WH Chassis ride height

rgatijnet1 wrote:

randallb wrote:
First I must apologize for the misinformation I posted yesterday. I last researched the Workhorse W series chassis back in 2008 when we were considering the purchase of a new HR 30SFS. My feeble mind confused the mono block front axle with the parabolic spring the W chassis uses on the front. I did , however, stumble on to some information on the "Like-Air-Spring" that most likely applies to the question of why some LAS touch the axle and the others have approximately a 1.5" gap. Workhorse equipped the chassis with a specific LAS based on axle weight capacity. The RV manufacturer could opt to change this part. It was one of the few "options" available to them when they ordered the chassis.
Now for the info on the LAS.

6500-8000# front suspensions were equipped with a white 5.196" LAS
8500# front suspensions were equipped with a gray 5.196" LAS
9000# front suspensions were equipped with a white 3.622" LAS

It is entirely possible that through a mistake in chassis construction or by RV manufacturer request that a 6500-8500# front suspension is equipped with the shorter 9000# LAS. I remember a lot of talk on this forum and on the IRV Workhorse forum, back in 2007-2008, relating to the LAS touching the springs and what is possibly wrong with this new RV's suspension. It should not be sitting on the bump stops.
Randy

And then you have the YELLOW bumper like I have on mine in the link to the picture that I posted of my W front suspension. :B
I also have the chassis guide book and it makes no mention of a yellow bumper but that is what came from the factory. Maybe they couldn't get any white or grey ones at that time. Who knows???

This is interesting the one I looked at was yellow also if I am not mistaken. The springs that I saw were straight with no arc.

randallb wrote:
First I must apologize for the misinformation I posted yesterday. I last researched the Workhorse W series chassis back in 2008 when we were considering the purchase of a new HR 30SFS. My feeble mind confused the mono block front axle with the parabolic spring the W chassis uses on the front. I did , however, stumble on to some information on the "Like-Air-Spring" that most likely applies to the question of why some LAS touch the axle and the others have approximately a 1.5" gap. Workhorse equipped the chassis with a specific LAS based on axle weight capacity. The RV manufacturer could opt to change this part. It was one of the few "options" available to them when they ordered the chassis.
Now for the info on the LAS.

6500-8000# front suspensions were equipped with a white 5.196" LAS
8500# front suspensions were equipped with a gray 5.196" LAS
9000# front suspensions were equipped with a white 3.622" LAS

It is entirely possible that through a mistake in chassis construction or by RV manufacturer request that a 6500-8500# front suspension is equipped with the shorter 9000# LAS. I remember a lot of talk on this forum and on the IRV Workhorse forum, back in 2007-2008, relating to the LAS touching the springs and what is possibly wrong with this new RV's suspension. It should not be sitting on the bump stops.
Randy

And then you have the YELLOW bumper like I have on mine in the link to the picture that I posted of my W front suspension. :B
I also have the chassis guide book and it makes no mention of a yellow bumper but that is what came from the factory. Maybe they couldn't get any white or grey ones at that time. Who knows???

First I must apologize for the misinformation I posted yesterday. I last researched the Workhorse W series chassis back in 2008 when we were considering the purchase of a new HR 30SFS. My feeble mind confused the mono block front axle with the parabolic spring the W chassis uses on the front. I did , however, stumble on to some information on the "Like-Air-Spring" that most likely applies to the question of why some LAS touch the axle and the others have approximately a 1.5" gap. Workhorse equipped the chassis with a specific LAS based on axle weight capacity. The RV manufacturer could opt to change this part. It was one of the few "options" available to them when they ordered the chassis.
Now for the info on the LAS.

6500-8000# front suspensions were equipped with a white 5.196" LAS
8500# front suspensions were equipped with a gray 5.196" LAS
9000# front suspensions were equipped with a white 3.622" LAS

It is entirely possible that through a mistake in chassis construction or by RV manufacturer request that a 6500-8500# front suspension is equipped with the shorter 9000# LAS. I remember a lot of talk on this forum and on the IRV Workhorse forum, back in 2007-2008, relating to the LAS touching the springs and what is possibly wrong with this new RV's suspension. It should not be sitting on the bump stops.
Randy

rgatijnet1 wrote:
My Monaco coach on the W22 chassis has over 80,000 miles and I don't feel that my springs are worn out. I still have a gap between the rubber bumper and the frame. I agree that I also prefer the aluminum sidewalls to the fiberglass and the aluminum peaked roof is strong enough to dance on.
Are the awnings still over the slides?
Since the tires are worn on the outside there may be a problem with the tie rod ends that is allowing the tires to scrub down the road. You should be able to lift the front tires off of the ground with the leveler jack and see if there is any looseness in the front end.
Are there any small bubbles in the paint?

Good to know your springs are holding up. What length is your Monaco? The slide toppers are still on buut should be changed. Around some of the pop rivets there is some slight corrosion bubbles.

My Monaco coach on the W22 chassis has over 80,000 miles and I don't feel that my springs are worn out. I still have a gap between the rubber bumper and the frame. I agree that I also prefer the aluminum sidewalls to the fiberglass and the aluminum peaked roof is strong enough to dance on.
Are the awnings still over the slides?
Since the tires are worn on the outside there may be a problem with the tie rod ends that is allowing the tires to scrub down the road. You should be able to lift the front tires off of the ground with the leveler jack and see if there is any looseness in the front end.
Are there any small bubbles in the paint?

randallb wrote:
Since all of the non-Ford 05 HR Admirals are built on the W-22 chassis the ride height most likely decreases with size of the box. The larger the box the lower the chassis should sit due to the increased weight of the box. The tire wear sounds like a tire issue not an alignment problem but you should have the RV inspected to be on the safe side. The item you are referring to as a bump stop is not! It is actually an operating part in the suspension referred to a a Timbrun (trademark name) spring and is considered a primitive air spring. When it contacts the spring it seals the air inside to increase spring rate during suspension compression plus using the elasticity / compression characteristics of the material it is constructed out of. If both sides are touching the spring this is not unheard of, again, depending on the weight of the box. A single long scallop or wear pattern is usually indicative of a tire separation. Since the WH W series chassis uses a mono leaf spring in the front the box weight will have a noticeable effect on ride height. Ranbdy

This is a 33PPD at 34 ft. There were 2 leaf springs on each side and I could see and about 1/2 in gap between them in spots. Scallops on tires were about 2-3 ins long only on the outside rib. It does have 62,000 miles. I imagine with that many miles it could wear out springs. On my old P30 the front coils were worn out at about 60k miles. I liked the construction of the Al hung side walls which can't delaminate and the Al roof, 228 in WB, 2 pass thrus and a CCC of 2600 lbs. The awning was missing it looks like it was blown off hardware and all.

Since all of the non-Ford 05 HR Admirals are built on the W-22 chassis the ride height most likely decreases with size of the box. The larger the box the lower the chassis should sit due to the increased weight of the box. The tire wear sounds like a tire issue not an alignment problem but you should have the RV inspected to be on the safe side. The item you are referring to as a bump stop is not! It is actually an operating part in the suspension referred to a a Timbrun (trademark name) spring and is considered a primitive air spring. When it contacts the spring it seals the air inside to increase spring rate during suspension compression plus using the elasticity / compression characteristics of the material it is constructed out of. If both sides are touching the spring this is not unheard of, again, depending on the weight of the box. A single long scallop or wear pattern is usually indicative of a tire separation. Since the WH W series chassis uses a mono leaf spring in the front the box weight will have a noticeable effect on ride height.
Ranbdy

"Gjac"......If you were to buy the coach and change the springs, it would have to have an alignment after the springs are added. It could possibly need some other steering parts, but probably wouldn't be that expensive. I don't see any reason why you would still have tire wear issues after correcting the springs and alignment.

I would take it to a spring shop, get an estimate for repair and then negotiate that into the sales price.

If it was just the springs, no big deal. If the front end took a hit and the frame bottomed out, it could be a bent front axle.
The six speed is a double overdrive and the five speed is a single overdrive. Fourth is one to one on both of them. Sixth is .61 to one and on the five speed the top gear is .74 to one.
This only matters if the terrain is level enough to use the double overdrive.

I really liked the MH and after spending a small fortune to fix and upgrade my P 30 front end I really liked the simplicity of the straight axle, but after looking at the front tire wear and the wear on the spare if I new for sure new springs would fix the wear I would go for it. It's an 05 so I assume it has the Alison 5 speed. Do you know if the 5th gear ratio is the same as the 6th gear in the 06 and newer?