Patent ID: 8191904

Claim:
A method for establishing a vehicle leveling system on a vehicle that has an air spring ( 12 ) and a leveling assembly connected to the air spring, where said leveling assembly includes a leveling valve ( 22 ) and a height sensor that has a mechanical height-indicating part ( 30 ) that moves in first and second directions as a height of the air spring increases and decreases away from a predetermined first desired height, where the leveling valve mechanically controls air flow into and out of said air spring in accordance with movement of said mechanical height-indicating part, a pressured air source ( 20 ), and a blocking valve ( 60 ) that is controllable to block or allow the flow of air from said source to said leveling valve, where said vehicle includes an electrical system and a computer ( 62 ) with a plurality of computer inputs and at least one computer output and a plurality of vehicle parameter sensors that are each connected to said computer and that each senses a characteristic of the vehicle, including a vehicle speed parameter sensor ( 64 ) that senses vehicle speed, said computer being energized by said electrical system, comprising: mounting a mechanical-to-electrical sensor ( 50 ) on said leveling assembly wherein said mechanical-to-electrical sensor generates an electrical signal output indicating the height of said air spring according to a position of said mechanical height-indicating part, and electrically connecting said mechanical-to-electrical sensor output to one of said computer inputs; connecting said speed parameter sensor ( 64 ) to one of said computer inputs; connecting a first of said at least one computer output to said blocking valve ( 60 ); programming said computer to deliver a signal on said at least one computer output, to said blocking valve according to inputs from said mechanical-to-electrical sensor and from said speed parameter sensor, to open said blocking valve when said speed parameter sensor indicates a vehicle speed below a predetermined level which indicates that the vehicle is stationary.