Chinook RV

Speaking of barrels of gold..... I feed my two Dogs chicken and beef. Primarliy because i became concerned for their health and well being when i started seeing dog food recalls every week. Peoples dogs dying and being made sick from dog food manufacturers who clearly do not care and have zero quality control regulations.

Anyway, i have been feeding them beef and chicken since they were puppies at 7 weeks old. Until recently i was paying approximately $5 to $6 dollars per chicken. Yesterday i went to buy meat to restock their freezer downtairs and chickens are now $14 to $15 each. I went to another store and managed to get them for $10 each. I looked at the beef prices and decided no more, im going to just start buying direct from ranchers and pay to have the beef processed and wrapped. I will just buy a half beef and freeze it, probably will have to buy a larger freezer or else get another small one. One for beef and one for chicken.

Food price certainly is going up. Things used to says "20% more FREE!" on cereal boxes, now it is much less common. In fact, items seems to be getting smaller.... ice cream used to be in half gallon... But that is a Fire Side topic.

Sadly, it's just getting started. Our Chinooks make great bug out vehicles.

Ordered leaf springs to be built from ground up by Atlas Springs, I need 5" to get level at 7,500 rear axle weight, quoted $1,350 plus u-bolts, $325 shipping and 2-3 mo. build time. Early winter steellhead trips canceled, hopefully I get all set for late winter trips.

Atlas assured me I do not need to worry about sagging as they will build to my specs. However, I added 100 pounds to fully loaded rear axle weight and was thinking to get an extra 1" in height just to be safe - what are your thoughts?

My guess is that if the weight is higher than it should, the ride going to be more rigid and rough. But I don't know how much of a different is that 100lb going to make considering that you are already at 7500.

I just did Weldtec rear leaf spring and local new front leafs and new suspension and brakes all around. Makes my 2000 chinook feel like new. I take speedbumps at 20mph and rally around san francisco like a maniac. It really is the sportscar of motorhomes now.

68camaro wrote: October 25th, 2021, 5:46 pm Ordered leaf springs to be built from ground up by Atlas Springs, I need 5" to get level at 7,500 rear axle weight, quoted $1,350 plus u-bolts, $325 shipping and 2-3 mo. build time. Early winter steellhead trips canceled, hopefully I get all set for late winter trips.

Atlas assured me I do not need to worry about sagging as they will build to my specs. However, I added 100 pounds to fully loaded rear axle weight and was thinking to get an extra 1" in height just to be safe - what are your thoughts?

UPDATE: Ordered leaf springs late Oct, they were supposed to be delivered in January. Right now shop building springs ordered before mine because steel has been very hard to get. I am in queue, but no idea when my turn will happen, could be several more months. Bummer but life goes on:)

68camaro wrote: February 23rd, 2022, 12:07 pm

68camaro wrote: October 25th, 2021, 5:46 pm Ordered leaf springs to be built from ground up by Atlas Springs, I need 5" to get level at 7,500 rear axle weight, quoted $1,350 plus u-bolts, $325 shipping and 2-3 mo. build time. Early winter steellhead trips canceled, hopefully I get all set for late winter trips.

Atlas assured me I do not need to worry about sagging as they will build to my specs. However, I added 100 pounds to fully loaded rear axle weight and was thinking to get an extra 1" in height just to be safe - what are your thoughts?

UPDATE: Ordered leaf springs late Oct, they were supposed to be delivered in January. Right now shop building springs ordered before mine because steel has been very hard to get. I am in queue, but no idea when my turn will happen, could be several more months. Bummer but life goes on:)

It took 7 months but finally received new leaf springs and had installed last week, took 600 mile RT fishing trip and new springs made big difference. Because the arch was more pronounced they would not fit as direct bolt in on the rear morRyde bracket so installer fabricated two new brackets, this added quite a bit to cost, while keeping MorRyde.

I ordered springs based on full wet weight with trailer cargo box, when I dropped off I took off cargo box and was winterized so vehicle was much lighter. When I picked up I noticed it sat about 1-2 high in rear but I thought once weighted down it would even up...and it did at full weight it sits perfect. but even at the higher rear it was fine.

The most immediate improvement was the lifting of rear, the bottom of the black tank valve is now 21" off the ground. While driving I noticed the steeering was much better and tracked with less sway, I think this is because with the backend drooping so much, the uneven weight distribution made the steering looser (but not as loose as my 68camaro, talk about sway....haha). This also contributed to cupped front tires so we rotated those to rear and with weight of rig in the rear the drive is unchanged.

The other big change is that the whole rig rattles less as dive is much smoother, even with AT tires. There seems to be less vibration in the rig and even the one blind that rattled all the time only rattled over rougher roads.

As a side not replaced water pump, quick and easy job, but really nice to have full water pressure back.

Sorry can't attach picture for some reason.

68 Camaro—thanks for the update. I’ve thought about heavier springs in the rear for a while, and your report out is moving it up on my list. I hate scraping the bottom of the rear step on steeper inclines, and I just replaced a set of front tires after 39,000 due to some uneven wear issues (rears are still fine with plenty of tread left). I had not thought about the front tire wear issue being a factor of rear weight…now that I have new tires, Road Force Balance and fresh alignment I’ll see if that eliminates the problem. If I begin to see a recurrence, I might be a candidate for your Brazilian Butt Job!
David
2004 Premier

I'm considering doing the WeldTec lift, but I have the MorRyde rubber springs in the rear, so I'll have to wait until they fail again before pulling the trigger.
Chin, I thought you had the MorRyde. How were you able to count 9 leaf springs? I don't have any in mine.