Community Forums

freedom24 · 02-11-2014, 03:25 PM

Hi everyone. I just purchased our very first motorhome and have some questions. I hope someone can help me out. Please know that I greatly appreciate your time and assistance.

It is a 2003 Fleetwood Terra Model 31H. It has the workhorse chassis and the 8.1 liter engine. It has OEM bilstein shocks and bilstein stabilzer. It also has OEM air bags inside the front coil suspension.

#1. Which type of workhorse chassis do I have? P32? W22?
#2. How much air pressure should I put in the front air bag suspension?
#3. How much air pressure should I run in the 19.5 size tires?
#4. Can I purchase a owner manual and service manual for my chassis?
#5. What are heated water tanks? Is that to keep them from freezing?

Many thanks!

**CLIFFTALL** · 02-11-2014, 03:30 PM

Welcome to irv2. I'm sure you'll get some answers here. Congrats and good luck .

Cliff

wa8yxm · 02-11-2014, 03:40 PM

Most likely a W-22 but to be sure check the vin (Assumes they did not re-do the vin)

Air in the bags I can not help you with

Air in the tires I can.. Load as though going on a trip. And either contact RV Safety & Education Foundation or find a FLAT scale near you (not a CAT scale or any other bridge scale but one that lies flat in the ground)

A segmented scale is best

RV-Safety's Aweigh we go folks will weigh each wheel and tell you the proper pressure and do some other stuf for less than 50 bucks.

The scales may cost you 20 to 30 but if it's a segmented scale pull full on so each axle is on a segment.

Then pull half on (just one side) and from the weights you can find

Total weight of RV
Total axle weight front
Total axle weight Rear
Side weight Front and Total-side = other side
Side weight Rear and total - side = other side

Then you can find the inflation chart on the tire maker's web pagte and inflate accordinagly.

edgray · 02-11-2014, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by freedom24

Hi everyone. I just purchased our very first motorhome and have some questions. I hope someone can help me out. Please know that I greatly appreciate your time and assistance.

It is a 2003 Fleetwood Terra Model 31H. It has the workhorse chassis and the 8.1 liter engine. It has OEM bilstein shocks and bilstein stabilzer. It also has OEM air bags inside the front coil suspension.

#1. Which type of workhorse chassis do I have? P32? W22?
#2. How much air pressure should I put in the front air bag suspension?
#3. How much air pressure should I run in the 19.5 size tires?
#4. Can I purchase a owner manual and service manual for my chassis?
#5. What are heated water tanks? Is that to keep them from freezing?

Many thanks!

# 1. If you have coil springs and air bags in the front, you have a P32 chassis. The 6th character of your Vin # will be either a "3" or a "5".

#2.You inflate the air bags to level the coach.

#3.You inflate the tires according to the tire maker's inflation chart for the actual weight you are running. load it and get on a scale.
#4. take a look at the downloads available at Brazel.com
#5. Yes, if you have them.

WELCOME to iRV2.com

cwj212 · 02-11-2014, 04:17 PM

Check the workhorse website. You can download a chassis manual there.

I had a p32 in our previous rig. I ran 100 psi in the bags. There is a procedure in the manual for re-inflating bags to pick up some ride height if needed.

tompen · 02-11-2014, 05:32 PM

Here's what I do. Mine is a 2001 Damon 34 FT class A. It is a P32. Yours is a P32. I put 85# in the front tires and 80# in the rear. I put 90# in the air bags. I would be comfortable at anywhere between 75 and 100 as long as they are equal. I couldn't see that different pressures changed the bumper height but it did change the handling. In mine, the water tanks are heated by the furnace. The manual calls it "heated" but only with the furnace running. I am not disagreeing with anyone on your questions. This is just what I do.
Enjoy

mgscott4 · 02-11-2014, 07:57 PM

On my old P32 ,front air bags, I would inflate them until the 18 wheeler push would stop. That is when your driving in the slow lane, and an 18 wheeler blasts by you in the fast lane and the air pressure between you pushes you into the emergency lane. Usually it was around 70 PSI. 60-80 was good on my MH. I think 110 is max, and 20 is minimum. Experiment, see what gives you the best ride. Start high and drive to the next rest area and let a few pounds out. Then drive to the next rest area and let a few more pounds out.

wa8yxm · 02-12-2014, 10:15 AM

Manuals.. YES but as someone else said check for downloads first.

Heated tanks.. When the furnace runs it blows warm air into the wet bays (The compartments with tanks in them) to prevent them from freezing.. Generally good to around 20 degrees.

If you did not get manuals with it (About 10-20 pounds worth) then

First: For all the appliances (Fridge, MIcrowae, Air conditioenrs, Heck, even the door is an "Appliance" though you can skip that one) go to the manufacturer's support page and download the manual.

Second: Two books: The RV Book, and The RV Owner's Handbook are, as best I recall, their names, Most RV stores will have one or the other.

Good Generic manuals cover most all you need to know,, Sometimes better than the factory manual.

Clay L · 02-14-2014, 10:34 AM

I had a 96 motor home on a 95 P30/32 chassis. The vehicle owners manual described how to set the pressure in the airbags. I doubt if the procedure changed from 96 on.
In case you don't have a manual this is what mine said:

The owner’s manual gives the following ranges:

4,300 LB front suspensions = 10 psi to 50 psi
5,000 LB front suspensions = 40 psi to 50 psi
5,300 LB front suspensions = 50 psi to 80 psi
5,500 LB front suspensions = 60 psi to 100 psi

For the proper adjustment it says to inflate the air bags to the maximum pressure for your vehicle, load the motor home, park on a level surface and then reduce the air pressure as needed to level the motor home but don’t reduce it below the minimum.

I have seen other schemes for adjusting the pressure per ride quality, but the 1995 Chevrolet Forward Control Chassis owner’s manual said to do it as shown above.

I don't know if it's accurate or not but other posts have said the pressure in the bags affects the alignment and you should have it checked when you get the pressure set. The manual did not mention that however.