Leaf spring suspension vs air suspension

[jpe2459]

Thinking about buying a 2006 HR Vacationer DP, and saw that it has a roadmaster chassis and leaf spring suspension. Looking for some opinions on MH with leaf spring suspension vs MH with air suspension. The good, the bad, handling, turning, swaying, rocking, and so on. Thanks

[Mike Canter]

My previous MH had leaf springs and my now Mh
has airbags. I will never have leaf springs aagain. The ride is too rough and noisey with leaf springs. You feel every bump, pothole, and expansion joint. Sometimes you will swear that the Mh will shake apart. If you get leafsprings you will always wish you had airbags or you will always be trying to make the ride smoother. Do yourself a big favor and get airbags to start off with.

[Monacoach]

I'm thinking it depends on which coach you have. I have been driving this spring road master chassis for over two years now and I like it and have no desire to improve the ride.
Yes when the road is rough I feel it as I did with my last coach but for the most part it is a smooth ride.
I have driven a 2008 Scepter with air ride on a couple of long highway trips and I don't see a huge difference in ride.

I would suggest a good test drive on a rough highway. Test drive both air ride and spring chassis and see if you what you think.

[Gary RVRoamer]

It's a decent chassis, but there are a number of differences between the RSR spring chassis and its air suspension brethren. More than just the air bags. The RSR has hydraulic brakes vs air on the others, the towing capacity in minimal (only 4000 lbs vs 7000-10,000 lbs on the air chassis), the transmission is the Allison 1000 instead of the rugged Allison 3000MH, the engine is the modest Cummins 5.9L limited to 600 lb-ft of torque to match to the Allison 1000, to name a few things.

What I'm saying is that there are many differences as you move up the scale, say from the Vacationer Diesel to the Neptune on the RR4R chassis.

You can compare details on the Holiday Rambler site - they have an archive of previous years spec sand brochures.
Holiday Rambler RVs: Products

[Mike Canter]

Gary, those are some excellent points. It is really a whole different class chassis. One point I would like to bring out is that a lot of Monaco/Roadmaster chassis with air bags where fitted with Monroe shocks from the factory and these shocks are no good past 15K miles so if you test drive a Roadmaster with airbags you need to make sure these shocks are changed. If they are the Monroe shocks and that chassis has mileage on it then it is going to have a real bad ride.

[jpe2459]

Well I guess it does not matter anymore because I bought it. A 2006 HR 34ft Vacationer Diesel with 22000 miles on it in excellent condition for a price of 65K. This is my first MH so I dont know any better. Took it for a test drive and it seemed to be fine and have a lot of power. But then again this is my first MH DP. Did notice squeaks and rattles, but not bad. So I hope I did OK.