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halkading · 06-17-2015, 15:57

David,

Newcomer here. I have a just acquired double slide 2003 LX 40 that was weighed with numbers similar to Kurt's - steer 14,780, drive 14,920 and tag 12,300, for a gross of 42,000. Coach build date of 7/2002. Front axle is Dana # 161BN2081. Haven't checked tie rod ends yet. Coach data plate shows Steer axle rating at 14,600, drive at 23,000 and tag at 13,200 for a total of 50,800.

What change would you suggest to get the steer axle and tag axle loads down and the drive axle up? Also, we are looking forward to removing the anti sway bar, softening the shock settings and changing the caster for a better driving experience.

Hal Kading
2003 40LX
Las Cruces, NM

(09-19-2013 11:06)davidbrady Wrote:
(09-19-2013 00:20)cmillsap Wrote: David,

The PO's maintenance notes on my bus indicates the 14600# axle was completely removed and replaced with a new 16000# axle. But who knows for sure? It reads as follows:

08/15/2000 to 08/24/2000. Invoice # 1181-Replaced new front axle 16000# from 14600#. New tires and rims all around 315/80R/22.5

Chuck

Hey Chuck,

We'll compare steer axle setups at the WaGu rally. Mine's slightly complicated because my bus was shipped with the 220TR115(116) tie rod ends, which incidentally are rated for 22,000lbs, but I swapped them out for a drop socket assembly to lower the tie rod cross-bar. I don't know if you remember that thread, but way back I had an issue with the cross bar making contact with a frame member when the suspension is dumped. Lowering the cross-bar solved the issue. Dana Spicer set me up with a new tie rod assy: cross-bar and tie rod ends.

(09-17-2013 23:43)Kurt Ickler Wrote: We are way out of whack...15,300/steer..15050/drive...13010/tag...need to adjust airbag height and tag axle pressure for major weight distribution...

Kurt, for every pound of load removed from the tag axle you should gain approximately 1.333x that on the drive axle and lose approximately 0.333x that on the steer axle; i.e., 1000# off the tag adds 1333# to the drive and removes 333# from the steer.

This formula came about by calculating your LX's center of gravity and assumes a wheel base of 248" and a distance between tag and drive wheels of 48"