Hard Ride

[Tboh]

On the first big trip here my 05 Discovery was kind of rough over the road. Bumps were jaring at times. Is this normal? It softened up a bit by 1200 miles but still hit hard from concrete to asphalt like across a bridge...

Any way to soften the ride a litle? The body roll was a little too much too. Anyone know of a sway bar or something I can bolt on for that?

Thanks,

[Tboh]

On the first big trip here my 05 Discovery was kind of rough over the road. Bumps were jaring at times. Is this normal? It softened up a bit by 1200 miles but still hit hard from concrete to asphalt like across a bridge...

Any way to soften the ride a litle? The body roll was a little too much too. Anyone know of a sway bar or something I can bolt on for that?

Thanks,

[hondo122]

Do you have your tire pressure set properly. Have a 4 position weight done and adjust the pressure to manufacturers specs. It improved the ride on my 05 Discovery. Check the ride height,and see if that helps the roll. Good luck. Mike

[smlranger]

Tboh:

Several suggestions:

1. weigh the rig with your full travel-ready load and adjust tire pressures based on the tire manufacturer's load inflation table. My XC rode like very rough when the tires were near max inflation pressure, but softened quite a bit when I adjusted the pressures based on my actual load.

2. shocks can affect ride quality. I removed the OEM Bilsteins and replace them with the Koni FSD and got further ride improvement....much less jarring of the rig.

3. as to body roll, several of us have installed the Super Steer ride control valves. These valves are placed on the air lines going to each air bag and control the rate of release of air from the bags. Those who have installed these, include myself, noticed a dramatic reduction in leaning in turns. I just drove 1,000+ miles and the coach is much more stable on interstate ramps and curvy roads in general.

[Tboh]

I have the tires set well. I'll look into the ride height.

Thanks Mike,

[Bassman]

I too vote for the Koni FSDs. Our Kountry Star began to ride so poorly, I actually thought about trading it off! The FSDs made a tremendous difference. Keith

[jhanan]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by smlranger:
valves are placed on the air lines going to each air bag and control the rate of release of air from the bags. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Here is a surprise! Driving back from Lake Amistad to Austin on US 377 we came upon road construction - road bed work - so about 2 miles of dirt road. After a while once back on pavement, I noticed that the MH is leaning to the passenger side! And the ride has noticably gotten much harder. Hmmm, did I blow an air bag? Next town, I pulled over and started inspecting the bags and sure enough the right front air bag was completely flat - no air! Dang. My 1st though was I broke the bag. I put the front jacks all the way down to look around some. I can't beleive what I saw. The ride height sensor bar to the ride height valve mechanism for the RF air bag is off the frame - just hanging there! Turns out there is a clamp nut on a small bolt to the arm that attaches the arm to a frame tab. The nut is gone, and the bolt slipped out of the frame tab! So out here on little road US 377 I came to the town's only hardware store on a Sunday - closed (True Value)! I'm glad not to loose the bolt. So I slid the bolt back into the tab and used duct tape to hold that bolt in the frame tab to fix it. Fix it - it did, the air bag was back in business - no leaks! I should send in a picture of this. Must be a good design with the air bag - I take it there is a block inside the air bag? I was worried that I might have cut or split the bag after it deflated. Anyone else loose one of these nuts?!

[Jestme13]

The Moral to this story is " I always carry a can of assorted nuts, bolts and washers". Ya just never know when one will come in real handy!

[RickO]

I had the same problem after driving my brand new coach less than 10 miles so I'm sure it came from the dealer in that condition. The way I found it was when I was doing a final walk around and checking tire pressure before leaving for my first long trip. I found that the street side inboard dually was flat. I had picked up a large bolt right through the tread. I pretty sure this was from the dealer too but no way to prove it. I should have checked the tires during the inspection. When road service pulled the wheels they showed me the ride hight bar just hanging loose. They were kind enough to fix it for me while the wheels were off.

Hmmmmmm....... sigh.