Koni FSD Shocks

[david brady]

Brad,

Welcome to the Blue Bird community. What is your tag axle
airbag pressure? Your tire pressures sound a bit high. The
shocks on all axles should be Koni adjustables (even on the
tag). Ride height is critical. When I got my coach it was
riding 1.5 inches low in the rear and .75 inches low in the
front. Drive axle and steer axle airbags should be 8 inches
in height (give or take a few 16ths). The goodyear site
explains in detail how to measure the height. I think the trick
to getting the front of the bus behaving correctly is to get
the back of the bus setup right. The rear of the bus supports
almost 70% of the bus's weight, if it hits the bump stops, you
get huge weight tranfer to the front. My advice is to check the
ride height, get the FSD's, lower your tire pressures (after
first weighing the bus), check to make sure that the tag axle
is supporting it's fair share of the weight, and maybe stiffen
the front shocks a bit. I think you'll find that too stiff makes
the ride very rough as the steer axle seems to fall into the
road. And finally, BB's bob a bit, that's part of their character.

David Brady
'02 LXi, Smokey
NC

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "brad barton" <bbartonwx@...>
wrote:
>
> David,
> I just got my LXi a few weeks ago and noticed the porpoising was
severe.
> After driving a Newell the past five years, I had forgotten about
> porpoising. And with the ISRI air seat, the vertical movement was
even more
> magnified. With less then 37k miles, I'm sure I still have the
original
> shocks, whatever they are. BB recommended tightening the front
shocks a
> quarter turn at a time. I'm assuming the FSDs in the rear are
firmer as
> well. I do run higher tire pressures..120, 110, 105. Is it your
experience
> that simiply tightening the shocks does no good?
>
>
>
> Brad Barton 00LXiDFW
> bbartonwx@...
>
>
>
>
> >From: David Brady
> >Reply-To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
> >To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
> >Subject: Re: [WanderlodgeForum] Koni FSD Shocks
> >Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2007 18:14:26 -0400
> >
> >Robert,
> >
> >I just installed the FSD's on the rear of my LXi and the
> >results are astonishing. The ride over the rough stuff is
> >much smoother and the handling is more responsive. Now
> >we have to put pressure on Koni to develop the FSD's
> >for the front. I've been told by Justin at Koni that the fronts
> >require a higher pressure rated FSD valve due to the 45 deg
> >mounting angle of the shock (something like a 2:1 ratio of
> >axle movement versus shock movement). Justin recommended
> >adjusting the front shocks one turn from full soft. The extra
> >control that the rear shocks provide helps iron out some of
> >the porpoising up front. I found that if the front shocks are too
> >stiff, the front end seems to fall into road when hitting bumps,
> >adjusting one turn from full soft lets the tires follow the roadway.
> >
> >I also installed Crossfires and Centramatics. The Centramatics
> >provide a noticeable improvement in smoothness - highly
> >recommended (NFI). I run 105, 90, 85 tire psi front to back. My
> >tag airbag pressure is 65 to 67psi. My weight is steer: 14.2K,
> >drive: 22K, and tag: 11K.
> >
> >David Brady
> >'02 LXi, Smokey
> >NC
> >
> >
> >Robert Britton wrote:
> > >
> > > BlueBird is now using the new Koni FSD shocks on their new motor
homes
> > > (self adjusting), they are now available for older BlueBirds.
> > >
> > > Is there anyone that has installed these on an older coach and if so
> > > how do you like them? Are they available for both front and rear?
> > >
> > > I'm getting ready to replace the air bags and shocks on my
coach, not
> > > sure if I want to do the job myself, thinking of taking it to
Holland
> > > Motor Homes in San Diego and let them have at it.
> > >
> > > They will install the shocks and all air bags for $1062 plus parts.
> > >
> > > Robert Britton
> > > 87FC
> > > Hollister, California
> > >
> > >
> > >
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> >
> >
> >
> >[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>
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