[rvguy]

Hello everyone, it has been a long time but have finally been getting this vintage newell coach # 480 back up and running. Had to wait for better weather to begin the air system repair. This is just a fyi post so no one else has to go thru this fun process, of course if you are a dyi person.
So our coach had the really crappy ridewell blue air ride leveling valves. Thanks to Richard ,late in the winter, he turned me on to Rob at Dayton Air systems where we purchased all new KOTR vales  2 for the rear  1 for the front. 
part numbers as follows
k870005 for the passenger side and front
k870006 for the drivers side

The instructions also state r/h side for the k870005 ( which you would think would be the passenger side )   and for the k870006 states left hand side ( which you would think means driver side )

Well not true. So it is backwards.  If you have outboard mounted leveling valves which most of  older coaches have. It is the opposite  on which valve goes on each side. 

the l/s and r/s mean nothing to the coach on what side they go on for the conversion just which way the lever moves on the valve to air up the coach.

After talking to Rob yesterday, he stated he has heard this from a few Newell owners. I asked him to please add this in the instructions for newell owners.  So I am just sharing this info so you dont get to do what I did. That is do it all again.

The KOTR leveling valves are awesome and make the coach air operated leveling system work so much easier with hardley any air. I recommend this change over to anyone who still has those lovely ridewell blue valves
And as always  Thanks Richard for all the help on this air system.

[Richard]

I am glad they are working for you. Yeah, the hand designation is which side of the valve the arm exits. And yes it is backwards from the side they are mounted on. There is an old post that goes through this, but it's ancient, so thanks for posting up to date info.

[TJ Clark]

What about these valves is so much better? How can they require less air?

[Richard]

The current generation blue Ridewell valves have a very tight dead zone and a very quick response rate. I stumbled into this about 10 years ago. When I installed them, I could see the supply gauge dropping while cruising down the interstate from the small actuations in the suspension. My engine compressor would cycle every two minutes. Whoa! That’s not good.

The Ridewell valves also have a plastic body where the plastic is over molded over brass inserts for the thready bits. All of mine cracked and leaked at that overmold.

The folks at KOTR made a valve at my request that has a very very tight deadband for repeatable ride height but a slow response time to prevent lots of air consumption on typical suspension movement.

[TJ Clark]

Thanks Richard.

[rvguy]

Trust me they are worth every penny. Pretty easy to install if you have the knowledge.

[Latitude 28]

Adam,
Did you use the KOR valves as they came or have to add an extension to the arms to match the Ridwell valve arm length?

[rvguy]

Adam,
Did you use the KOR valves as they came or have to add an extension to the arms to match the Ridwell valve arm length?

Used the old arms off the ridewell valves, they bolt right up.

[Latitude 28]

Thanks, Richard spent a lot of phone time with Dayton Air products I highly recommend the KOR valves!

[Richard]

You dudes give me way too much credit. 

The situation was that the new style Ridewell valves consumed air at an astonishing rate due to their sensitivity. They were constantly discharging and subsequently recharging with every little bump. 

I told Rob at Dayton Air, and he grabbed the ball and ran. The valve characteristics he had made for us is a low response time, but very high sensitivity to position valve. What that means is the valve is very repeatable on position but doesn’t constantly use air because of the low response time. Some may not like the time it takes the coach to level but that is the compromise. 

It doesn’t hurt that the valve is all metal. The Ridewell plastic valves were prone to cracking. I have had rear KOTR valves in service for 10 years and over a 100k miles on this coach without a hiccup or adjustment. 

And their right and left designations are for which way the arm points on the valve, which happens to be BACKWARDs from how they mount on the Newell. 

So Rob deserves the accolades. Glad to hear he is still there.