You are not logged in or registered. Please login or register to use the full functionality of this board...
Newell Gurus
Road suspension vs leveling suspension - Printable Version

+- Newell Gurus (https://newellgurus.com)
+-- Forum: Welcome (https://newellgurus.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: Please introduce yourself (https://newellgurus.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=70)
+--- Thread: Road suspension vs leveling suspension (/showthread.php?tid=8611)

Pages: 1 2

RE: Road suspension vs leveling suspension - cwl1979 - 07-15-2025

From the pictures it looks like your system is designed for use while being parked. As in when you turn the system on you can adjust each corner of the coach to level it manually. I would venture to guess that when you drive it has a normal air suspension with lines coming from the tanks to leveling valves and should roll at a "normal" ride height.
I don't know for sure this is the way it works but the selonoids look very similar to what I have seen and used in commercial application to raise and lower trailers. In auto transport we use them to lift the truck and the trailer over things like speed bumps and curbs.
More investigation would be needed to determine how it should honest function.

Johnnyboy - Johnnyboy - 07-17-2025

The leveling switch on the dash needs to be set to off for the traveling height to be set by the HCV ride height valves. when you switch the dash to leveling it, bypasses the traveling height and allows you to use manual control in the bags which you have. The issue for not reaching ride height when the switch is off maybe one of the solenoids could be malfunctioning or the HCV valves cannot be working correctly.

It’s been a while since I’ve worked on the older Newell, but it may have a set of solenoids that are like travel solenoids that are energized with the key on to allow the air to go to the HCV valves to reach ride height.

I would check to see if you have air at the height, control valve and see if you can manually move the rod and see if the airbags will air up key will need to be on and you’ll need air in your tanks then I also checked the solenoid to see if they’re flowing the air.

RE: Road suspension vs leveling suspension - David W - 07-17-2025

Thanks, I went by today and aired it up high enough to see the rear 2 hcv's. From what I researched the front should be just 1 and I assume close to the middle of the coach, haven't went under yet. I'm going back this weekend and see if I can check the hcv's and Trace back to the solenoids. I did find today that the front solenoids control the front and the engine compartment solenoids control the rear. Also when you turn the level switch off the control switches go off, it just doesn't resettle to travel with key on, engine running, and parking brake released.

RE: Road suspension vs leveling suspension - David W - 07-18-2025

Went by Coach today to tinker with it some. It was still aired up high from yesterday so I went under the front and rear and looked at all the hcv's. They looked fine and with all the rods pulled down I knew if it went to travel mode it should lower. All the solenoids and wiring in the front looked fine. In the rear there is a terminal block labeled:
LU
LD
RU
RU
M

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yjAM5WDNp2Cbaz1h7

The M has a wire cut about 2 inches long hooked there with the wires going to a solenoid. I hooked a longer wire to it since I figured to get it to travel mode it had to have 12v from the key go to something and this might be it. I touched it to 12 v and a solenoid clicked and it started lowering the suspension.. I unhooked it and started the engine to build air, made sure the leveling system was turned off and hooked the wire back to 12v. It went to travel mode and all the hcv's work like it's supposed to. Now I need to find the wire that is supposed to be there. Thanks again for all the information and I'll have other questions coming in other forums as I get this old classic going.

RE: Road suspension vs leveling suspension - Richard - 07-18-2025

So……….the labeling is simple.

RU right up
RD right down
LU left up
LD left down
M would be travel

Yeah I know one of the labels is a duplicate, but it would so easy to smear a D into a U and vice versa. If you have a helper, the solenoid should energize and turn into a magnet. A screwdriver or washer is a great diagnostic tool in the case.

Here is where I am confused, I have only seen 3 solenoids in your pictures of the rear compartment. Is that true? Or are there 5 solenoids in the rear compartment. It’s very important because with only three, you cannot control side to side leveling. I encourage you to study the first few pages in the HWH manual I linked at the first of this post. It will help you understand the point. In addition, I don’t see any wiring coming out of the terminal block going to LD and LU

And can you try the trick I outlined for getting pics into the post?

RE: Road suspension vs leveling suspension - David W - 07-18-2025

        There are 5 solenoids in the rear, 3 under that cover and to the right of the gauge. 2 to the left of the gauge. On the terminal block the LD and LU wires are only on the left side side, but they go to the 2 solenoids on the left. But the other 3 terminals have wires on both sides. One side goes to solenoids and the others go into harness.

RE: Road suspension vs leveling suspension - Richard - 07-19-2025

Sweet, now we are getting somewhere.

The missing wiring begs a question, what happens when you hit the left rear raise or lower toggles? I am just trying to make sense of the wiring. If I remember correctly, you said the coach will raise and lower in the leveling mode, but if the left rear raise and lower solenoids are not wired, I don’t understand how they are activating.

And to clear up my muddled old noggin, when you said you applied 12V to the travel solenoid……..was that hot wired from a 12V source? Or from a disconnected wire in the area?

Thanks very much for imbedding the photos.

Somewhere I have hand drawn diagrams of the 5 solenoid manifold from helping an owner 10 years ago. Let me see if I can find them…………..
Page 2 of this thread. https://newellgurus.com/showthread.php?tid=5184&page=2

RE: Road suspension vs leveling suspension - David W - 07-19-2025

Thanks I applied a hot 12v to the short cut wire on the terminal block. I haven't found the other end of the cut wire yet. There is a wire that looks like the same kind and color that is running up to the shutdown on the governor housing. May have to check that also. I was thinking in level mode everything was working right, but gaining knowledge here I totally agree where is the power coming from to those? I know about air suspension on semi truck but it didn't take me long to see this is different!
I'll recheck the level next time I'm over there in the next couple of days, now that I'm understanding what to look for.
Thanks a lot but when I get through this I got a few more things to trace down

RE: Road suspension vs leveling suspension - Richard - 07-19-2025

Not to add to your list, but you might want to confirm you have voltage at the backside of the switch.

RE: Road suspension vs leveling suspension - David W - 07-20-2025

I went by the coach today just to wash off some power steering hoses so I can locate a leak. Looked at the wiring on the terminal block again to make sure about the ones with only wires on 1 side. Conclusion is since those 2 solenoids are to the left of the terminal block and the wires coming in from the harness are on the left, those 2 are double wired under the same screw on the left side so all are wired correctly. Just got to find where the wire that was cut is now.
Also the air bags are not leaking but they don't look real good and I know they'll need replacing very soon. I remember seeing something about those not being available but Newell has a replacement but something has to be modified. I need to find that forum.