2001 LXi Entry Step

[mbulriss]

Urnie,

Sorry for the delay. Been busy on other projects,

The Clippard Valve is the silver air cylinder that pushes and pulls the step in and out. It has two air lines going into it from the air relay controller. It is held in place by two clevis pins, one on each end. It operates just like your air dump valves in that air goes in one end and opens it and when air goes in the other end it closes the valve and in turn brings the step in. The air flow is controlled by the relay Arcticdude was describing above. The Clippard Valve is available directly from Clippard.com. It is their part number UDR-40-4 1/2. It was $114.22 before shipping. It is made to order, so it is not an off the shelf order. It can not be rebuilt, so don't waste time thinking about a hydraulic shop rebuild. I also bought the RC-3281 install kit for $5.81. Total order was $139.90 with shipping and handling. Took about two weeks to get as I recall.

Now as to the air relay controller that controls the air flow into the Clippard, tracing the air lines from the Clippard takes you right to it. The input air line into that relay also controls the air stepwell cover in the bus. The replacement relay I used was AirTac Product No. 4V220-08. We got it off of eBay. Full eBay product description was "1/4" BSPT DC12V 4V220-08 Pneumatic Air Valve 5 Port 2 Position Solenoid". Cost was $30.08. Manufacturer is AirTac USA Corporation, 21401 Park Row Drive, Suite 340, Katy, TX 77449 Tel: 281-394-7177. Trust me on this: find their listing on eBay, as it will cost you more to buy it by calling them direct! The new air mufflers that control the air pressure or strength of the air flow to each port were also an eBay purchase. Full part description was "2pc Pneumatic Flow Control Exhaust Silencer 1/8" NPT Air Muffler Fitting". They were $19.98 for the pair. Generic package without the manufacturer or part number. Heck a good NAPA with heavy duty air fittings probably should also have the air mufflers. You can reuse the quick connect air line fittings on each part or get new ones from the local NAPA as you prefer. Please note, I do not know how these parts compare to John's part numbers above, but they work perfectly. The only point of note is that the relay is not an identical match to the original so it does not mount the same way. You can fabricate a fancy connection or you can use large strong tie wraps like I did to fasten it in the original mounting location (and as BB did for numerous other parts). It's out of the way, so it's not likely to get dismounted. By adjusting the air mufflers in/out, you can control the speed of the step opening and closing.

Once you have all the parts, the install is a piece of cake. I drive the bus up on stacked 2x12s to give me more room to work when working on things underneath. That way I don't have to worry about air leaks letting the chassis down while I'm under there.

It sure is nice not having the "sometimes works" step any more!

Good luck,