Softening the Ride E-450 Class C

We put about 5500 miles on the Dancer this summer. Overall, it was great.
I found a few things that I am working to improve.
The BIG problem I want to address, though, is the suspension.
This is, for all intents and purposes, A Truck chassis. It very often feels like a truck. Some highways are horribly bumpy, and while the bumps are a minor irritant in a normal vehicle, my poor Dancer felt every one. And we could hear the whole house rattle and squeak with each bump. Sometime it was almost painful. And, there were times when secured drawers popped open, things that should have stayed put ended up on the floor, of flying about the house.
I spent more than a few hours inspecting joints and such, tightening screws and bolts, and putting things back in place.
(yes, I do get that some of this is all part of the "game")

So, my question:
What real solutions are there for softening the ride on the E-450 Chassis?
I've seen air bags and sway bars  and some look like they might help.
Some are rather expensive, and we've relatively limited resources.
I would love some advice on the most effective solutions that justify the expense.

Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom.
Lars

The first step is to get your loaded travel weight, ideally you want 4 corner weighing, though axle weights from a CAT scale or similar will generally do if you are reasonably evenly loaded.  Then look up and adjust your tire pressure based upon a tire manufacturer's inflation table like this one https://tiretraker.com/michelin.pdf

Isaac-1 said:

The first step is to get your loaded travel weight, ideally you want 4 corner weighing, though axle weights from a CAT scale or similar will generally do if you are reasonably evenly loaded.  Then look up and adjust your tire pressure based upon a tire manufacturer's inflation table like this one https://tiretraker.com/michelin.pdf

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Thanks for that.
Though, I have gone through that pretty well. I'm not talking about unusual vibrations or anything like that. I am talking about big, hard road bumps, like poor bridge joints, rough concrete joints, and that sort of thing.

And I examined the tires post-trip, and find no signs of uneven tread wear, or the like.

Being over optimum tire pressure is still a major consideration when looking at ride quality.>>>Dan

Utclmjmpr said:

Being over optimum tire pressure is still a major consideration when looking at ride quality.>>>Dan

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Yes, I understand. Thank you.

We also spent time at the CAT scales, and redistributed some weight from aft to forward of the Drivers before we set out.

the weight was even and within spec . 

 

What real solutions are there for softening the ride on the E-450 Chassis?

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The only suggestion I have is to upgrade to a class A.

Replacing the springs with air bags will soften the ride but the conversion is very expensive. They don't last forever and a broken air line can mean a tow truck. Next time you replace tires you might want to review which ones ride the smoothest. Tire pressure also makes a huge difference in my ride quality. I run at the low end of recommended pressure unless the ambient temperature is going to be over 90.

https://tires.tirerack.com/tires/Smooth%20Riding%20Truck%20Tire

SeilerBird said:

The only suggestion I have is to upgrade to a class A.

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My class A rides like a truck.  Not coincidentally, it's built on a truck frame and it's near GVWR dry.  No amount of fiddling with tires, tire pressure and add on suspension gadgets is going to change that.  I'm guessing the only way to get a nice riding RV is to move to a bus chassis with air suspension. 

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

All my As rode like a dream.

So the question is, what can I do so that my truck doesn't ride like a truck?  The short answer is, "Not much". You can reduce the sway somewhat and improve the steer wheel tracking a bit, but adjusting tire pressure to optimum for the actual load is about the only thing that will affect the ride quality. It's a truck, and a heavily loaded one as well.

Track bars, anti-sway bars & steer stabilizers are handing improvements, not ride quality.  Adding air bags to assist the leaf springs can help sway and lift a sagging rear end, but do very little to help ride comfort.  Converting the leaf springs to air suspension is cost prohibitive, so the practical thing is to trade for a DP that already has air suspension.  Some people swear that Koni shock absorbers are a big improvement over the standard shocks, but Koni's are better known for stiffer handling than for greater comfort.  However, if the suspension bottoms out on major bumps, the Koni's (or similar high end shock) might help.

...so the practical thing is to trade for a DP that already has air suspension.

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Thank you Gary, that is what I think too.

Yeah, but buying a DP, even an older one, is not exactly a economical proposition.

Gary RV_Wizard said:

Yeah, but buying a DP, even an older one, is not exactly a economical proposition.

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Yes it is expensive but probably cheaper than doing a bunch of repairs and addons that don't solve the problem.

Thanks for the replies. I suspected it might be the case.

One other observation I have come up with: It seems that the wheelbase is almost exactly the same as the distance between seams on many of the Concrete highways, so that I am hitting a seam with each axle nearly simultaneously.
I don't get that "bu-bump - bu-bump - bu-bump" that I get with my Cars or Pick-up. I get a big-ass "THUMP! - THUMP!"  that shakes the whole rig.

It is worse when the Toad is hooked up, which tells me the Toad is putting a lot more of a load on the Drive axle than I anticipated.
A bit of a surprise, since the Blue-Ox is pretty level, and does not weight all that much. (30 lbs at the most)
I reckon another trip to the CAT scale is called for. Drive on with the Toad, and then remove the Toad and re-scale.

I really like the Dancer, other than this roughness. Not sure I want to go shopping for another rig.

I like the DPs, but DW has a bit of a problem with Class A's. Our original idea was a medium-size Class A.
But she Hates sitting up there with the whole world in a big panorama coming straight at her as we fly down the highway.
The Cab configuration of the Class C is more comforting to her.

Air suspension is not a guarantee of a pillow soft ride. The ride on my '05 Dutch Star was horrendous at times on rough roads - bone jarring. A dream on relatively smooth roads, quiet and silky. But my F-250 rides better on rough roads.


I had a four bag suspension system (1 per wheel). I suspect newer, more advanced (and more expensive) suspension systems are better, but I was quite disappointed. A Greyhound bus (i.e., Prevost) rides much, much better. But then, the chassis alone cost nearly as much as my rig did new.

Buying a Chevy was my solution. 

Big hard road bumps? It?s nearly always the shock absorbers. Rare cases of binding mechanical parts. Failed shocks on air rides will make for a rough ride. Remember, the whole unit is already riding on air, the tires.
If you have an IR temp gun, you can check for properly operating shocks. Good shock at least 5-10 degrees above ambient temp after 20 miles or so. Front shocks temps  can be affected by engine heat and rear ones by exhaust systems, so depending on shock placement, accurate readings may be challenging.
There are little tricks that can help ride. Rubber lube on the spring bushings. Penetrating oil where spring leaves overlap. Whoops, I just realized that your outfit has independent front suspension, so you have a lot of moving suspension parts that can be suspect, but I?d look at shocks first.

jubileee said:

Big hard road bumps? It?s nearly always the shock absorbers. Rare cases of binding mechanical parts. Failed shocks on air rides will make for a rough ride. Remember, the whole unit is already riding on air, the tires.
If you have an IR temp gun, you can check for properly operating shocks. Good shock at least 5-10 degrees above ambient temp after 20 miles or so. Front shocks temps  can be affected by engine heat and rear ones by exhaust systems, so depending on shock placement, accurate readings may be challenging.
There are little tricks that can help ride. Rubber lube on the spring bushings. Penetrating oil where spring leaves overlap. Whoops, I just realized that your outfit has independent front suspension, so you have a lot of moving suspension parts that can be suspect, but I?d look at shocks first.

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Under normal road conditions, we have a pretty smooth ride, all in all. There is a bit of a steering drift that I think might be resolved with one of those steering "anti-sway" bars. But, it's really fairly minor.

We don't have a lot of bounce or drift that might suggest an actual problem with the shocks.

But when we hit some of the concrete slab roads, where the joints are not clean, or at bridges, we get a pretty vicious BUMP that rattles the cage pretty hard.

There is a bit of a steering drift that I think might be resolved with one of those steering "anti-sway" bars.

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Sorry to be a techie nitpicker, but "anti-sway bar", "track bar", and "steering stabilizer" are all different things that address different problems. Anti-sway bars have nothing to do with steering, but the other two devices will have some effect on "drift". Probably the track bar is the best bet if the problem is correctly identified as drift. Nothing you have described sounds like a sway bar problem.

I've written an article on Motorhome Handling problems and improvements and in it's in the RVForum Library at Motorhome Handling
If nothing else, it should acquaint you with the types of problems and what addresses them.

Shock absorbers are misunderstood by most laymen. They aren't there for ride comfort, they they do have some side effect.  The purpose of a shock absorber is to prevent the wheel/tire from losing contact with the road when the suspension rebounds after hitting a bump or hole.  The suspension absorbs the initial hit by compressing, but then the suspension rebounds, lifting the wheels and throwing passengers upward.  The shock is supposed to dampen that rebound motion. Faulty shocks or inadequate ones allow what is called porpoising, where the suspension repeatedly bounces up/down after the initial strike. Doesn't sound as though you have that problem.


Your problem very much sounds like excessive tire pressure, but it may simply be that your expectation is a passenger car ride. That ain't gonna happen.