I am looking at a Barth to buy, owner says it is on a P-70 chassis. Has 8.00x19.5 tires.

Is P-70 a typo or did this exist? All I have read about are P-30 and P-40.

P-70 was a typo, its a P-30.

The P-30 chassis was a very widely used Chevrolet chassis for motorhomes and delivery trucks from the '70's through the '90's. The engine of choice was the 454 cu-in. Chevy but sometimes the 6.2L Diesel was used. I think a couple guys on the website have coaches like that. They were also special because of the independent front suspension. Since they had coil springs folks had the air bags installed.




You may have heard someone refer to a P-32 This is a new a new rendition brought about in the late nineties with a wider stance. As always I am wide open for corrections. The Cheverolet chassis business was sold to Workhorse Custom Chassis Corp. http://www.workhorsecc.com/rvs/rv_specs.asp

The P-30's main competition was the Ford F-53 chassis. Oshkosh, John Deere, and International Harvester chassis (all used by Barth) were high breds of the Ford. Today all of these chassis are owned and serviced by Freightliner (and Ford). It had the Ford 460 and later the V-10 engine. Some say the Ford is a harder ride because it had a straight leaf spring suspension on the front.



A lot of people say I am an expert on these thing and I am not. However, I am an observer, there isn't any archival info available which anyone is willing to share. What I have observed is that all of the basement model gas coaches have been on these Fords. The P-30's are lower coaches with crappy storage like mine..

Hope this helps.

Dave, your answer implies the airbags are owner add-ons. I may be wrong, but I think they are a factory add-on designed to supplement the coils, in order to provide a wider range of permissible axle weights for the chassis. If memory serves, the factory suggests different pressures in the air bags, for different axle weights.

But then - I bet Bill H has the book that gives the precise answer.

Yup, air bags came stock on P30 MH fronts.

Good thing, too. I drove one with bad bags and scared myself.

Good discussion!....I'd like to extend it a little further.....

A local P-30 guru (Certainly NOT me...)is of the opinion that airbags were a necessary evil, in order for Chevy to build a One-Size-Fits-All suspension system for a myriad of coach builders, since Chevy didn't have a clue as to end-use loadings....

He further advised that, if one intends to keep a unit for awhile, they should look into having their units weighed by a reliable source and replace the coil springs with after-market springs designed for that specific weight and simply trash-out the airbags.

Presto! (HE says...), you now have the correct suspension and have eliminated the hassle of constant airbag monitoring, regulating and replacing.....With the correct Bilsteins/Monroes/Konis, you have a suspension system that doesn't contain parts that were designed as a compromise from the very beginning.......

Thoughts & comments?.....