New to me--2014 Freelander 21QB rough ride

My truck rides like a truck until I load it with 2,000 pounds of bricks.

Welcome to class c life.
As you add all your stuff inside the rv as well as water, you will see that it will ride better as you load it. You will get some relief as you load more weight in it and make a few alterations. I run my rv with full 50 gals water and 3 grp 27 batteries. That alone is in the 600# range and makes a difference in the ride, as you add all your other EQ that you will leave in the rv, the ride improves.

In general, they have to ride hard when unloaded in order to support weight when loaded. These rvs have to be stay in control during an unexpected emergency maneuver, like avoiding a deer. Having a stiff suspension will help keep it in control with less body roll, therefore getting you to where you need to go in one piece.

Its one of things that seems to get better once we get over the shock that you are experiencing. All the pros of our rv lifestyle outweigh the occasional jolts that we feel.
* The over the road , open road driving that we mostly do is a lot less jolting.


1. make sure you get a good truck alignment shop to properly align it because the rv mfg does not do that once they build the rv on the chassis.

2. A little less tire pressure will help but you have to make sure you do not go to low because the rear tires can begin to rub together as the tire footprint will widen as you decrease pressure. You will have to experiment with that till it feels right but also supports the weight you carry.

I run my 24ft E450 tires at 75 psi rear and 70 psi front. They have an 80 psi max rating.
You have to experiment: Try them all at max psi then experiment driving it over the same route to see how your rig reacts to a change in tire pressures.
Some people run the fronts at 60-65 and the rears at 70. RVs carry more of their weight on the rear axle opposed to the front axle. Tire pressure becomes more important as we load the rv closer to its max axle capacity, sometimes the tires can be the limiting factor for a fully loaded rv .
If its a 450 then you have a 14,500 Ford or 14,200 GM gross rating that you'll never max out unless you load concrete in it. Generally, your 23-24' rv will roll down the road in the 11,500-12,500 range .


3. I also changed my shocks to Bilstein in the front and FSD shocks in the rear but you can use the BILS all around as many people do, its less expensive and seems to work equally as well.

4. Once you load it for a trip and the rear of your rig is sitting lower in the rear than it was while sitting empty, many people say that adding air bags helped with the ride as well as returning it to a level sitting position.
*Measure the distance before and after you load it, bumper to ground. If it 'doesn't sag' then the AB's will NOT do much as the case with most small 450's which are not overloaded.
I tried them and ended up removing them for a full refund. Air bags do not offer you too much more lift if you are already sitting level, therefore the ride difference is insignificant. I used them on my previous 'sagging' pickups and they were great and worth the money.

It's a 2014, but what chassis? Ford E350 or E450, Chevy 3500 or 4500? It sounds like you have an E450 or 4500 with too much extra load capability, causing your exceptionally rough ride.

You need to be on a trip fully loaded including full fuel, fresh water, and drained waste tanks. At a truck stop, get the front and rear axles weighed independently, then adjust your tire pressure based on the weight placed on them. But BEWARE of tire gauges. CLICK HERE to read my evaluation of tire gauges. What I thought was my best tire gauge was 9 pounds off, reading high which meant I was putting in 9 psi too little.

Likely with an E450 or 4500, consider having a professional adjust your rear spring packs to reflect your actual load with some margin for variation in your load.

Our short 23'-8" E350 is tail-heavy and front-light. Our front coil springs today are unmodified Ford original. They are the same ones installed on an E450. This week I will be replacing them with the next rating lesser in hopes to reduce house jolting up front, increase driver comfort, and lower the front a bit to better "level" the rig.

Here is our load distribution causing the teeter-totter effect, actually raising the front a bit. The ride is rougher than it needs to be up front. Hopefully my front spring swap experiment will yield an improvement.


I had our rig weighed empty but with full fuel and nobody inside, and then a second time loaded full during a trip with my wife and I sitting up front. Fully loaded, the weight increase on the front axle was only 100 pounds. The teeter-totter effect is that bad on our rig. The front is affected so much that the front suspension required offset bushings for a proper front wheel alignment. After my spring-swap, I assume another alignment will require the original center-hole bushings.

BTW, the 21QB is a very nice rig. Congrats on your purchase.

First, get that tire gauge and get all of them set correctly.

Second, find a GOOD alignment shop, one that is experienced in light/medium duty trucks and have them give it a thorough inspection. Don't be surprised it you need upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends, etc, etc. Also ask the shop about install caster adjust bushings to add as much caster as is possible.

At a minimum, I would install HD shocks (like Bilstein or Koni) all around, upgraded rear sway bar with polyurethane bushings and poly sway bar bushings up front.