Kelderman Air Ride

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

Scott, I think tire pressure is the most important thing and understand I am dealing with a 31 ft coach with less weight than the next size up. The Bilstein shocks are too stiff so the Koni or Monroe would be a great improvement. I do understand the Bilsteins are better when you get to the 34 ft coaches and upward and ride is better. Had I done those two things first I could have lived with it but adding the bags was incredible. Gives me a big coach ride and I wanted comfort not just ok.

Fire up,
I would guess your probably right, about the MFG not caring.
As long as they can work half a day, ride around in their big Cadilac & dine & drink fine wine in the evenings, why should they care long as motorhomes are selling.

I can bet you one thing, next RV show I go to, some will get an ear full when I ask out loud, have they done anything to the Ox cart ride of the F53 Ford chassis. If so, then maybe we can do business.
Neil

It costs about $6 grand. If you are generally willing to make this expenditure to improve the ride I would assume that installing a tear trac bar and doing the cheap fix would be on your list. I also added a steering stabilizer from road master for safety and handling. For me it was important to improve my handling and ride. I can now survive on the worst roads, drive in the wind with confidence and ride comfortably on normal roads without trouble. It was worth it for me and I had wasted money on other coaches I have owned seeking a solution to ride issues. You can improve by careful monitoring of tire pressure and better shocks but the Kelderman is the best..

Baithouse? Have you obtained any new info on the age of your coach/chassis and the install directly from calling Kelderman.

OMG!! Why are people buying or planning on buying a new unit then spending $6000 plus to make it useable?????


Moisheh

Damn I get tired of this question. Why? Because it is not an option I could buy from the dealer. The same reason people buy Cadillacs instead of Smart Cars, although I do have a Smart Car. The same reason some folks buy AWD instead of two wheel drive. You can drive all them but if you want something special you pay for the options and when options aren't available you go after market. I wanted this motorhome and I wanted gas. If they would have offered an air bag option I would have purchased it. The price was right. I have now exactly what I want that drives and rides great and a lot cheaper than a DP if I could get one at 31 feet which is the max I can handle and still park in my driveways at home and cottage. The original coach was drivable but not as comfortable as it is now. Now does that make sense? I think I have answered this question from you before? You got me.

moisheh wrote:
OMG!! Why are people buying or planning on buying a new unit then spending $6000 plus to make it useable?????


Moisheh

Because we want to, we feel its justified, and we can afford it. Any other questions?

I haven't spent 6 grand yet, but if I lived closer to Kelderman I probably would.
Me, about 3k so far for all the goodies I've added. Why?... Just because I can!!
It's my hobby and I enjoy it.

Enough said.

viajante wrote:
What kind of price tag are we talking about ?

Without digging out my invoice, ballpark on my Kelderman system was $5,000. They offered an onboard compressor to auto inflate the bags but I elected to leave that off. It wasn’t that much additional cost but I preferred to check and adjust pressure manually. In fact adjusting pressure is a rare occurrence. In addition to the air bags, Kelderman detunes the front suspension with replacement leaf springs where the airbags support much of the weight rather than the firm factory leaf spring suspension supporting all of it. I would never tell anybody else how they should spend their money but for me Kelderman was well worth it and as mentioned, I am prepared to do it again when I get my 2014 if I feel it is necessary. The 2014 will have 22.5 inch tires as opposed to 19.5 on my 2011 and I’ve heard that may make a difference in ride quality. You can call Kelderman at 800-334-6150 for any information you desire. I found them great people to do business with.

C-Leigh Racing wrote:
Fire up,
I would guess your probably right, about the MFG not caring.
As long as they can work half a day, ride around in their big Cadilac & dine & drink fine wine in the evenings, why should they care long as motorhomes are selling.

I don't think you will find Ford chassis builders riding around in Cadillacs. They use Lincolns there.

My chassis is a 2013. We did find out a couple other things unrelated to the attempted Kelderman install including the rear wiring harness riding on the generator exhaust pipe. The biggest thing right now is that the two brackets that stand off the hood at the top were not fastened on and fell down onto the frame allowing the hood to repeatedly contact the lower edge of the windshield. The result is two breaks in that huge windshield and cracks heading up the glass. Only 3800 miles! Seems as if there may be some severe quality control problems at Winnebago.