What are these two yellow things under our W22 chassis?

[Scooter]

Up front near shocks. Yellow, hard rubber, about 10" high, 5" diameter, 4 ribs. They look like air bags but no air line going in.

My guess is that they cover up coil springs.

Was I close?

[JohnRR]

Just hollow snubber blocks to keep the springs from hitting the frame and they also provide some overload capacity.

I'm sure you'll get the correct nomenclature of it and the correct name of the material pretty soon.

[edgray]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scooter Up front near shocks. Yellow, hard rubber, about 10" high, 5" diameter, 4 ribs. They look like air bags but no air line going in. My guess is that they cover up coil springs. Was I close?

Sorry Scooter, but I'm afraid not.

The W-series does not have any coil springs, but rather uses leaf springs. Those yellow things are called "like air" aux. springs, and are part of the package WCC calls its Stabil-Ride suspension. You should also see them on your rear suspension. You can read more about them in the chassis guide, but JohnRR is pretty close in his reply.

These aux. springs should not to be confused with the "Stabil-Air" system which WCC marketed for a while, which was a true airbag suspension that replaced most of what was OE (if you had the $$$ ). Ed

[pkmesser]

They are also what you take out if you put SumoSprings in. I have done that, with a noticeable improvement in takeing some of the bumps out of the ride, from bad roads.

[Scooter]

edgray:

I looked at the rear suspension and found...........NO "Like Air" aux springs... and plain black shocks. Not the yellow and black Bilsteins I see in front. Don't think I saw a stabilizer bar.

Just two beefy leaf springs and plain black shocks.

[edgray]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scooter edgray: I looked at the rear suspension and found...........NO "Like Air" aux springs... and plain black shocks. Not the yellow and black Bilsteins I see in front. Don't think I saw a stabilizer bar. Just two beefy leaf springs and plain black shocks.

Scooter: I'm quoting the info provided in the chassis guide.

In part, it says the REAR suspension consists of ""a two-leaf, parabolic taper, constant rate spring pack.........The deflection of the main springs is slowed and controlled by an auxiliary elastomer spring positioned between the frame and the axle. The "Like-Air" aux spring is a multi stage autothane unit that does not require maintainence or adjustment."" The CG then goes on to provide different part nos. for the different GAWRs, and then it says: ""All Stabil-Ride rear suspensions came standard with custom tuned 46mm Monroe shocks, until late production 2004 model year. Starting the late production 2004 model year, a running change to custom tuned Bilstein shocks began and continues to be standard equipment. The suspension is equipped with an integral 2.5" rectangular stabilizer with steel-to-steel connection for immediate responsiveness. The stabilizer is attached to the rear of each leaf springs running laterally between them...."". end quoting

FWIW, I believe you are seeing the black OE shocks on the rear, and apparently "somebody" replaced your front OE shocks with Bilsteins, which BTW, I think have yellow tubes & BLUE tops. Back when your chassis was new, there were lots of complaints about "porposing" and often WCC would authorize replacement of the OE (all black) front shocks. Only a very few owners got all four OE shocks replaced by WCC. In my case, I got my front shocks replaced with Monroe's "Gas Magnum" RV shocks which were much larger and all yellow. Others got the yellow & blue Bilsteins once they became readily available.

I can't imagine a reason why your 2.5" stabilizer would be missing.

However, I do think it is entirely possible that the elastomer "Like-Air" springs have deteriorated and possibly broken off their mounts. As mentioned above, the "Sumo" springs would make an excellent replacement, but they are a bit "pricey" and I "think" the rears are much harder to replace than the fronts due to their location. If you do a search for SUMO Springs here in the Workhorse forum, I'm confident you'll find lots of good info about these highly rated aftermarket devices.

Good luck, and safe travels. Ed

[pkmesser]

Ed's comments about the SumoSprings are in line with what I found. The fronts were reasonable, I got them for $175, delivered, the rear are on the order of $600. Fronts were fairly easy to put on, I did not do the rear, but looking at the online instructins, they are a more difficult installation also. Still considering it though. (FDS shocks according to a lot of folks may accomplish as much or more, and are about the same price as the rear SumoSprings.) I would go with airbags in the rear, but am concerned about overstretching them with a lot of lift on the rear jacks. I put air bags on an 83 Pace Arrow that did not have jacks, and they helped the ride a lot on that MH.

Also, the stabilizer bar mentioned does not look like conventional sway bars, and are not attached the same either.