Just a quick question. Yesterday the trailer I had would only run with the airbags full and the trailer at it’s highest. It was one of them with the raise/lower handles that you push in and turn to the left or right to lower or raise, but pull out to set a ride height. When setting at ride height it would raise to its highest. When stopped I would push the handle in and lower to a good ride height after unloading. The problem was that when I’d start driving again it would pop out to ride height thus raising the trailer after I’d set off again. The question being is, is that supposed to happen as I’ve never seen it before ? I can’t understand how it was coming out as the handle was fairly new and very rigid !
no it’s got a [zb]ed valve.
you shouldn’t have taken it out to be fair.
It shouldn’t do that, sounds ■■■■■■. And it should stay at the level you choose even when driving as long as the handle is pushed in and not pulled back out for its “level” setting.
Actually its the handle pulled out which will set the trailer to the normal ride height, you would push it in then turn the handle either way to manually change it.
FarnboroughBoy11:
And it should stay at the level you choose even when driving as long as the handle is pushed in and not pulled back out for its “level” setting.
no it shouldn’t, its designed to go into neutral after driving for a while, just in case the driver has forgotten to
take the valve off behind the handle, where the pipes go in and connect to the valve prob has debris in there
Was it a cast metal handle or black plastic? The cast ones are rubbish and go stiff if you dont keep them lubricated.
Cold Up North:
Was it a cast metal handle or black plastic? The cast ones are rubbish and go stiff if you dont keep them lubricated.
i had a brand new trailer with a cast valve, it packed up like this after 6 months, took the pipes off and it was white corrosion inside, contacted kelberg, sent me a new one out next day FOC and been fine since
Kerbdog:
Just a quick question. Yesterday the trailer I had would only run with the airbags full and the trailer at it’s highest. It was one of them with the raise/lower handles that you push in and turn to the left or right to lower or raise, but pull out to set a ride height. When setting at ride height it would raise to its highest. When stopped I would push the handle in and lower to a good ride height after unloading. The problem was that when I’d start driving again it would pop out to ride height thus raising the trailer after I’d set off again. The question being is, is that supposed to happen as I’ve never seen it before ? I can’t understand how it was coming out as the handle was fairly new and very rigid !
the handle is only for a loading hight setting, as stated the ride hight wont stay where you set it to once you start driving if the valve is working correctly, the ride hight valve is located under the trailer and is in most cases is a rod from the middle axle up to the valve
the rubbers that conect the rod to the valve can and do fail or fall appart with age and also the rod can corrode and snap/bend with age also, i would think this would be what was wrong in your case!
We used to have some step frame skellys a few years ago. The levelling valve was the plastic type one and pull it out to self level. They used to go to the self level position as soon as you touched the brakes.
What you also need to know is, that the brakes do not work efficiently when the air suspension isnt set right, the brake system wont know if the trailer is loaded or empty!
the valve is called a colas valve it doesnt set the hieght at wat the trl runs at there is a ride hieght valve under the trl whichis mounted above the axles to a cross member then a bar conects to the axle when you turn the colas valve this puts air in to the air bags then whenits at its maximin height the ride height valve shuts thus not allowing any more air to enter the air bagsthen turn the colas valve to lower it exhausts all the air out of the air bags when you set the colas valve to the run position it will put air in or take air out of the air bags and the ride height vave cuts in n sets the height at wat the trl runs at the rubber mounts that connect the metal rod to the axle n to the ride height valve split then the bar comes disconected so the valve doesnt work
I have to manually set the air bags higher sometimes on our double deckers as the mud guards rub on the tyres when loaded, only about half an inch or so but it doesn’t go back into the level setting once driving for me on those trailers. Never needed to do it on a straight frame so can’t comment.