Re: broom bear / air ride - is it possible
Jim I think the short to your answer is no couple of reasons the pinion angle is already way to steap on the rear axle, air ride will make it worse not sure what year you have but as you remember they had issues with long runs in 6th gear it would overheat the drive shaft u joint causing a big problem when the driveshaft came out the other issue is broom pattern ware, air ride tends to lean and we all know the hopper likes to load more to the curb side of the hopper I think u know where I am going with this when the bear was new it road not to bad but over time the solid mounts in the rear get hard over time these can be replaced and a very reasonable price at any shop may b $500-800 u will notice a huge difference if you still want to improve the ride quality even more you can go with a Firestone cab air ride conversion that will make a huge difference I am not sure if you perform your own repairs but a new cost on a cab air ride kit for an fl don't quote me I would say is around $1700 or so but if ur crafty you can go to a heavy truck salvage yard and any freightliner fl series day cab will have your air ride kit your looking for I don't think it would cost more that $200 with a couple of hours you will be very happy also if you have an early broom bear and it is 6th gear locked out give me a shout I can unlock it for you you will need to have caterpillar limit the speed on the motor so your guys don't drive over 60 that is when the ujoints start to make heat might only cost you 80$ bucks to limit the speed but the fuel savings by opening up 6th gear is crazy it will drop your rpm over a 1200 during transportation speed .But to answer your question yes you can indeed put air ride on that fl freightliner no matter what anyone tells you you can put it on is it a good idea I think it will create many other problems you wouldn't want to deal with at this time as why 5star didn't put car air ride on I couldn't tell you why I am guessing no one gave a crap about driver comfort or the person that ordered the chassis didn't know about the option you will find this is the case most of the times just my 2cents worth have a great day thanks for reading, Once I found sweeping I can't leave it, it is a part of me now that I love Casey Patterson
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