Need smoother ride

[tomtryshard]

Have 14 yr old class A. After 40,000 miles of being hammered by my Ford chassis on ever-worsening US roads, thinking of buying different chassis class A for smoother ride. Any brand name suggestions?

[al2ride]

We are very happy with our 2014 F53. It's a very smooth ride. If you want super smooth and have the funds, I'm an air ride is the way to go.

["007"]

Welcome to irv2.
Have you ever got the coach weight and set the tires for proper tire inflation may have to much air in them for softer ride.
Have the shocks ever been changed for better control of bounce over road surface and are your coach chassis springs supporting the coach box.
If the springs are over bent down ward may need new or added spring to support the coach box.

[gbburgess]

We have an 2008 Georgetown with 50 k miles. Early on it was shaking our teeth out. I spent 2500 dollars and added Kelderman air shocks on the front. Now bad roads are not so bad. Just wish I had done the back also. Check axle/coach weights and adjust air pressure for better ride also.

[CLIFFTALL]

Welcome to irv2. I've had two ( 01 & 08 ) Fords f53 and put 93,000 miles on them. They both gave me smooth rides for what they were. An air ride would most certainly have been smoother. As previously mentioned , your current ride may not be set up properly. Cliff

[al2ride]

Bad shocks, wrong tire pressure, tires out of balance, worn joints...

[NeilV]

A 2000 F53 will ride harsh if the tires are over inflated or the load is not balanced. What was revealed the last time you had the coach weighed? You may need to better balance the front to back distribution of things, have the coach weighed again and then inflate the tires to accomodate the new weight distribution per the tire manufactures load charts.

[Selah]

Only one way to get a smoother ride, move to a DP. You can only do so much to a leaf spring suspension and many of the newer MH have done what they could. We had an Allegro 36LA and thought it rode pretty well..... Until we got the Phaeton. A world of difference.

[al2ride]

I guess the definition of a smooth ride is all over the place. Our coach has a very smooth ride. Nothing vibrates, jolts, shakes, etc. The ride is comparable to a big V8 sedan...you know, a boat. It floats down the road. Heck, DW's Grand Cherokee has a stiffer ride. To say that in order to get a smoother ride you need a DP is not true. If your gasser is not smooth going down the road then you have to find the problem.

[LVJ58]

Our coach is also 14 years old and on the Ford chassis. To soften up the ride I installed Koni FSD shocks on front suspension, added Firestone Ride-Rite air bags on all 4 corners and run 80psi in tires.

It now provides a fairly nice ride of course a DP with air suspension should give you a much smoother ride. If you don't mind paying a higher price for diesel fuel, then by all means that's the way to go.

If you want to stay with a gas powered coach, all new ones are built on the Ford chassis.

You might want to consider an earlier model gas powered coach built on a Workhorse chassis.

Good luck with your search and safe travels

[teddyu]

I would look at the Cheap Handling Fix thread in the Ford Chassis sub-forum. As others have mentioned, start with the coach weight, fix anything that is obviously broken including sway bar bushings. Do one fix, and test. JM2¢...

[Wizard]

Never could get my 2002 Brave to ride smooth.

Finally traded for a diesel with air ride, WOW what a difference.

Wife was threatening to stay home

Everyone happy happy happy now.

[C-Leigh Racing]

You do enough checking into & reading & studying, you'll not get anything better than the Kelderman air ride system to smooth the F53 ride out.

Those leaf springs that Ford uses in the front, are to stiff, so every road bump, concrete joint in the highways transmits through the spring hangers, on into the chassis & then through the coach body.
One thing I would have to comend the coach builders for, they have done a superb job of mounting the cabinets onto the walls of these motorhomes, cause if not, they surely would be laying in the floor after a few trips, specially up north.

Someone mentioned in another thread, about maybe some of the road shock from road bumps, being taken out by the rubber mounts between the chassis & coach body frame.
Would like to know which coach MFG is doing that process, because all I've looked, at the coach body frame work is welded direct to the chassis rails.
Neil

[flangley]

What is average mileage for replacing shocks?