Koni shock discussion (split from Re: newbie question about smoothing ride)
Been a suspension/ride quality guy for thirty years in the Rv biz as a sales manager. ,
Drove my personal 97 u320 40' for 1800 miles since 5/4/2014. Bad roads, dirt roads, high speeds, low speeds on mostly two lanes.
I have built off road motorcycle engines and bikes and suspension for forty years and I have driven a lot of different brand rv's with judging the details in the forefront.
As an example a 91 beaver marquis in a deep rolling bump would absorb the bump with one compression and one rebound stroke. Hmmmm
Two airs bags in the front run higher pressure per bag than the Foretravel's four.
Part of the resistance to bottoming is the air pressure in the air bags themselves. The rest is the shocks.
Gillig on their proprietary front suspension they had from their bus biz was dialed in perfectly. No bump steer,like our Foretravels,and perfect dampening.
New my coach and the u270 must have had correct shocks or they never would have sold.
My koni redtops turned up to the fourth setting out of five dampen better but still pogo on big dips somewhat.
The newer design FSD Koni's are the right idea. Sharp impacts are softer damped and the rollers more heavily.
Several threads here mentioned installing them with various results.
As far a I know they to are also adjustable. Which means driving, then readjusting them. Each adjustment is time and money of course but like the gillig I mentioned someone had done the homework necessary and charged for it.
My next step is a set of FSD Koni's for mine then try a middle position on the adjustment on the first install.
Or ask Foretravel if they have had any input or even info on adjusting them. Not an insult to them but readjusting them probably has not happened.
So we were are on our own as far as getting this correct IMO.
The marquis I mentioned was a similar GVW and GVWR at 37,000 pounds actual load including the required jeep(joke) they got 8.25mpg and pulled the interstate six percent grades at 65 with the cruise on and the 3176 three position adjustable jake brake would hold it back on cruise then.
Trying to get my unicoach to that level of ride and handling. We will see. I know it can be done but the lower air pressure air bag suspension per bag will require IMO a higher rate of compression dampening in the long run.
My Koni's while stiffer still are not what I remember as new so I assume the actual dampening parts in the shock that are necessary for precision dampening are worn.
I can rebuild them but am thinking about a set of FSD's instead as koni changed the design to work even better.
If they handle the sharp edged bumps and the large radius ok then the adjustments can be made to get them better I feel.
Not the cheap way to buy the Koni's but the long life and rebuildability and most of all the adjustability would seem most important versus the price. At least to me.
Bob
Topic: Koni shock discussion (split from Re: newbie question about smoothing ride) (Read 955 times)
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