Suspension Upgrade

[Ripple]

I just purchased an upgrade from Sprinterstore.com and had them install new Koni's front and rear, helper springs on rear, and a beefier anti-sway bar with urethane bushings on the rear and all I can say is wow. We bought our rig new in April and drove 14,000m in the last 4 months and some of those times were stressful. From getting almost blown off the road in the Midwest plains to body roll coming out of parking lots to handling back country mountain corners, this upgrade completely met my expectations and now all these things mentioned are solved.

For me, it was the best upgrade we have done so far mostly because of the safety issue. I don't feel like I will get blown off the road and taking the twisty back mountain roads is actually fun now. The rear end sits up a couple inches higher too which seems to bring the geometry of the rig back to where it was before airstream added 1000's of pounds in the back. I really think airstream should include this upgrade in their new rigs because of the vast improvement.

The only thing that is not 100% copacetic, is that the new beefier sway bar touches the plastic casing on the generator. After about 1000 miles is noticed very slight "rub marks" on the generator housing but it had not affected the way the generator runs or sounds. The genny could be move slightly towards the rear of the vehicle by removing the genny and adjusting the mounting holes so the genny could be moved. I decided not to do this because the rubbing does not seem to rub too hard.

[rdvell]

We have a 2005 airstream interstate RV (60000 mi), in need of new shocks (struts). Were your new koni's the same size as the former or stiffer (stronger) with the same question on the anti sway bar.
Hope to hear from you.

[73shark]

Since increasing the rear sway bar will reduce understeer, did you notice any difference in this area? How much bigger is it?

Are the helper springs only engaged when the RV is fully loaded or engaged all of the time?

[Ripple]

Originally Posted by rdvell

We have a 2005 airstream interstate RV (60000 mi), in need of new shocks (struts). Were your new koni's the same size as the former or stiffer (stronger) with the same question on the anti sway bar.
Hope to hear from you.

The shocks are the same size but are adjustable so they can be set for the rate of rebound to be stiffer. When you hit a bump, the shock is fairly similar but the rebound is tighter which stops any bouncing which doesn't make the ride too firm. The anti sway is 2x the diameter of the stock which adds up to close to 4x the area which is really stiff. Not much body roll through corners and driveways. We have a 2013 but while at the shop checked out the 2007 and earlier bars and they basically were just as big.

[Ripple]

Originally Posted by 73shark

Since increasing the rear sway bar will reduce understeer, did you notice any difference in this area? How much bigger is it?

Are the helper springs only engaged when the RV is fully loaded or engaged all of the time?

So, the under steer. I have driven some fast cars and I really only get under steer when really jamming into a turn at high speed and the front wheels slide a little and I really don't drive the Interstate that fast so I could not comment too much on that.

As for the helper springs, while we are at rest, the spring are resting right against the OEMs with some rubber bushings in between. It lifts the rig by 2 springs which by the bumper adds up to about 2-3 inches. The end so the helper springs have a rubber spacer at each end about 1" high which touches the original leaf springs. While at rest, they are not loaded too much but are definitely touching and keeping the rig slightly raised.

One thing is that I can drive over a speed bump at 10-20mph and it handles like a car and the leaf springs really just lift the rig up over the bump and not just bounce through it. We also have a hitch mounted Vespa at 250lbs on and EXT version so we have some pretty hefty back end weight.

Hopes is helps.