Prospective owner - handling problems?

[ahicks]

I would just add that a lot of troubles described are due to lack of experience/seat time in type. You are driving something with a lot of side area, but your butt is WAY further up off the ground than what you're used to when driving as well. Even if the coach is handling perfectly, the coach is going to have more side to side movement measured at seat level, just due to the undulating pavement/road irregularities. That takes some serious time to get used to. Starting from 0, not going to happen in 100 miles, may not happen in 1000 miles....

The top of a sail boat mast can be swinging madly from side to side, while the deck is relatively easy to walk on?

If I were looking for a troubled coach, I would be watching what it does within your lane. If it's bouncing back and forth between the lines, and you aren't moving the wheel telling it to do that (or you've corrected and it's still moving in the wrong direction!), then you can start looking for what the cause is. It might be as simple as finding the correct air pressure for the tires, it could be the bushing issue Vanwill brings up in his note, or it could be more serious.

Point being, there's too much country to cover here. I don't think it's safe to make any blanket statements......

The one blanket statement I think that can be made on this topic, is that it's a darn good idea to have the RV inspected by people used to working on heavy equipment - and those are RARELY found at RV dealers.