Does the Air-Ride/ACS need recalibrating after fitting new tires?

[dolittle]

Hi.

So I changed all the tires and I forgot to disconnect the air ride control from swing arm. Now the air ride does not work like it used to, so if I replace the control switch does it need calibrated with BUDS?
Thank you.
I should say it is a 2017 RT-S. I have 30258 miles on it and ride 2 up at times, never had any trouble before.

Dolittle :yikes:

 

[Snowbelt Spyder]

Hi.

So i changed all tires and i forgot to disconect the air ride control from swing arm now air ride does not work like it use to, so if i replace the control switch does it need calabated wirh buds?
thank you.
i should say it is a 2017 rt-s i have 30258 miles on it and ride 2 up at times never had any trouble be for.:gaah

Dolittle

You won't hurt that sensor unless you removed the lower bolt from the rear shock during the wheel removal. Did you? If you did not, then the shock will extend out and stop the swing arm from traveling far enough to damage the sensor. Makes sense, right?

Plus, make sure that the sensor's linkage is still in the proper orientation even if you did. From the sensor, the arm should go straight to the rear, then down. It can re-wrap the wrong direction if it was fully extended. If this happened, remove the bolt at the "elbow" where the two linkage segments come together, turn the sensor arm CCW until it points back to the rear, and connect the two segments of the linkage together. Cross your fingers and see if the system works.

If you DID hurt it, then yes, a sensor replacement will require a BUDS calibration / reset. Otherwise, let us know what the system is not doing that you think it should be doing.

 

[dolittle]

Yes, I did remove the shock bolt before the sensor arm. I never changed the air ride settings on the dash, it has always worked with both the wife and I on or solo, but now with the dash screen in the middle it rides like a rock. I can lower it on the dash, and it rides ok, so a new switch!!!!
Dolittle

 

[Snowbelt Spyder]

Just in case, let’s standardize our terminology. The rocker switch on your dash that says Hard and Soft is perfectly fine. You don’t need to replace that, it seems to be working, anyway. And even if you did replace it, no calibration is required. That is the control switch.

That unit underneath that connects to the swing arm is the position sensor. Each one of those bars that appear on the display when you adjust the control switch, represents a different position or ride height that the system tries to automatically maintain. That ride height signal comes from that sensor. The system adjusts air pressure up or down to do that.

Taking the bolt out of the shock, extends the swing arm too far for the sensor linkage, and it MAY damage the sensor internally with all the weight hanging from it. That’s why you disconnect it. Key word there is “MAY”.

So, back to my previous post up above. When you put everything back together and let the bike down, there’s a chance that the sensor linkage can re-wrap itself backwards. So, even if it IS still working, you could get a faulty position signal resulting in too little or too much air pressure. Take a look back under there and make sure that the linkage is oriented the way I described and in the pic. If it is pointed the wrong way, correct it as I said above. See if it works. If it is oriented the correct way, but not working correctly, then you probably do need a new sensor. But to be clear, there is nothing wrong with the control switch on the dash.

 

[dolittle]

Thanks for your help, Snowbelt. I jacked up the bike and checked the ride height sensor and I think the bracket it was bolted to was bent. I dropped the swing arm so I could get more room and moved the bracket to where it looked straight, hooked it all up again, and had 5psi at rest. Tested with the wife and it is now ok. Saves me a lot of money, because the dealers around here want top bucks just to talk to you and some are 2 hrs away.
Thanks again, Dolittle