Magnum chassis axle location

[Eric Maclean]

Hi everyone
I have a 1997 Beaver Patriot Yorktown 40 foot
I have a problem with weight on my front axle as many others have spoken of.
My coach have front axle GAWR of 11000 LBS and a rear axle GAWR of 20,000 LBS
When I weight the vehicle with no water on board but fuel and propane tanks full my corner weights are as follows
LF 5600 LBS.          RF 5200 LBS         Total axle weight is Front =10800LBS
LR 8400 LBS.          RR 8600 LBS.        Total axle weight is Rear = 16800LBS
___________________________________________________________________________
As you can see I'm ok as far as gross axle weights but am close on the front axle with only 200LBS to spare and that's with out
My wife and I on board and no water if I put 100 gallons of water onboard the front axle goes to 6000 LBS each .
I'm willing to run with little or no water onboard but my real problem is the coach was built on 255/70 R22.5 tires at this point
They are Toyo M122 with max weight at 120 PSI of 5510 LBS which at this point the left front tire is already 50 LBS over loaded and there's no one on board. Too close for comfort even if I did manage to balance the weight on the front axle I have no margin

 To add insult to injury  the 255/70 R 22.5 are rubbing the rear wheel house liner right in front of the air bags.
My best solution is to move the axle ahead to gain clearance and install 275/70 R22.5 tires which have a higher weight rating
Which would let my breath a little easier.

Now here is my problem I have called  both Henderson  Line-up and BCS and both said the had no knowledge or information on moving the axle ahead.
So my call is for anyone who have any information or knowledge of the procedure or who to contact

As usual many thanks in advance
Eric

[Gerald Farris]

Eric,
SMC issued a service bulletin with detailed instructions on how to move the front axle forward to accommodate a larger size tire on the early Magnum chassis that was used under Patriots. I only know of a few owners that had the modification preformed and they have all retired from RVing, so I do not know how to contact them. If you can talk to Sean Lakin, the service manager at BCS, or Scott Dyson in the parts department, one of them may remember the bulletin, but I doubt that anyone will be able to find a 23 year old bulletin.

One of the coaches that had the front axle moved was in Florida, so a call to Josam Frame and Alignment in Orlando may be productive.

Gerald 

[Jerry Carr]

you may want to talk with Bill McGimpsey,  he had Momaco do the change on his 04 ?05 Pat.
 

[Eric Maclean]

Thanks Gerald
I'll try BCS again as sugested

Meanwhile does anyone else have any information on this procedure
I've got a pretty good idea on how I would execute the procedure but it would be nice to have some onsite.

Thanks again
Eric

[Gerald Farris]

Eric,
Whatever you do, do not put oversized tires on the front of your coach until the axle is moved. I know of two owners who did that on early Magnum chassis Patriots, and both of them suffered air bag failure while driving from tire contact.

Gerald

[Carl Boger]

Eric,

On my 1998 Beaver Patriot Savannah (33 foot) MH my front axle weight is also 11,000 lbs and the rear is 19,000, but it came with 275/70R  22.5 tires on 7.5 inch rims.  I guess maybe they saw a problem with the frame and corrected it.
A prior owner put larger, (I believe 295) tires on it and they did tear up the plastic inner fender area.  With that said I would make sure the tires do fit since the air bags are the next in line to get torn up like Gerald said.

I don't know if there are any real differences in our frames but if you need me to see where things are set on mine just let me know. 

[Eric Maclean]

Gerald
I here you I already have holes worn in the inner fenders and that's with the factory tire size and the air bags are uncomfortably close behind.
The only real fix is to move that axle forward.
Eric

[Eric Maclean]

Carl
That's what l understand ,they realized they had an interference problem and not enough tire for the weigh and moved the axle on the later year 8 bag chassis.
I am currently running the factory size tire 255/70R22.5 Toyo M 122 and they are rubbing the inner fenders at the rear of the wheel house.
The only way to increase tire size is to move the axle ahead to gain clearance.
What I really need to know is how far they moved it forward?
I need someone to measure the distance from the rear of the H frame to the center of the axle.
It's not fun thing to get measurements on as you have to get the coach blocked up and get under it to measure.
Anyway thanks for the input
Eric

[Larry Fritz]

ERIC: My 98 Beaver Patriot 37' Ticonderoga has same problem. I have had that coach  20 years now. I  chose not to move axle or change tire size.

Here is what I did even though it is a bit bizarre. My tires rub that inner cover but mostly in the sharp turn area. One side of the factory inner cover was almost worn through to the bag.

My fix: I had some thin aluminum sheets cut (about 3/32" thick)that would fit on the tire side on the inner liner that is wearing. I used the same exact bolt holes and bolts that hold the inner liner on. I bored this hole pattern and mounted the plates on the tire side of the inner liner piece. Now when the tire rubs it hits the plates. I have had these on now many years and the plates are holding up quite well.  If my aluminum plates ever wear totally through I will just make another set. Did all the work myself. Cost was under $10 for material and shearing at the time.

Another thing I now do is to attempt to avoid very sharp turns. Often when you exit a freeway  after driving for some time those tires are hot and they will rub thru that inner liner much quicker than rub through a piece of metal especially when making right turns onto a narrow roadway.

Larry Fritz
1998 Beaver Patriot, 37', Ticonderoga

[Eric Maclean]

Larry
sooner or later I will have to fix those holes and that's likely the way I'll do it but right now I need to step up to larger tire size to carry the weight and to do that I need to move the a axle to gain the nessesary clearance.
My coach is 40 feet and when maneuvering into camp sites I quite often have to turn to the steering stops to get into the site it's truly give me 40 Acer's and I'll turn this rig around lol.
Does your coach already have 275/70R 22.5
Thanks Eric

[Carl Boger]

I'll try to get you a measurement tomorrow, weather permitting.  Mine is already blocked up, trying to get the two back bolts out of the axle housing to install a sate t plus.  So far the bolts are winning, more pb blaster and heat tomorrow.

[Carl Boger]

Eric,

I couldn't stand it any longer so clean or not I went out to measure.  On my coach from the back side of the tire,  The front of the beam that holds the air bag is 21 inches to the rear axle flange that bolts to the frame.  From the front side, the rear edge of the beam that holds the air bag to the front axle flange that that bolts to the frame is 20 1/2 inches.  Hope this helps.  If you need me to measure to any other points let me know.  I know that your frame is quite a bit longer, but hopefully these points are consistent.

[Eric Maclean]

Carl
Thanks for the measurements I know how hard it is to get under one of these things .
I'll go out this morning and measure mine for comparison.
I'll let you know what I find.
Thanks again
Eric

[Eric Maclean]

Carl
Which bolts are you trying to remove .
Eric

[Lee Welbanks]

Eric, I think Carl is trying to remove a couple of the U bolt nuts to install the Safety Plus bracket. Some of those old rusted up U bolt can be tough, we used to just cut'em off and replace them.