Jayco J-ride

[stargirl96]

We were looking at Jayco Greyhawk and Redhawk motorhomes. The salesman was enthusiastic about the J-ride suspension and stabilization system. Does anyone have experience with this suspension system, and is it superior to others? Thanks for your input.

[j-d]

suprz wrote:
The front end just needs to be "tightened up" for sure.

It's an easy project to tighten up the handling. You've been around here awhile so I hope you've weighed it and adjusted tire pressure to the actual weights. I think you'd be good at 65 front and 80 rear, but still better to check. That, and getting a proper "truck" alignment with CASTER toward the High Positive end of the range, not the 3* mid-range value. And certainly NOT a cheapie job where they "Set Toe and Go." Toe is important, but you NEED CASTER.

Anyhow, Hellwig Front and Rear Sway Bars are highly effective and easy to install. Start with the REAR if you want to try one end first.

IF your 2006 chassis needs front end repair, like Ball Joints and Bushings, And/Or a major brake job, like Calipers and Rotors, get a parts kit from Quigley and upgrade to 2008+ that gives you all new axles, re-designed radius arms, and all new brakes that have MUCH larger Rotors and Calipers/Pads. These come off of new chassis that Quigley is converting to 4x4 with F350 parts. Axle does NOT come with the Sway Bar, so get a Hellwig for the 2008+ axle if you do the upgrade. 2007- Hellwig will fit the newer axle, just not the opposite.

[bagman]

suprz, well you may as well just go somewhere and have that done, but personally between the Bilstein & Koni FDS shocks, I would get the Koni FSD shocks as it made a world of difference on our previous Tiffin Class A (Gas). JMHO, Bagman.

[suprz]

Our Jayco greyhawk is a 2006 chassis with a 2007 coach. It's is a 31ss and per the manufacturer weighs 14,050 lbs. ( I think a hundred of those pounds was the old tube style TV! It took 2 of us to take it out) It has Helwig helper Springs and rubber isolator pads under the coach supports. But none of the other "J Ride" upgrades. I do not feel any driveshaft vibration. While driving. But oh how I wish it had bilstein shocks, and Hellwig sway bars. The front end just needs to be "tightened up" for sure.

[T18skyguy]

I have a 2017 Greyhawk with the J ride and just drove it 3000 miles from where I bought it. With the driveshaft, instead of just balancing the 3 indivdual sections, they then balance the entire shaft as a unit. I know this is good practice as I have a background in balancing. The Bilsteins are wonderful. I would have taken off the new stock shocks anyway. Sway bars are there but I don't know much about them. Although touted as an upgrade, I think the Hellwigs are there because they need to be. With it's 2 slides and 2 air conditioners, and leveling system, the 31FS is heavy. I am at 13,500 which is 1000 shy of gross with just me, full fuel, and water. The ride cross country was very smooth and stable. Very well behaved and I do 58 miles per hour on cruise control, and mileage was 10 mpg which really surprised me. It must be that new transmission I guess. I like it right now, but as my dad use to say"their all nice when their new".

[RambleOnNW]

We have a Jayco 'C and have built the equivalent of a JRide, well JRide+, and it does handle great, like a big SUV. We go around curvy roads at +5-10 mph rated speed as the 'C corners pretty flat.

The 'C came with the rubber isolation mounts already, as well as the Helwig helper springs. We added the heavy duty anti-sway bars front and back, as well as Bilstein shocks all around, a trac bar, steering stabilizer, and all-steel cased commercial-grade tires. A top local alignment shop did the alignment.

We rented a variety of class-Cs for 10 years before we bought, in lengths from 24-32 feet, with and without slide-outs so we have a good idea of the handling differences.

[stargirl96]

I think J-Ride is standard, at least for Greyhawks.

[mgirardo]

Our Greyhawk was a 2009, which I think is a year or two before Jayco started using the term J-Ride in the Class Cs, but it had some of the components of J-Ride. We had the Hellwig Helper Springs and both front and rear anti-sway bars.

There are a lot of threads on here about poor Class C handling. Our Greyhawk handled great. I could hold the steering wheel just like I do in our cars, 2 or 3 fingers at the 7 o'clock position. No white knuckle driving in our Class C, even in 20 mph side winds (I would have 2 hands on the wheel then).

Did our Motorhome handle better because of the extra suspension components from the factory? I can't say, because I've never driven another Class C to compare it to. Ours had those extra components and handled very well. When the ball joints started to get some play after about 6 years, I noticed a difference. When they were replaced and the front end was aligned, the Motorhome handled like new again.

-Michael

[ron_dittmer]

My apologies here in advance.

I watched that video and was not impressed with the E350 and E450 J-Ride. I am sure their add-ons do good, but I feel those extras are band-aids rather than real improvements. There has been so much discussion on how to make a Ford E350 and E450 handle best so I won't get into it again here.

Regarding the sagging issue the video mentioned, I feel the right solution is to go to the right place and get an OEM leaf or two added as needed to eliminate any rear end sag. Installing a contraption like Helwig helper springs may work, but why solve a sag with such a thing?

About the balanced drive shaft, that is supposed to be done by every Ford approved frame stretching company.

Isn't every RV manufacture utilizing the rubber mounts that are supplied by Ford?

Every E350 and E450 today has a front and rear stabilizer bar. They don't mention that they are replacing them with better ones.

Am I missing something? It sounds like they are stating standard items as a special package. The only exception would be the Bilstein shocks and that Helwig contraption.

What does the J-Ride package cost for an E350 or E450?

[j-d]

We still have a number of Jayco owners, but they seemed to peak 10-12 years ago.

[Snowman9000]

I hope we get some J-Ride owners to chime in. I'd love to hear how much it helps.

[j-d]

Jayco site explains which series gets which parts of the total J-Ride package. It's also possible that smaller coaches within a series don't get the same as bigger ones. Seen that with helper springs, don't know if that still holds.

Looking at the 2018 brochure, every Jayco gets a balanced driveshaft.

Redhawk gets isolator mounts and helper springs.

Greyhawk gets isolator, helper, and finally adds shocks and sway bar.

Seneca's a Super C and the package is entirely different.

Just for me, the biggest thing about J-Ride is that a manufacturer is at least beginning to address Class C Handling.

[pauldub]

Was he enthusiastic enough to explain what the specific suspension enhancements were? Looking on their website, it appears that it's Bilstein shocks and a Helwig rear helper springs. They seem to talk about sway bars but they don't say that they have upgraded them over what comes on the OEM Class C chassis. My Winnie has rubber isolators between the chassis and house, I suspect most do. Any stretched chassis is going to have an extended driveshaft and it will be balanced as part of the normal driveshaft building process. If the chassis isn't stretched, it will have the normal OEM driveshaft that was balanced at the factory.

I wouldn't chose a Jayco because of their J-Ride if I wasn't satisfied with the floorplan, weight carrying capacity, or build quality.

[j-d]

J-Ride is several components. Some are easy to add, others difficult, some impossible.

1. Rear Sway Bar and/or Helper Springs, easily added at a cost of a few hundred

2. Bilstein Shocks, same as above
3. Computer balanced Drive Shaft. Can be done for a couple hundred or less, a rarely needed effort

4. Rubber isolators between Chassis and Body. Can't be added in practicality. I don't know how much they help. Our Jayco was built with them long before J-Ride was offered.

Items 1. and 2. can make significant improvements in a coach's ride, handling, and tracking. A heavy duty sway bar will actually stabilize a Class C on the campsite.