Kelderman Air Ride
After much discussion with Kelderman in Oskaloosa, Iowa, I arranged to have their deler in IL install the Kelderman system on a 2013 Winnebago Vista 30T. I drove the MH 3+ hours up there and drove the...
Forum Discussion
You know,
This is amazing to me. We had a '99 Fleetwood Bounder, 34V w/F-53 chassis and V-10. We really liked the coach and would have it today if we didn't travel with both a Honda Goldwing and a toad. We had to change motorhomes due to the way we load the rig up.
Now, that being said, that Bounder was a nice coach but, seriously wrongly designed. It has a 100 gallon water tank at the very rear of the coach, a 75 gallon fuel tank just behind the rear axle and, a 14 gallon propane tank behind the right rear duals. So, needless to say, the front end was seriously "unloaded" for the GAWF. The front axle weight rating was 7,000 lbs. The actual weight, with every thing loaded, was 5,500. It road like a rock. Now, I could see that the Kelderman system back then might, have been an improvement but, what I'm kind of wondering here is,
Has Ford, and the RV industry as a whole not done ANYTHING to alleviate the "so called" issues about Ford handling and weight loading problems that, a person who purchases a 2013 Motorhome and then has to turn right around and spend, what used to be back when we had the Bounder, about $3,000.00 to "try" and get it to ride correctly?
To spend that kind of money, right after spending the big money on the coach in the first place, sure seems like I'd have to maybe think about another chassie'd coach, depending on what else is available. Sure seems like Ford and the RV industry would get together on this but, maybe they just don't care 'cause people still buy the coaches equipped with the F-53 chassis.
Scott
This is amazing to me. We had a '99 Fleetwood Bounder, 34V w/F-53 chassis and V-10. We really liked the coach and would have it today if we didn't travel with both a Honda Goldwing and a toad. We had to change motorhomes due to the way we load the rig up.
Now, that being said, that Bounder was a nice coach but, seriously wrongly designed. It has a 100 gallon water tank at the very rear of the coach, a 75 gallon fuel tank just behind the rear axle and, a 14 gallon propane tank behind the right rear duals. So, needless to say, the front end was seriously "unloaded" for the GAWF. The front axle weight rating was 7,000 lbs. The actual weight, with every thing loaded, was 5,500. It road like a rock. Now, I could see that the Kelderman system back then might, have been an improvement but, what I'm kind of wondering here is,
Has Ford, and the RV industry as a whole not done ANYTHING to alleviate the "so called" issues about Ford handling and weight loading problems that, a person who purchases a 2013 Motorhome and then has to turn right around and spend, what used to be back when we had the Bounder, about $3,000.00 to "try" and get it to ride correctly?
To spend that kind of money, right after spending the big money on the coach in the first place, sure seems like I'd have to maybe think about another chassie'd coach, depending on what else is available. Sure seems like Ford and the RV industry would get together on this but, maybe they just don't care 'cause people still buy the coaches equipped with the F-53 chassis.
Scott
