Air-O-Matic adjustment

[bones1]

I still have it in the vise waiting to be welded.! Peashooter made me a nice heavy duty aluminum unit , in record time and this one will not break.
He is an excellent machinist

 

[bones1]

I still have it in the vise waiting to be welded.! Peashooter made me a nice heavy duty aluminum unit , in record time and this one will not break.
He is an excellent machinist

 

[welldigger]

Thats an awesome looking mount. Kudos to peashooter. I'll have to get in touch with him if I have the same problem.

 

[deucer]

Two questions regarding this setup, I just installed a kit and it is acting strange. When I am going down the road on a straight stretch it drives pretty straight and true, but when I am on a slightly curvy road it is very difficult to steer meaning as I go into a right hand turn, I start to turn and it wants to oversteer and when I try to correct it the truck happily over corrects, almost like it is too much power assist once it starts. I do not see any adjustments. I am running MRAP wheels but did not notice this problem before the power steering, but I guess it could be a combination. Also, is anyone hooking up a hose to the exhaust ports to route them out of the wheel well? Mine had an adapter (both outlets into one) and a hose, but I see others leaving them open. Thanks

 

[peashooter]

Two questions regarding this setup, I just installed a kit and it is acting strange. When I am going down the road on a straight stretch it drives pretty straight and true, but when I am on a slightly curvy road it is very difficult to steer meaning as I go into a right hand turn, I start to turn and it wants to oversteer and when I try to correct it the truck happily over corrects, almost like it is too much power assist once it starts. I do not see any adjustments. I am running MRAP wheels but did not notice this problem before the power steering, but I guess it could be a combination. Also, is anyone hooking up a hose to the exhaust ports to route them out of the wheel well? Mine had an adapter (both outlets into one) and a hose, but I see others leaving them open. Thanks

The over-steer happens because the draglink valve needs to compress or extend in order to add the "air assist". So it takes a certain amount of force before the power steering kicks in. I have the same thing happen with my truck and its a bit of a pain but you if you anticipate the problem while driving you can make it more manageable by taking more gradual turns so you are not "triggering" the AOM or instead a few sharper turns to stay on your desired path. If you haven't done the spring shim caster modification yet, that may help too. My draglink just has some vented bolts on it for the exhaust, I haven't seen the adapter you mention.

 

[m16ty]

I concur with Peashooter. On my truck the air assist did take some getting used to. Seeing as how the drag link sensor has to move in and out a little to work, it does add some slack in the steering system. Add that to what Peashooter is talking about and it's going to act a little weird compared to what you're used to.

In my opinion the air assist isn't the greatest PS option but it suits me well enough. You've just got to get used to how it acts.

 

[deucer]

I will have to shim the spring plates, I have not done that since putting the MRAP wheels on. It might be that there was oversteer and is now exaggerated. Also, here is a picture of that exhaust.

 

[peashooter]

I will have to shim the spring plates, I have not done that since putting the MRAP wheels on. It might be that there was oversteer and is now exaggerated. Also, here is a picture of that exhaust. View attachment 517974

I'm not sure what the intent of that exhaust routing is... If you keep it that way I'd just make sure the tubing is routed downward so that it cant trap and hold moisture in the lines and then eventually back-up into the valve assembly. Here is the best picture I could find of what the drag link exhaust "bolts" look like (they look like hex head bolts with a few holes drilled into the flats). If you want to get rid of the hoses, just look for some breather vents, I think they are 1/4npt threads

 

[welldigger]

The a3's routed the drag link exhaust back to the air cleaner for fording purposes.

 

[glcaines]

I had to replace the pressure regulator on my A3 system. After replacement, mine tended to oversteer as you mentioned and the steering was much more sensitive than with the old regulator. I backed off the pressure a little and this fixed the problem. Is your regulator adjustable?

 

[deucer]

I had to replace the pressure regulator on my A3 system. After replacement, mine tended to oversteer as you mentioned and the steering was much more sensitive than with the old regulator. I backed off the pressure a little and this fixed the problem. Is your regulator adjustable?

This is the only thing that is inline, I thought it was just a safety valve of some type. Is there supposed to be an additional regulator? Mine is a direct A3 takeoff unit, and this piece mounts on the inside of the frame rail where the air goes through. I will look at it and see if there is some type of an adjustment.

 

[peashooter]

This is the only thing that is inline, I thought it was just a safety valve of some type. Is there supposed to be an additional regulator? Mine is a direct A3 takeoff unit, and this piece mounts on the inside of the frame rail where the air goes through. I will look at it and see if there is some type of an adjustment.

View attachment 518727

yep that's it, unscrew that aluminum cover and there is a standard looking regulator knob underneath.

 

[peashooter]

Also, is anyone hooking up a hose to the exhaust ports to route them out of the wheel well? Mine had an adapter (both outlets into one) and a hose, but I see others leaving them open. Thanks

Deucer, you are probably all done hooking up your air-o-matic but I just ran across this picture in one of the A3 TMs (TM9-2320-386-24P pdf page 270) while looking for something else. It sort of shows the exhaust routing that welldigger mentioned.