Community Forums

Adam1219 · 12-15-2019, 12:26 PM

Last year I had a Safe-T-Plus added to my RV. After it being installed my RV drove great. I drove out to Montana, Nebraska and Wyoming from Florida and for the most part was not beat up by the wind or trucks.

A couple of months ago I replaced my tires with new Michelin tires and got an alignment. $3,000.00 spent.

I went to Panama City Beach, Florida from Orlando, Florida a few weeks ago and I got blown all over the place. One time I had to slow down to 50 mph to feel like I could safely keep the RV in my lane. This was very nerve racking and I just don't know what happened. I have NEVER been blown around by the wind and trucks passing as I did this trip.

I'm looking into rear traction equipment but got to thinking why is this just happening? I have brand new awesome Michelin tires and an alignment and a Safe-T-plus and the coach was fish tailing something fierce.

Not sure what I should do now. A truck center did all the work.

Should I go back there or go to JOSAM center and let them help me?

I just see more money spent when new tires should have been a good thing.

Opinions?

Thanks.

dix39 · 12-15-2019, 12:40 PM

If it drove well before and the only thing that changed was tires and alignment, I would suspect one of them. I would check tire pressure first.

Possibly different roads, weather?

Steve

Adam1219 · 12-15-2019, 12:44 PM

Driven the same roads I-75 before and for years.

Adam1219 · 12-15-2019, 12:45 PM

I'm running 90 PSI

NXR · 12-15-2019, 01:00 PM

Post the before and after alignment results. In-spec is not necessarily the best for driving a box down the road.

What year and model coach do you have?

Ray

Adam1219 · 12-15-2019, 01:27 PM

I don't have the numbers with me right now but will post what they gave me later.

2013 Thor Hurricane 34F, Ford F-53, Triton V-10 gas

Rocky Larson · 12-15-2019, 02:32 PM

Any chance they forgot to reattach the Safe-T-Plus after the alignment?

Adam1219 · 12-15-2019, 02:33 PM

I checked and its still down there bolted. Thought the same.

SmokyRV · 12-15-2019, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rocky Larson

Any chance they forgot to reattach the Safe-T-Plus after the alignment?

After a front alignment the Safe T Plus MUST be re-adjusted.

Call Safe T Plus (800) 872-7233 "nice people" and they will confirm you need to re-adjust product.

Any change to the front end components will require an adjustment! Your alignment company would have had to be familiar with the how the adjustment is made and a road test would be needed.

If they didn't take it out to verify the RV is tracking straight, that's the issue you are having I suspect.

Good luck

NXR · 12-15-2019, 10:30 PM

If the steering stabilizer was misadjusted it would pull, not be blown all over the road. It sounds like the caster was decreased, unlikely because that requires shim changes, or the toe was changed for more toe out.

Ray

Glenn2 · 12-16-2019, 07:05 AM

I agree with the Toe-in not being adjusted to spec, It was a big part of my all over the road issue.

Earl II · 12-16-2019, 07:21 AM

My opinion is that your F-53 chassis is in need of additional modifications. The Saf-T-Plus helps with wind and big rigs going by but it only helps a little. We pretty much had the same experience with our 22k GVW F-53 chassis. The "tail wag" from different wind directions hit us much differently on a return trip from Montana to the point that I was ready to walk away from it. Once back at home port I had a rear trac bar installed on the differential which is specifically designed to alleviate the tail wag problem. I will add that we went ahead and had Koni FSP shocks along with front and the additional rear sway bars installed. I estimate that including labor costs I probably spent at least half of what a complete LiquidSprings set up would cost. Now, the drive in wind is at least controllable. No, I do not think that the Saf-T-Plus, alignment and tire pressures by themselves do enough.

z3406 · 12-16-2019, 02:11 PM

FWIW
Check the rear anti sway bar brackets on the differential. I've has two fall of my last F53 chassis coach. Also the best bang for the buck F53 chassis upgrade is the Cheap Handling Fix. reis a very informative thread for that ongoing in the Ford Chassis section. The Cheap handling fix is a no cost simple improvement is reducing the coaches tendency to sway while on the road,
Good Luck

Adam1219 · 12-17-2019, 08:01 AM

I hired a company On-Road Wheel Alignment and they came to me. Mike was awesome. He is very knowledgeable on the Safe-T-Plus as well. They are a mobile laser alignment company for semis, fire trucks and RV's. Initially I was concerned about the cost but they were very fair to me.

I will upload the printouts and you can see the first from Snider Tire in Orlando and the second from On-Road.

After he looked he noticed a chalk mark on the Safe-t-plus. His first thought which was correct is the tech at Snider did loosen the Safe-T-Plus but he marked it first. After completing the alignment he put the Safe-T-Plus back in the same position as the mark.

Second there was no adjustment for the road angle/cresting (passenger side) and he corrected that by adding shims.

He explained a lot to me and I appreciate that. They had the complete setup from all of the laser equipment and much more.

He corrected the Safe-T-Plus all by computer and explained how/why and showed me all of the numbers. It took them a while to get all of this correct but the numbers on the screen given by the software were as perfect as you can get. He was very meticulous and I sure hope this fixes it all.

He told me to call him if I thought something was wrong later.