SuperSteer Coil Springs - 96 front axle weight

[pago cruiser]

Anybody with a 96 (or thereabouts) 30' LY ever weighed your front end/axle?

In trying to get our Beast handling better, I am thinking of eliminating the air bags (one more thing to fail in the desert) and going with upgraded coil springs from SuperSteer - this thing is 20 years old, and our rig has 73k on it. Cannot get the Beast to a scale for a while, so was hoping someone had this data?

Anybody ever done this? The search function on this site turned up nuttin.

Hope it's ok to post from another site, but this was a pretty good thread on the topic.:

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f22/coil-...30-190508.html

TIA.

[wheelygoode]

We replaced the air bags, then added a Steer Safe. Made a big difference in handling.

[jm2]

to get the correct and best selection of SuperSteer coil springs, you really want to weigh YOUR coach when it's normally, fully loaded. weighing another coach may give you a different (wrong) measurement.

we did SuperSteer coil springs and bell cranks, along with Moog ball joints and stops, Roadmaster anti-sway bar bushings, and Bilstein shocks and steering damper.

am very happy with the improvements...

[pago cruiser]

Thanks guys.
Yes, in a perfect world I would weigh ours. But the springs available have a pretty wide range, and I was trying to get at least a range of weights so see if they match.

Unfortunately, ours is new to us, and empty, and next week when our tires get here I'll risk driving the 50 miles on the 9 year old tires to get new ones installed. It may be a while before we get things loaded in. But there are only so many drawers; and most folks would (I think) have a similar assortment of...stuff... in those drawers. So unless someone was carting his rock collection, or his 800 lb motorcycle IN the coach (might be a problem loading through the door...), or smuggling depleted uranium... I would hazard a guess that all 30' Land Yachts would be close - prolly bumping up against the GVWR.

But without any other numbers from LY owners, this is just an educated guess...

[Mike1997]

Check the build plate on the front dash visible from the outside. I have a 97 LY diesel pusher on a Freightliner chassis. Its says front is 9090lbs and rear is 15,500lbs.

[jm2]

this might be useful?

http://catscale.com/cat-scale-locato...dSearch=Search

ymmv!

[pago cruiser]

Thanks gents.
I had a detailed reply about wrapped, with pics, but for some reason this site crashes my computer after about 10 minutes of typing a response. Guess I need to do it in WORD or Notepad 1st, and then cut and paste. Sigh.

Anyhow, yes, my front axle is rated at 5500 lbs. Don't know how close I will be, or I am NOW, to that. But the spring rate ranges available from Super Spring kind of drive the options:
4400-4900
5000-5300
5400-5900.

As the last rate is pushing the max on the axle, prolly not goin with that one. We are intending on long-weekending, with a couple long trips/year; again, prolly like a lot of folks.

It would be nice to know how much the naked 30'LY weighs relative to the max axle capability. Guess I'll find out next weekend.

The Super Spring site has a link to the CAT scales - but thanks. Unfortunately, it is about 50 miles from me, and I really want to get my NINE year old tires (I just purchased this...) replaced before I drive very far in 90F weather... Had to order the Toyos, and they should be in this week. I'll post the weights once I get them; seems odd no one has done this previously...

[garypk]

I replaced the bags on ours & we are up & down mountain passes at speed. It doesn't pull or wander much. I would consider changing to the newer wider front suspension though.... But i might look at a 2001+ also.

[pago cruiser]

Finally got the tires in at my tire store, so I stopped by the CAT weigh station on the way into town.

With almost no personal effects inside, empty holding tank, empty propane*, half water, and maybe* 34 gallons fuel, the weights were:

Front: 4640
Rear: 8900
Total: 13540

* Just a few caveats:
1. I filled up the propane tank before I left: It read less than 11/4 full on the tank (not the inside display) gauge. But it only took 15 gallons. In a 30 gallon tank. ???

2. Tried to top off the gas tank, as I wanted to go by the scale on the way home with all tanks full. I put 46 gallons in, and then started smelling gasoline. Checked underneath, and there was a drip...somewhere...under the tank. I remembered that the PO indicated that a fill hose had a problem: guess I found it.... kind of.

So I don't know if the 34 gallon number is correct or not. ASSUMING the tank leak is in the fill hose, I MAY have been almost full; so the 34 gallons is about right.

Guess I'll add that onto the project list before I get the Beast weighed again.

[pago cruiser]

Had some time off today.
Filled up water tank, 1/2 full black tank, forgot about the grey tank..., and topped off with gas at the scale. I had driven 120 miles, and the tank took 30 gallons to top off; oddly enough, it topped off without the hose leaking; not sure what happened there. But I am pretty sure I am not getting 4 mpg...

Anyhow if any LY owners need it without any interior stuff, weights were:

4,500 front.
10,160 rear.
Total 14660.

So full fluids added almost 1000 lbs.

I'll be ordering new springs next week with these numbers in order to bin the air bags...

[schmaco]

Hello,

I found heavier front coil springs and new airlifts for my 2000 LY30 at great prices direct from:

http://www.stengelbros.com/

Excellent service

Thanks to another Post several years ago.

Schmaco

[C21Tiger]

Just wanted to report about recent work I had done on my 2004 LY 30SL. Very unhappy with the looseness of the steering and corner control so I took it in to my auto/RV repair shop. They found that the air bags were pretty shot and excessive play in the ball joints, idler arms and steering linkage. Plus the sway bar bushings were shot. I have a repair warranty contract so I decided to get every thing repaired or replaced. In trying to understand the why so I would not have to do this again any time soon, my repair guy talked to some P32 Chevy chassis and Workhorse repair shops.
What he found is that the P32 chassis is not rated to carry the load found on the LY. So when Workhorse prepped it for Airstream they added the airbags to bring it up to the minimal acceptable spec for the weight. I bought my unit with 40,000 miles (2nd owner) so I can not guarantee how it was treated from a traveling standpoint but the repair records I had did not indicate any major repairs. But I can tell you now it drives like a dream!
What they replaced to make that happen follows. Note that some of the replaced parts were to make sure their was compatability across the board. They were badly worn but in some cases not busted.
Removed and replaced upper (K61734) and lower (K6511) ball joints.
Removed and replaced sterring components.
Drag link - ss27781
upper control arm shaft - k6135
outer tie rod end es20000rlt
inner tie rod end es409lt
bell crank idler - p3032 bc
custom build redhead steering gear (this took 2 weeks to get)
removed and replace front stabilizer bushings
Installed Bilstein steering stabilizer
Removed air bags and installed Super Steer Coil Spring set 5K-5.3k ss260

I have a couple of thousand miles on it now and very happy. Hopefully this list of things will help someone if they are considering the change. total with labor was $5.7K. Labor was about $2K.