Dave,

I just read your post regarding Bill H being in Quartzite and realized that he probably would not be able to send me a copy of the ride height diagrams soon so I thought you might have access to them.

If I knew that Bill was going to be in Quartzite I would have tried to look him up as I was there this weekend for my first trip with my Barth.

I met a couple that had a twin to my 28 foot Euro/Glassnose and found that their coach sat approximately four inches higher than mine. So I am tyring to get all the info I can before I make any repairs or upgrades to the suspension.

Speaking of suspension repairs, does anyone have any tricks I can use to install the front airbags on the P 30. I tried installing them before the Quartzite trip, but could not get them in through the hole in the bottom as explained in the instructions.

One last question. Dave, I would like to purchase the Barth CD, I am signed up with Pay Pal, but do not know how to process the transaction with you.

Thank you

Barry

Barry, my 28 Euro rides at 171/4 inches to the bottom of the bunpers with 65 lb. in the air bags. Not sure if this is right or not so I'll be watching for a reply to your question. Now I know of 3 28 Glassnoses out there! I wanted to post some new good pix of mine but the cheap junk digital camera I got on EBay quit working after two minutes and noone will tell me what to do about it. Definately my first and last experience with Ebay. If I can't find it in a store around here I won't buy it.

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Dan & Suzy Z
'81 Euro 28

Dan,

I will kepp you posted on my Barth suspension experiences. So far I have spent over four hours removing, and to no avail, trying to install new front airbags. I am hoping that someone will post a magical method to get the airbags through the little hole in the bottom of the spring perch. Someone suggested that I spread the spring apart and insert it through there. I haven't tried that yet.

Do you have four square bottons on the far left side of your dashboard? On my Barth some are red and some are green and I have discovered that one of them is for the AUX start using power from the coach batteries. I have no idea what the others are for.

Barry

Gotcha beat Barry, I have four amber switches and a TOGGLE switch in the middle of them and the only one I know about is the aux start. And it works great!

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Dan & Suzy Z
'81 Euro 28

Barry the best way to replace airbags is to jack up front of barth a get a small floor jack an put it under a frame, undo schock an bottom ball joint an let down a frame an instal air bags. use small to bring aframe back up to bolt lower ball joint up/ this is about a two hour job. good luck. James

I am a retired GM Design Engineer, who designed some of the MH chassis. The reason
we used the Air Lift air bags was to give
us an additional 300# rating on the Front
GVWR. We also discover that the bags gave
the additional roll resistance in turns.
The typical way to insert a new air bag into
the coil spring, if I remember correctly, is
to disconnect the ball joint on the LCA, while keeping the LCA clamped to the UCA
and slowly release the clamping force until
the spring force is negated, and the spring
can be removed along the air bag, and then
the process is reversed with the new air bag
positioned inside the coil spring and the
ball joint reattached to the LCA>

Jake, I'm going to remember you. You're the first guy that I've heard that knows what's going on with the chevy front ends. Now, will somebody tell me what a glassnose is? Guess I'm showing how little I know about Barths

Glass nose? Maybe a fiberglass front end panel rather than Aluminum????

quote:

Originally posted by humbojb:
Jake, I'm going to remember you. You're the first guy that I've heard that knows what's going on with the chevy front ends. Now, will somebody tell me what a glassnose is? Guess I'm showing how little I know about Barths

It is a common misperception that the Glassnose was made by Barth. It was, in reality, made by the Skoda factory in Czechoslovakia, with intentions of marketing it in Russia as a "Glasnost".
Due to the political implications of the name, it was a marketing dud, and was renamed the Euro, with hopes of marketing it in Europe. They even made a raised-roof version for Margaret Thatcher so her spray-lacquered bouffant would not hit the ceiling. She and her secret consort, Enoch Powell, used it as a clandestine love nest.

However, "Euro", was also an unfortunate choice of name, as the European common market currency of the same name was already in its conception stage, and Mrs Thatcher wanted nothing to do with it, nor did Mr Powell, as it was not British. As a result, Barth bought the remaining inventory and rebadged them as Barths. They turned out to be pretty good coaches. However, a deal could not be reached on the tooling, as the East German Trabant factory had already taken it and begun production on a lighter version. Their in-house powerplant proved inadequate, so they embarked on a lightening process, which consisted mainly of thinner fiberglass and aluminum. Even with those measures, the stretched Trabant chassis was unable to handle the weight and high G force cornering forces in the Swabian Alps. Many broke in half while parked. Those that did not suffer chassis failure ended up considerably foreshortened as the result of inadequate brakes. Again, lifted from the Trabant sedan.

A later version used the Trabant engine to power the generator, with a Hanomag diesel powering the coach, but the poor little Trabant engine was not even up to the task of powering the generator. There were a number of fatalities involving generator use. It was never disclosed whether they were due to pollution inhalation or homicides resulting from disputes over noise pollution. There were plans to produce the Euro in a plant in Ulan Bator, but financing was a problem. In anticipation of production, Tannu Tuva issued a commemorative stamp with a picture of a Tuvinian (Euro) on it. These stamps are prized by collectors today.

The Trabant generator lives on as a Generac today. So whenever you are annoyed by a noisy Generac, remember it is a small part of Barth history.

Hmmmmm. Ol' Bill's been in the sauce again, I see.

That's got me on the floor Bill.......Let me know what you're drinking and I'll send you some more. Further editions of that littterary genius and Ol'Roy and I will invite you to WA for a visit.
Cheers,john