Stabil-Air Suspension

[Gaetan Lavoie]

I have not seen any feedback on the Stabil-Air Suspension in quite a while. I would like to hear from those of you that have gone out and had this system installed on their Workhorse W22.

Regards,

[Gaetan Lavoie]

I have not seen any feedback on the Stabil-Air Suspension in quite a while. I would like to hear from those of you that have gone out and had this system installed on their Workhorse W22.

Regards,

[DriVer]

Gaetan,

I don't believe that we have seen many Stabil-Air suspension modifications reported here however I have been to where the systems have been installed. Select Camping World stores here in the US have the system as a SKU in their catalogs and a number of them have been installed.

In Florida, Turning Wheel RV has accomplished installations in their Ocala location.

The system has changed since its introduction. The Firestone IntelliRide component has been deleted. This reduces the amount of time required to install the system and also significantly reduces the cost.

Featuring Koni FSD shocks absorbers and a number of proprietary components the system presents the best of having a mechanical connection to the road while giving an improved ride level using air suspension components.

[ghamblen]

This is a previous post supplied by suspension engineer.


Posted March 17, 2006 07:28 AM
The Firestone IntelliRide was replaced mainly do to the complexity. It was immediately noticed that the system would overwhelm most of the installation centers. It is a good system but needs to remain as an OEM item installed in a controlled environment.

What has changed to Stabil-Air II:

Haldex mechanical height leveling with dump: This is a proven system that has been running on OTR (over the road) trucks for many years. The dump feature now is a complete air dump so you will get ~2.5" of down travel depending entirely on vehicle loading conditions. If your running on 22.5" rims and have the third step - verify you will not drive this in to the ground before attempting dump.

Engine driven air compressor: Less time needed to get to ride height.

Automatic drain valve: Removes moisture from air tank on every fill cycle. No more manually draining tanks.



Parking lot egress :

This is by far the most difficult item to control on any RV. I have actually ran from the side of a $250k DP on a top end Freightliner because I thought she was coming over. The laws of physics dictate that the coach is going to roll in this extreme manner but how do we stop the "rocking"? Shocks, stabilizer bars. Here's the problem, the coach is not moving fast enough to get in to the shock's area of optimum damping. The shock takes energy out of the system based on how fast it is moving. The faster the movement the more energy it can remove from the system. Stabilizer bars improve the sway tremendously but up to a point. Solid axle suspensions and large stabilizer bars will lead to 1 wheel bump steer effects and load transfers to the opposite wheel. This is not tolerated by the OEMs and is part of the give and take of suspension design. Optimize the roll stiffness but in no way degrade the every day down the road feel.

Why not bump up the shock damping in slow movements? Suspension is all about give and take and slow movement is where you stay most of the time in highway driving. You increase this value too high and the ride degrades drastically to the point of feeling weightless over bridge joints.

The Koni FSD have a slightly higher damping coefficient in the lower velocities than the Bilstein. Mike, this is what you notice.


Camping World :

We have completed training the technicians in Kissimmee and Tampa and now are heading to California. CW will start distributing very soon but the FL centers are already installing.


Stabil-Air II System Cost:

There was a minor cost reduction but the changes were made to reduce labor on the installation.