+- Wanderlodge Gurus - The Member Funded Wanderlodge Forum (http://www.wanderlodgegurus.com)
+-- Forum: Welcome (/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: Welcome to Wanderlodge Gurus (WaGu, rhymes with the spaghetti sauce company) (/forumdisplay.php?fid=2)
+--- Thread: Front Shocks for a 2000 LXI (/showthread.php?tid=10858)
Front Shocks for a 2000 LXI - Larry@2000lxi - 09-03-2016 21:20
My 2000 LXI has 56,000 miles on it and for some time it seems to porpois and bounce on most roads. I'm thinking the front shocks could be bad.
Any ideas? Would it help for the replacement shocks to be a heaver duty?
Thank you.
Larry@2000lxi[/size]
larryevans1201@hotmail.com
RE: Front Shocks for a 2000 LXI - davidbrady - 09-03-2016 21:41
Hi Larry,
Welcome to the forum. Go over here and enter sway bar into the google search bar. A bunch of threads will come up regarding how to improve the ride quality.
When I bought my LXi in 2004 I wasn't at all happy with the ride. Soon after buying my coach I bumped into a Prevost H3-45 owner at a Prevost Service Center. He just sold his LXi after owning it for only a couple of weeks because he was disappointed in the ride. I could have saved him thousands of dollars by telling him to uncouple the anti-sway bar and give it another try.
You can also make incremental but noticeable improvements by carefully adjusting tire air pressures and switching to Koni adjustable shocks. I found that the Koni's worked best when adjusted one turn from full soft. If you make them too firm then the suspension doesn't have time to unload between bumps and the ride stiffens up.
Good luck and please keep asking questions.
RE: Front Shocks for a 2000 LXI - timetravelers - 09-05-2016 10:28
I'm a happy LXi owner since I did David's fix on the shocks and ditching the sway bar. The difference is, I don't even notice the bridge expansion joints any more. BTW David, I didn't do anything on the tire pressures, what is your advice on that?
RE: Front Shocks for a 2000 LXI - davidbrady - 09-05-2016 20:03
Hi Morey,
My LXi weighed only 14750 lbs on its steer axle. The load tables recommend 105 psi, but I felt it rode stiff at that pressure. I know it goes against the safety police, but I ran 95 psi. I monitored runtime temps and pressure increases with my IR thermometer and my tire pressure monitor system. I found that the tires always increased by 10 psi when hot. If I set them to 95 they ran at 105 hot; likewise, 100 ran at 110 hot, and 105 ran at 115 hot. I concluded that I wasn't incurring undue heat by running at 95. My LXi settings were 85 psi tag and drive, and 95 psi steer. I ran 75000 miles this way without issue.
On my H3 I have 365's on my tag and steer and 315's on my drive. Funny that I run the same pressures on my H3: 85, 85, and 95. I also find the same behavior on the H3 anything over 105 psi on the steer feels stiff.
RE: Front Shocks for a 2000 LXI - timetravelers - 09-05-2016 22:40
That all makes sense, I'm going to adjust my pressures based on my weight. Actually my pressures from Michelin charts are 105, 95, and tags 85. Looks like I'm in the same ballpark of you are.
BTW, what do you do about altitude, I'm currently at 1600 ft in Idaho, and heading for Denver.
RE: Front Shocks for a 2000 LXI - davidbrady - 09-05-2016 23:13
Typically nothing Morey. I do check my pressures before every trip. Tire pressures will change 2% for every 10 deg F change in ambient temperature, and they change about 1/2 psi for every 1000 feet in elevation. The two do a decent job cancelling one another out, so while I do religiously check my pressures I rarely change them during a trip. For instance, this summer we were away for 4 weeks and we traveled from Huntersville NC (elevation 800 ft) to Leadville Colorado (elevation 10,000 ft). When I left Huntersville it was 90 deg F and I set my pressures appropriately. At Leadville it was 70 deg F so I lost 4 psi, but I gained 5 psi for the 9000 ft of altitude we climbed. Net effect was a 1 psi greater pressure in Leadville, Co over Huntersville NC. We travel mostly in the summer so the temperature swings we see are on the order of 20 to 30 deg F. I suppose during other seasons one may experience wider swings. In these cases I would adjust the air as needed; however, I'm not going to fret if my target psi is 95 but they're currently down to 92 psi. I think pressures and load charts with modern day tires are more art than science. Tires are simply too complex to wrap up into a closed form formula for all conditions. IOWs, as long as I'm within 10% of what the charts say I'm happy. Needless to say, I'm not a speed racer. With my familiy of six on board I typically don't exceed 63 mph.
RE: Front Shocks for a 2000 LXI - cmillsap - 09-05-2016 23:55
Larry,
While you are removing that 2.25" sway bar consider adding a
Safe-T-Plus Steering Unit. That is if your bus is not already fitted with one. Removing the Anti-sway bar and adding the
Safe-T-Plus will cause your bus to drive and handle so much better. Also, the Safe-T-Plus will help save your ass if you ever have a steer tire blowout.