Last weekend, 70mph on interstate, air supply line to left rear bag blew out. Bags collapsed, tires slammed into the floor, outside tire cut by angle iron above the tire, and exploded. Tore up everything in its path as it exited and tore up rear Unihome flap. Lucky to have stopped the rig in one piece. Foretravel comment ” no, there is no safety to keep axle carrier from slamming against the frame in such an emergency”. I couldn’t believe it. Every other rig, including 18wheelers, have rubber bumpers between the frame and axle carrier to prevent tires from bottoming in this emergency. Not Foretravel. Just the converse. The frame IS DESIGNED to allow the tires to bottom on the floor and blow out in loss of airbag emergency. My U300 is currently in a local shop having these emergency safety bumpers installed on the front and rear.
This is what I think is the story on rub marks over tire positions:
One of CM Fore’s designs that made Foretravel unique was the low overall height and low step to the ground. Low frame stops allowed the coach to ‘sit’ on tires and helped accomplish these goals with the disadvantage that sometimes the coach would bottom on moving tires.
About 5 years ago the coach frame was raised because some did not like chance tire hitting. This was the first year the drop-down front step was changed because now the bottom step was too high from the ground. It did accomplish the goal of not hitting the tires, but the overall height of the coach was raised a few inches and no longer could it be said that Foretravels were under 12′. And that after-market step was certainly not Foretravel and had lots of problems.
Prior to the frame raising, I met a Foretravel owner about 4-5 years ago that had done raising himself by inserting steel pieces between the frame and the suspension. Don’t remember his name. An older mechanic type. He was on a campaign to have everyone make the change because he said it was dangerous to allow tires to hit the bottom of the wheel well. In fact, he said he was going to take Foretravel to court if they did not make the design change. This may have been a factor in the change.
Because the original frame design is basically still in place on raised coaches, we can see the additional square tube on top of the frame that raises the coach of the tires, if we look into the wheel well. Absolutely no compromise. Foretravel seems to have done the same thing in the last few years. It just raised coach up about 2″ from axle assemblies.
Some of the special original Foretravel features have been compromised by modern improvements. No longer a full-monocoque design with full height pass-through storage bays. Also had low roof height & low coach weight. These features do not sell new coaches and Foretravel had to make changes to compete. I would say they have done a good job of bringing the design-forward while maintaining the original features with minimal compromise. by Barry and Cindy 1997 U270 36′
I am one of several FT owners that I know of who have had spacer plates installed between the axles and the frame (front & back). I did it after I purchased new Goodyear tires for my ’99 U320. Even though they were of the same size as the original Michelins, they were about 3/8″ larger diameter and just enough that they caught the airbag frame behind the front wheels when a turn was made in either direction. The spacers have been on my couch for a year now and about 10,000 miles. Other than raising the entry step about 1-1/2″ no one could tell the difference. I can now run my coach in my 12′ overhead door with the airbags completely deflated and the tires do not touch the wheel wells. Also, if I should ever lose a leveling valve while traveling, I could travel as far as needed for repairs without tearing up a wheel well nor a tire.
A good mechanic who is employed at our local Freightliner dealership and who is familiar with motorhomes installed them. It is not an easy job, especially the rear ones. I had the spacer plates custom made at a local machine shop.
The spacers are 1-1/2″ thick, front & rear. The front ones are 5″ X 7-1/2″ and the rear ones are 7″ X 7″. Holes must be drilled in each for the 4 bolts and you need to replace all the bolts with longer ones. I don’t have the location dimensions for the holes; your mechanic will need to mark where they should be drilled as he puts them in. Directly on top of the axles where the frame attaches and 1-1/2″ solid pieces of steel. Two 3/4″ pieces welded together would work equally as well.
-Roger King