Air bag suspension truth and facts...

[LVRVLUVR]

off road towing a boat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3C0xlFv8Uk

[Sweetbriar]

Originally Posted by cbilodeau

You gave 4 cons but forgot to give 4 pros. A lot of people have probably of lot of experience but if their only motivation to post is to show the singer is not as good as they are then they are simply working to stop the free show.

The OP is talking much more about Gasser suspension VS DP than off-road for an RV. He is using his off-road experience to help the newbies like me understand. And it is useful.

Anybody should know the GVWR can not "officially" be changed by a component. I would still be interested in a component that exceed the OEM specs. I don't see the point here.

I will start writing for you:

I can confirm the OP is right about 4 subjects:

1 - DP shorter suspention travel...

2 - Spring

3 -

4 -

No I did not provide four cons to what the OP posted I provided three counter points to his incorrect assumptions. He is incorrect with regards to how a ride height adjusting air suspension operates on an RV, what aftermarket improvements in ride performance air bags provide and what type of roads RV were designed to be operated on. Counter point #3 had nothing to do with RV's but was written to provide an answer to a question regarding why off road drives don't use air bags to lift a vehicle.

There are a lot of RV owners who do not know the difference between GVWR, GCWR, GAWR, UVWR, CCC, correct tire pressure to axle loading and such who read this forum. Hang around long enough and you'll see the questions, nearly daily. Even indirectly referring that an aftermarket product can maybe get you past the limits of a chassis as built should never be spoken much less posted, forever, on an internet forum.

[palehorse89]

Here is another up side to air ride.......
Drop my 30' enclosed trailer on a leaf spring suspension........and a Weight Distributing Hitch in more than needed( Most can't tow it, not enough GCWR!).........as it has a little over 1100# tongue weight. When I drop it on my Mountain Aire/Spartan Chassis, nothing happens.......still at set ride height

And "NO WDH" needed.........10k in tow.......

Rides and tows like a dream........The Coach rides better with the trailer on than off........and handles and rides better also!

[LVRVLUVR]

Originally Posted by palehorse89

Here is another up side to air ride.......
Drop my 30' enclosed trailer on a leaf spring suspension........and a Weight Distributing Hitch in more than needed( Most can't tow it, not enough GCWR!).........as it has a little over 1100# tongue weight. When I drop it on my Mountain Aire/Spartan Chassis, nothing happens.......still at set ride height

And "NO WDH" needed.........10k in tow.......

Rides and tows like a dream........The Coach rides better with the trailer on than off........and handles and rides better also!

so what does it weigh going across the scales fully loaded , I provided that info on my coach.. mine is 23k gcwr and I weigh 22,500

[LVRVLUVR]

Originally Posted by Sweetbriar

No I did not provide four cons to what the OP posted I provided three counter points to his incorrect assumptions. He is incorrect with regards to how a ride height adjusting air suspension operates on an RV, what aftermarket improvements in ride performance air bags provide and what type of roads RV were designed to be operated on. Counter point #3 had nothing to do with RV's but was written to provide an answer to a question regarding why off road drives don't use air bags to lift a vehicle.

There are a lot of RV owners who do not know the difference between GVWR, GCWR, GAWR, UVWR, CCC, correct tire pressure to axle loading and such who read this forum. Hang around long enough and you'll see the questions, nearly daily. Even indirectly referring that an aftermarket product can maybe get you past the limits of a chassis as built should never be spoken much less posted, forever, on an internet forum.

i'm exzactly right on how the levers work and have spent time doing mods to them...

as for add on air bags,,, install many in coaches where the springs gave out and couldn't carry the weight... soooo the air bags lifted the rear....just because you up the GVW, doesn't mean mean that you upped the gvwr... which i never said...the two are total different..

but i'm sure you knew that....

Offroad trucks will use air suspension as soon a they can make it reliable. Modern motocross bikes are using air instead of springs now. I drive 4+ miles of washboard road to my house and one of the places we frequent is 35 mi of crappy road and my DP handles it great. Just because you dont think it works, doesn't mean it doessnt work for others.


go to dumont and tell everybody they can't drive down the 5 miles of wash board road..

[palehorse89]

Originally Posted by LVRVLUVR

so what does it weigh going across the scales fully loaded , I provided that info on my coach.. mine is 23k gcwr and I weigh 22,500

41k GCWR........31K GVWR........Close to "Maxed out".........per manufacture. I have not ran the combined unit across scales.........

[LVRVLUVR]

Originally Posted by palehorse89

41k GCWR........31K GVWR........Close to "Maxed out".........per manufacture. I have not ran the combined unit across scales.........

so you don't know if you are over or not...but it works and works fine...



not everybody goes by the rating, nore do they use their coach as it was intended...

pretty impressive load there though

[skypilot_1]

That was interesting...family or just friends ?

[Cdnw30]

So many questions, where do I start.

1. What chassis are you referring to on a dp. They are NOT all the same. Some are real junk, and it sounds like you had one.

2. What engine in your dp, sounds like you bought one of the underpowered ones, your mistake. ( If it doesn't have a least 1000-1200 ft lbs of torque you are underpowered)

3. Spring suspensions only ride smooth on a mh chassis when loaded near capacity. If loaded way under capacity you are driving a lumber wagon.

4. I drive a 22 year old mh on a gillig chassis, solid front axle, 8 air bag, original shocks I adjusted to the stiffest setting, and it drives like a dream. The roads I drive regularly are crap, but the bus rides fine.

5. On wash board roads, in a mh, it doesn't matter what you have for suspension. They all ride rough. Hell my Ford trucks just about bounce you right off the road on washboard.

[palehorse89]

Originally Posted by LVRVLUVR

so you don't know if you are over or not...but it works and works fine...



not everybody goes by the rating, nore do they use their coach as it was intended...

pretty impressive load there though

Yes, I do know it is under the manufactures weight rating.........weighted the Coach years ago when we bought it, Loaded, under the GVWRing..........added the trailer years later as it had a 10k GCWRing.......
I don't remember the exact numbers when I weighed the Coach now.......

[slickest1]

Originally Posted by Sweetbriar

No I did not provide four cons to what the OP posted I provided three counter points to his incorrect assumptions. He is incorrect with regards to how a ride height adjusting air suspension operates on an RV, what aftermarket improvements in ride performance air bags provide and what type of roads RV were designed to be operated on. Counter point #3 had nothing to do with RV's but was written to provide an answer to a question regarding why off road drives don't use air bags to lift a vehicle.

There are a lot of RV owners who do not know the difference between GVWR, GCWR, GAWR, UVWR, CCC, correct tire pressure to axle loading and such who read this forum. Hang around long enough and you'll see the questions, nearly daily. Even indirectly referring that an aftermarket product can maybe get you past the limits of a chassis as built should never be spoken much less posted, forever, on an internet forum.

I couldn't agree more.
Most class 8 trucks now come on airbag suspension. Most log trucks in this area are now on air ride suspensions and they work just great,
The leveler valves will add air but will also bleed off air to maintain a certain ride level. It takes a significant dip in the road for this to occur.

A diesel pusher coach on air bags cannot be compared to off road dune buggys or hot rods on air bags. They cannot be compared to class 8 trucks either.
The suspension is designed to run on highway but will take a certain amount of rough road as well.
The weak point on the DP is the box built on the chassis that will not take the off road twisting and jarring.

The OP should do a little more research before posting info like that!!

[Rich-n-Linda]

Good grief...not again.

Please don't feed the trolls.

[LVRVLUVR]

Originally Posted by slickest1

I couldn't agree more.
Most class 8 trucks now come on airbag suspension. Most log trucks in this area are now on air ride suspensions and they work just great,
The leveler valves will add air but will also bleed off air to maintain a certain ride level. It takes a significant dip in the road for this to occur.

A diesel pusher coach on air bags cannot be compared to off road dune buggys or hot rods on air bags. They cannot be compared to class 8 trucks either.
The suspension is designed to run on highway but will take a certain amount of rough road as well.
The weak point on the DP is the box built on the chassis that will not take the off road twisting and jarring.

The OP should do a little more research before posting info like that!!

lol did you read what I post??? i said the same thing,.. to increase cc you add air.. stiffer ride more air .. softer ride less air you can only carry the cc of the air bag, and if the air bag is more than the gvwr... you should not load past that...
and I also said that you can't do that with springs as you would have to change the spring.. and again i'm talking about ford leaf springs..

i had an f53 that road too ruff in the front,, 18k chassis.. and worse when pulling my trailer...
i swapped out the 18k front springs for 16k springs... still not great but better..

i had the same problem with my freightliner when I towed my trailer it actually made the front lighter on the scale and caused ruff ride and wandering...with the help from freightline I did the first mod to the lever
did the same thing as puting a lighter rated spring

[Sweetbriar]

Originally Posted by LVRVLUVR

here's why it doesn't work...

on a motorhome..a chassis that is designed for air bags has very minimal wheel travel... and a lot of weight....
the way it works is there is a ride height lever that when more weight is added .. it just adds more air... again....making the suspension stiffer..

the problem here is that when you come upon a bad road...washboard as it's called... the bumps cause the suspension to stiffen, because of the automatic
air being pumped in. and the suspenson travel hitting the lever... the suspension packs and you have none.....so what DP guys do...let air out of the tires to have suspension when they hit those roads...

and there is no fix as of to days tech.

my idea is to have a driver over ride switch that allows the driver to react when the auto system fails...

that way you can control the air pressure...

Based on the underlined statement you don't know how the valves work in an RV application. Read thru the below link which is the manufactures installation instructions on a very common ride height control valve. Notice the last line in the first paragraph? This applies to both extension and compression of the suspension.

http://www.heightcontrolvalve.com/do...structions.pdf

Next time do more research before posting. We're talking RV not some gear head who wants to make their truck bounce around at parking lot late night car shows.