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'91 Grand Villa Oshkosh chassis ride height - got my answer

May 05, 2011, 02:56:40 pm

Today I called the Freightliner help line (1-800-385-4357) to see if they could get me the ride height for my chassis since I have problems with my rear jacks staying down even with the air bags inflated.  They were most helpful but you will need a lot of information to give them to get the answers.  First they needed the full VIN and then they needed the engine, next they needed to know the ride height valve configuration and finally they needed to verify the coach manufacturer.  It turns out that my ride height is 7.6" in the front and 11" in the rear and that measurement is taken from the bottom of the frame rail to the top of the axle.  Please note that this only applies to my chassis.  Even if you have a '91 Oshkosh chassis with a Cat engine I would still call them.  If you call them expect the call to take a while as everything has to be looked up in books as it is not on their computer system.

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Re: '91 Grand Villa Oshkosh chassis ride height - got my answer

Reply #1 – May 05, 2011, 04:42:56 pm

John, do you have the "kick down" jacks from HWH as I had them on my 93 GV (with Oshkosh frame) and they caused me no end of frustration to stay down. After talking to HWH many times and learning the whole system it turned out to be mainly bad ground connections. That system uses the ground wire fastened on each cylinder (jack) to activate the solenoids. It is the 610 system if I remember right.

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Re: '91 Grand Villa Oshkosh chassis ride height - got my answer

Reply #2 – May 05, 2011, 08:23:39 pm

John and John, same here. I finally found out that it was unsound grounds and one bad sensor unit on a rear jack, a thousand dollars of frustration and $140 fix at the FMCA convention last year.

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Re: '91 Grand Villa Oshkosh chassis ride height - got my answer

Reply #3 – May 05, 2011, 10:09:43 pm

I had stated the complete problem on an earlier post.  What happens is that the rear jacks can not come up because they are firmly planted even though they are completely retracted.  I.E. the back end of the coach does not rise enough when the airbags inflate to allow the springs to bring the jacks to the horizontal.  I will certainly check the grounds as I have had other intermittent problems.

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Re: '91 Grand Villa Oshkosh chassis ride height - got my answer

Reply #4 – May 06, 2011, 08:29:37 am

Would parking the rear wheels on a set of wooden blocks maybe give you the extra lift to allow the springs to retract the jacks?  Might be a temporary solution, or a simple way to fix the problem.

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Re: '91 Grand Villa Oshkosh chassis ride height - got my answer

Reply #5 – May 06, 2011, 11:31:09 pm

Dave,
For whatever reason the ride height appears to be o.k. at this time.  I lowered the jacks without extending them and checked the distance between the jacks and ground.  I had at least 3" of clearance.  One of the things that happens when you automatic level is that the HWH system dumps the air.  I will try that next to see if the coach comes back up to the same height after reinflation

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