How often should I be able to adjust ride height?

[Plazman]

I went off-roading last week and noticed it was having a lot of trouble getting into the Highest setting. It kept blinking for ages.

I did a little digging around in the Service Menu and found Air Suspension Reservoir Pressure. After being at rest in my garage for hours, it read 16.6 Bar (roughly 240 psi). I set the suspension to Highest, which left me with 12.1 bar. I dropped it down to Lowest and I was down to 6.9 bar of reservoir pressure. When I tried to raise it again...nothing. It didn't move for 2 minutes while the pump ran, refilling the reservoir to 8.0 before it would budge. It took a full 5 minutes for the pumps o turn off after reaching 10.3 bar.

So my question is, is this common? Do you all have enough pressure to raise/lower it more than once? I know lifting 7,500 pounds is no small task, so maybe that's just to be expected. I hadn't noticed it until I went off-roading and wanted to frequently tweak the ride height while I learned the R1S's limitations.

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[Dark-Fx]

Takes a long time to adjust further once the pump turns on.

 

[Polar]

I adjust my height daily. Low/Lowest to High. Highest when there is a car parked too close to me. Yeah it has to work a bit sometimes; but doesn’t bother me or seem to be acting up in anyway. Rather use it than not.

 

[usulio]

That does seem a bit slow to me. I've rarely had to wait long for the height to adjust in a real-world situation, once in while though.

 

[electruck]

The only thing that seems odd to me is that you noted losing reservoir pressure when lowering the suspension. Perhaps that's normal but it's certainly not obvious to me why that would be the case. Obviously the pressure on the air springs should drop when lowering but why such a significant loss at the reservoir?

 

[Zoidz]

The only thing that seems odd to me is that you noted losing reservoir pressure when lowering the suspension. Perhaps that's normal but it's certainly not obvious to me why that would be the case. Obviously the pressure on the air springs should drop when lowering but why such a significant loss at the reservoir?

At first glance I agree with you. You would think that the reservoir is a storage tank and air is release into the suspension as needed. If the suspension is lowered, you would think only the suspension, not the tank, would reduce pressure.

But if this report is accurate, perhaps the pressure tank is an "active" part of the suspension, in which case the pressure in the tank would drop with the suspension being lowered? Seems counterintuitive.....

 

[Glembi2]

I adjust my height daily. Low/Lowest to High. Highest when there is a car parked too close to me. Yeah it has to work a bit sometimes; but doesn’t bother me or seem to be acting up in anyway. Rather use it than not.

Does increasing the height increase side clearance? I change the height when starting out of a parking space just to get out of kneel height but that is based on someone’s comment that sharp turn angles in kneel height stresses the suspension more than in standard height.

Edit. The side clearance increases based on the side taper of the truck?

 

[FooF]

Why are you adjusting ride height so much when off roading? I used to do that to make it easier for the girlfriend to get in and out when we stopped to see the sights. Then I got sliders and was able to leave in high when off roading. I also had an unable to change height warning when I was changing height too much when it was really hot outside. Now I stay in high and only use highest if absolutely necessary. Highest gives you more clearance if you need it, but the articulation is not as good, and the angle is hard of the half shafts.

 

[Polar]

Does increasing the height increase side clearance? I change the height when starting out of a parking space just to get out of kneel height but that is based on someone’s comment that sharp turn angles in kneel height stresses the suspension more than in standard height.

Edit. The side clearance increases based on the side taper of the truck?

It brings my running boards more inline with the door edge of cars rather than my door panels.

I have no idea why sharp turns in kneel height would stress the suspension - if I remember correctly, kneel height is no lower than sport lowest.

 

[bigsky]

I adjust my height daily. Low/Lowest to High. Highest when there is a car parked too close to me. Yeah it has to work a bit sometimes; but doesn’t bother me or seem to be acting up in anyway. Rather use it than not.

With so many issues I hear about Rivian compressors and thinking about MTBF, and longevity, I never mess with the height settings even though it is perfectly fine to do. My R1S is forever set to and fixed on standard height. I have not even used kneel mode once and could use it.
Nothing wrong at all with my R1S yet...knock on my head.

 

[zefram47]

Why are you adjusting ride height so much when off roading? I used to do that to make it easier for the girlfriend to get in and out when we stopped to see the sights. Then I got sliders and was able to leave in high when off roading. I also had an unable to change height warning when I was changing height too much when it was really hot outside. Now I stay in high and only use highest if absolutely necessary. Highest gives you more clearance if you need it, but the articulation is not as good, and the angle is hard of the half shafts.

All of this. Also, ride quality sucks in highest. Depending on the trail I've even stayed in Standard height such as Corkscrew around the Ouray area. But yes, pick a height and stick with it unless the trail dictates otherwise. The only oddity I've noticed is if you stay in Drive and stop on a slope of any sort, especially off-camber, the truck tries to level itself unnecessarily.

 

[Plazman]

At first glance I agree with you. You would think that the reservoir is a storage tank and air is release into the suspension as needed. If the suspension is lowered, you would think only the suspension, not the tank, would reduce pressure.

But if this report is accurate, perhaps the pressure tank is an "active" part of the suspension, in which case the pressure in the tank would drop with the suspension being lowered? Seems counterintuitive.....

I think you nailed it. I couldn't figure out why it was reduce the reservoir either, but your conjecture makes perfect sense.

 

[SoCal Rob]

All of this. Also, ride quality sucks in highest. Depending on the trail I've even stayed in Standard height such as Corkscrew around the Ouray area. But yes, pick a height and stick with it unless the trail dictates otherwise. The only oddity I've noticed is if you stay in Drive and stop on a slope of any sort, especially off-camber, the truck tries to level itself unnecessarily.

Yeah, I tend to stay in Standard unless truly needed off-road, too.
Once set to High I typically leave it until we’re back on pavement or close to it. I’ve only selected Highest on the Rivian to wash wheel wells more easily and use tire change mode.

Our Land Rover didn’t allow people to manually select the equivalent of Rivian Highest. It would automatically go into Extended Mode (like our Highest) if the vehicle was caught on something. It gave people a buffer of untapped height in case they got themselves stuck. I’m sure the LR engineers figured if people could manually select the highest height then they’d just use it even if not needed. This would also result in a less comfortable ride, more stress on CV joints, and without the ability to get out of a mess you’d gotten yourself into.

I don’t understand Rivian’s strategy in trying to keep the truck level as opposed to keeping it as close to parallel to the ground as possible, like a passive suspension would. Our Land Rover would attempt to keep the vehicle parallel to the ground which made a lot more sense to me since it’s like what people are used to in other vehicles.

 

[Glembi2]

It brings my running boards more inline with the door edge of cars rather than my door panels.

I have no idea why sharp turns in kneel height would stress the suspension - if I remember correctly, kneel height is no lower than sport lowest.

Ahhhh - got it. Great additional use case for running boards.

if I find the thread on kneel height and issues with sharp turns, I’ll post it. I think it was back in Feb or something.

 

[citizen]

You don't want to be camp level at every traffic light?!

I don’t understand Rivian’s strategy in trying to keep the truck level as opposed to keeping it as close to parallel to the ground as possible, like a passive suspension would. Our Land Rover would attempt to keep the vehicle parallel to the ground which made a lot more sense to me since it’s like what people are used to in other vehicles.

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