Air ride cab

[Tonkatuff]

Thanks Tony I am only hoping to get 50mm of pivot at the rear of the cab, this will be alot less at the drivers seat. I am anticipating that I should be able to smooth out the harsh ride a bit but big holes are still going to automatically clean the dash ;-)

and another engineer eh!! I'm surrounded!!

 

[whatcharterboat]

There are downsides that nobody has mentioned - and that is if you make your ride too comfy, there is a tendency to drive a bit faster on bad roads than previously, and that really knocks the the rest of the truck around.
Same can happen fitting an air ride seat.

This is true and have heard more than a few reports from tour operators complaining of their drivers taking tracks far too quickly with ultra comfortable MANs which typically have air cabs , air seats and a combination of air and parabolic suspension.

Looking good though Shannon.

 

[Tonkatuff]

Might also help that the 637's have in built speed limiting.

 

[SkiFreak]

Shannon,
I was thinking about this today and it occurred to me that I should highlight another potential issue here.

The front pivot mounts for the FG cabs are designed for tilting the cab for servicing and easier access to the engine. I am pretty sure that those front mounts were not designed to be suspension mounts.
I would think that it would be prudent to look at how the front mounts are done on the FM, which does have a sprung cab.

 

[redneck44]

A bit late to this thread, but why don't you fit air ride seats, a lot easier as its a bolt in job.
I fitted one to my RB44 and it transformed the truck, I was debating if I was going to sell it because the ride was so harsh.
Just need another now for the other half to ride in it.
I fitted a KAB weight adjustable one.

 

[Tonkatuff]

That's about $3600aud in seats just for the front driver and passenger plus mods to the 2/3 seat. I hope to get out of this for a fraction of that.

 

[Tonkatuff]

Shannon,
I was thinking about this today and it occurred to me that I should highlight another potential issue here.

The front pivot mounts for the FG cabs are designed for tilting the cab for servicing and easier access to the engine. I am pretty sure that those front mounts were not designed to be suspension mounts.
I would think that it would be prudent to look at how the front mounts are done on the FM, which does have a sprung cab.

Yeah i know Owen but the front mounts also take the lions share of the load in the single cabs and 1/3 of the load in the dual cab. I think if anything, that isolating the cab from the chassis will reduce the strain on the pivot. At the moment there is enough strain to tear the rear cab mounts off the chassis and a lot of that force would be being transferred to the pivot. I think the secret is going to be in limiting the movement of the cab to my 50mm range.

 

[redneck44]

That's about $3600aud in seats just for the front driver and passenger plus mods to the 2/3 seat. I hope to get out of this for a fraction of that.

I got mine for £30 from a truck breakers, the seat still had the polythene wrapping on it.

 

[Tonkatuff]

Stick em in an air bag and send them over. The choice of seats for the canter that have true suspension are very limited due to the limited space I don't know if the Kab seats would fit

 

[DzlToy]

check out their forkiift application seat, it is limited to 60mm of travel and does not have the tall base or long travel like you would on a motorcoach or bus application.

http://www.kabseating.com/dbdocs/AustralianForkliftBrochure_2012.pdf

 

[SkiFreak]

When you use the vehicle selection drop downs on the KAB website to find the appropriate seat for your vehicle, the one that comes up for the Canter is the Stratos suspension seat. They do not recommend any of their own!

 

[Tonkatuff]

Like I said big dollars in seats.

 

[Tonkatuff]

Owen you have got me thinking about the pivot, but there are lots of options, the freightliner pivots are about $150 ea if worse comes to worse.

I'll try with the original pivot and monitor, I mean what could possibly go wrong?

 

[SkiFreak]

Owen you have got me thinking about the pivot

Just thought I should mention it...
It might turn out to be fine, but as I said, it was not designed for that purpose.

 

[Tonkatuff]

Forgot to mention that I will also be putting a panard rod from the chassis to the cab shock mount which will also reduce the strain on the pivot.