Drives much better

[mmsalt]

I want to share the improvements we made to our new to us 1999 Allegro Bay 29000 miles. The coach seemed to sit low in the back, jar your teeth over every expansion joint and wander all over the road so bad it was unsafe. Dad had new Bridgestones put on during a trip to the North East , when they returned we had a front end alingement done. This yielded no improvement but at least we new everything was ok with the front end. I then added Firestone Ride Rite airbags to the rear. We started with 40psi. This showed very little improvement. Next I added a Davis Tru Trac bar to the front raised the pressure in the rear air bags to 70 psi and wow. This coach drives like a dream it floats over the joints and bumps. The coach wanders very little at times but no where near what it used to. I can safely drive with one hand on the wheel. I think a rear trac bar will help improve that even more. Any questions please feel free to ask.

Mike

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmsalt I think a rear trac bar will help improve that even more. Any questions please feel free to ask.

Mike, I agree strongly! A rear track bar will improve your rig significantly. Brazel's Ultratrak being one such product, your motorhome will feel like it's on rails.

[mmsalt]

Driver

Thanks I will look into that track bar.

Mike

[micd]

Mike,

We also go 'ka-thump' over every seam in the street. Do you think it was the rear air bags or front trac bar that solved that problem? We've already got front air bags, we recently replaced the tires and the shocks all around but still go 'ka-thump' on every crack in the street. However we don't ride low in the back so not sure if air bags are needed. I'm wondering if we could benefit from the trac bar.

Michelle

[NALSO]

A rear Track-Bar was a major improvement of the road manners on my rig.

Running 30psi in the front air bags, towing the CR-V, with side wind, getting passed by Big Rigs, I am enjoying the ride for the first time not having to hold on to the steering wheel with both hands.

By the time you get where you are going you are relaxed.

Rear Track-Bar is the way to go.

[NeilV]

Quote:

Originally Posted by micd Mike, We also go 'ka-thump' over every seam in the street. Do you think it was the rear air bags or front trac bar that solved that problem? We've already got front air bags, we recently replaced the tires and the shocks all around but still go 'ka-thump' on every crack in the street. However we don't ride low in the back so not sure if air bags are needed. I'm wondering if we could benefit from the trac bar. Michelle

A Track bar will only help you to keep going straight down the road. Correct tire/front air bag pressure for your load and a set of good shocks will help with the 'ka-thump'. The Oem and Bilstene shocks are a bit harsh for many people who then find that the Monroe RV or Konis are a better fit for them.

Get the rig weighed and then using the tire manufacturere load chart inflate the tires to the reccomended values. Also make sure that you are not over infating your front air bags.

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeilV The OEM and Bilstein shocks are a bit harsh for many people who then find that the Monroe RV or Konis are a better fit for them.

One cannot place in the same sentence or recommend a Monroe RV Magnum or a Koni FSD. The technologies and the getting what you pay for are exponentially different and the scales are overwhelmingly in favor of the Koni FSD.

Quote:

Get the rig weighed and then using the tire manufacturers load chart inflate the tires to the recommended values. Also make sure that you are not over inflating your front air bags.

I could not agree more with your recommendation.

[Wizard]

I will say that new Koni's didn't help mine. I'm waiting to take it to a chassis shop after my wifes health problems get better.

[NeilV]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DriVer One cannot place in the same sentence or recommend a Monroe RV Magnum or a Koni FSD. The technologies and the getting what you pay for are exponentially different and the scales are overwhelmingly in favor of the Koni FSD.

I agree that the Konis and Monroe are quite different on many fronts with the Konis being vastly superior from a technical standpoint however some/many seem to prefer either one when compared to the harsher Bilsteins or OEM shocks by Bilstein.

I am saving up for the Koni FSD's myself and maybe a set of airbags for the back of my coach.

I really miss the self leveling JetAir system that was in my 95 Vectra 33RQ.

[micd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeilV A Track bar will only help you to keep going straight down the road. Correct tire/front air bag pressure for your load and a set of good shocks will help with the 'ka-thump'. The Oem and Bilstene shocks are a bit harsh for many people who then find that the Monroe RV or Konis are a better fit for them. Get the rig weighed and then using the tire manufacturere load chart inflate the tires to the reccomended values. Also make sure that you are not over infating your front air bags.

Thanks Neil,

I probably did an idiot thing as the first place I took it to recommended replacing the rear with Monroes and leaving the old front Bilsteins alone. Foolishly I thought I'd replace all 4 with new Bilsteins. They are like having iron bars for shocks so I concur with you that they make the ride too rough. I had inquired about Koni but they do not make a model for my coach. Basically I could have saved a ton if I'd left the old front ones alone and just replaced the rear with Monroe. My ride was way better before the replacement.

In terms of tire inflation pressure we weigh 4800 lbs in the front fully loaded. This is off the low end of the scale for the tire charts. Unfortunately I cannot find a chart for the Hankooks that we put on so am using the Goodyear one. I wrote Hankook to get a chart from them but no response.

The tire pressure posted on the door says with 5300 lbs up front we should be at 65 psi. We were running at 70 psi due to us being off the low end of the chart we printed and took with us to the weigh station. I'll have to try 65 psi and see if things get better. Our rear weight was also off the low end of the chart (8200 lbs) so we are not over weighted in the back.

Not sure what the right air bag pressure to use for the front air bags. The Denver shop mentioned the alignment guy thought 55. But his alignment was horrendous and we had to redo it on the road in Helena Montana (who did a fabulous job and dramatically improved our RV dancing all over the road starting at 50 mph to where we could drive it easily at 50, 65, 75 and even 80 mph).

For the front air bags we found 70 psi in a table somewhere. If you have a recommendation as to what to try I would appreciate it. Don't mean to hijack the thread so perhaps reply on my other thread regarding gasoline smells. That way I'm hijacking my own thread. :-)

Driver, if you have some recommendations for us I'd love to hear them. Wading through all the info and trying to figure out what is right can be confusing for us newbies. The previous owner ran the tires at 70 psi so we figured he would know and he didn't use the coach for much traveling, just local fishing trips so I suspect he was lighter but hard to say if he took alot of people with him.

Thanks!
Michelle

[pkunk1]

Michelle, being as this is the Ford F53 chassis forum, you'd get better answers on the Chevy forum. Post your tire size and axle weights when talking pressures.

[micd]

Thanks I will do that.

Michelle

[mmsalt]

Thanks we just got back from a weekend camping trip, the coach rodegreat. I will look into the rear trac bar this week. I only installed rear airbags. Do the fronts help with the ride on the F53? We added the rear knowing we had a load issue which the springs corrected while improving the ride. The front load issue seems fine but could we improve the ride by adding them. The shocks appear to be stock what is the best value for replacements?

Thanks
Mike

[John Wayne]

Be sure to check before buying air bags, some will not go on if you have a trac bar installed.