Can I drive lowered safely?

[xx1actxx]

I had the dreaded service air suspension alert. Took it to the dealership and it was diagnosed as the steering wheel control module and the part is back ordered till aug 2nd. The truck is lowered all the way and the compressor is not working or disabled. I replaced the fuses. But the truck is lowered and switching to any mode to raise it does not work so I’m stuck down till the part comes it. Will I damage the truck if I drive it and is there any other way to use it till the part comes in on bricked?

 

[chopperman1]

It's riding on the bump stops if all the way down. Essentially no suspension now. As you know, with the air suspension, max speed is 5-10mph in entry/exit mode which is essentially where you are now (if not even a bit lower). I personally would not drive the truck like that.

 

[Wild one]

I had the dreaded service air suspension alert. Took it to the dealership and it was diagnosed as the steering wheel control module and the part is back ordered till aug 2nd. The truck is lowered all the way and the compressor is not working or disabled. I replaced the fuses. But the truck is lowered and switching to any mode to raise it does not work so I’m stuck down till the part comes it. Will I damage the truck if I drive it and is there any other way to use it till the part comes in on bricked?

If it's on the bumpstops,it'll ride like a D8 Cat,but i wouldn't think it'd hurt to much.Lots of guys are running around with a 4/6 drop on their trucks with no issues,and i doubt your truck will be any lower then their trucks.I wouldn't be running at 75+ mph,but you should be okay at 60 mph.You might have a bit more front tire wear ,so you'll want to keep an eye on the inside of your front tires to make sure you aren't scrubbing them off.

 

[1999 White C5 Coupe]

I had the dreaded service air suspension alert. Took it to the dealership and it was diagnosed as the steering wheel control module and the part is back ordered till aug 2nd. The truck is lowered all the way and the compressor is not working or disabled. I replaced the fuses. But the truck is lowered and switching to any mode to raise it does not work so I’m stuck down till the part comes it. Will I damage the truck if I drive it and is there any other way to use it till the part comes in on bricked?

What did the dealer employees tell you?

 

[rzr6-4]

If it's on the bumpstops,it'll ride like a D8 Cat,but i wouldn't think it'd hurt to much.Lots of guys are running around with a 4/6 drop on their trucks with no issues,and i doubt your truck will be any lower then their trucks.I wouldn't be running at 75+ mph,but you should be okay at 60 mph.You might have a bit more front tire wear ,so you'll want to keep an eye on the inside of your front tires to make sure you aren't scrubbing them off.

Alignment is far from the biggest potential issue. Every time you go up a driveway, every seam in the concrete, god forbid a curb check at this point, those are all supposed to be soaked up by the bags and now will go to the frame, which will transfer that energy to other places you don't want it. If you HAVE to here an there, just take it easy but I would avoid it if at all possible from a wear and tear aspect.

 

[Wild one]

Alignment is far from the biggest potential issue. Every time you go up a driveway, every seam in the concrete, god forbid a curb check at this point, those are all supposed to be soaked up by the bags and now will go to the frame, which will transfer that energy to other places you don't want it. If you HAVE to here an there, just take it easy but I would avoid it if at all possible from a wear and tear aspect.

You might want to go look at the bump stops,little tidbit,they aren't steel,lol
The engineers would of also taken a mechanical issue into factor when they designed the suspension.
Will it be nice to drive,probably not,but it also won't hurt itself other then front tire wear either.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Shops/mechanics do almost *no* basic, component-level troubleshooting anymore. I would like to know how they determined it was the controller. Did anyone inspect the wiring for corrosion or damage? Did they remove the controller and look it over (I highly doubt they did).

It probably deserves a look-see. Maybe all it needs is to pop the end off the EPS and install a new inexpensive belt. That's very likely the problem. You might get your steering working again in a couple days, save a bundle, and get the suspension working. Have you priced a new eps rack lately from the dealer ? Worth a shot.

Belt Replacement:

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has your electric steering rack gone out on your 2010-2014 f150 ? save hundreds by simply replacing the belt located inside the rack its selt!! dont go spend...

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More troubleshooting ideas in a recent post here:

EPS to hydraulic power steering conversion

My power steering went out a few weeks ago on my 2013 5.7L and I’m curious if I can convert from EPS to just a traditional power steering set up. I’m learning this electronic garbage is just problems and a money pity

www.ramforum.com

 

[rzr6-4]

You might want to go look at the bump stops,little tidbit,they aren't steel,lol
The engineers would of also taken a mechanical issue into factor when they designed the suspension.
Will it be nice to drive,probably not,but it also won't hurt itself other then front tire wear either.

I don't have bags so in all honesty IDK what they look like for sure, regardless....

They are still way stiffer than the bags. If you hit a bump and have enough force that your bags are over compressing, and those stops really do make it STOP, then think about how much harder they must be. And aside from stiffness, when you go over any sort of uneven ground (transition to driveway) you have literally zero suspension travel. Whatever the height difference is, your tires will compress some but frame flex will have to do the rest of it. Super not great...

 

[Wild one]

I don't have bags so in all honesty IDK what they look like for sure, regardless....

They are still way stiffer than the bags. If you hit a bump and have enough force that your bags are over compressing, and those stops really do make it STOP, then think about how much harder they must be. And aside from stiffness, when you go over any sort of uneven ground (transition to driveway) you have literally zero suspension travel. Whatever the height difference is, your tires will compress some but frame flex will have to do the rest of it. Super not great...

You're really stretching things lad,"frame flex", let me guess you've never used a truck as a truck have you,lol. You don't think guys have ever overloaded a truck and drove home with the truck on the bumpstops
As long as he uses a little common sense,he'll be okay to drive it till the parts come in.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Plus, you're going to damage your truck's steering intermediate shaft muscling it around w/o power steering...

 

[rzr6-4]

You're really stretching things lad,"frame flex", let me guess you've never used a truck as a truck have you,lol. You don't think guys have ever overloaded a truck and drove home with the truck on the bumpstops
As long as he uses a little common sense,he'll be okay to drive it till the parts come in.

My profile pic is me pulling a 15k lb trailer through the mud, so, there's that. On the farm we overloaded my dad's Sierra to where it literally ripped the hitch off going down the road. I know all about heavy towing there cowboy.

Just because you do sketchy stuff every now and then and sometimes stuff breaks, there's a difference between getting the job done with a work truck and a casual driver adding a bunch of unnecessary wear and tear on his daily. Can he and should he are two different things.

 

[Wild one]

I had the dreaded service air suspension alert. Took it to the dealership and it was diagnosed as the steering wheel control module and the part is back ordered till aug 2nd. The truck is lowered all the way and the compressor is not working or disabled. I replaced the fuses. But the truck is lowered and switching to any mode to raise it does not work so I’m stuck down till the part comes it. Will I damage the truck if I drive it and is there any other way to use it till the part comes in on bricked?

Is your power steering also not working OP?

 

[Wild one]

Op you could even look into deleting the air ride and converting it to a spring set-up. Also you won't be the first guy who's had issues with the air ride system,and has been forced to use the truck for a bit while it's on the bumpstops.Every winter you'll find somebody with an air ride issue,who are driving their truck with it on the bumpstops while waiting for parts

Best conversion kit

I'm looking to replace the air ride on my ram1500 / 2wd. So far I see a few kits' 1. Monroe 2. Strutmaster 3. Air Delete Does anyone have any experience with these? I see the Bilstein name alot in this forum but its there a kit ? what parts are needed ? Sorry, Im not mechanical :(

www.ramforum.com

Wanting to delete air suspension

I have a 2014 ram 1500 longhorn Laramie with air suspension. I live in iowa and starting this past winter (first winter I owned it) the air suspension started acting weird. One bag would deflate but would re inflate if I put it inside. But it slowly got worse. And now both fronts wont stay...

www.ramforum.com

 

[Jeepwalker]

You're really stretching things lad,"frame flex", let me guess you've never used a truck as a truck have you,lol. You don't think guys have ever overloaded a truck and drove home with the truck on the bumpstops

LOL

On the farm we used to load truck up pretty heavy when we didn't have another choice. However, I remember one time years ago I took my Chevy K1500 short box over to the local quarry to get some sand for a patio I was working on. About this time of year (july). It has the HD suspension ...but no matter. The moment the guy dropped a partial end-loader bucket of moist sand into the truck box she instantly dropped to her axle bump stops, hard!! LOL.

Fortunately the qurry was only about 1.5 miles to our house. No damage done.

 

[Wild one]

LOL

On the farm we used to load truck up pretty heavy when we didn't have another choice. However, I remember one time years ago I took my Chevy K1500 short box over to the local quarry to get some sand for a patio I was working on. About this time of year (july). It has the HD suspension ...but no matter. The moment the guy dropped a partial end-loader bucket of moist sand into the truck box she instantly dropped to her axle bump stops, hard!! LOL.

Fortunately the qurry was only about 1.5 miles to our house. No damage done.

When i was a kid,my Dad would load upwards of 5,000 lbs of fertilizer in the box of his old F-150 Ford,and stuff short chunks of 4X4's between the diff and frame,and pump the rear tires up to 90 psi,so we could pass the weigh scale with-out the scale operators lunging out on the highway and stopping him,lol. It was 11 miles from the grain elevator to home. That scale was a stick in the side of every local farmer,lol

 

[cdn cj]

I’m confused, can someone explain how a steering wheel control would affect the air suspension ?

 

[Jbinramona]

So Im guessing from what folks are saying, you have NO leaf springs. Cuz if you did you would not be on the bump stops. Unless of course you springs are broken or you have a heavy load in your truck.

 

[Hardracer]

You're really stretching things lad,"frame flex", let me guess you've never used a truck as a truck have you,lol. You don't think guys have ever overloaded a truck and drove home with the truck on the bumpstops
As long as he uses a little common sense,he'll be okay to drive it till the parts come in.

I have I,I have...lol
I loaded a full pallet of shingles one time from the home cheapo store into a '98 1500..did have those bottom hepler leaf springs in there...didnt make a bit of diff...laid it down to the axle...lucky I only had to go bout 6 miles...truck looked like this foolishness of today's kids squatin the a** end down,headligts to the sky...did freak me out tho...never again