THE BLUE BIRD BOUNCE

[davidbrady]

Jennifer,

Josams is excellent. There are some things that I would only let Josams do. When I was there last there was a highly skilled technician reinforcing a Pierce fire engine chassis. Pierce provided the kit - the technician disassembled the bodywork down to the chassis and welded in these huge fillet reinforcement pieces. Josams definitely has there place. I haven't had them rework my caster yet, but that's on my list.

Al, do me a favor and aim a camera at your frame rails like I described earlier. You can email it to me if you wish and I'll post it. My hunch is that you have an anti-sway bar.

Along with everything that's been discussed relative to improving ride and handling, I'm convinced that the main reason for Newell's and Prevost's superiority in this regard is their use of Auxilliary Air Tanks for the air springs. Newell builds the tanks into the frame - Prevost uses off-the-shelf standalone tanks mounted close to the air spring. The effect is marked reduction in spring rate without reducing load capacity. Stay tuned, I'm experimenting with Aux Tanks for my LXi's steer axle suspension.