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General Rear suspension upgrade for a Fiat Ducato?

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General Rear suspension upgrade for a Fiat Ducato?

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trnclion

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Hi

I am a newbie here, please excuse the ignorance of all things mechanical!

I have a Fiat Ducato 09 chassis cab MWB 3.5 which is having a catering box fitted to it. I have just been told that I will have to have a rear axle suspension upgrade as now that the box has been fitted the weight is too much for the axle??

What does this entail and how much roughly will this cost? A big factor for me is how long this will take to fit and are the bits required easy to come by?

I hope someone can offer some info on the above.

Thanks in advance

Regards
Gary
 
Got my camper van springs retempered plus additional spring at www.jones-springs.co.uk/home.htm for about £150 but you have to take your springs to them . Try googling leaf spring at you location and you might get a more local supplier.
Peter
 
The quickest, easiest and cheapest way to do this (in my opinion) is to fit an air suspension kit. Drive-Rite do them for Ducato's, they are a Firestone froduct. Google them, there is probably an agent in your area. Simple to fit, I fitted them to my Ducato based motorhome and the difference was brilliant. Took about an hour.
 
Check out the guides section - misc guides. There's two guides on fitting air suspension.
Peter
 
Hi Wayfarer and Peter Divi 900,

Please can you tell me did you upgrade your rear suspension on your motorhome as there was a problem with the original suspension, we have a Tribute Trigano on a Fiat Ducato and are having huge problems and been told the unladen weight is to the max fo the rear suspension,

Thank you for your help
Regards
 
Hi jonkers, just back from the hols. The reason I fitted the air suspension on my motorhome was more to do with handling rather than weights although when the camper was loaded with wine the rear springs looked maxed out. Fitting is easy if you are handy and the handling is is greatly improved. Driverite by Firestone do a kit for the ducato.
 
Hi
Thank you very much for your replies. The problem we have is there was a knocking/banging on the back end of the motorhome, we took it to a fiat dealer who have advised us that unladed the motorhome is at the max weight and the knocking is because there is no give in the suspension? Thats why I was wondering if a change in the suspension would help, but that still doesnt help with the weight issue.

Thanks again
Regards
 
I would agree with the dealer to a certain extent. The camper would be built on a standard Ducato chassis with the standard double leaf spring suspension, which would be a lot heavier than the standard van body. The knocking is probably the bump stops bottoming out. I still think the best and most cost effective way to sort this out is the air suspension kit. The max weight issue only comes into play if you are weighed by the police in transit and unless you are carrying a huge load of wine or other goods you should still come well under the legal specs. for the camper with a normal load for the hols. Check the data plate which should be somewhere on the camper body or check with the camper agent/supplier.
 
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wayfarer said:
Hi jonkers, just back from the hols. The reason I fitted the air suspension on my motorhome was more to do with handling rather than weights although when the camper was loaded with wine the rear springs looked maxed out. Fitting is easy if you are handy and the handling is is greatly improved. Driverite by Firestone do a kit for the ducato.
Click to expand...

Hi Wayfarer

My Ducato based motorhome rear suspension is flat (springs) and have been since I bought it. Did the air suspension kit raise your motorhome or are my springs totally dead do you know? A local garage mentioned the air kits and said my suspension is resting on the stoppers unlaiden.

ta
 
My rear leaf springs were also fairly flat before I got Air kit, and yes it does raise the rear and give the springs a nice upward curve as the air kit takes the weight off them. The more air pressure you put in the kit ,the higher you raise the rear. Normal is 25 - 27 psi, with load, wine etc, on board about 27 - 30 psi.
 
wayfarer said:
My rear leaf springs were also fairly flat before I got Air kit, and yes it does raise the rear and give the springs a nice upward curve as the air kit takes the weight off them. The more air pressure you put in the kit ,the higher you raise the rear. Normal is 25 - 27 psi, with load, wine etc, on board about 27 - 30 psi.
Click to expand...

Can I ask how much it the kit cost you? it sounds like you fitted it yourself. I have checked the website and the installation instructions dont look too difficult?

ta
 
Kit cost €350.00 from agent in Dublin a few years ago. Fitted myself. About 1 - 1 1/2 hrs total. Google DriveRite
 
N & K - your problem is exactly the same as ours, have you had the motorhome weighed at all?, and how long have you had the Motorhome, ours is brand new with approx 200 miles on it and have been advised not to use it!
Any advice you have would be appreciated

Jonkers
 
Hi jonkers

We have had the motorhome just over a year, but the motorhome is a 2002 model, 4 owners.

Due to lack of experience, i didnt spot this when i bought it (from a motorhome dealer!) but the suspension was was flat when we bought it.
I have been told its common for motorhomes to flatten their suspension leafs over the years.

I mentioned the slight tilt of the motorhome (to the right) to the dealer they said its like that because of the drivers side (common he said)

But...I think I might take some pictures of the underside and send them to the place wayfarer bought his air suspension kit, to see if they can advise if their kit will raise it. I am suspect that the suspension leafs wont have any curve left in them as they have been flattened for so long.

The Motorhome passed its MOT with no advisery comments, but not sure if they look at suspension in the MOT, would have thought they do.

Hope this helps.
 
NandK said:
... the suspension was was flat when we bought it.
I have been told its common for motorhomes to flatten their suspension leafs over the years.
Click to expand...


What matters is whether there is space for the springs to flex upwards in response to road shocks. Not whether the springs are flat. If the springs are hitting the stops then they need to be reset (put some curve back in them).

A knocking I experienced was due to the rear leaf shackle hitting the OEM tow bar. Upon complaint, Fiat replaced the shackles with longer ones. This has the undesirable effect of tilting the van down to the front so the sliding door now drifts closed when the van is level. Same would happen with air bags pumped up.

PeterM
 
I agree PeterM, check the bump stops and see if there is clearance. I was given two fixes for mine (which had a problem when fully loaded on return from hols) an extra leaf spring which at the time would have cost €700 + Vat or the air suspension kit at €350 + Vat. The problem with the extra leaf was a hard and bumpy drive when empty or normal load up, and ok when fully loaded, or the air kit which you can self adjust and yes the air kit does tend to give the van a nose down ass up effect but the improvement in handling when empty or loaded with the kit was well worth it. While on hols this year I had a look at several campers and they all seemed to have flat springs so I wouldn't worry too much about it unless, again, it is hitting the stops.
 
Hi

This isnt sounding good for me.

I have taken some photos of the underside of the motorhome and would welcome your comments

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37813248@N04/

I get no banging or clonking from the rear, but looks like its resting on the stoppers?
The van also leans abit to the right hand side.


Thanks in advance
 
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Looks like its on the stoppers. I would definitely look into an air suspension kit. you probably will have to jack the camper to get the bump stops out and the kit installed. The air suspension kit will also act as bump stops in the event of loosing air pressure.
 
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Thanks Wayfarer

I have email DriveRite for further info.

I was going to trade the motorhome in next spring, do you think I should do this, I expect it might help on trade in?

When you fitted it yourself, did you just use the standard Motorhome jack or do you have some trolley or bottle jacks?

Thanks
 
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