Blocks under jacks, coach wheels off the floor. What holds the rear axle up.

[pete.miller77]

I wanted to inspect my hoses, air lines, etc on my 1995 Dynasty. As I have many times before, I put 4x4 wood blocks under the jacks and lifted the whole coach.I noticed that one rear wheel pair was lifted higher than the other side by maybe 2 inches. I just had new air bags installed all around and wondered if that might be causing the uneven issue. Do the steel rods inside the shocks actually lift the rear axle? I guess I could figure it out by looking around but I thought I would ask. 

[Gary Cole]

Your shocks take the load of the axle. I used to do it quite often however now I'm having second thoughts about the practice.

[Guest Ray Davis]

Some Monacos came with straps that limited how far the rear axle can drop, otherwise, it's gotta be either the shocks or airbags.  I don't like the idea of either holding all of that weight.   I don't have leveling jacks ( only air leveling ) so mine will not lift the wheels unless I jacked the frame.

I would not crawl under with the jacks only holding it up.  I drive up onto stacked boards then let the air out,  much safer.

One side being lower or higher than the other,  sounds like a ride height valve out of adjustment. 

[96 EVO]

31 minutes ago, Ray Davis said:

Some Monacos came with straps that limited how far the rear axle can drop, otherwise, it's gotta be either the shocks or airbags.  I don't like the idea of either holding all of that weight.   I don't have leveling jacks ( only air leveling ) so mine will not lift the wheels unless I jacked the frame.

I would not crawl under with the jacks only holding it up.  I drive up onto stacked boards then let the air out,  much safer.

One side being lower or higher than the other,  sounds like a ride height valve out of adjustment. 

I wish they had continued that practice of limiting straps on all years / models!

I can see snapping a shock raising too high with the air bags!

I would hope the shock manufacturers that advertise shocks for these coaches make sure their recommended models have enough travel for fully inflated bags, but, do I trust them 🤔?? 

Edited May 17, 2023 by 96 EVO

[Guest Ray Davis]

59 minutes ago, 96 EVO said:

I wish they had continued that practice of limiting straps on all years / models!

I can see snapping a shock raising too high with the air bags!

I would hope the shock manufacturers that advertise shocks for these coaches make sure their recommended models have enough travel for fully inflated bags, but, do I trust them 🤔?? 

Trust? ha ha ha ha,  of course, you can trust them.

You could make your own straps,  I think I read somewhere that people have used lengths of chain.  Chain might be better.

[vito.a]

All of our coaches have had chains to limit downward travel.  They are hard to see, but they're there.  Sometimes they have a black plastic cover over the chain.  

[Guest Ray Davis]

8 minutes ago, vito.a said:

All of our coaches have had chains to limit downward travel.  They are hard to see, but they're there.  Sometimes they have a black plastic cover over the chain.  

I'm gonna look at mine,   my Windsor might have chains.

[96 EVO]

Nothing on mine 😒!

[Michael Powell]

9 hours ago, Ray Davis said:

I'm gonna look at mine,   my Windsor might have chains.

2004 princess Dynasty 42 with tag has chains and I don't have JACKS...

[Robert92867]

if you have your coach raised on a pair of 20 ton jack stands, a standard 3-ton floor jack has no problem lifting just the weight of the axle. Once I allowed the axle to hang by the shocks and the weight popped the oil reservoir open on a new Bilstein.  I no longer let the axle hang upsupported. Some air springs have the bottom bolt threaded into plastic. That would be an even more expensive fail.

[vanwill52]

On my 2000 Dynasty, once I realized that ONLY the shocks support all the axle weight (front or rear) when wheels are raised off the ground, I realized why so many coaches of that vintage had broken upper shock mounts.  I welded on restraint chains that keep the shocks from supporting that weight.

On Paul Whittle's coach, we welded on angle brackets to the coach frame and to the H-frame with holes to accommodate simple 5/8 rods threaded at each end.

Strangely enough, even though I expected to hear chains rattling on my coach, and rods banging on Paul's coach, neither of us ever detected any noise whatsoever.

[Ivan K]

I have been thinking about similar situation for few years now but never actually done anything about it. I don't have jacks but have to use the raise button on HWH leveling to get on our driveway. I always almost  expect a pop as the air bags possibly work against the extended shock but then forget about it when nothing happens. Not sure if Monaco calculated this and made it safe. I guess one day I should take some measurements or the shock will tell me... I know I don't have any restrains.

[96 EVO]

14 minutes ago, Ivan K said:

I have been thinking about similar situation for few years now but never actually done anything about it. I don't have jacks but have to use the raise button on HWH leveling to get on our driveway. I always almost  expect a pop as the air bags possibly work against the extended shock but then forget about it when nothing happens. Not sure if Monaco calculated this and made it safe.  

Ivan, I would think Monaco probably did, and made sure the original shocks would handle the travel range.

Many of us with late model coaches came from the factory with junk Monroe shocks, and changed to Bilstein, Koni, or Road Kings.

Those are the one's I'm concerned about!

BTW.... I was stupid when changing mine out and never compressed and extended old with new, side by side 😣!

Edited May 18, 2023 by 96 EVO

[Ivan K]

I'll take your word for it, Ben.  It's been few years and nothing happened yet. Replaced original Bilstein with same few years ago. The new ones had much beefier eyes on the rod. Not that it alone makes it better for extension limiting.

[96 EVO]

13 minutes ago, Ivan K said:

I'll take your word for it, Ben.  

Don't do that!

That was just an uneducated guess 😂!!

I've raised mine pretty high boarding / un-boarding ferries during less than ideal tides, and my Bilsteins seem to still be together!

Edited May 18, 2023 by 96 EVO

[vanwill52]

The most common failure is that the top shock mounts in the front are cantilevered and not sturdy enough to withstand the abuse.  Once they break, they are a BITCH to replace, since they are usually in a very difficult place to weld.

[Ivan K]

1 hour ago, vanwill52 said:

The most common failure is that the top shock mounts in the front are cantilevered and not sturdy enough to withstand the abuse.  Once they break, they are a BITCH to replace, since they are usually in a very difficult place to weld.

Yes, that's my worry too, worse than ripping a shock apart. All of my 10 shocks and bags are the same and mounted the way you describe. Once we get home, whenever that is, I will remove the lower shock mount bolts on an axle and check whether the raise travel exceeds shock extension limit,  hope not but would not surprise me.

[Happycarz]

Van, with adding chairs or rods as restraints, how many did you use?  Did you use one at each shock position, for a total of eight for a non tag coach?

[96 EVO]

Yeah, I thought there would be a good possibility of the upper bracket weld failing before the shock, but, I have heard of both occurring.

[vanwill52]

10 hours ago, Happycarz said:

Van, with adding chairs or rods as restraints, how many did you use?  Did you use one at each shock position, for a total of eight for a non tag coach?

Harry, I used a total of four chains, one at each corner of my non-tag coach.  I welded tabs with holes in them and bolted the chains to the tabs with Grade 8 bolts, washers and nuts.  Easy job, but requires welding.

[Happycarz]

Thank you, Van.

It’s on my to do list. I hope it gets to the top of the list soon.

[Jim Pratten]

On 5/20/2023 at 8:19 PM, vanwill52 said:

Harry, I used a total of four chains, one at each corner of my non-tag coach. 

Van, if I understand correctly, it’s two chains per axle attached near the corner shock positions. The whole axle suspension assembly is limited in downward travel due to the chains working in conjunction with the trailing arms to restrain further movement.  Do I understand that correctly?

Another question. I could diy 1/2” holes in the frame to attach chains. Is there a downside to attaching this way versus welding tabs?

[vanwill52]

The H-frame is essentially a parallelogram, so a single chain can be placed on both the driver and passenger side to adequately restrain its movement.  It seems reasonable to me to place the chain in the approximate middle position fore and aft.  I would not choose to drill through the frame members, although I realize not everyone has welding capability.

[Guest Ray Davis]

32 minutes ago, vanwill52 said:

The H-frame is essentially a parallelogram, so a single chain can be placed on both the driver and passenger side to adequately restrain its movement.  It seems reasonable to me to place the chain in the approximate middle position fore and aft.  I would not choose to drill through the frame members, although I realize not everyone has welding capability.

Ok, I'm not quite getting the vision here,  how do we have a single chain on both driver & pass side, while placing the chains in the middle fore & aft?

I envisioned placing a chain on each side of the axles ( 4 chains ) but now I wonder did you place yours to hold up the H frame and thus the axles too? 

[Happycarz]

Ray, I think I am understanding Van to say, is to place the chain anchor point halfway fore/aft along the H-Frame on each side, then attaching the frame anchor point directly above. The anchor points would be just fore or aft the pan hard bar, as the pan hard bar is not centered fore/aft on the H-Frame. I hope I am making sense.

Once the anchor points are attached, install the chains. Attaching the chains can be another story. To each, their own!