Frankia Ground Clearance sorted.

hi i would be intrested in seeing the pics.as my autocruise starblazer has the same problem.

Send them to Frankia. If that's the solution then they should come like that. Glad you got your's sorted out though.

erneboy said:

Hello all, I posted a while ago saying the the chassis of my Fiat based Frankia was too low and often grounded on speed humps and low kerbs. I was looking for a reasonably priced solution.

Mark Woods (ex of TB Turbo) now running his own business, C&M Auto Services in Lancaster, posted to say he could supply and fit heavier springs.

Click to expand...

Alan, if I remember right it was the front springs you had replaced?

Harvey

Our Laika, is permanently on it's bump stops.

Kev.

Sorry, I was not clear in my posting. Yes, it was front springs. A huge improvement now. Hopefully Mark from C&M Auto will post his photographs.

If anyone would like to talk to him his telephone number is 01524 843721, Alan.

The improvement is not all that obvious from the pictures showing the wheels but you can see that the new springs are a good deal longer. I measured before and after and the result is that the front of the van is now just over 50mm higher. It is a great improvement.

Thanks Mark, Alan.

Ground Clearance

Hello,

I have just returned from the Continent and our Frankia on a Mercedes XLWB did bottom out on the Hull-ZeeBrugge Ferry. The cable connecting the towbar electrics (Already Faulty) got cut clean off. Howver, but for the tow bar being there, some serious damage could have occured.

What is annoying is that the design should be better like a rear upward sweep to the coachbuild and stronger springs. Realy should not have to be paying out more money on such a relatively new motorhome.

I think we may have to look at air suspension controlled from the drivers seat.

Trev.

Re: Ground Clearance

teemyob said:

Hello,

I have just returned from the Continent and our Frankia on a Mercedes XLWB did bottom out on the Hull-ZeeBrugge Ferry. The cable connecting the towbar electrics (Already Faulty) got cut clean off. Howver, but for the tow bar being there, some serious damage could have occured.

What is annoying is that the design should be better like a rear upward sweep to the coachbuild and stronger springs. Realy should not have to be paying out more money on such a relatively new motorhome.

I think we may have to look at air suspension controlled from the drivers seat.

Trev.

Click to expand...

Ouch. Sorry to hear that Trev. How much ground clearance have you got at the moment ? I haven't got a Frankie but would like to compare all the same.

steve

I suppose alot depends on the rear overhang and how much weight you have on it.

On my Knaus when I have all the bikes etc on the back it drops quite low. The back was upgraded so it can take 3850KG and also those air bags I can pump up.

However, even this year when I pumped it up I grounded on the ferry and one or two speed bumps, but it was the metal cage holding the spare tyre so I'm not overly worried.

Those air bag things can certainly lift it quite a bit.

Hi Trev

I've grounded the rear of my Frankia when I reversed up into a side road to turn around. only had some slight scratches on the underside of the plastic body kit but it could of been worse

as a result of this and the body roll when driving at walking pace across pot holled roads / fields I have been thinking of an air suspension kit

this is what I am considering :-
http://www.marcleleisure.co.uk/stor...printer-2006-onwards-p-1991.html?cPath=58_127

also check out this article :-
http://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4622&highlight=air+suspension

We are on our second van in succession using the Fiat 40 Heavy Chassis. Both vehicles have/had a very nose-down attitude when parked up meaning that we are always having to use ramps to get anywhere near level. These longer springs would seem to go a long way towards providing an answer to this problem. However, I feel there must be a reason for not fitting them in the first place, to cure both the clearance and nose-down problems, as the later problem at least is well known to dealers. So does anyone know the reason why this is not done - handling reason perhaps, or what?

Body roll and a soft ride are known characteristics of the Merc (Sprinter based) chassis as opposed to the Fiats hard but flat ride.

Incidentally, we have a lot more than four inches clearance on our Frankia fully loaded to its limit so I feel that other factors might be involved here.

As I see it fitting air suspension for this reason is a very complicated way of overcomming a very simple problem.

Stronger springs - beafed up coils on the front and beafed up coils on the back or for some an additional leaf on the back is the simple, reliable and cost effective way to provide more ground clearance and convince the wheel tappers that you are not overloaded!

It also makes cornering more predictable.

It worked for me for 7 years!

If however you actually NEED to be able to lift and lower your motorhome then perhaps add on air suspension is what you need. Buts its more bits to go wrong!

C.

Why is it not done by the converters. Profit! If they can get away without changing the springs why would they change them at a total cost to them of around 500stg per vehicle. The new springs C&M Auto Services fitted for me came with all the CE approvals and paperwork showing that they are tested and approved for fitting to my van. Cost is the answer every time.

My van now sits level on level ground, no ramps needed, Regards to all, especially the cynics among you, Alan.

Alan - do you reckon you could put them on the front - ours is the opposite problem, we are nose down, and so need levellers a lot just to get level, especially if we don't find a slight rise in the ground level.

Carol

Carol, yes. It was the front of our van which was too low. As you may know the front has coil springs. We changed these for longer coil springs, all fully approved etc. Regards, Alan.

Thank you Alan, I had assumed the rear was the problem, so thank you for that, I will now tell Duncan.....

Carol

Carol, my first post gives details of where I got mine done.

I agree with Clive, I looked at air suspension and while it would have the advantage of a temporary lift for parking on uneven ground and for ferry ramps etc. it is a much more costly option and is only now becoming available for the front of heavy vans, Alan.