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2001 IFS project

This has probably been covered elsewhere, but thought I would pass along some information I've learned about the IFS on our 2001 U320 since purchasing it about 6 months ago.

With almost 140k miles I knew it needed shocks as it really bounded up and down on the I-20 slabs in Shreveport. The coach also had a pretty good case of "the wanders". So time for a trip to Josam/Orlando when we got back to Florida. I was a little worried about how they would handle a non-solid axle Foretravel, but no worries; the tech took one look at my coach and said  "you have a Country Coach suspension in your Foretravel"!! 

It seems Country Coach and Foretravel both used Ridewell to build their early IFS assemblies and they are indeed similar. Ours is a Dana/Kirkstall configuration. I put on new Koni FSDs in the rear and and Koni adjustables (set to medium) on the front. The front shock are bigger (90 vs 88) and there are only 2 of them. Now it rides like a Foretravel!

The original tie rod ends never had grease fittings from day one and the boots were shot. Josam ordered new parts from Super Steer (Henderson's Line-Up division) - 4 tie rod ends and 2 drag link ends. Everything else checked out OK so this got all of the slop out of the system.  The tie rod ends are fine threaded which is uncommon as most everyone else except CC and FT used coarse threaded tie rod ends. Close to gold plated in price, but at least not made out of unobtainiam like a lot of my classic car parts.

 Foretravel had sent me the manuals and alignment specs earlier so Josam set it up at spec and then we tweaked it a bit more by adding more caster. I am very pleased with the way the coach rides and handles now having driven it about 750 miles in the last week. Still needs a bit more toe-in than spec to get the on-center feel I want so will probably stop at a highly regarded Josam-equipped shop (Simmons in Sheffield, AL) and dial in a bit more. I'm willing to risk a tiny bit of irregular tire wear for better on-center feel as the tires are going to age out well before they wear out anyway.

Will post the final alignment specs once this final tweak is done. If you have one of these rare birds, please post your final alignment specs too. Thanks.

Jeff & Patricia
Rescue dog Molly
Previous Foretravel owner

Re: 2001 IFS project

Reply #1 –
Quote from: 2Escapees –
not made out of unobtainiam like a lot of my classic car parts.


Howdy Jeff,  LOL,  Dave A
Dave and Nancy Abel
'00 U320 36' WTFE  Build #5669
'10 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon
Livingston, TX  SKP's Fulltiming

Re: 2001 IFS project

Reply #2 –
Great to hear!
The selected media item is not currently available. Dave Head & Megan Westbrook
Titusville, FL - The Great Outdoors
'98 270 buying this month
Toad is a 2018 F150 XLT

Re: 2001 IFS project

Reply #3 –
Sounds like you're taking a good approach and will be most interested in seeing the final specs.  Now, this is my opinion only, and take it for what it's worth, but alignments that set specs back to original for a new coach only go so far in solving problems.  Fact is, the coach is no longer new, it is "individualized" by wear and miles, and in fact even when new the stock specs didn't take small variations in assembly into account.  So, you're "blueprinting" the suspension which takes lots of time and effort but expect it will be worth it in the long run. 

Chuck
"Not so  long ago we were a nation of risk takers, riding five million pounds of  thrust straight into space."  Joe Gresh
Chuck Pearson
1996 U295
2018 Can Am X3 TurboRS

Re: 2001 IFS project

Reply #4 –
My sales buddies and I driving brand new cc ifs coaches could never get the wander out of them.  Drove ten in a row.  Cc said toyo tires helped.  Still wandered. 

The last part left in the system is the steering box if the drag link is perfect. 


Always wondered if they needed readjusting like the old spicer 710's that had to be recentered after 300 miles new.

Fixed so many old coaches wander by using the spicer's manual showing how to recenter the spool I was a hero to hundreds of rv'ers.  Literally.  There ears all perked up when I asked if there coach wandered?  Or could they drive it from the bottom of the steering wheel?

Sure would look at whatever bushings are in the "a" arms also.  I am just thinking.  No specific info.

Other than the early FT's and cc's with ifs wandered.  The bigger cc's with different ifs suspensions also wandered some.  Magna's and affinities.  Not relaxing to drive.  Had to ride herd on them.

Maybe get a hold of Ron lees Oregon service place and see if they have any input on this?


Interesting to see how this goes.


Bob
"Riding and rejoicing"
Bob
1997 U320 40' Mid entry, build 5132,  wtbi ce27, 4th owner
2007 Solara convertible
2 prodeco tech outlaw ss electric bikes

1095 watts solar
08 Ls 460 and a sc430
2000 Ford F-250 superduty 4x4

Re: 2001 IFS project

Reply #5 –
Jeff, I have a 2001 36' U320 with the IFS. The PO had the frontend aligned 6 years ago and approx. 50K miles. It now has 97K miles on the clock. Handling has always been fine for me and I've noted no problems with driving it. However, I will need front tires in the next year or so and will have the frontend checked and aligned if needed. Pete's Road Service in Santa Ana did his alignment and he hightly recommended them.
To answer your question re:those that have the early IFS and what is your final adjustment I'll try to answer correctly. Reading from the spec sheet it reads:
Front axle 1:left
Actual
0.25 degrees Camber
4.5 degrees Caster
0.02 degrees Toe

Front axle 1:right
-0.5 degrees Camber
5.2 degrees Caster
0.00 degrees Toe

Front Axle 2
Cross camber 0.6 degrees
Cross caster -0.7 degrees
Total toe 0.02 degrees
Set back -0.19 degrees

Now this is all greek to me. Hope it's what you're looking for. Let us know how it works out for you. BTW the rubber boots on mine need replacing. Just info for what its worth.
Jon Ohman
2001 U320 36'
Build #5809
 

Re: 2001 IFS project

Reply #6 –
Lots of great input....We went over the coach pretty carefully at Josam to make sure there was no play remaining in the system as I wondered about the steering box too but it checked out fine. Bob did give me something to think about on the spool - Can't feel a dead spot however. Also looked carefully at the king pins to make sure nothing was binding.

Definitely agree Nac is great but not planning to go that direction soon. I had a '04 Mountain Aire 40 footer (no tag) with Freightliner/ZF IFS at one time and it did not wander a bit - drove just like a large SUV, my wife loved driving it. Got to keep her happy as we split drive time about 50-50.

I think there must be some "art" as well as "science" in setting these things up, especially after they have some mileage/age on them and maybe the geometry on the older IFS units is more fussy than the newer ones. BTW, the factory spec for toe-in is 1/32 which is not much - about 3 minutes. Currently at 4 minutes so we will bump it up to 1/16 or 6 minutes and see what happens.
Jeff & Patricia
Rescue dog Molly
Previous Foretravel owner