Lifted suspension/calibration issue

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greiswig

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I installed the SYA kit and Rhino rods on my 2016 HD not too long ago, and calibrated everything using my IID tool. Everything seemed to go smoothly and all functions seemed to work. I could lower to access height and raise to offroad height.

At a camp spot over the weekend, I decided to see if I could level the vehicle for better sleeping in the rooftop tent. I opened up the IID tool and tried using the height adjust menu. I stupidly used the horizontal bar item on that screen (not remembering that mirrors the controls on the dashboard that put it in Normal mode), thinking they might magically level things. Horizontal bar, right?

It DID seem to do something. I started looking around the vehicle, and sure enough, things looked a little more level, and the left side had less gap than the right.

Then I got home, and tried to resume moving from one house to another. Easier loading to be had with Access Height. First it would raise the rear end slightly, then lower it, then announce that it was going into extended mode and raise everything. Wait, wut?

I left things alone after that until I could get out a tape measure. Sure enough, nothing was even close to the right height in Normal mode. Somewhere in there, things got really recalibrated. And I'm not sure where. It took me about 4 go-rounds with the step-by-step calibration procedure to get things to go back right.

Really wondering what I did that screwed things up. Anyone else have an experience like that?
 

djkaosone

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The truck really doesn't like the SYA and 2.5" Rhino rods. The height sensors are pretty sensitive. Prior to the SYA and lift rods, I'd bet everything (ride height, ride comfort, and access/offroad mode) worked great. Once you add the lift rods, it tricks the sensors with additional air in the struts to get to the system's calibrated signal. The SYA kit kind of tricks the tricked out lift rods by decreasing the height sensors by 2". When you do something funky with the IID Tool it'll get even weirder, and that's what you're seeing. I've been dealing with it too. You have 2 options to correct it.

1) Remove the SYA and lift rods, recalibrate it to oem specs per guided calibration on the IID Tool on flat ground. Then put everything back on.

2) Leave the SYA and lift rods on, recalibrate it to oem specs +0.5" to each corner with the IID Tool on flat ground. Use the IID Tool to adjust the height level. Access mode is pretty diminished to -0.5" drop. Off road mode should still work normally. I also would advise against using the suspension build mode to individually change the suspension height for leveling out the truck for camping, it would do something weird to it too.
 

greiswig

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The system seems to work fine overall, provided it is calibrated. I just wonder what threw off the calibration.

I do think that it would make more sense to calibrate all three ride heights to better allow for sensor variance.

PS - how do you use the IID tool to enter “precision mode” or whatever it is, so you can get alignment done properly? I wasn’t able to see that option.
 

greiswig

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OK, it happened again. I'd calibrated the height using the IID too, carefully. Turned it around in the driveway this evening on a slight slope, and the front seemed too high. I measured it, and sure enough it was about an inch higher than it was supposed to be. Rear was OK.

What could be making the height calibration go off like that? I would think a faulty height sensor would be pretty much confined to one corner. Does calibration have to happen on level ground only? I would think it absolutely wouldn't matter, since the distance being measured is independent of whether there is a slope or not.
 

greiswig

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Maybe I misunderstand the way the suspension works. Is there more at work than just the height sensors? If you calibrate it on level ground, then park on a slope with the nose high, is it going to raise the rear and lower the front to try to level it a bit? And does it do the same thing side to side?
 

Stuart Barnes

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As I understand it yes. Mine does the side to side thing parked on the street by my house.

When the car is parked at intervals it checks the height and lowers the higher corner/side/end to try and level out.
 

greiswig

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Well, there ya go.
As I understand it yes. Mine does the side to side thing parked on the street by my house.

When the car is parked at intervals it checks the height and lowers the higher corner/side/end to try and level out.
 

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