2004 GMC C4500 - Air Suspension

[liljoe]

I have got an 04 C4500 ambulance in here with air suspension on the rear.

The truck is missing all the air lines and I can not find any info for a diagram on the routing of the lines. this is equipped with an automatic dump valve to lower the rear end when the rear doors are opened. I called support and they do not have any info on this thing other then a wire diagram. If any one has this info, I would be very gratefull to get a copy of it.

One thing that is kinda confusing me is that this truck has a leveling valve on each side of the truck but only one dump valve, according to the fellow i spoke to with support, it only supposed to have one.

[fortknoxx]

any name on the bags? airlift or firestone? or any pn's on the bags? i have replacement line kits avail different lengths and fittings depending on the bags

[liljoe]

Bags are good, lines are all gone and I am just trying to find the correct routing for the lines, I am about to get back under this thing and do an inventory of what is what and see from their what I need to do. I have a spool of line and plenty of fittings. Just need to know the correct way to hook it all up.

[brianp87]

I dont have a clue. Id prolly be scratching my head and trying to figure it out. Who made the ambulance. Maybe you can contact the fabricator. The guys that make ours are from washington. I think No gm chassis tho all ford

[brianp87]

I just looked at the 2 i have in now they were made by braun?

[fortknoxx]

this might be of some help.
http://www.catalograck.com/imgVD/AIL/MN-365_57245.pdf

[liljoe]

OK, I got this thing whoopded now. The routing is from the supply tank to the leveling valve, then from the leveling valve to the dump valve then out of the dump valve to a splitter and from that to both air bags. The little bit of info that I had from them had the lines going to the dump valve first and it would only vent the pressure from the lines only between the dump valve and the leveling valve( the leveling valve has a check valve that will allow air flow in one dirrection only), with the lines ran in such a manner as to make it work correctly, I have lines running from the tank at the front of the truck to the valve at the rear of the truck and back to the front of the truck where the dump valve is located. The system works as designed now, thanks for the input. This truck has been to three shops trying to ge this system functioning ( been out of service for six months), now I get to by the hero and get this back in service tomorrow. Thanks for the input........

[steven kiser]

great news. i hope you added a disclaimer that lets the customer know that there may be contamination in the system because of open lines. i know i'm pessimistic but i've been around since. well lets see, a long time, and have seen a lot. heck, after i had a customer accuse me of removing a V8 from a mustang he owned and installing a 6 banger it raised my awareness of being held responsible for, well i'll end it here, i can't really see any easy way of describing how people will try to hold someone responsible for something out of their control. it's like the guy who's wife has twins and he spends the rest of his life looking for the other guy.

[liljoe]

I know some of ya'll form the snow states are gonna laugh at me for this, but I think that the automatic snow chains that this truck has are one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time. Neat design that runs off the air supply also, so I went ahead and got them working as well as the suspension. They know that the tank and bags will prob go some time in the near future due to rust and fatigue. The way the dump valve is mounted on the bracket that holds the supply tank in place and not in the rear near the leveling valve made it a lil bit confusing for just a min seeing as how I had never worked on this type of set up and had no info to go on. Glad to have it back on the road.....

[steven kiser]

fire those chains up and lets see the looks you get in bama. i wonder since they hadn't been working but now are what's going to happen when "what's this button do" lowers the chains. i bet that it's been pushed before with nothing happening so the next time it will be a pants filler...............................

[mopwrforme]

you know i guess you could fill a library up with the stuff i havent seen. im from a snow state and had to googel auto snow chains i had no clue. i can remember in bad snow days helping my step dad which was a truck driver/owner operator. put on the old style chains not a good time. man would i have loved those suckers back then.

[liljoe]

fire those chains up and lets see the looks you get in bama. i wonder since they hadn't been working but now are what's going to happen when "what's this button do" lowers the chains. i bet that it's been pushed before with nothing happening so the next time it will be a pants filler...............................

Funny thing is, I never could find a switch that runs them, I powered them up with my power probe just to watch them work. I think they are gonna have me wire in a switch before winter just incase we get some snow again this year.

[fortknoxx]

fire those chains up and lets see the looks you get in bama. i wonder since they hadn't been working but now are what's going to happen when "what's this button do" lowers the chains. i bet that it's been pushed before with nothing happening so the next time it will be a pants filler...............................

Funny thing is, I never could find a switch that runs them, I powered them up with my power probe just to watch them work. I think they are gonna have me wire in a switch before winter just incase we get some snow again this year.

yeah you will need them chains with 1/4 inch of snow

[liljoe]

fire those chains up and lets see the looks you get in bama. i wonder since they hadn't been working but now are what's going to happen when "what's this button do" lowers the chains. i bet that it's been pushed before with nothing happening so the next time it will be a pants filler...............................

Funny thing is, I never could find a switch that runs them, I powered them up with my power probe just to watch them work. I think they are gonna have me wire in a switch before winter just incase we get some snow again this year.

yeah you will need them chains with 1/4 inch of snow

Your being funny, but that is not far from the truth....

[fortknoxx]

Us yankee's love the news footage of the cars, trucks, buses, and people when a blizzard dumps 1/2 inch of snow in the south. Oh my let's not forget about ice.........

[ricmorin]

fire those chains up and lets see the looks you get in bama. i wonder since they hadn't been working but now are what's going to happen when "what's this button do" lowers the chains. i bet that it's been pushed before with nothing happening so the next time it will be a pants filler...............................

Funny thing is, I never could find a switch that runs them, I powered them up with my power probe just to watch them work. I think they are gonna have me wire in a switch before winter just incase we get some snow again this year.

The switch that runs those chains usually is a toggle switch with a red flip up cover to prevent accidental engagement. I've seen plenty of those when I was in the fire service. You can get them for pickup trucks too. We used the On-Spot brand. They work great in snow that's not too deep. After 6-8 inches the drifts inhibit correct feeding of the chain links under the tire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEsSCcnSoiY

[steven kiser]

lets not forget throwing the hunks of rock salt that clump together like a 200 mph fast ball.

[mopwrforme]

coffee out the noise,hay wheres that new keyboard i just bought