Lifting rear of coach

[grantracy]

For better or worse I have an hydraulic bike lift on the back of our coach. Between the weight of the lift and the bikes ( plus the cantilever effect) we were occasionally dragging when negotiating some curves thogh the NC mountains. I attempted to raise the rear of the coach using chassis air adjustment but coach would settle back to previous position. Vantare advised that while in drive mode suspension height is preset. Any suggestions.

[dalej]

You may not like my advice





Get rid of the lift, just don't like to see a body strssed like that! Besides your bike will love to travel in a trailer

[grantracy]

I hear you,however because of schedule issues occasionally the boss drives the coach and I meet up with her later,she doesnt want to deal with trailer.

[dalej]

I would just try and modify the lift and not the bus then. But in a pinch you can turn off the auto level and raise the back to get through the draging, but wouldn't run that way to long, since your bags only travel so far.

[GDeen]

Not trying to hijack the thread, but does a bike lift seriously stress the structure of the shell on a Prevost. Obviously I understand hanging 1/2 a ton at the fartherest point outward on the chassis is significant but I guess I had assumed if the fiberglass units could handle it certainly a Prevost could??

We have and electra glide and I seriously considered this as a good way to transport on a future coach while pulling the toad.

[dalej]

Although I have never had one, I have wanted one. But just looking at the way the bike hangs on for dear life, I keep mine in a trailer.

I do think that it works....but just don't like that much weight bouncing back there on the rear, A lot of the roads we travel on just are not that smooth, so it seems to just add to much stress on the bracket.

I think that if they can come up with one that has an assist wheel that spins 360 degrees, then it will be worth putting on. Somthing like cement trucks have for there tag, they can lift it when they want to. The air bag on it could handle 1000 pounds and travel enough to go thru dips and humps.

[merle&louise]

Not trying to hijack the thread, but does a bike lift seriously stress the structure of the shell on a Prevost. Obviously I understand hanging 1/2 a ton at the fartherest point outward on the chassis is significant but I guess I had assumed if the fiberglass units could handle it certainly a Prevost could??

We have and electra glide and I seriously considered this as a good way to transport on a future coach while pulling the toad.

Gordon,

I remember a few months back a discussion on motorcycle lifts. I think that it was under Vehicles Other - Motorcycle lifts. Anyway, JPJ said that a lift should not be put on any Prevost except an XL. XLV and XL II's will not handle the load; rivets will pop etc. Maybe Jeff can elaborate further.

[Petervs]

This thread has been going on for quite a while now, and I think perhaps one item has been overlooked. Granvil said he dragged the back of the coach on a few dips in the road. The first thing to check is to see if the ride height is set correctly. There are small lever arms at each axle that provide a signal to the air system to add or lose air from the air bags. When the Level low is in the drive mode, these sensors constantly signal the suspension to remain level. But if they happen to me mis adjusted, well, then you can drag the back end, and perhaps you are driving off level all the time. They are easy to adjust too.

The service manual has a simple test method which involves measuring the height of the coach body with a ruler while the engine is running. Start with this before deciding all the rest.

As for the weight and load from the bike and rack on the back, even with it on there all the axle and wheel loads can easily still be within limits. Just weigh the coach axle by axle. Trust, but verify, remember?

[hhoppe]

Peter: I think they all were trying to say he is putting his coach in peril with the possibility of breaking the frame and pulling the back cap off. Our busses are not built with full frames front to rear. The have a short frame in front designed to support the front running gear only. They have a short frame in the rear designed to support the rear suspension, engine, transmission, and other associated mechanical parts. They have a defined weight amount allowed for a trailer. Hanging large cantlevered loads onto the hitch is detremental to the whole coach. Between the two subframes is a unibody skeletin small tube frame designed to support the center body sections only.
Adding height to the rear suspension via air bag levers does not eliminate the above described problem.

[Petervs]

I am not suggesting he should add height to the air bag system so he can carry the motorcycle, only that he check to see if it is set correctly. If it is misadjusted then the bus will drag even without the bike and rack on there.

As for the frame members being strong enough or not, well the frame truss between the front and rear is plenty strong even if it is not one continuous hunk of steel channel. I do not like the way the typical bike rack is mounted only to the very rear end on the bottom, that is a bad design. And they want you to weld it all together which prevents unbolting things in order to remove the engine for overhaul without cutting it all apart again.

Again, I am not in favor of those "Overbuilt" style bike carriers, I was only suggesting he check to see that the air bag system was operating according to spec.