Air Ride Hight Question

[MACK MAN]

Can anyone tell me what the ride hight should be for a Neway ARD 238 airride,it is in a 1989 Superliner,I have been to Neway web site,but they don't list the ARD 238,it has been replaced with ad-246-8.This set up looks close but it does,seem to have some changes,if anyone can tell me the hight from the top,of the axle to bottom of frame,would help alot.

al

[greg]

The way we used to do it was to let air all the way out of bags mark height then inflate bags till maximum height is achieved and measure distance between highest point and lowest. Then we would split the difference, and fine tune from there.

[Bollweevil]

Steering geometry is figured with the frame square and level, and at rest. If you want the truck to steer and drive well, then the ride height should be the same on both ends of the truck. Due to age and the fact that the front springs may have been cycled about a zillion or more times, they might be somewhat relaxed. Now, the correct way to set the ride at the rear is to start at the FRONT. If the front looks good, and measures close side to side, then a quick fix would be to just adjust the rear to the front. If you keep looking you can probably come up with some figure as pertains to a spec for this set up. You can do just about as well with a tape measure, and a level parking area. Just measure frame to ground on both ends. If it has a dropped front section, back up to where it's straight. James

[HK Trucking]

And once you get it set where you think it should be, be sure the driveline angles are OK.

Too much of an angle due to improper ride height will wear out U joints and create vibrations which can lead to rear end and transmission problems.