I need to come up with a way of adjusting my ride height (up) to get into different places as my new conversion is very low in the rear , and I can not just raise the ride heights since that causes vibration (drive line) and then I would be over over 13' 6" tall ! any ideas???

Couple of month ago there was a thread here (I think it mainly was about Kingsley) where the guys discussed that issue. Just raising the rear to get over curbs and dips and stuff like that.

Maybe your lucky and one of the same guys chips in here or you can find that old thread.

Walter

quote:

Originally posted by fastlap:
I need to come up with a way of adjusting my ride height (up) to get into different places as my new conversion is very low in the rear , and I can not just raise the ride heights since that causes vibration (drive line) and then I would be over over 13' 6" tall ! any ideas???

fastlap
i will build a Pete 387 conversion for a friend soon; im also thinking about a adjuster so he can rise the rear for clearing his driveway and for reaching "off road" camping spots in the dunes/desert.
my idea (im still working on it so it is not final) is to replace the solid autolevel air valve framemount with a swinging "bellcrank" with a spring to hold it secure in "low" position. i was thinking to move the valve in the "high" position by a small electric linear trunk actuator (like you see in hotrods)
install a el switch and warning indicator in the dash and bingo; higher (self leveled) ride by the flick of a switch.
could also be a little air actuator with a air switch in the dash....

spooner , I just ordered a pnuematic air cyl (tiny) with a 4.5 inch stroke spring return (internal) and I will use this in place of the connecting rod and actuate it with my old air ride fifth wheel line which is still attached to the frame and connected to the dash switch and that should do what I am looking for ! thanks for the input T

You could also do what I have done. I plumbed my existing Air Slide 5th wheel line into the air bag supply line with a check valve. When I want more height I just flip the switch and wait for the extra air to raise the bags. Now the ride height valve is still deflating the bags but the input is greater so for a short time period I am letting in more than is escaping thus giving me more height and when I am done I flip the switch the other way and the ride height valve does the rest.
Wick

Silly question, how much extra height are we talking about?

2,5,10 inches? I guess fastlap mentioned 4.5

Walter

The back end dragging is one of the arguments that I had with the folks at Showhauler. They told me that NOBODY complains about it. No matter how careful a driver you are, there are situations in everyday driving where you drive down a steep driveway followed by a high crowned street. I do my best to avoid these situations, but sometimes you're there and there isn't anyway around it. Why does Showhauler as well as just about everyone else make their rigs in this fashion? I'm currently reworking the back end of my garagecoach. I had WMF (Showhauler's basement door manufacturer) build two tapered doors for me. They only charged me about $20-$50 above the cost of a standard door. I thought that was more than reasonable considering the fact that there was drafting work and change orders involved. My new doors start at the same height as the standard doors, but taper upwards 6 inches. I'm almost done with the job and it looks great! I had to weld new supports for the boxes. I also had to cut the old boxes apart, remove about 6 inches of sheetmetal from them and reweld them back together again. This would have been so simple when the rig was being manufactured, but of course, Showhauler knows best. God forbid that they make a change! I'll send some pics to Lonnie and if I'm in the area might stop by and show off my work, but I don't forsee them making any changes. It's frustrating and like talking to the wall sometimes. Good luck on everyone elses ideas for resolving this particular problem that should be taken care of at the factory during the design stage. But of course, they say that NOBODY complains about dragging the ass end and thus causing damage.

Its hard to believe that know one complains about this issue ! I was told the very same thing , but I believe I complained enough for everyone !
Its stupid , & almost all of the low end camper people caught on 10 years ago when they started to raise the tails of their rigs quite a bit and started to pay attention to ground clearance
Now I can flip a switch and get 20" at the tail which is 7'5" from the rear axel !
Its still not enough in the real world and I have to be carefull in some areas , but it is a lot better than the 12" that I have normaly !
WHen I picked up my rig in Indiana the very first trip of 8 miles I wiped out my electric steps pulling out of a local pizza hut !
the problem that I explained to the company is Indiana roads and entrances are flat when compared to Rural new york mountains ! I guess it is not going to change till the masses start to bitch !

It's probably more like:
"If you get us to fix your bumper-scraping problem, then EVERYBODY'S gonna want us to fix theirs too! And we just CAN'T have THAT!"
Or something like that....

Fastlop,
I have been considering the same solution on my project that you mentioned in this post.

quote:

spooner , I just ordered a pnuematic air cyl (tiny) with a 4.5 inch stroke spring return (internal) and I will use this in place of the connecting rod and actuate it with my old air ride fifth wheel line which is still attached to the frame and connected to the dash switch and that should do what I am looking for ! thanks for the input T

Can you tell me where you got the cylinder with part numbers and the like? I would like to learn more about how you solved this issues...

Diagrams or pictures would be great

Thanks

Jim