Ride quality

[chuck]

Not sure if I want to do go this route or not, but thinking about it. I presently pull a fifth wheel with my Volvo, but thinking about converting to a motorhome. The founder of Roadmaster is restarting a company and may talk to him about building a short motorhome on my chassis.

So now I have air ride seats, in a air ride cab, riding on rear air ride springs. The ride is good. If I convert to a motorhome, probably the air ride cab goes away. The wheelbase gets longer and so more weight goes on the rear, these are good things to offset the bad.

My question is to those of you who have gone this route, when the air ride is removed from the cab and the mods made, how much is the ride affected?

TIA

Chuck

geoff, just witnessed my neighbor having insulation foamed into his house, and I am with you, may just go into that business, I think it is like printing money.

[Warpath]

Chuck -

I bobtailed my FLD before it was turned into a motorhome. It also had the air chairs, air cab, air springs front and back. It road pretty good.

Put the motorhome on which deleted the air cab and it road like a Cadillac! No comparison, the motorhome ride blew the bobtail ride away.

I had a 28' box with 336" WB and weighted in at approx 31,000 lbs. 20,000 lb air rear & 12,500 lb spring front with Broc's airride.

The more weight the better they ride

[fastlap]

My volvo rode beautiful as a bob tail tractor and it still rides beautiful as a short conversion with the air ride cab gone !
My wife sez " its a good thing you talked them into leaving the air ride cab" instead of locking it solid!( she thinks its still air! we cant tell the difference ! t

[Gary Atsma]

Good info, guys; thanks!
(Note to self: Yank cab air-ride from "The Future Rig" chassis)

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

......call Randy Butler at Butlermotorhomes and get him to build you an all air ride unite or contact Spooner he does the same thing with a very well enineered air ride box an cab together....I'm too busy right now to do one but after March.....maybe I get into conversions again.....I'm rebuilding a 1923 cottage in Fairfax Ohio currently and don't have time or crew trained to do conversions just now.....geofkaye

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

....Chuck Donnelly:.....start by calling North Carolina Foam Industries and ask for Barry Culp he's a "good old boy" in the foam business and can/will answer all your questions -prices and contacts and equipment....with your labor force contacts and guidance experience you are set up for early retirement along with your professional business.....labor is the hard part but you have the daily contacts like I do and I use single mothers to do the spraying/installation and guys as safety and hardware movers-grunt work-I supervise and keep them on track......works better than shotguns and chain gangs......they almost want to have to see me for upgrading their skills and a secure jobs with clearly defined boundries......works for me!....daily....geofkaye

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

.....don't be a yanking that air ride just yet....also can be used as levelers and air bags will dampen traffic noise through the frame and body.....air for tools marginal-and very slow.... but you can blow up a tire..... or power your water system[NO 12vdc pump]....clean with compressed air-[like a leaf vacuum]....inflate toys and shelters and air matraces.....power low pressure tools for anything from cleaning sewer drains that are clogged to air vacuums- to a deflater for tubes and air matraces quickly....especially those dam Coleman company materaces for the camping type people you pick up on rainey weekend around tent campgrounds-that just want a warm place to sleep and a hot shower....get a Harbor Freight tool catalouge and a Northern Hydraulic catalogue and get some ideas to help with extras and ideas.....plenty of things can be adapted to camping and pressureized air use.....geofkaye

[Marc]

Oh Yeah, I agree with kaye. An it is real important when one of my blow-up dolls develops
a leak

[Gary Atsma]

Heck, getting pressurized air for a blowgun in a big truck is NEVER a problem; just tee into the line running to the air seat. Having said that, I feel that between the air seat and putting a Brock's air front suspension in, the cab air ride is redundant......

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

......so why a Brocks on the front and nothing in the rear 'cept steel springs?.....don't underatand your thinking here-please explain.....air is good for people and cargo like a coach unite and the things that are in it......geofkaye

[Gary Atsma]

OOOOOOPPPPPS!!
Forgot to mention the rear air suspension (which approx. 95% of trucks come with, or so it seems), which oughtta make things a BIT smoother, I hope........
As I was saying, between the air seat, Brock's air front suspension, and the aforementioned factory rear air suspension, the air-suspended cab would be a little redundant.
WHEW!
Gary

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

gary:......sometimes the brain works faster than the fingers.....thought you were giving up the bags in the rear[OMG!].....I really can't tell the difference because for comparisum I have a 92' Dodge CTD 4X4 with additional spring packs [7] to help with boat hauling-only 1 inch of movement between axel and frame and a VW TDI which rides like a cement paver on plastic wheels-and a roll-off wrecker with all steel springs and a foam seat that makes it possible to not chip a tooth on an expansion joint on the X-way at 55 mph....sometimes....and a Volvo 610 with air everything [but the doll]....which rides better than this office chair with 6 way seat adjustment-heat-vibration-and massage.....If I had this top of the line seat in the trucks I'd fall asleep by the end of the driveway-or on the neighbors front porch when I fell asleep behind the wheel.....too much comfort is not a good thing at my age....geofkaye

[Gary Atsma]

Yeah, I guess sometimes too much is actually too much; other times too much is never really quite enough.....
Just depends, I guess.....

[Wick]

I would not consider keeping the cab air ride on a conversion as I agree with Gary in that it would not even be needed. Unless you have a conversion and have driven the truck before and after then it is difficult to understand how well the air ride works on the cab before and how well it rides after without. I drove my tractor before the conversion pulling 80,000 lbs gross weight and then drove it bobtail. The air ride cab was a big benifit. I then drove it to Show Hauler for the conversion after taking the air ride off and blocking the cab.....BIG DIFFERENCE when bobtailing. I have not driven a conversion with an air ride cab but I have to admit I can't see a need for it. With the sterched frame and the weight we just glide along even on the roughest of roads.

Wick

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

......drop your air ride bags with the help of a pair of vice grips and take that ride....OY!...geofkaye

[Wick]

Geof,
I have a switch to drop the air ride on the truck and yes it does make for a rough ride but the air ride cab on fully streched conversion is not needed in my opinion. AS long as you have the air ride chassis there is no problem.
wick

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

....I do too.....I was talking aobut dropping the cab onto it's rests and taking a ride...not the frame on the axel.....probably didn't explain it so you knew what I was talking about-Brain is moving faster than the fingers.....geofkaye