I have a 57 plate FH 480, It’s a decent motor but one annoying problem is the mid-lift, when it’s down it doesn’t seem to do much, with medium loads (15-20tonne) the mid is constantly locking up and doesn’t steer, with a full load (22tonne +) it works absolutely fine. . This to me doesn’t make sense, as all the weight is generally in front of the trailer wheels, the sliding fifth wheel is positioned correctly too.
This is the ‘manual’ version ie you have to press the button to raise or lower (you do get a flashing warning though when the lift needs to be down) it’s not auto like on our newer FH’s.
Could this be tyre pressure issue? or is there something I’m missing being a noob? We have an axle weigh-bridge near us is it worth taking on to see what the mid is actually carrying?
We had one of our FH mid-lift units reprogrammed (+ updates/downloads etc) at the Volvo dealers - they can also adjust the suspension parameters and it made a big difference, but it was knocking on for £300.00
Did you mention your axle steered? I wasn’t aware any Volvo’s did that, but happy to be corrected.
GCR2ERF:
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Did you mention your axle steered? I wasn’t aware any Volvo’s did that, but happy to be corrected.
My bad, I think ,I could have sworn I’ve seen it steering when down One of ours definitely is steered but that was bought 2nd hand.
Did it again today, with ~24 tonne on (only 250kg on h/board though), put it up put it back down, still locking even in the dry. Gonna defect it & let the workshop work it out. £300 on reprogramming is still cheaper than a set of new boots.
which position are you pressing the switch as it has 3 positions, top position axle up,middle pos axle down,bottom pos axle down with air dumped, if you run in this position the axle will lock up!
the mid lift will come down on its own when you get 11ton + on the pin as with all fh/fm unless its been tweeked to stay up fully loaded
the fh wont need to be that new to have an auto mid lift i have a 52 reg one and the axle comes down on it’s own on that, it has been a long time since mid lifts were manual only
Cheers Moose, there’s deffo something wrong then as it doesn’t come down automatically, I had ~26t of Vimto on today and it wouldn’t play nicely at first, left it in the capable hands of the workshop. I worked out the switch for myself on the other unit I had (steered mid, with weight transfer option too), I thought this one being older might be different, either that or I think I’m going mad as it never seems to do the same thing twice.
but one annoying problem is the mid-lift, when it’s down it doesn’t seem to do much, with medium loads (15-20tonne) the mid is constantly locking up and doesn’t steer, with a full load (22tonne +) it works absolutely fine. 
. This to me doesn’t make sense, as all the weight is generally in front of the trailer wheels, the sliding fifth wheel is positioned correctly too.