I-Beam Front End Suspension

A torque rod from the rear end housing to the frame stops side movement, at least it did for me when I went total Freightliner F70 rear air suspension, best ride I ever had in side winds or when semi's pass by at high speed.

wolfe10 wrote:

usersmanual wrote:
sorry wolfe but your wrong sfa with leaf springs will never ever ride or handle as good as a IFS system will;; never

?Leaf Springs on an Alpine?

No, full air suspension with 4 ride height valves.

If you are interested, go here: http://www.alpinecoachassociation.com/tech/tech.html#chassis

Under brochures, select 2003 to get the PDF of the brochure. Specs and chassis information starting page 12.

thanks man Not what I was thinking,sounds like a decent system
for sure from what little the picture shows
whats keeps the axle from walking ?

usersmanual wrote:
sorry wolfe but your wrong sfa with leaf springs will never ever ride or handle as good as a IFS system will;; never

?Leaf Springs on an Alpine?

No, full air suspension with 4 ride height valves.

If you are interested, go here: http://www.alpinecoachassociation.com/tech/tech.html#chassis

Under brochures, select 2003 to get the PDF of the brochure. Specs and chassis information starting page 12.

wa8yxm wrote:
Third and last try:
The problem with solid axle and leaf springs is the RV can move side to side over the axles... And if the Front moves right while the rear moves left, or the other way around, You the driver feel you are going down the road at an angle, So you compensate.. Then the ends swap and you compensate, and then the ends swap... And this goes on till you stop.

With IFS, the front axles well "half axles" are locked to the frame at the non wheel end, this can not happen.....

And with a solid axle, such as I have, and a TRACK BAR, it also can not happen.

The OP was asking about a diesel pusher with a straight axle - a completely different suspension set up than a gasser with leaf springs.

Of course your asking for subjective information. I suspect many here would tell you ( as "most" have) they haven't experienced much of a difference in ride. For most of us the majority of travel is on relatively smooth roads. Adding after market shocks as we did and a blue ox tru center has made our Solid axle a really comfortable ride. We ran over a 4x4 a couple years ago. Coach ran straight down the road without a twitch one way or the other.

For anyone to say their opinion is the only one that should be considered is ... Well .... Read between the lines.

There seems to be a Apples and Oranges thing going on....comments about a solid axle with leaf springs but many of us are commenting on solid axle with airbags. Mite confusing. Are the comments about IFS regarding coaches with coil springs or air bags?

IFS is typically a better suspension for smoothing out the ride on bad roads, pot hole riddled roads and dirt roads. On good roads most will find it makes little difference.

IFS is typically a better suspension for smoothing out the ride on bad roads, pot hole riddled roads and dirt roads. On good roads most will find it makes little difference.

sorry wolfe but your wrong sfa with leaf springs will never ever ride or handle as good as a IFS system will;; never

Indeed, front suspension design is but one of the many factors determining a coaches ride and handling characteristics. By itself, it will not "transform" a poor riding/handling coach into a good one.

Some manufacturers known for high end coaches offered both (Foretravel comes to mind). Very hard to quantify differences here where it counts as all other aspects were the same.

Personally, I prefer a GOOD suspension on solid front axle for both ease of maintenance and good ride and handling qualities. Our current coach, a 2003 Alpine qualifies and was chosen with that being one of the prime reasons. But long WB/OL, 4 ride height valves, oversized 99 series Koni shocks, good weight distribution, etc are all factors in the equation. No single component was the "silver bullet".