection is right behind the wheels, E&P jack makes it pretty easy to get it into the air but I did invest in some heavy duty axle stands.
This is the pipe to the top of the air bag where the T piece is going to go to add the fill point (yes its going to get painted as well)
Simply cut the pipe and fit the push fit T piece adding the extra bit of pipe that you can just see is green, green for left channel and black for right channel apparently. The pipe was then just run into the garage through some existing ducting for battery cables and terminated with a Schrader valve (standard car tyre) I added a flexible pipe to this and still have to fasten in neat against the side wall just in case I ever need it again.
They other bit of black plastic pipe is coming from the right side but not terminated yet, actually I found out that if you have the older 1C rear air the two sides are interconnected and you only need one pipe and valve to fill the system, I found this out after I fitted the left side and put some air in and then cut the pipe on the right side and all the air come out again.
I always carry a bike pump so adding 50 psi was pretty easy.
A bit of Rustoleum paint and then I will go over the whole lot with Waxoyle.
Wheels powder coated and looking good so just need them back on and sort the suspension and we are there.
In conclusion I have to say that the addition of these Emergency fitting valves (you would need to do both sides on a 2C or 4C system) is a worthy addition and gives peace of mind that the van can be levelled back to road trim in the event of a failure in the automated system.
Thanks to Mick at SAP Doncaster for the idea and the bits to do it.
Martin
We have "full air" on the rear of our van and it has developed a fault where it won't drop or raise the suspension, I spoke to Mick at SAP who was good enough to point me in the direction of a VB service centre which is part of the IVECO main dealer North East Truck and Van and much closer to us as I didn't want to go all the way to Doncaster will very little air in the system. While talking to Mick he asked if we had emergency fill points on the suspension and offered to fit them for us when we were passing anyway cutting a long story short it seemed like a good idea and I decided as we were short of air it would be best if I got the pipes and valves off Mick and did the job myself to make it easier to drive to NET&V.
We were passing in the car so we called in for the bits as I had already decided that our pipework was 6mm dia, I have been wanting take off the back wheels for a long time and get the rims powder coated so this seemed like a good chance and do the pipes at the same time as the top of the air bag connection is right behind the wheels, E&P jack makes it pretty easy to get it into the air but I did invest in some heavy duty axle stands.
This is the pipe to the top of the air bag where the T piece is going to go to add the fill point (yes its going to get painted as well)
Simply cut the pipe and fit the push fit T piece adding the extra bit of pipe that you can just see is green, green for left channel and black for right channel apparently. The pipe was then just run into the garage through some existing ducting for battery cables and terminated with a Schrader valve (standard car tyre) I added a flexible pipe to this and still have to fasten in neat against the side wall just in case I ever need it again.
They other bit of black plastic pipe is coming from the right side but not terminated yet, actually I found out that if you have the older 1C rear air the two sides are interconnected and you only need one pipe and valve to fill the system, I found this out after I fitted the left side and put some air in and then cut the pipe on the right side and all the air come out again.
I always carry a bike pump so adding 50 psi was pretty easy.
A bit of Rustoleum paint and then I will go over the whole lot with Waxoyle.
Wheels powder coated and looking good so just need them back on and sort the suspension and we are there.
In conclusion I have to say that the addition of these Emergency fitting valves (you would need to do both sides on a 2C or 4C system) is a worthy addition and gives peace of mind that the van can be levelled back to road trim in the event of a failure in the automated system.
Thanks to Mick at SAP Doncaster for the idea and the bits to do it.
Martin