Power Level Control Valve Repair 76 Palm Beach

W

waldo love

New member
Nov 9, 1998
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Does anyone have experience in refurbishing the control valve. The parts manual
lists a kit, but Golby doesn't have it. Haven't tried Cinnabar yet.

Any help appreciated.

Waldo
76 Palm Beach
 
Waldo,
You must have a very early 76 serial #, I have seen some 76's with power
level valves but most have Electro Level I.

I do not think rebuilding the valves are work while. It was a weak design
and along with the porous aluminum casting they are made with, they are
doomed for a marginal life.

JR Slaten (a GMC net participant) has come up with a great retrofit power
level valve set up that it easy to ins. and works much better than the
origional.

JR, if you are out there, give Waldo your Email address and get him set up
with your stuff.

Waldo, it is the right thing to do!

Hope this helps,

Jim Bounds
- -------------

>
>Does anyone have experience in refurbishing the control valve. The parts
manual
>lists a kit, but Golby doesn't have it. Haven't tried Cinnabar yet.
>
>Any help appreciated.
>
>Waldo
>76 Palm Beach
>
>
Jim Bounds/Co-op Motor Works Orlando www.gmccoop.com
 
Is there a market for a brass power level valve? Not hard for me to make

>Waldo,
>You must have a very early 76 serial #, I have seen some 76's with power
>level valves but most have Electro Level I.
>
>I do not think rebuilding the valves are work while. It was a weak design
>and along with the porous aluminum casting they are made with, they are
>doomed for a marginal life.
>
>JR Slaten (a GMC net participant) has come up with a great retrofit power
>level valve set up that it easy to ins. and works much better than the
>origional.
>
>JR, if you are out there, give Waldo your Email address and get him set up
>with your stuff.
>
>Waldo, it is the right thing to do!
>
>Hope this helps,
>
>Jim Bounds
>-------------

>>
>>Does anyone have experience in refurbishing the control valve. The parts
>manual
>>lists a kit, but Golby doesn't have it. Haven't tried Cinnabar yet.
>>
>>Any help appreciated.
>>
>>Waldo
>>76 Palm Beach
>>
>>
>Jim Bounds/Co-op Motor Works Orlando www.gmccoop.com
>
>
 
Very good replacement level control valves are already available from JR
Slaten:

J.R. Slaten, Teflon/Stainless steel oil cooler lines for 403
& 455, Stainless steel oil cooler tubes for 455, and New air level control
valves. (502) 363-3011 or email, JRSlaten
.

Paul Bartz

From: Tom Warner [mailto:warner]
Sent: Friday, October 29, 1999 8:54 AM

Is there a market for a brass power level valve? Not hard for me to make

>Waldo,
>You must have a very early 76 serial #, I have seen some 76's with power
>level valves but most have Electro Level I.
>
>I do not think rebuilding the valves are work while. It was a weak design
>and along with the porous aluminum casting they are made with, they are
>doomed for a marginal life.
>
>JR Slaten (a GMC net participant) has come up with a great retrofit power
>level valve set up that it easy to ins. and works much better than the
>origional.
>
>JR, if you are out there, give Waldo your Email address and get him set up
>with your stuff.
>
>Waldo, it is the right thing to do!
>
>Hope this helps,
>
>Jim Bounds
>-------------

>>
>>Does anyone have experience in refurbishing the control valve. The parts
>manual
>>lists a kit, but Golby doesn't have it. Haven't tried Cinnabar yet.
>>
>>Any help appreciated.
>>
>>Waldo
>>76 Palm Beach
>>
>>
>Jim Bounds/Co-op Motor Works Orlando www.gmccoop.com
>
>
 
What a way to make a guy feel bad. I have a '76 Palm Beach and it
has Power Level. It seems to work very well..(knock on wood)...What am
I missing?
Richard Waters '76 PB, Troy, MI

> You must have a very early 76 serial #, I have seen some 76's with power
> level valves but most have Electro Level I.
>
> It was a weak design
> and along with the porous aluminum casting they are made with, they are
> doomed for a marginal life.
>
>
 
>
> What a way to make a guy feel bad. I have a '76 Palm Beach and it
> has Power Level. It seems to work very well..(knock on wood)...What am
> I missing?

If your system doesn't leak down overnight -- NOTHING!!!! Count your blessings
& keeptruckin'!!!!

Waldo
 
Arch,
I guess I am lucky. My PB was built in Dec '75 and the Power Level
system works very well for me. The bags never leak down for months
at a time.

I think the PO modified the system. There are solenoids in the
air lines to the bags between the Power Level controls and the bags. They
only open when the ignition is on. If they were not there the bags would leak
down every night. I know that because the air tank is empty every morning
(zero pressure) and the pump runs for 10 minutes or so on the first start up
of the day.

Even though the tank leaks down, the bags stay up. At least I think this
is a PO mod of the system. I'm thinking that because I've never seen
a reference to solenoids in the system in the stuff that I have read.

Richard Waters '76 PB, Troy, MI
- -----

> In a message dated 10/29/1999 10:25:50 AM Central Daylight Time,

>
> > What a way to make a guy feel bad. I have a '76 Palm Beach and it
> > has Power Level. It seems to work very well..(knock on wood)...What am
> > I missing?
> >
> Richard
>
> I have a 76 GB and it has power level. Every time I touch one of the
> knobs it hisses at me. Mine was built in November of 75. Guess
> I need to talk to JR.
>
> Take Care
> Arch
 
I have a 1976 Palm beach with Power level and like it very much. In fact
talked to Wes Caughlan about it since i had thought about installing an
electrolevel system. He cautioned me not to. He told me that the engineers
thought that thge Power level was the best system. Far less to go wrong.

>What a way to make a guy feel bad. I have a '76 Palm Beach and it
>has Power Level. It seems to work very well..(knock on wood)...What am
>I missing?
>Richard Waters '76 PB, Troy, MI
>

>
>> You must have a very early 76 serial #, I have seen some 76's with power
>> level valves but most have Electro Level I.
>>
>> It was a weak design
>> and along with the porous aluminum casting they are made with, they are
>> doomed for a marginal life.
>>
>>
>
>
 
Arch,
That's a good question. What you say makes sense. I don't have the
answer now. It never occurred to me to think about the air in the bags
moving back to the empty pump.
My pump comes on with the ignition. The air does not leave the bags
when the pump turns on. There must be a check valve or something
in the system. I'll go out and take a look tomorrow.

It only took me a year to figure out what the solenoids were doing .
Richard

>
>
> I do have one question. How do you turn on the air compressor?
> Mine is on the ignition switch. It would seem like that if the
> compressor and solenoids both turned on at the same time
> that the coach would go down then back up as air pressure
> built up. Is there a check valve in the system too?
>
> Take Care
> Arch
 
Tom,
Good to hear that. If you look at the schematic for all 3 systems (at
least I think there were 3) our Power Level systems look very simple.
The other 2 sure have a lot of components that could go wrong. If
ours work, then why fix them?
Richard

> I have a 1976 Palm beach with Power level and like it very much. In fact
> talked to Wes Caughlan about it since i had thought about installing an
> electrolevel system. He cautioned me not to. He told me that the engineers
> thought that thge Power level was the best system. Far less to go wrong.
>

> >What a way to make a guy feel bad. I have a '76 Palm Beach and it
> >has Power Level. It seems to work very well..(knock on wood)...What am
> >I missing?
> >Richard Waters '76 PB, Troy, MI
> >

> >
> >> You must have a very early 76 serial #, I have seen some 76's with power
> >> level valves but most have Electro Level I.
> >>
> >> It was a weak design
> >> and along with the porous aluminum casting they are made with, they are
> >> doomed for a marginal life.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
 
Arch just a thought as I read your post. have you given the machine shop
the correct stem clearances for the intake and exhaust valves so they will
not bind? Stock clearances will cause problems with the current lousey gas.

>In a message dated 10/30/1999 9:11:11 PM Central Daylight Time,

>
>> Try replacing the O-rings in the valve. I haven't done mine yet, so I
>> don't know the drill, but I hear it's relatively easy and can make a big
>> difference. (This is item 374 in my top 1,000 things I need to do soon.)
>;-
>
>Rick
>
>You just scared me. Relatively easy huh? Relative to what?
>Exploding Statpower units, cracked intake manifolds and now
>the latest. I got a letter from Formica Friday saying that my new
>93 inch countertop was made by the shop they supplied glue to
>during the time frame that they had some bad glue. This afternoon
>I went over to my friends shop and looked at my beautiful exact
>duplicate of the original top except that it is 93 inches long. You
>guessed it-------it is delaminating. If I touch one of those valves it
>will probably crumble in my hand. I should have taken it as an omen
>when on our first day together my lady scared me when she hissed
>at me when I tried to get the back end up off the ground. I had an old
>cat that hissed at me when I first got her for the kids. She and I fought
>for the next 13 years. Well, the heads are in the machine shop to
>install those nice big chunks of cast iron to block off the crossovers.
>Will take them back to the first shop as soon as replacement Mondello
>valves ever arrive.
>
>My plan was to fix everything now so I could drive very peacefully once
>on the road. I sure hope this is the case----I am having all of the problems
>now so I dont have them later.
>
>Take Care
>Arch
>
>
 
Didn't someone report that these are really 'square' O-rings?

mg

|-----Original Message-----
|From: owner-gmcmotorhome
|[mailto:owner-gmcmotorhome]On Behalf Of
|RickStapls
|Sent: Saturday, October 30, 1999 9:10 PM
|To: gmcmotorhome
|Subject: Re: GMC: Power Level Control Valve Repair 76 Palm Beach
|
|

|
|> I have a 76 GB and it has power level. Every time I touch one of the
|> knobs it hisses at me.
|
|Arch,
| Try replacing the O-rings in the valve. I haven't done mine yet, so I
|don't know the drill, but I hear it's relatively easy and can make a big
|difference. (This is item 374 in my top 1,000 things I need to do
|soon.) ;-)
| HTH.
|
|Rick Staples
|'75 Eleganza
|Louisville, CO
 
< Didn't someone report that these are really 'square' O-rings? >

There are some o-rings listed in the McMaster-Carr catalog that I
believe will work better than regular o-rings. The cross section is similar
to a four-leaf clover. Some of the descriptive information:
"Double-Seal Buna-N O-Rings"
"Also known as Quattro Seals"
"symetrically designed for sealing on the I.D., O.D., top, or
bottom"

I think their size 007, part number 90025K123, is the correct size.
100 o-rings for $7.79. I'll post what I find after I've gotten some to try.

Robin
 
Arch,
No I'm not going to open Pandora's Box. I'm just a little curious now.
I think I'll call the PO and find out what he did.
Richard

> In a message dated 10/29/1999 9:03:25 PM Central Daylight Time,

> > It only took me a year to figure out what the solenoids were doing .
>
> Richard
>
> Good luck. Hope I did not open Pandora's Box.
>
> Take Care
> Arch
 
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