2001 Ford 5-53 (33 footer). The passenger side seems to sag about 1.5 to 2 inches. Investigating, sup-pliers tell me this is a "known problem" and there seems to be 3 fixes for this.1- air bags2- spacer blocks3- spring spacers (spring steel that can be adjusted to proper height)The air bags are, quite frankly, expensive.The spacer blocks would work, but suppliers like SD truck springs say that springs on my unit are 4 inches wide...and they only have 3 inch wide blocks, so that wouldn't work.The spring steel spacers would work..they are thinner and can therefore be adjusted for correct height. (truckspring.com)Anybody do any of this? Any comments? Suppliers? Cost?

First thing would be to weight the wheel positions. If that corner heavy, move any weight you can to another wheel position.No rocket science in making proper 4" footprint shim(s). Worse case is a few bucks at a machine shop.And, yes, either helper springs or spacer blocks are common remedies.Any old-time HD truck spring shop should be able to do this for you. We have one here in Houston. Except for the calendar on the wall, the shop looks like it probably looked in the 1930's.

I elected to use Firestone air bags on the rear of my 95 F53.They are only $319.99 for your chassis at SDTruckSprings.The only draw back is checking the air pressure when checking the tires. Mine require some air every 30 days. Never could get them sealed up any better.A spacer block will require an alignment hole on one side and an alignment pin on the other. It's not as easy as just whacking out a 4" piece of steel. Then you may need longer "U" bolts.Richard

Go anyplace that sells steel. Buy some 4" X 1/4" metal strap. 8, 10, 12' whatever you need and cut your own. You can buy a grinder at Harbor Freight for about $19 and cutting wheels. You may have to buy longer U bolts which may be the biggest expense

Have you checked to see, if theres any spacers under the springs from the factory. Our 99 F53, has about a 1" spacer on the drivers side rear spring, I guess to off set the weight of the genset when it was new, to level the coach & now we have the same tilt to the passengers side as you have.Adding spacers to the passengers side on front & rear springs would be the cheapest, but the air bags route, would do several things other than just level the coach up.Neil

This has always been a problem with Ford Class A chassis, even 2014.The CORRECT fix is to take to a Spring suspension shop and they will either re-arc the existing defective leaf springs or add a leaf with a spacer if needed. ADDING air bags does not solve the problem. They will lift a side, but make the ride stiffer. We have this done 3 or 4 times a year on brand new and used motorhomes. Doug

F-53 suspension sagging on passenger side | Good Sam Community

Pirate1
Explorer
Dec 30, 2014
senior-cit wrote:
We own a Winnebago Adventurer 37F with the driver side slide full length. It also has the 4 door "refer", washer/dryer, generator, and a pantry that BH seems to over-fill. On level ground, it has a noticeable sag towards the driver side. Weight distribution goes out the window with Winnebago Ind.. Guess the spacer blocks will be installed. As a former tool maker, a piece of cake, except "U bolts" may present a problem.
My shop found new u bolts needed for the new size without any problems. I suspect any truck repair place should be able to find them easily.
senior-cit
Explorer
Dec 29, 2014
We own a Winnebago Adventurer 37F with the driver side slide full length. It also has the 4 door "refer", washer/dryer, generator, and a pantry that BH seems to over-fill. On level ground, it has a noticeable sag towards the driver side. Weight distribution goes out the window with Winnebago Ind.. Guess the spacer blocks will be installed. As a former tool maker, a piece of cake, except "U bolts" may present a problem.
427435
Explorer
Dec 29, 2014
Pirate wrote:
427435 wrote:
Pirate wrote:
My truck repair place used spacer blocks to even mine out sideways and lift the front. I was nervous going this route but am glad now we did instead of air bags. It didn't take them long to do it with new center bolts and shackle bolts.

The reason MH's sag is that the springs are either not up to the load and are taking a set. Adding spacers does nothing to solve that permanently. The problem will eventually come back.

Increasing the spring capacity with added air bags is a permanent fix.
My front end was not overweight. I would like to know how the front springs on a 2006 chassis can be worn.

There's a difference between wearing out and sagging. If the springs on your MH were the same LH and RH and one side was lower than the other---------------there was more weight on that side. More weight means you need a stronger spring on that side, which is what adding an air bag would do.
Pirate1
Explorer
Dec 29, 2014
427435 wrote:
Pirate wrote:
My truck repair place used spacer blocks to even mine out sideways and lift the front. I was nervous going this route but am glad now we did instead of air bags. It didn't take them long to do it with new center bolts and shackle bolts.

The reason MH's sag is that the springs are either not up to the load and are taking a set. Adding spacers does nothing to solve that permanently. The problem will eventually come back.

Increasing the spring capacity with added air bags is a permanent fix.
My front end was not overweight. I would like to know how the front springs on a 2006 chassis can be worn.
C-Leigh_Racing
Explorer
Dec 29, 2014
Yep, a leaf spring will do that, has done it on every car & truck ever made that used leaf springs.
So, how long will an air bag last, that will solve the listing problem during its life span & how hard is air bags to replace compared to replacement of leaf springs.

Knowing what a tool feels like in my hands & how much work it would be for either, I would choose the air bags any day to replace over a leaf spring replacement.
Neil
427435
Explorer
Dec 29, 2014
Pirate wrote:
My truck repair place used spacer blocks to even mine out sideways and lift the front. I was nervous going this route but am glad now we did instead of air bags. It didn't take them long to do it with new center bolts and shackle bolts.

The reason MH's sag is that the springs are either not up to the load and are taking a set. Adding spacers does nothing to solve that permanently. The problem will eventually come back.

Increasing the spring capacity with added air bags is a permanent fix.
Pirate1
Explorer
Dec 28, 2014
My truck repair place used spacer blocks to even mine out sideways and lift the front. I was nervous going this route but am glad now we did instead of air bags. It didn't take them long to do it with new center bolts and shackle bolts.
427435
Explorer
Dec 25, 2014
Mine was lower on the passenger side and low in total on the rear. I solved mine with air bags with 100 psi on passenger side and 50 psi on driver side. Put them on myself. Not hard to do but get some Kobalt bits.
jerry8mm
Explorer
Dec 25, 2014
All of the solutions described sound cheaper than the way I did it. My 2002 Ford chassis (34 ft. Class A) was a good 2 inches low on the passenger side.

I spent almost $2,000 and replace both the front and rear leaf springs on that side. That fixed the problem, but it looks like there were lower cost opptions that I didn't know about.
dougrainer
Nomad
Dec 25, 2014
sch911 wrote:
It really sounds like your coach is heavy on one side. There is no "known" problem with the F53 chassis where they lean to one side. IMHO if you can balance the weight out better by moving things around that's your first option. Next would be the Ride Right Air Bags. Good luck....

Well, how do YOU know it is NOT a known problem? I KNOW it is true because I have been in the RV selling and service business for 35 years. The Ford chassis are built on by the OEM's. Sometimes a weak spring will allow that corner to sag down. As I stated, when that happens the OEM or Ford pays to re-arc or add a new leaf spring under warranty. The CORRECT fix is to do that, not add aftermarket air bags. So if out of warranty, the Rv'er must pay. If I had my own Ford chassis RV and it sagged, this is what I would do. Doug

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F-53 suspension sagging on passenger side

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