Codfish
St.John's,nfld,Canada
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What are the pros and cons of installing air bags on a F53 chassis motorhome? Anyone with any suggestions or any experience with this?
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wolfe10
Texas
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Joined: 10/08/2000
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Air bags are basically a way to add spring rate. You need to determine if you need additional spring rate.
Ford has ride height specs. How does your ride height compare?
Air bags are not the recommended start to improve ride/handling. HD sway bars, track bars, better shocks (such as Koni FSD's), etc are much better for this.
Another alternate to air bags IF you need more spring rate (ride height is low and there is no mechanical failure) is to add a leaf to the present leaf spring.
* This post was
edited 09/21/08 11:14am by wolfe10 *
Brett Wolfe
1993 Foretravel 36' U-240
Cat 3116, Allison 3060
Caterpillar RV Engine Owner's Club: www.catrvclub.org
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Codfish
St.John's,nfld,Canada
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Thanks wolfe10 - I've installed Koni FSD shocks and the improvement was considerable.
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bojumill
central AZ
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our 1986 Pace Arrow has air bags on the rear , a semi truck can pass us and it does not knock us all over the road, like it use to do in the Allergo without airbags
Bob & Judy
Bob & Judy Miller
Pam the Watch Cat
1986 Pace Arrow
2004 Ford Taurus Station Wagon
Tow Master Tow Dolly elec brakes
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tupelo
tupelo, ms
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Well worth the investment!!!
PM me your email address and I can send you pics and diagrams of the install.
1995 Fleetwood Bounder 35UW
USE & SUPPORT CB CHANNEL 13
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wildmanbaker
Kennewick, Washington
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Joined: 02/24/2005
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CODFISH,
Adding air bags will help stabilize the side to side rocking. As Wolfe said, track bar is a must on the rear, and possibly the front, but not if the air bags are over the center of the front axle. There are several ways to reduce the side to side rocking. One is to install larger sway bars, at about $800.00 each, if you do the work. The other is to increase the spring weight with the existing sway bars. With air bags, you are not to raise the tires off the ground, or damage will occur to the bags, unless you deflate them. There is the plumbing for the bags, an on-board compressor to inflate them, and an control board to inflate them to their individual pressures. I looked at this type of system, and decided to go with TIMBREN system. This is a static system with no individual wheel adjustments. Once installed, nothing else needs to be done. This had made a marked improvement in driving quality. No nose diving on braking, no nose jumping on acceralling, and greatly reduced side to side rock and roll. Track bars are almost a must on the F-53 chassis due to the long springs and large bushing, that allow the axles to shift from side to side under the frame.
Wildman 
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Codfish
St.John's,nfld,Canada
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Thank you all for your replies. You have been most helpful.
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livingaboard
Everett wa
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I installed 4 with a quad control guage for independent bag operation.
I can raise the front about 3 inches and the rear only about an ince at full pressure. It seems the rear should raise more to me.
The reason I installed the bags was to make the ride more stable and help prevent side to side sway and porpoising.
I think I have about $1100 plus all my labor in it. I am not sure if I would spend that money again unless I drove it a lot.
The factory shocks were replaced at the same time. One front shock was completely dead and probably the reason for my porpoising.
Right now, I am having to move the main propane line to make room for the air bag bracket. It is a pain in the ass.
Dave
Everett, WA
2000 Itasca Suncruiser 35U, F53 Triton V-10
Firestone air bags with Quad control air gauge
Pressure Pro
Banks Exhaust
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Bea PA
Waynesboro, PA, USA
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Joined: 12/28/2000
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You didn't say what your rig is but we had a 2000 and with a safety plus, good shocks, and correct tire inflation, we didn't have a bad ride, our only complaint was the noisey front engine. Good Luck
Bea PA
2004 Winnebago Journey
2008 Saturn Vue
1998 Venture Van
Brake Buddy/Remco Pump
2003 Gold Wing 1800 (Big Red)
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keith and sharon
Van Nuys, CA.
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If you have a 2008 f-53 chassis it already has a track bar on the front so no need to have one there.
2008 Tiffin Allegro 32BA
2008 F-150 King Ranch
2008 Escape Hybrid (toad)
FMCA #F402618
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