Entry Steps....

[jtharley]

I love my new coach but I found one flaw that needs to be fixed.....

My entry steps have about an 8-1/2 inch clearance from the ground when the coach is fully aired up. The "crown" on the entry to my driveway and I'm sure other places makes the guard around the steps scrape. It hit so hard last time out that the steps actually moved about a half inch back.

I'm taking it back to the dealer on Wednesday to have them fix the stairs and try and figure out another type of guard that is connected to the chassis and independent of the stair guard.

Another idea they had was to put a spacer on the front shocks and adjust the air shocks to give me another inch or two in height. My fear with this is it will affect the ride (which is fantastic) right now. Any ideas out there before I take it in next week? I guess I could put on a different kind of entry step but I really like the one that came with the coach.

[Bob86ZZ4]

I think there is a way to rig the rear axle to overide the auto height and fully inflate the air bags. That would give you some lift for getting over stuff. Truck mechanics know how to do it. I talked to a couple about doing it to mine and they told me there are a couple different ways to do it. And they said it wouldn't be too expensive. I don't like the idea of changing the front ride height permanently like you talked about. Unless you think the front is too low I guess.

[jtharley]

Thanks Bob,

The dealer is considering putting in a riser on the front shock and adjusting the back air to go up another inch or two. It is just disappointing that this is even a problem on our type of coaches. When you consider the "crown" on some fuel stations like flying J's or parking lots off roads you would have thought that this would have been considered.

I'm sure the dealer will take care of it they have been great but now its a 4 hour ride on Wednesday to drop it off........who am I fooling, I love to drive it anyway. And yes, it is the front end that is too low since my entry door is toward the front of the coach.

[Ed S]

I have not had any problem like that

[Bob86ZZ4]

I thought those Dynamax units looked kind of low. I wasn't sure if that was just an optical illusion. I guess maybe it's true. Have you talked to anybody at Dynamax to vioce your concerns? I'd for sure want at least a few opinions before making changes to the ride height. There are lots of things to consider I think. The biggest being driveline angle. By just doing the rear lift thing and only using that at low speed when needed to clear a bump you won't have any adverse effects during regular driving. Stop at a Freightliner (it's on a FL chassis, isn't it?) dealer and talk to their service manager about fitting a overide to the rear auto leveling system for low speed temporary clearance issues.

[jtharley]

Looks like we are going to replace the factory entry step with a quickee tight folding step. That will give me about 6 inches of additional clearance on the steps. We're still looking for a fix on the front jacks but we all think it could be raised 2" up fairly easy and that would be all I need there. We are also still looking into adding a one inch spacer on the leaf spring that won't affect the ride at all and would be the easiest fix. We need to get a green light from Dynamax on that though.

I'll keep you posted when I pick it up on the 20th.

[jtharley]

Another update.....looks like we can raise the front Jacks by about 2 inches which I believe would give me the clearance that I will be comfortable with. The service manager and I have decided to keep the original steps and build a new "guard" in front of the step and attached to the frame preventing the step from being shifted again. This in conjunction with adding a riser to the front leaf springs will also give me another 2" in step height from the ground. All we are waiting on is the ok from Dynamax that this fix will not in any way affect the ride of the coach.

Supposed to pick it up on Monday then 2 days of camping and back home. I'll let you know how the fix worked.

[jtharley]

Coach ran great, no scraping on the driveway when I came in and I got to keep the original steps. The service department at Holland Motorhomes is the best I have worked with in my 9 years of RV ownership. Service after the sale says it all and they bend over backwards to keep their customers happy!

[Bob86ZZ4]

That's good news, Jim. I'm kind of confused though. What exactly did they do?

[jtharley]

Bob,

They ended up putting a 1" spacer in the front leaf springs. Then they moved my front Jacks up 2" and reconfigured the muffler guard. Finally they adjusted the rear air ride by the same one inch in the front and built a stair guard attached directly to the frame so in the event I do scrape the guard protects the original stairs from scraping at all.

That is really all I needed to get over the 8" crown in my driveway. I've gone in and out of the drive several times now and there are no scrapes at all. The ride on the coach has not changed and it handles as well as before the fix.

The folks at Holland motorhomes are really great with service after the sale. As I stated before, I have had 5 motorhomes from 3 different dealers and these guys are head and shoulders above any of the other dealers.

We are going to take a few more short trips in October and then get ready for our 3 month trip south and west. We plan on leaving the day after Christmas.