Air bag dump

pidoma · 03-02-2017, 01:18 AM

I have a 2008 40' Charleston, I was told I need to dump the air out of the aid bags before lowering the leveling jacks. I can't find a switch to dump the air. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong.

dan-nickie · 03-02-2017, 11:44 AM

When you hit the auto level button you should hear and feel the air going out of the bags and the coach lowering itself. Only after it lowers itself will the Jacks begin to operate and level the coach.

pidoma · 03-03-2017, 04:32 PM

I do hear a quick SWOOSH but now enough to lower the bags, no change in level. Is this the way it should be?

dan-nickie · 03-03-2017, 04:51 PM

You should feel the entire coach lowering itself. Are you sure you're hitting the Auto level rather than Manual leveling?

dan-nickie · 03-03-2017, 04:53 PM

Of course first the coach engine will have to be run for a while to get the airbags filled.

rickkey2 · 03-04-2017, 09:38 AM

Hi pidoma I have a 2007 Charleston 40QS and I have questioned the same thing. I have talked to Freightliner and Forest River was told that on mine that they call it Auto Dump. Now it does not dump and then the jacks level the coach but as the jacks lift the coach it pulls down on the air bag valve levers ( two on the rear and one in the front ) and releases the air. This is so the air bags are not full when the coach weight is taken off the suspension. You will notice that when you raise your jacks that the coach will sit very low with the wheels tucked up in the wheel wells and as air builds up that the bags will lift the coach back up to normal height. I wish I had a dump lever in the drivers area but no such luck. What I do is is use manual to lift the coach enough to deflate the air bags, if you get out and listen by the wheel well you can here the air escaping. As this is going on I pull a few things out of the basement, hook up my water ect... I then go back inside and put level system back to on and push retract all and let coach down until jacks just come off the ground then stop and hit auto level and done. This way the coach is lower when level and bottom step is not to far off the ground. Then open my slides and crack a cold one.

Hope this makes sense and helps.

dan-nickie · 03-04-2017, 09:54 AM

Sorry for giving wrong information. I assumed that the Charleston and Berkshire operated the same.

rickkey2 · 03-04-2017, 11:46 AM

Hi dan-nickie nothing to be sorry about these RVs are all different even the same brands. It drives one nuts trying to figure something out and even the same year and model are not put together the same. I also have a situation that if I turn my key switch to ACC it will go right to retract all jacks?

Talked to tech at Power Gear and he said that FR might have wired it that way as an emergency retract in case jacks will not retract with power panel but he was not sure.Talked to FR and they had no answer. Have put it out on a few forums but no replies . I don't use ACC for anything as I just always use my jacks with the key to the on position as stated in my book. Oh well at least it all works

pidoma · 03-04-2017, 11:53 AM

Great idea, sounds like you spent time to figure this out.
Is it possible to add a manual air dump valve independent to the auto levelers,
I bought a air dump valve but before installing want to be sure it doesn't conflict with the auto levelers, anybody with any experience with this would be helpful.

rickkey2 · 03-04-2017, 03:13 PM

Not sure if a dump valve will work but I don't know why not. A few years back in was at Freightliner in Gaffney SC and the tech told me that my coach is wired for a dump valve but there is not one. Can't figure out why the factory did not do this in those years? I've seen all kinds of class a coaches that have a dump lever. If you find out if it will work please post it and you can give me a PM because I would love to be able to just dump and then level .

rickkey2 · 03-05-2017, 01:07 PM

Great news pidoma. I was online last night and looked up the procedure to calabrate my Power Gear jack system. I followed the directions and first looked at the ( controller) not the touch pad for leveling inside the coach. What I looked for was to see if I had a wire harness going to the four pin plug. Mine was located on the basement ceiling next to the left frame rail about center of front and rear jacks. I did have the wire harness and it is labeled AIR BAG DUMP

. Then I preceded with the calibration procedure. After following all the steps the last one was to let it know that it is wired with the dump four pin plug which was to push the retract pad three more times. After that I started up the coach to make sure I had built up full air and the air dryer cycled then shut it off so I could hear the air and the jacks working. I then turned the key to the on position and pushed the on button on the jack touch pad then hit AUTO. The coach went right to dumping the air bags and when the air was dumped the jacks came down and leveled the coach. ( SUCCESS ) Thank you very much dan-nicke for your input as you are right as to going to auto and dumping the air. I guess it would not dump due to being out of calibration . Its just a shame that the tech from Power Gear and the people at Forest River could not have this information. Oh I forgot that the tech at Freightliner told me that it was wired for auto dump but it was not working. NO ***T. Well now it is and I thank you all for making me research further and finding the problem. pidoma I hope this is your problem also just start with looking at the controller to see if you have the four pin wire harness and that it is plugged in. Goog Luck

rickkey2 · 03-05-2017, 01:13 PM

Also I still feel that it lifts the coach to high in auto level so now I will turn system on and hit auto and when bags are dumped then turn off then back on and use manual to level. That's just my thing

dan-nickie · 03-05-2017, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickkey2

Great news pidoma. I was online last night and looked up the procedure to calabrate my Power Gear jack system. I followed the directions and first looked at the ( controller) not the touch pad for leveling inside the coach. What I looked for was to see if I had a wire harness going to the four pin plug. Mine was located on the basement ceiling next to the left frame rail about center of front and rear jacks. I did have the wire harness and it is labeled AIR BAG DUMP

. Then I preceded with the calibration procedure. After following all the steps the last one was to let it know that it is wired with the dump four pin plug which was to push the retract pad three more times. After that I started up the coach to make sure I had built up full air and the air dryer cycled then shut it off so I could hear the air and the jacks working. I then turned the key to the on position and pushed the on button on the jack touch pad then hit AUTO. The coach went right to dumping the air bags and when the air was dumped the jacks came down and leveled the coach. ( SUCCESS ) Thank you very much dan-nicke for your input as you are right as to going to auto and dumping the air. I guess it would not dump due to being out of calibration . Its just a shame that the tech from Power Gear and the people at Forest River could not have this information. Oh I forgot that the tech at Freightliner told me that it was wired for auto dump but it was not working. NO ***T. Well now it is and I thank you all for making me research further and finding the problem. pidoma I hope this is your problem also just start with looking at the controller to see if you have the four pin wire harness and that it is plugged in. Goog Luck

You're welcome. I thought it should do that even after I apologized. But didn't want to sound like a know-it-all on a Charleston since I don't own one. Glad you got it worked out.

dan-nickie · 03-05-2017, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickkey2

Also I still feel that it lifts the coach to high in auto level so now I will turn system on and hit auto and when bags are dumped then turn off then back on and use manual to level. That's just my thing

I manual level most of the time also. But you don't have to turn the panel off and back on, just press one of the manual buttons and it stops the auto level.

rickkey2 · 03-05-2017, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dan-nickie

I manual level most of the time also. But you don't have to turn the panel off and back on, just press one of the manual buttons and it stops the auto level.

Thanks dan-nickie for the information good to know how to stop auto mode and go to manual . This is what makes this forum great.

rickkey2 · 03-05-2017, 05:48 PM

Hi Dan again thanks for the info, now one more thing i'm just wondering about is, as stated in my previous post that if I am up on the jacks and put the key to ACC it goes to retract all jacks? I did this for why I don't know but shocked me when it started to retract

I don't use ACC for anything but was told by the Power Gear tech that maybe Forest River did this as a emergency retract option? Have you ever tried this with your coach or have any thoughts or input on this. It's not a big deal as I only use my jacks with the key turned to the right. It just scared me when it happened . Thanks Rick

dan-nickie · 03-06-2017, 06:48 AM

My Jacks will operate with key off. Turning the key to ACC does not cause the jack to retract. Turning the key on simply flashes a lot on the jack panel telling me the key is on. I believe it does this to keep me from driving away with the jacks down.

But my Jack system is not a power gear either. So I can't really say that's how yours should work. Mine is equalizer.

rickkey2 · 03-06-2017, 10:02 AM

Thanks for the reply Dan. On the Power Gear it says it needs to be in the on and running or on and plugged in to power. This is to make sure that the batteries are being charged during operation of the jacks. I always get to my site and shut the engine down and then plug in then level then open the slides. After you are up on the jacks you can run the engine if you need to, but only in neutral. If you release the parking break or put it in gear the alarm sounds and the jacks go to emergency retract, that's a great safety feature. Well I guess I will stop trying to overthink this anymore as we figured it out and and it is working as advertised . Thanks again for your help in getting this figured out. Rick

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