Suspension system enhancements

[LMagelitz]

Same. Thanks for letting me know about your experience with you semi. I'd probably stick with the electric over hydraulic brakes.

What seems a little strange to me is that nobody on this forum has tried an air bag suspension yet?? Maybe I'm just a 3-sigma RVer?

That’s what I’m gonna do as well….E/H disk brakes.
I’m new to this, but I’ve thought that was strange from the start!!
I’d love to see some accelerometer testing of stock leaf springs, Roadmaster slipper springs/shocks, MORryde IS, and Timbren STi on the same stretch of bad road with the same model RV and loaded the same. That would give definitive results that you could balance with maintenance, failure modes, and make an informed decision. I guess it’s up to us!

[JKellerJr]

What seems a little strange to me is that nobody on this forum has tried an air bag suspension yet?? Maybe I'm just a 3-sigma RVer?

I think it comes down to 95+% of rv's don't even think about the suspension let alone upgrading it. Of those left, most will go with new equalizers, braces, bushings, etc. Then there is the last group which consists of us "over thinkers", "can never leave things aloners", and "we can always do better 'ers'??". We're the ones that go after the IS, Air, etc. But its a pretty small group and information is scarce.

It's probably why MORryde has the largest following. A long and solid history so there is significantly more information about it available. From a maintenance standpoint its even less than a stock leaf system. I believe there is one grease point on the shock mount and that's it. And the older I get that's priority number one. A better ride was well secondary to the piece of mind of not worrying about the stock suspension failing, fixing brackets or flat springs, etc

This line from the article linked earlier "Air ride suspensions need more attention. Close attention must be paid to the air compression, the airlines and the air bags. When the air supply breaks down, you have no suspension." Along with the experience with my onboard truck air system eliminates air from consideration for me.

Regardless, good luck! If you do it I will be very interested your experience.

[JKellerJr]

So, you kind of hit it on the head. The axle loads in my 349M go from 11.8K-14.8K (800 over! ) depending on what I'm doing. The lower end is going weekend camping with my wife at a full hookup RV park; the upper end is remote boondocking on a 8 day trail inventory work trip.
The last trip I did involved 3 motorcycles w/spares & gear, full fuel, full water, full supplies, and 40 miles of washboard dirt road with the last 1/2 mile being rutted 2 track with waterbars and tight uphill corners.

That's not really a huge gap though, about 25% from the lowest to highest. When I drop the rig on the truck the load on the rear suspension more than doubles. (not a great comparison as the truck has an existing heavy suspension, the bags just keep it from bouncing around as much. The HD Ram with rear air would be a better comparison) Similarly semi's, horse trailers, cargo trailers would see a much larger load swing.

You have a much better understanding though on how that swing affects your unit than I do so feel free to ignore me

[LMagelitz]

I think it comes down to 95+% of rv's don't even think about the suspension let alone upgrading it. Of those left, most will go with new equalizers, braces, bushings, etc. Then there is the last group which consists of us "over thinkers", "can never leave things aloners", and "we can always do better 'ers'??". We're the ones that go after the IS, Air, etc. But its a pretty small group and information is scarce.

I think you are spot-on!!
There’s no doubt that MORryde IS checks some important boxes, which will get more important to me with age.