Play in steering wheel

[EngineerMike]

Don't confuse wandering with play in the steering. There are many forces at play that push a coach around if it isn't well balanced.

To check play (steering wheel moving while not engaging), have someone get in the driver's seat, fire up the engine so you have power steering. The have them wag the steering wheel back & forth 1", then 2" then 3, 4, 5, 6. Each time check the movement (if any) in each element from steering column thru steering box, Pitman arm, drag link ball joints, etc. Wheel may be tightly connected to drag link but ball joints worn, or tie rod ball joints worn. This will tell you if you have play in the steering, how much and where.

Wandering (coach moving around on the road) could be caused by front alignment (which is 3 dimensional), rear alignment aka 4 wheel alignment, bad weight balance (which is way more common on DP moho's than it should be, but it is what it is), ride height adjustment, etc. Wandering may be happening even w/zero play in the steering gear. I had a P30 chassis rig that wandered like a gypsy, but alignment specs were dead on; the pig was way top heavy and undersprung. Many short coaches are way light in the front end. Good weight balance is 40/60 front/back, but a lot of rigs are closer to 30/70. I drove a 36ft Country Coach that scared the hell out of me, a white knuckle ride for sure due to very bad balance fore-aft.

When Western RV (makers of Alpine Coach) went from their 40/60 design for a "36" footer, actually 37ft, to a "34" footer actually 35ft, they found to keep the same kindly handling they needed to add nearly 500# of steel bar to the front axle area. Roadmaster (and Country Coach for that matter, a supposedly ultra high end rig) sold lots of rigs that were configured for marketing purposes and never really designed for driving.

You can take the play out of Sheppard steering gear BTW by using shims in the gear packing. You have to dismount the box to open it; good time to replace all seals IMO.

[Dennis_K]

My 2012 Knight has a Sheppard box and it has a little play in it since the day it was new. It's very annoying.

[YC1]

Ditto my Sheppard having about an inch of play. I do have the Safe-T-Plus and it helped some. I built a trim kit for it and that helps when the road has a crown or a steady cross wind. In any case it still is much easier to handle after ride height, alignment, safe-t-plus, and a huge improvement with sway bars from Source Enginnering.

[Papa_Jim]

Originally Posted by EngineerMike

Don't confuse wandering with play in the steering. There are many forces at play that push a coach around if it isn't well balanced.

To check play (steering wheel moving while not engaging), have someone get in the driver's seat, fire up the engine so you have power steering. The have them wag the steering wheel back & forth 1", then 2" then 3, 4, 5, 6. Each time check the movement (if any) in each element from steering column thru steering box, Pitman arm, drag link ball joints, etc. Wheel may be tightly connected to drag link but ball joints worn, or tie rod ball joints worn. This will tell you if you have play in the steering, how much and where.

Wandering (coach moving around on the road) could be caused by front alignment (which is 3 dimensional), rear alignment aka 4 wheel alignment, bad weight balance (which is way more common on DP moho's than it should be, but it is what it is), ride height adjustment, etc. Wandering may be happening even w/zero play in the steering gear. I had a P30 chassis rig that wandered like a gypsy, but alignment specs were dead on; the pig was way top heavy and undersprung. Many short coaches are way light in the front end. Good weight balance is 40/60 front/back, but a lot of rigs are closer to 30/70. I drove a 36ft Country Coach that scared the hell out of me, a white knuckle ride for sure due to very bad balance fore-aft.

When Western RV (makers of Alpine Coach) went from their 40/60 design for a "36" footer, actually 37ft, to a "34" footer actually 35ft, they found to keep the same kindly handling they needed to add nearly 500# of steel bar to the front axle area. Roadmaster (and Country Coach for that matter, a supposedly ultra high end rig) sold lots of rigs that were configured for marketing purposes and never really designed for driving.

You can take the play out of Sheppard steering gear BTW by using shims in the gear packing. You have to dismount the box to open it; good time to replace all seals IMO.

Absolutely right on the money!

[bukzin]

Originally Posted by RWeigant

Took the RV to have the Alinement looked after. They found it a little out and took me on a test drive. They noticed some play in the steering wheel. Checking that they seem to think I need a new steering gear box. They didn't have one and I thought I would look around for a better one. The one on my Knight is non adjustable. After $300 I drove back to home and found very little difference from the alinement only. Just thinking about a steering unit called (Safe-T-plus) steering stabilizer. ?? Don't know at this point.
Any ideas on a better gear box?

So did the shop install a new steering box?

If so which brand and model number?

[RWeigant]

Haven't replaced it yet. Still looking for a shop that will do it. Not sure I want another Sheppard.

[chawkins99]

Latest on my rig...

I took a closer look at the steering box play at the weekend and don't think that is the problem. Previously, I made the mistake of checking with no power. This time, I had the motor running and although the movement is tiny, there is movement on the pittman arm. It is probably about a 40:1 ratio so that movement is small.

Today I did a 'down and dirty' check of the front alignment just using a tape measure between the tires. From my primitive observations, it looks like I have about 1/2" toe-out so my next task is alignment.

I don't think I can make any other assumptions until I get the alignment sorted.

[Bobs911]

RWeigant

I didn't see where you mentioned the number of miles on the coach. I operated large over the road fleets for 30 years. We routinely put 600,000 miles on the rigs and occasionally over a million. I can't remember ever replacing a steering box. There must be some factory spec's & tolerances to review somewhere. Seems rare to see a MH exceed 100,000 miles. I wouldn't rush to spend the $$ on a new box.

Just my opinion........

[bborc]

These motor homes really need a bit of toe in. Mine was toed out a bit when I first got it and it wandered all over the place, put 1/8 toe in on it and couldn't believe the difference. Drives great now