tonykoss Report post Posted February 5, 2012 Currently have 40' Damon (Thor) Tuscany and are full-timers. Looks like time is approaching to consider less time on the road. Am considering a smaller 30'-34' gas as will only be using it about 4 summer months a year. Concerned with ride after living in our Tuscany Traveler. Anyone have any experience with a gas chassis equipped with aux. air ride? I know it will never equal current ride but does it help? Is it worth the investment? Anyone else have any considerations or experience, good or bad, when "downsizing"? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NavyDad89 Report post Posted February 5, 2012 We downsized from a 40' HR DP coach on an 8 bag Roadmaster suspension to a 30' Coachmen Mirada on a Ford F-53 chassis almost a year ago. We no longer full time in the coach so we were looking for something liveable for a 2 month excursion but mainly easy to handle for a short trip (3 or 4 days) on a monthly get-a-way and able to get into state parks without needing to be concerned about fitting into the sites. I was surprised how little difference there has been in the ride and handling between a spring chassis and the air ride of our previous coaches. I have heard some have changed to the Kelderman air suspension on the F-53 chassis for better ride and handling, but IMHO, it's not really an issue. I believe it is more important to find a coach with at least a ratio of wheel base to overall length of at least .55 (ours is .59) to get a good ride and handling than which suspension is under a coach, given the major differences in GVWR of coaches. Our present coach's WB is only 30" shorter than the previous coach and is 10' shorter while the GVWR went from 30K down to 20.5K and I believe that is the main reason the ride and handling is quite similar. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tonykoss Report post Posted February 7, 2012 Thanks Ed. Guess it will be a drive and decide at time of purchase. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
