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Leveling And The Air System

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I have an American Coach Allegiance with a Power Gear hydraulic only levelingsystem. On my system, I dump the air, level and put the slides out, in that order...per the manual.
The problem appears to be once I remove my finger from the air dump switch, the air system starts filling up again. By the time I get level and the slides out, the air has raised the coach so than the front jacks are off the ground.

I tried holding the air dump switch down while leveling and putting the slides out, but that doesn't work much better.


Two other AC owners (with different model coaches) have told me their coaches dump the air once they push the "Auto Level" mode of the Power Gear controller to extend the jacks and does not start refilling the system until the jacks are brought back up.


Any assistance appreciated.

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Only explanation (I can think of) is the air ride is not empty of air or is charging/adding air pressure to the system. In the average system, the air ride will continue to level until it is too low on pressure to lift. Example: if the air bags were flat and you add air pressure to the tank(s), the air ride will start leveling again. I assume your compressor only runs when the engine is running or does it have an independent compressor?

When dumping air, does it seem to empty and stop hissing?

Might try dump air, wait a minute, dump more air, try leveling.

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Allegiance, sounds like the auto-level funtion is not engaging when you push the button, or the level sensor(s) are causing an issue.

What model power gear system do you have? and have you tried to reset the control board?

Rich

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I did more research last night, and it is operating as it should...as soon as I release the air dump valve, it starts pumping air again. To answer your questions:

- The system appears to empty when I push the air dump valve (coach settles) and it stops hissing.

- The auto level is definitely engaging and it levels fine, to including getting a solid green light...except sometimes the two front jacks are in the air.

- The PG model is Touch Pad# 140-1226.

- Haven't reset anything.

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Just to make sure I am following right, if you dump air until it stops hissing and then let off the dump button, the air ride lifts the coach back to ride height??

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You are basically correct. When I release the air dump valve, the system starts pumping air again. The coach does not get all the way up to ride height before I get through leveling, putting the slides out and turning the PG off. As I said earlier, according to my manuals, that's the way it is designed to work. Other AC models operate differently...when they push the "Auto Level" button (there is no air dump switch), the system dumps the air, levels and does not start pumping air again until the jacks come up.

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Do you use the manual button on the PG control to dump the air?

If you use the auto button does it do the same thing?

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There is no dump button on the PG controller. The air dump is a separate switch on the instrument panel. The auto switch on the PG controller levels only and has nothing to do with the air system. That is how my system is different from the other AC models as noted above.

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OK. Might be getting somewhere.

http://support.powergearus.com/techdocs/82-L0506.pdf

Reference pages 19 & 20 which show your controller. There is an axillary harness that controls the air ride. If your control has that harness, then my thought would be the PG control should dump the air and there is a blown fuse, bad connection, etc.. If the harness is not there then there would need to be another way for you to prevent the air ride from lifting.

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Thanks for your help, you've been doing some serious research. We are on the road, and plan to be on the road for another couple of weeks. I'm hesitant to do any serious trouble shooting when we need the leveling system, but will when we get home. Thanks again.

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Always enjoyed a good mystery. I could not find that manual or any decent info on PG website, but when I Googled "power gear air dump diagram", it was the first result. Hope it helps.

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