Suspension airbags

[gilbarca]

I am looking to purchase front air bags for a 2007 Thor Hurricane 31H class A motorhome with a Ford F53 chassis. Firestone and Air-lift tell me that they are not available for my brand of unit. Has anyone had any success in finding a distributor that has them for a Thor motorhome?? Thanks for the help.

[timmac]

gilbarca wrote:
I am looking to purchase front air bags for a 2007 Thor Hurricane 31H class A motorhome with a Ford F53 chassis. Firestone and Air-lift tell me that they are not available for my brand of unit. Has anyone had any success in finding a distributor that has them for a Thor motorhome?? Thanks for the help.

I got Firestone air bags front and back on my 08 Bounder, it has the 07 F-53 chassis, they got em and it works great, better quieter smother ride.

[gilbarca]

Thanks to all for your input...first time on the forum but definitely won't be the last. Safe travels to all.

[Dale_Traveling]

Drive an 2006 Thor 31D on an F53 chassis. Your 2007 chassis is identical. Installed front and rear Firestone bags over the winter. The bags install just in front of the axles on top of the leafs and chassis frame. Plenty of room. Also added an air compressor.

Did the bags make a difference? Some but it's not the bee's knees. The hard bumps still rattle the dishes but the smaller ones are a bit softer. Coach seems a bit bouncy as if the bags take away some of the damping of the shocks. No difference in sway or getting pushed around by wind. What I would recommend first is do the CHF (see IRV2 Ford Chassis group for details) and install a set on Koni shocks on all the corners. I have Koni on the front and Bilstein on the back. The back bangs much more than the front.

I did run into a side benefit of the bags. Couple of weeks ago had a problem with the jacks. Left rear would extend and start to lift but would stop. Retract solenoid wasn't sealing. Use the bags to raise the rear a the inch or so needed to finish the leveling.

Ordered the kit from Amazon. $675.76 back in January for front and rear. The compress and extra stuff ran me another $490.56.

[FuzzyKnight]

Sorry guys I had never heard of air bags for the front on a leaf spring front end. My bad

[LVJ58]

We have the Firestone Ride-Rite bags on both front and rear suspension of our 2000 coach on the f53 chassis. Unless there has been some major change in the f53 front suspension, it would appear the representative providing you with such information is in error. As others mentioned I would talk to someone else.

Just went to their website and found the kit to fit your coach:

Check it out Here:http://www.firestoneip.com/RideRite/kitSearch.aspx

Best of luck and safe travels....

A side Note: Firestone's website reflects the the kit is for 16,000 & 18,000 GVWR 1999-2007 chassis. However the same air springs were used on our coach with the 20,500 GVWR chassis.

[Effy]

gilbarca wrote:
They say there is not enough room between the tire and frame on the Thor to mount the bags. Minimum 8 inches required.

Lots of folks on here have put them on. You aren't talking to the right person. The same chassis is used on all of them. Clearance between wheel and frame does not change with the manufacturer.

[wny_pat1]

1990-2007 Ford F53 Motorhome Class A - Firestone "Ride-Rite" Air Bag Helper Springs (FRONT) - See mo...But I doubt they will help much in that respect.

[gilbarca]

Want to get a set of front airbags to reduce the sway on corners and soften the ride on rougher roads.

[wny_pat1]

What are you trying to accomplish?

[gilbarca]

They say there is not enough room between the tire and frame on the Thor to mount the bags. Minimum 8 inches required.

[sch911]

FuzzyKnight wrote:
The reason they are not available is because your unit has a leaf spring front end and not a coil spring front end.

Hogwash! Leaf springs do accommodate them just fine....

According to multiple sources including www.ride-right.com they are available Kit 2070 is supposed to work. I have contemplated adding them to my rig also.

Just use their online lookup tool.

[Effy]

Brand shouldn't matter. It's on an F53 chassis. SO yes they should have them to fit.

[FuzzyKnight]

The reason they are not available is because your unit has a leaf spring front end and not a coil spring front end.