Community Forums

peter griffin · 09-18-2007, 03:57 PM

new springs will most likely cause the coach to lean the other way for a while...adding leafs is a lot of guess work. Plus if you add a leaf you will most likely want an alignment soon after..

"007" · 09-18-2007, 04:36 PM

If he has a good spring company they will know what has to be done to level the coach and lift the location that needs the added support.
The front end and thrust angle will have to be realigned, the U bolts on rear end will be replaced.

jhirizarry · 09-18-2007, 05:34 PM

Hey Guys! I'm back with an update.

Well my coach has been at the shop for 2 weeks waiting on a spring from Ford in Detroit. They installed it yesterday and the service guy called me today. He said the coach still leans. What a surprise!!! They want to add a riser to see if that makes a difference but did not think the warranty company would pay for it. Then in addition to... he suggested to install air bags made by RideRite. Based on the reading I've done in this post, it seems like a long road ahead. Oh, they only replaced one spring, the rear passenger side. Any thoughts? Thanks guys!

"007" · 09-18-2007, 05:51 PM

If your in a Ford garage thats the way they may do the job. You need a goood spring company that works on heavy trucks.

Have a good one here on east coast Donavan Springs in Londonderry, NH.
If your handy or have a friend that is you could install air bags yourself.

Air-Lift bags

peter griffin · 09-25-2007, 11:49 AM

I had a 2 inch block installed and did not like the ride. Extra leafs is the way to go...Ford service advisory reports also indicate that you cannot utilize more than a 3/4 block...(If I recall correctly) Go with a spring but even a good shop will be guessing...Motorhomes don't come in to these shops everyday...plus the spring needs time to settle...Winnebago did cover the spring because it leaned 2 inches and looked ridiculous driving down the road...

It should cost no more than $700.00 fo one spring (on the leaning side) but I bet you can shop around and get someone to do it for 450.00...Make sure they use new nuts on the ubolt..

peter griffin · 09-25-2007, 11:53 AM

the riser/block/shim will work but the spring will also fail after time..hopefully this photo of the shim block came out

jhirizarry · 10-04-2007, 06:36 PM

Well I picked up my coach and to my surprise it is straight. They installed new springs on the right side and replaced the 3" spacer on the left side with a 2 1/2" spacer. So in a sense they made the left side lower to match the right. Hope it lasts!! We'll see.

Dick L · 10-06-2007, 04:31 PM

Pete, Your picture of the spring spacer that was installed is great. I have some concerns about the intergrity of the repair as the block should always be the same width as the spring and at least as long as the perch on which it sits.

We have fixed many Ford F53 chassis leans and we do not ever install a block that is more than 1 inch thick. If 1 inch will not fix the lean, we add another leaf to the low side. We do 4 corner weighing and our spring supplier can take our information and correct most all leans on the first attempt. We have used the same spring supplier for 20 + years so we have confidence in his opinion. If 1 leaf is too much, he will re arch the spring to the specfications needed to level the coach.

To the rest of you, I wish you could get better service out there. Bad service reflects on all service facilities. We repair frame, suspension and alignment problems on all sizes of vehicles with a speciality towards RV's, both motorized and non-motorized and we have seen most of these problems in the past. The only lean that we could not correctly address was a coach that had been built on a frame with a 3 inch twist in the frame from the chassis manufactorer. Even the coach bulder attempted to remove the twist but the body was stronger than the frame and suffered incorrectable damage during the repair. They did buy the customer out of the unit as a result and as such the customer is now happy. He stayed with the same brand coach because of the fair method in which he was treated. All RV owners should be so lucky.

george henry · 10-08-2007, 06:17 PM

007 , or anybody else I have a qestion after reading all this about leaning.
I am parking my smaller M/H in my wide driveway it is 40 by 100 ft long. There is a dip on the left side and it makes my m/h lean but at least when it rains all the water will wash down only on the driver side window. I back it into my driveway so that when we get ready to leave just pull out.Please see photo attached . I do have leverlers BIG FOOT by Quadra with the 14 inch pads all around on 21 inch legs the special order long legs .at 14,000 lbs lift on each corner .
Do you recommend that I park it with the leverlers down , I only use the m/h once or twice monthly. I don't have a lean going down the road and it always looks level fron the front while traveling. It only weights 15,700 dry. 2006 Hurricane 30 Q on Ford 362 hp 5 speed V-10 3 valve .
Please remember that my driveway at my lake house on the left side has a dip about 6 inch If I use the automatic leverlers it will rise the front driver wheel off the ground about 2 inches. and the passenger side will not lift off the ground both rear will stay on the ground but the rear driver side will lift about 2 1/2 inches to make it fully level all 4 rear tires are sill on ground.
Since this m/h is not heavy at all , am I putting a stress on the frame leaving it park without the leverelers down and just have it lean , I when ahead and put a 2 inch by 12 inch by 2 feet long treated board under the driver wheel to help it so it wouldn't lean so much.And yes that photo attached does have all leverlers fully automatic down tomake it perfectly level. , trust me without them down that m/h would lean to its left on the whole driver side. and more on the front driver side , when you look from the front at it.hat you see in the picture is a treaded 3/4 inch flat board 2 feet by 3 feet long on all four side to keep the tires off the asphalt.

peter griffin · 10-09-2007, 03:05 PM

Dick, Winnebago in forest city put the block in. On my way home to Boston I did not like the ride...(the rear end was out of control) so they paid a spring shop in Worcester to take the block out and add one leaf to the passenger rear side where my rv corner (bed slide) weighed 1000 lb more than the other side...It drives and sits much better. I agree with you a block should not be that big.

"007" · 10-09-2007, 05:23 PM

Dick thats exactly what a good spring company will do to match up the four corners to level the coach. Different size springs to correct problems never liked the blocks just messes up the handling of coach.
The Ford suspension just does not cut it for heavy box's.

"007" · 10-09-2007, 05:26 PM

george your fine with the jacks up will save on tension of springs if you have them and if your coach rides level shouldn't affect the chassis.
Only time I have jacks down is when slides are out.

george henry · 10-10-2007, 12:03 PM

007, thanks will keep them up while in the driveway and of course down when camping , last time we when to fl beach for 2 weeks and it was in sand it was level when we first park with all leverlers down automatic and woke up to off level both rear sank about 2 inches . Yes it was beach sand. ST . George Island ,FL. State park on the ocean.7 miles of clean beach.
Thank God , I brought along 4 boards 2 inch by 12 inch wide by 24 inches one for each jack. just in case. Good call on my part. Coaches next to me right and left were wishing they had boards for their jacks. One man next door jump into their toad and came back with 4 boards later and now the WIFE was happy. !!!!!!!

Todger · 10-20-2007, 03:35 PM

I have a similar situation. Mine leans about 2 1/2" toward the passengers side front. Contacted Farnsworth the dealer I purchased it from. (New Southwind) They contacted Fleetwood and they had me measure the drip rail on each corner. The RV repairman called back and needed the frame to ground and frame to axel on all four sides. It sounds like they will be installing a block on the passengers rear. According to the repairman at Farnsworth the block will transfer weight to the drivers front. Evidentely they have had this issue before, because they Fl Wo did not hessitate. Sounds reasonable.