Your Workhorse Custom Chassis Can Ride On Air...

[Richard 34A]

That's what the brochure states that I picked up at Workhorse. "Workhorse Parts teamed up with Detroit Steel Products and their Stabil-Air system to create a fully integrated system..."

Has anyone here done this upgrade to a W-chassis, how are the results, and what was the estimated cost?

Thank you!

[Richard 34A]

That's what the brochure states that I picked up at Workhorse. "Workhorse Parts teamed up with Detroit Steel Products and their Stabil-Air system to create a fully integrated system..."

Has anyone here done this upgrade to a W-chassis, how are the results, and what was the estimated cost?

Thank you!

[Bob (WA0MQE)]

Richard do a search for "Stabil-Air". I can't remember who, but one of our forum members did it. If I recall, he said it was pretty expensive, seems like I remember something like $7,000 w/ labor.

[DonavonP]

Hi Richard, There was/is a Workhorse service center in Sioux City. The owner, who posted under the name Erik S
installed the air ride. He seemed happy with the system. I haven't seen any posts by Erik for over a year.

An alternative would be Koni shocks.

[parts_expert]

the stabil-air system is no longer being sold

[oemtech]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">the stabil-air system is no longer being sold </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hummm... I wonder why? Cost maybe?

[robertb]

Stabil-Air was available this year but Workhorse was no longer marketing it for various reasons. I believe the main one was to promote their UFO. My company, Detroit Steel Products (currently Marathon Suspension Systems) who developed Stabil-Air, is in the process of shutting down. We will be completely done by the end of the year. We have since sold Stabil-Air to a company in Iowa called LINK Manufacturing. Here is their website www.linkmfg.com.
Bob, you were correct about the cost. When it was being sold through Workhorse it was $7000 installed however we installed one a few months ago that went for around $5000-$6000. I am not sure what the price will be through LINK. I was involved with the testing and the air suspension does improve the ride over the steel suspension.

Hope this helps.

[John-D]

I read the news release from Workhorse. I also priced the Firestone air-ride system and the Air-Lift system (A good company located in Lansing Michigan)

I have Air-Lift on my towed, from back when it did the towing Really helped.

Prices were in decreasing order Workhorse,,,,,,Firestone,,Air-Lift (That last one was reasonably priced.

Interestin factoid:

Workhorse ships with one of two steering wheels, the standard wheel is a 16" plastic circle

The "Delux" which costs around 350 bucks extra (I don't recall if it was 347 or 357 when I priced it) is 18 inches.

Well, I'm 6'3" and neither size worked well for me.. Both blocked way too much of the speedometer.

I opted for a 20" wheel, one of a kind, custom (hand) made for me by the company that supplies Workhorse with the 350 18" leather wrapped wheel, Like the 18" it's leather wrapped, the only noticable differences are 1: Size and 2: the "spokes" are black anodized instead of brushed aluminum (NOTE: If I had been given a choice.. I'd have chosen Black)

So what do you think it cost?

Remember, this is a one-of-a-kind, hand assembled, custom made wheel. Not a catalog item.


$127 delivered.

[Richard 34A]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by robertb:
Stabil-Air was available this year but Workhorse was no longer marketing it for various reasons. I believe the main one was to promote their UFO. My company, Detroit Steel Products (currently Marathon Suspension Systems) who developed Stabil-Air, is in the process of shutting down. We will be completely done by the end of the year. We have since sold Stabil-Air to a company in Iowa called LINK Manufacturing. Here is their website www.linkmfg.com.
Bob, you were correct about the cost. When it was being sold through Workhorse it was $7000 installed however we installed one a few months ago that went for around $5000-$6000. I am not sure what the price will be through LINK. I was involved with the testing and the air suspension does improve the ride over the steel suspension.

Hope this helps. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks robertb, and to all the others that replied. I did find an old post last night searching thrugh Google and among other things, said the cost, including labor, was $7,000. The post said that the labor was 20 hours. Sounds like more than what I would want to spend for this type of upgrade, though the brochure makes it sound like a nice system.

When I picked up the brochure, I asked for a ball-park approximate cost and was told less than $2,000. That sounded pretty reasonable but looks like the service writer might be way off on the quote. When I pick up the MH in a couple of weeks, maybe I'll have him give me a more thorough quote and I'll post what he says.

UPDATE:

Talked to the service writer today and says that he made a mistake; he can install air bags for $2,000 but not this system... price would be 'substantially higher'...