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Old 01-03-2020, 10:43 PM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
State: Pennsylvania
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THOR #1281
Air suspension for ford f53 chassis

Has anyone tried to obtain a better ride with air suspension?

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Old 01-04-2020, 12:14 AM   #2
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Model: '17-Vegas 24.1
State: California
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THOR #13362
In my opinion...Air Springs for F53 & E350/450 compete directly with SUMO Springs.

SUMO is a much easier install and are bullet-proof, requiring no maintenance.
Air Springs, on the other hand, are a more complicated install and can sometimes fail with leaks.

Personally, on my E450, I have SUMO’s on front and rear.
But I’ve also recently added Air Lift 1000’s inside the front coil springs to give me more front-end weight support and ground clearance.
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Old 01-04-2020, 12:40 AM   #3
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Thanks. I'll look into that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by taylorbob1 View Post
In my opinion...Air Springs for F53 & E350/450 compete directly with SUMO Springs.

SUMO is a much easier install and are bullet-proof, requiring no maintenance.
Air Springs, on the other hand, are a more complicated install and can sometimes fail with leaks.

Personally, on my E450, I have SUMO’s on front and rear.
But I’ve also recently added Air Lift 1000’s inside the front coil springs to give me more front-end weight support and ground clearance.
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Old 01-04-2020, 03:44 PM   #4
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Forest River Forester 235
State: Indiana
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THOR #6826
I put Sumo springs on the front of my last coach (32 ft class A) and didn’t tell DW. She didn’t notice and when I told her she said she still couldn’t tell the difference. I could but I didn’t feel like it was enough to justify the $500 cost (self installed). I’ll not be adding them to my current coach. But lots of folks really like them so your experience may differ from mine. If you can find someone who has done the work on a similar machine who will let you drive it I’d recommend you try before you buy. Alas that’s a tall order so you may just have to jump in and do your own research like I did.
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Old 01-04-2020, 04:19 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by rottendan View Post
Has anyone tried to obtain a better ride with air suspension?

Are you asking about adding air bags in addition to leaf and or coil springs, or are you considering and asking about converting to “air suspension”? The two are very different. In my opinion you should make clear or the feedback you get may not even apply.

To me the term “air suspension” means it does not have leaf or coil springs. All weight is supported by air like you see on rear of most semis and many newer school buses.
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Old 01-04-2020, 04:33 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by Pete'sMH View Post
I put Sumo springs on the front of my last coach (32 ft class A) and didn’t tell DW. She didn’t notice and when I told her she said she still couldn’t tell the difference. .....cut......

Interesting.

I know it’s controversial, but blind testing is the only way to get valuable comparison when the effect of changes is highly subjective. I have personal experience with making changes that others swore they could detect, and when it was done without their knowledge they had no idea.

If test/comparison is not done blind, we also risk that natural human confirmation bias will only pay attention to the affect they wanted to accomplish and disregard or not even notice associated negative impact/change. This last part concerns me most; not just here but general feedback on most things.
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Old 01-04-2020, 09:18 PM   #7
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I left it open because I'm not sure if I wanted to insert air bags to what is here or remove leaf and go to straight air. Was looking for input from both?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chance View Post
Are you asking about adding air bags in addition to leaf and or coil springs, or are you considering and asking about converting to “air suspension”? The two are very different. In my opinion you should make clear or the feedback you get may not even apply.

To me the term “air suspension” means it does not have leaf or coil springs. All weight is supported by air like you see on rear of most semis and many newer school buses.
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Old 01-11-2020, 07:17 PM   #8
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State: Missouri
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THOR #13292
Air suspension and sumo springs

2016 Thor Hurricane 27. Ride was horrible. SUMO on front and air bags in the back to be able to adjust for weight or pulling a toad. Also added steering stabilizer, did the cheap bolt relocation and their biggest change that added to the comfortable ride was ALUMINUM rims! Went with Alcoa’s and wow. Not sure why but guessing the weight difference in the wheel allows the suspension to work better?! Before it was like driving on square tires. Thought windshield was coming once! Another thing I noticed was balancing was always off. Ordered some true balance lug sheeths to make lug centric. World of difference. After these mods drives as good as my GMC 3500!
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Old 01-12-2020, 10:28 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by TonyStuart View Post
2016 Thor Hurricane 27. Ride was horrible. SUMO on front and air bags in the back to be able to adjust for weight or pulling a toad. Also added steering stabilizer, did the cheap bolt relocation and their biggest change that added to the comfortable ride was ALUMINUM rims! Went with Alcoa’s and wow. Not sure why but guessing the weight difference in the wheel allows the suspension to work better?! Before it was like driving on square tires. Thought windshield was coming once! Another thing I noticed was balancing was always off. Ordered some true balance lug sheeths to make lug centric. World of difference. After these mods drives as good as my GMC 3500!

Interesting, especially about the switch to aluminum wheels.
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Old 01-12-2020, 02:38 PM   #10
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I own a wing sprint racing team so I’m well aware of suspension engineering and how little changes effect more than one would suspect. My research determined that aluminum was lighter and “truer round” than steel. This was the last mod I did so I’m confident of exactly the difference they made. I’ve used the true balance sleeves before on our topkick and dually and knew the difference they would make.
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