Another Steering Thread

[PaulO]

I have a '98 Dutch Star DP. Cummins 300 on a Spartan Mountain Master chassis with beam axle. This coach has been great for us and I have accumulated over 10,000 miles since purchasing it last year. I have done many upgrades and never really pine for a new coach except for one thing. I wish it steered better!. The suspension has been gone through professionally and aligned/adjusted. I recently changed to Koni FSDs and added a Blue Ox True Center which made it better but still not enough. Primarily, the problem is lack of on center tendancy. There is no play in the steering but, even with the True Center, there is not enough resistance to wandering at near center postitions. I believe the True Center is on the right track but does not have enough power to really give this thing some directional stability. So, it leads me to two questions:
1. Do newer or different coaches steer better and if so, why?
2. Are there any further options to improve the steering of mine? I know of the Howard PCS system but it appears it cannot be had at this time.

What do trucks do? I can't imaging all these over the road semi drivers are constantly correcting the wheel to this degree over so many miles.

Thanks,
Paul

[djScott]

Hey Paul,
I have a 2005 Mountain Aire, it does not wander. How are your front tires? Sounds like it has a alignment issue? I dont know? I dont have to do much to keep it going straight.

[GaryKD]

Hi PaulO,
I feel your pain. My 05 KSDP drove like a dog hunting rabbits. I ended up spending over $7.5K to get it straight. I went though all the super techs taking their turn looking at the chassis. I was at Spartan twice and all they did was shrug me off and said everything was within spec. The Blue Ox Tru center has much more power than my Howard system. I think the Tru Center is around 280 PSI. I run my Howard at 120 and it will max out at 180 PSI.

Enough whining. Consider this:
1. Rear Track Bar
2. Rear anti sway bar (the big truck kind).
3. Front anti sway bar

Lastly, but most importantly are motion control units (MCU). Go to Motorhome Suspension Parts and RV Suspension Parts and read about them.

Each of the above mentioned items helped the coach track better than it did before the install. However, the MCUs made a really big difference. Our coaches are supported by air bags as we travel down the road. When coach weight is shifted (no matter the reason). the chassis will follow the weight shift. Therefore, minimizing the weight shift will minimize coach tracking issues. The MCUs greatly reduce the amount of air that can leave the air bag when the coach weight is shifting side to side. I can tell you they work better than advertised. Besides the Howard system, the MCUs are the best $s I spent on the chassis.

[DonnaB]

Hi Paul,

We understand your issue. We had a 1992 Kountry Star and it was very hard to steer. When we bought our 2007 Dutch Star it was like night & day. Like no power steering to power steering. The DS has IFS which I'm sure makes a big difference. We wanted Comfort Drive, but weren't willing to wait till the 2008 models to get it. However the newer coach drove so much better than the old that we're happy anyway.

[jimkate]

I'm not trying to hijack a thread, but I could not resist chiming in because I have gone through exactly this situation.

We purchased our coach in 2008, and spent the next two years struggling to try to get it to steer. It would not run on center, it insisted on roaming side to side. It was very difficult to manage, and extremely tiring to try to drive. We spent considerable money on alignments, and added the Steer Safe steering stabilizer in an effort to control the beast.

I finally fixed it myself. I discovered that the steering box on my coach had an adjustment screw for the clearance within the steering box. When I tightened that screw, the problems disappeared. I learned that these power steering boxes can be very misleading regarding steering play. At the steering wheel it can feel like there's no play, when in fact there's a lot.

The end result - now it steers O.K. It's not as good as I had hoped for, but it's good enough that we're not spending any more money on it. I can drive 400 to 500 miles a day without being exhausted, so I figure that's O.K.

[gknott]

We had this same wandering problem on our 98 discovery and also our current new one. Found out that the frtliner specs for toe in have to be increased to more toe in(almost double specs) Solved the problems completely and after 5 to 6 k miles neither one showed any abnormal tire wear from the increased toe in.(Very inexpensive fix -at least in our case.)

[PaulO]

Thank you all for your feedback.

djScott - Good thought. tried new front tires and another alignment and steers the same

jimKate - great idea - unfotunately, no adjustment on my steering box and I cannot identify any play although I acknowledge what you said about play in these boxes being difficult to detect.

gknott- good point. Unfotunately I have already tried altering the toe settings with some but little results.

GaryKD - I am going to crawl underneath again. I think it has a rear track bar, I know it has a front sway bar but, I don't know if it has a rear sway bar. Looking into MCUs

Again,
Thanks to all of you. I appreciate any and all feedback!
I will report on my progress.
Paul

[bigstonebay]

Paul, I know we have different chassis's, but we just completed a 5k trip and just before I left I put on Koni's and MCU's. The difference was amazing. The coach was a dream to drive. I did not have a real bad wander problem before, but there was some and this combo cured it, and the ride and the swaying from passing trucks was improved dramatically. BTW returning the wheels to center is caused by the caster adjustment, if there is one. Toe in or out will cause a wander. MCU will only help for body roll and sway.

[jimkate]

Another experience I had many years ago with a big truck: it developed the habit of wandering on the road. Alignment work solved nothing. It turned out that the king pins had rusted, and although we were greasing them, they were sticking. Once we got the king pins freed up, the wandering was gone.

So, check your king pins, and see if that helps.