When I bought my coach it had the 4 way shocks on the front.



I loved the ride, but a mechanic said they were leaking so I replaced them with Bilsteins. I was very unhappy with the softness of the ride and the swaying. Bill H, suggested that my 17 year old springs are probably weak. I am sure that he is right, in fact camping world sells these "pumped up" springs for the P-30.



I wish I would have added these springs, however, I bought a new pair of the 4 way spring over shocks.

I also though about changing back to normal wheel, (I have the Ellis Safewide Wheels, now Boxer Wheels, http://www.boxerwheel.com but thanks to the encouragement of Ann and Peggy, I am staying with the wide wheels and changing from the Bridgestone Dueler A/T's which are very knobby and noisy, to the Dunlop Rover A/T, 33X12.5R16.5 8 ply with a load rating of D 2930#s. The problem here is that 16.5in tires are becoming obsolete. Even the new Boxer Wheels are 16 in.

So this is my front end story. I think I sould get a good ride out of it. By the way, if anyone wants a couple hardly used Bilsteins. The are $80 new. How about $35 each???


[This message has been edited by davebowers (edited February 28, 2002).]

Dave - do you still have the shocks and what p/n' are they. I believe they will fit my 1988 regal.

Hi KC,

You know what, I never did get around to changing them back. I still have the Bilteins and I guess I am getting used to them. Sorry

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Shortcuts Always Take Longer

I found a site offering the bilsteins at a reduced rate plus free shipping. check out the following site: http://www.ajusa.com/cgi-bin/bilstein/start
most other sites wanted about $50 to ship which I felt was too steep.

In addition to the Bilsteins, I would recommend a heavier front sway bar, either IPD or Helweg, and a front end alignment with more caster to IPD specs.

I bought a front pair for my '85 Regal at AJ USA - $76 each. I think I'm going for the heavier sway bar too. Thanks Bill H.

I'm thinking about a sway bar for the front end and springs. How can you tell if your springs are gone? Is there a clearance measure between the stop block and frame? Bill, did you get the IPD 1 5/8" swaybar kit for $269?
Thanks,
Ed

Eddie, I got the springs from CW when they had a bag sale. I got the IPD bar from RV Add Ons at 888 676 3100. They were the best place at the time.

As far as the front springs, they are gone. The Chevy motor home manual has specs for measuring. If you have a fax, I can send the pages to you. Weak springs can be compensated for somewhat by more air in the bags. The problem is that air is very resilient and bouncy. This allows the famous P30 front end looseness to continue unabated. I have gone whole hog and bought the Supersteer idler arms, too. Will replace lower ball joints, springs and arms at the same time. Just as soon as I get done with the bedroom. Am converting it from twins to a double bed. Lots of wiring and plumbing and wiring fun. Learning to weld PE water tanks, too. The carpentry part is the easy part.

I was just talking to Camping World and they recommemd that I replace my springs and the steering stabilizer. What do you think about the stabilizer? Dennis

Well, I installed the Bilstein steering stabilizer at the same time as the front shocks, so the improvement I got could be from both. But it certainly was an improvement. The P30 needs all the help it can get.

Remember springs only set ride height,you can have bushing wear with leaf springs causing the axle to not track correctly,but if ride height is ok(loaded)spring are good.Springs are controlled by shocks the more dampening the less spring jounce.Hope this helps.

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