RV Maintenance: Check Your P-30 Chassis Airbags

You check your tire pressure regularly, but it’s easy to forget about airbag pressure. In fact, most RV owners don’t even know they have them. The Chevy P30 chassis was a standard throughout the industry for many years until the mid 1990s when Workhorse bought out that division. The P30 chassis had an independent front suspension with the two airbags inside the coil springs. Ford and Workhorse both had I-beam front suspension with no airbags.

As stated, most people don’t even realize the Chevy P30 chassis had front suspension airbags, and therefore may not get checked during routine RV maintenance. The airbags often lose air and can get punctured by the coil springs while driving down the road.

The airbags shown in this RV maintenance video should have somewhere between 60 and 90 psi, depending on the front end weight and how well the rig handles. These airbags currently have 30 psi, which is very low and can easily lead to puncturing.

It’s a good idea to fill these airbags to about 70 psi and take the unit on the road to see how the ride is. As with many aspects of RV maintenance, you may have to make adjustments to get the optimal result. In this case, that can mean adding or reducing air pressure according to your needs.

Periodically check your airbags to make sure they’re holding pressure over time, at least during every oil change. If you’ve ignored your airbags for quite a while, check a little more often. Keeping your airbags properly inflated may be the most critical driving enhancement function you can perform. Whether driving your rig to the local watering hole on weekends or full timing across the country, battling cross winds, big rig wind gusts, and poor pavement conditions will be much easier if your chassis and especially your air bags are operating within OEM specification.