New suspension upgrades

bobndot wrote:
Hi Ron,
I ran my front ‘E’ plys at 45-50 psi on my former truck campers for years. I’m also starting to experiment with lowering psi more on my ‘C’. The ride does feel like it bites more when steering, which feels good to me. I’m assuming it has a positive affect with passing big rigs. It feels like it does. Driving behind big rigs with their turbulence can be challenging too. I often back off my throttle to afford me more distance.

Happy New Year ,
Bob

Our assessments agree 100%. I am a little concerned of soft sidewall motion from lowering the front tire psi so much, but so far so good. That is why I am lowering the psi incrementally. I am considering 45 psi in the front tires during our next trip and see how that feels.

And a Happy New Year to you and everyone else reading this.

As I mentioned earlier, I bought new tires. This is the chart for these specific tires.

Thanks for the input. I only got the front sway bar. My shop said they don’t install rears. I especially wonder about the addition of the Sumo springs. Our mechanic works on motor homes but only in good weather because their garage is not large enough.
I’ve not yet weighed the rig. Thought I’d be fine at recommended pressure for now. Should do that as soon as the weather clears. We have a cat scale not too far away.
I downloaded a weight chart for Michelin’s. Here are the weight limits for our e350. So it looks like lower pressure in back. 65 in front and maybe 55 in back. Seems really low if door label recommends 68.

GVWR (Lbs): 11500
GCWR — 18,500
GAWR front—4600-2300
GAWR back—7200-3600

LBS
SINGLE
60-2190
65-2335
70-2440
75-2560
80-2680
DUAL
50-3530
55-3750
60-3990
65-4300
70-4440
75-4660
80-4940

Forgot about tire pressure. Running 65 front and 70 rear. Starting out at 70 and 80 which was way to much. Best thing is to weigh the rig and look up pressure for your weight. Then adjust pressure to where it feels right. I believe for my weight the PSI was a couple pounds lower. The extra couple pounds still drives wells and gives a little weight cushion.

I have done both the Hellwig sway bars and the Sumo springs on a 2016 25B. Put both front and rear sway bars on at 5K miles. Really made difference when being passed by big trucks. I describe it as going from a shove to gentle push. Installed Sumo springs this summer at 38K miles before a trip to Vermont. With the Sumos when a truck passes there is still a push but more like a nudge. Where I notice the Sumos most is there is less side to side rocking when turning in and out of parking lots and other places at slow speeds. The wife says the ride is better when sitting back in the coach. When at the camp site you do not get as much bounce when moving in the coach. As for smoother ride over rough road, after driving thru WV and MD interstate construction, they didnt seem to help much.

Hi Ron,
I ran my front ‘E’ plys at 45-50 psi on my former truck campers for years. I’m also starting to experiment with lowering psi more on my ‘C’. The ride does feel like it bites more when steering, which feels good to me. I’m assuming it has a positive affect with passing big rigs. It feels like it does. Driving behind big rigs with their turbulence can be challenging too. I often back off my throttle to afford me more distance.

Happy New Year ,
Bob

bobndot wrote:
EMD360, if the 22' rv was on a 350 and the 26' is a 450, then that might be why you feel the difference in ride. Maybe ?

Regarding potholes,
you're driving a truck with suspension to haul a home. It's going to feel a bit rough at times. It has to be stout enough to haul its weight. These mods that we are doing, all may help a bit but at the end of the day...it's still a truck !

My mods included the larger sways, Koni's in the rear, Bils front, steering stabilizer , rear track bar , a good reputable positive caster alignment and I run my psi in my 24 ft class c, a little softer because I'm underweight by 2000 lbs,.
I run 75 lbs Rear and 70F.

IMO, the rear track bar, which I did at the same time as the shocks, gave the most bang for the buck. That combined with the lower front psi to 70 seems like its offering more footprint on the pavement, resisting be pushed by passing bow-waves.

Bob,

Great input!

Our rig on an E350 chassis is a tad shorter than yours. I weighed our rig during a few different trips to learn that the weight is very consistent. I replaced the tires this year and followed the manufacture recommended tire pressure per the actual weight. To my surprise, I learned that my front tires should be only 40psi and my rears at 63psi. I run the rears per spec at 63 but up front at 50psi because I was chicken to lower it more. Next year I will run a little less in the front tires.

When fine tuning psi, you surely need a trusted tire gauge.

EMD360, if the 22' rv was on a 350 and the 26' is a 450, then that might be why you feel the difference in ride. Maybe ?

Regarding potholes,
you're driving a truck with suspension to haul a home. It's going to feel a bit rough at times. It has to be stout enough to haul its weight. These mods that we are doing, all may help a bit but at the end of the day...it's still a truck !

My mods included the larger sways, Koni's in the rear, Bils front, steering stabilizer , rear track bar , a good reputable positive caster alignment and I run my psi in my 24 ft class c, a little softer because I'm underweight by 2000 lbs,.
I run 75 lbs Rear and 70F.

IMO, the rear track bar, which I did at the same time as the shocks, gave the most bang for the buck. That combined with the lower front psi to 70 seems like its offering more footprint on the pavement, resisting be pushed by passing bow-waves.
*But, as said here by someone else, try to leave as much room between the other vehicle next to you at the time of passing . Doing that allows the wave to dissipate a little.

Today, my 24' C drives real nice, even on the 'back road twisties', it feels pretty solid up to 105-110 mph. but that might be the unbalanced tire on the toad. :W

Seriously, I'm restricted to 65 mph towing my toad as well when towing my 5x12 v-nose.

Stay safe, Bob.

Lancewgurel wrote:
Running lower air pressure?

Sometimes , if the psi is a match your GWR that's weighed individually at all fire corners.

This video explains. There is also a link for a tire PSI chart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adGCB_VINYk

I read your report Ron. I wish I had the skills to upgrade the suspension myself. I wonder if the new Koni’s have a better grommet system. They originally ordered Bilstein shocks but they didn’t get stocked for almost three months so they cancelled that order and got the Koni shocks. I really preferred them due to my reading about the FSD technology. I’ve read about the superiority of the Safe t steer but steering does not seem to be an issue. It’s the rougher ride that I would like to smooth out. This coach is so much closer to the ground than our 22’ Itasca. It does not have electric steps. Just the built in well. I wonder if that makes the ride rougher.