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Old 04-26-2018, 08:37 AM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TeJay View Post
John,

I sure wouldn't throw in the towel just yet. We have the similar if not the same unit and my Sister and I drove back from Houston (600 miles) and had 35 to 40 MPH winds mostly from the rear but often from the side and I had absolutely no issues with ride or SWAY control.

Maybe a call to KONI with the correct numbers would maybe shed some light on the rough ride. Maybe they'd offer to swap what they think is correct for what was installed. Offer to pay the shipping.

I don't care what a dealer says. The number on the shock will tell the shock company how they are configured and the ride you should expect. Most of the techs don't know squat about the things they install. They respond and react to how their customers report back on a fix. That's OK but it still needs clarification and facts from a good source. Take my word for that or not.

You can get a good or decent ride on the F-53 chassis.

There are roads here in the US that are so bad nothing rides well on them. Then there are roads that are just fine. We had some good and bad going to and from Houston. Do the two steps outlined above and get back to us. There are few states can correctly work the transitions from road to overpasses. It's possible because I've driven across some that were perfect.

Eastern roads are the worst. To much TRUCK traffic and so many roads under and over the expressways.

Got to go for now but please let me know what you find out.
Thanks,
Tejay, amen. Yesterday as I crossed a state line I went from a beautiful road to one with seams and wash-boarding. I will not write the name of the state because I don't want to anger anyone. I have come to the conclusion, after driving on the bad roads of this particular state that no matter what one does the bad roads are king, in charge. I've driven my rig in many winding, windy, rough high altitude roads. Konis and CHF have resolve 90% of my ride and handling issues. Seams and wash-boarding still destroy my ride.
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Old 04-26-2018, 08:47 AM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brucev View Post
The stock Bilstiens were built to the specks Detroit Chassis (they manufacture the chassis for Ford) requested. Following are the part numbers for the after market shocks, $80.66ea from 4 wheel online on Amazon:

Rear 24-234528
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Front 24-234511
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
With 26,000 miles on our Tiffin 31SA, I had these installed last week. I spent time at the Perry FMCA rally with the Bilstein rep as well as going to the Super Steer seminar; much more impressed with what I heard from the Bilstein guy than SS. So I thought at this point, the factory shocks were proably 1/2 way through thier life, and simply "why not?".

I've only driven it 20 miles from the shop to storage, not fully loaded or with the toad hooked up. It certainly seemed in that short drive that the new shocks provide much better dampening control; even with Sumos, initial weight transfer on turns seemed more controlled, nose dive under braking was less noticeable (I purposely tried some more abrupt stops) and joints / minor road imperfections seemed much better.

My wife said the placebo was working well . Our next real trip is in a few weeks, so we'll give an update later. It will be even more interesting to see how my wife perceives any differences from both the passenger and driver's seat.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankshaft View Post
What effect would dual front and rear shocks have on this issue? My F53 is built on the 26K chassis and it's a rough ride no matter how you shift the weight around inside. There's only so much room up front for things. Over my rear axle is the generator, propane tank and a 25 cubic inch residential refrigerator along with the rest of the RV and our stuff. In fact, it seems like we're sinking in the back end, the rear wheels are way up in the wheel wells. I have seen dual shock absorber kits out there, I think Hendersons has a dual kit but it we may be able to DIY a dual kit.
Have you had your coach weighed? And even if weights are ok, the further behind the rear axle the load is distributed, the more you'll get a pendulum effect both fore / aft and push / pull. And a light front end will give you squirrly steering and is not safe in general.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jpspaz View Post
I appreciate the comments from TeJay and others. After I wrote my last post I double checked the sway bar brackets to make sure nothing had loosened up. All appeared ok. On the second leg of my trip several days later I noticed that the sway had seemed to settle down a bit. Here's what I think occurred...I think that on my two days of travel at the beginning of my trip there may have been some breezy or windy conditions out that were affecting my sway. I always try to take a look at the trees but with no leaves on them yet in our area it's hard to tell how much it is blowing. I have had issues with severe crosswinds on bridges before.

I also think that it took some time to get used to the steering stabilizer. It requires slightly more force to turn the wheel and I wonder if initially I was oversteering a bit to counteract the push from passing semi trucks. My next steps are CHF and rear track bar. I apologize that this is off topic from the original posting involving shocks. I replaced my stock with Konis when the coach had less than 10k miles. I am almost at 18k. I understand that the leafsprings are super stiff and probably aren't absorbing anything. I would consider just about anything to make the ride better on the bumps. Someone posted about airbags earlier which I have considered but have also heard from others who has issues with them getting damaged at campsites when leveling due to over travel. I have been looking at sumos also. Softer leafsprings is also a possibility but that gets into an area of experimentation that I'd rather not get involved in.
I had my SafeTPlus stablizer installed after our first 5,000 miles at our dealer. Primarily to see if it would help my wife who seemed to be see-sawing the steering wheel too much from my observations.

What I initially felt was the need to keep some constant pressure on the wheel to keep the coach straight, which I perceive to simply be the natural dampening effect of the stabilizer. However, i was also noticing that I was getting a sore shoulder after a long day in the driver's seat, and I decided to see if the SafeTPlus needed to be adjusted flowing thier installation instructions.

I moved the bracket maybe 3/16" and wow, did that make a difference. Tracked nice and straight, no more constant pressure on the steering wheel or sore shoulder. I'll also note, that when our dealer installed it initially, after driving about 2 miles, I went right back and had them adjust it because it was obvious the coach was not tracking properly, so it still needed a bit of tweaking....

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Old 04-27-2018, 07:34 AM   #31
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Tejay, amen. Yesterday as I crossed a state line I went from a beautiful road to one with seams and wash-boarding. I will not write the name of the state because I don't want to anger anyone. I have come to the conclusion, after driving on the bad roads of this particular state that no matter what one does the bad roads are king, in charge. I've driven my rig in many winding, windy, rough high altitude roads. Konis and CHF have resolve 90% of my ride and handling issues. Seams and wash-boarding still destroy my ride.
Come on, tell us what state it was. Was it Kalifornia by any chance? One of the highest taxed states and we still can't afford highway maintenance.
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Old 04-27-2018, 04:28 PM   #32
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NY perhaps?
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Old 04-27-2018, 04:54 PM   #33
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Looking forward to the update after the Summo install.
On the Safety Plus, I haven't installed it yet, I was thinking about always having to put pressure on the steering wheel to keep it straight. Let me guess, left pressure. I think most roads, maybe have a crown, so if by some chance you adjusted the Safety Plus for a flat road, then you would have to put pressure on it all the time. Readjusting for you worked and I am VERY happy it did. Tweaking the adjustment so now the stabilizer is putting the pressure on it for you, Perfect.
I think its Blue Ox that has one that you can adjust on the fly, but it is expensive, I think around a $1000 maybe a little more. Hmmm, maybe it's NOT that expensive on further review, Time out, LOL.
OK, have a great weekend. Cheers.
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Old 05-02-2018, 10:44 PM   #34
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New F53 harsh ride Koni/original shock

Quote:
Originally Posted by macnut View Post
I’m putting sumos on my 24,000 pound chassis next week and will let you know my experience.


Just picked up the RV and drove about 60 miles home over a sometimes rough highway and here are my observations:

— The roll when turning out of a driveway almost disappeared
— The ride was maybe a tad stiffer, but the ride was more solid when driving over ruts and uneven pavement.
— When driving at highway speed when the pavement drops away, such as over an overpass that is not even, the RV used to bounce several times. It still bounces, but not as much and I fell more in control.
— there was a strong crosswind on the drive home and the motorhome handled well. I could feel the wind sometimes, but had no problem maintaining my lane.

So it seems the improvement is in reducing the roll when turning and in windy conditions, and also in controlling the bouncing up and down several times when the pavement dips suddenly.

What it seems I gave up for this benefit is a slightly stiffer ride.

So far, I think it’s a good trade off.
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Old 05-03-2018, 04:22 AM   #35
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Originally Posted by macnut View Post
Just picked up the RV and drove about 60 miles home over a sometimes rough highway and here are my observations:

— The roll when turning out of a driveway almost disappeared
— The ride was maybe a tad stiffer, but the ride was more solid when driving over ruts and uneven pavement.
— When driving at highway speed when the pavement drops away, such as over an overpass that is not even, the RV used to bounce several times. It still bounces, but not as much and I fell more in control.
— there was a strong crosswind on the drive home and the motorhome handled well. I could feel the wind sometimes, but had no problem maintaining my lane.

So it seems the improvement is in reducing the roll when turning and in windy conditions, and also in controlling the bouncing up and down several times when the pavement dips suddenly.

What it seems I gave up for this benefit is a slightly stiffer ride.

So far, I think it’s a good trade off.


Kinda bummed you report the ride is stiffer. I was hoping you’d say that the sumosprings absorbed some of the smaller bumps and made the larger ones less bone jarring. That would be the only reason I’d get them. What brand of shocks are you running?
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Old 05-03-2018, 08:46 AM   #36
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Macnut- Have you done the chf or added any other improvements such as sway bars or track bars?
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Old 05-03-2018, 11:50 AM   #37
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The RV is only a year old and everything is stock except for the Sumo Springs. I have not done the CHF.

The ride is a tad stiffer, but not very noticeable. I also upgraded the chassis from 22K to 24K when I bought it, so I have over 4,000 pounds of CCC. It’s possible as I add more weight the sumo springs will smooth the ride.

For right now, I didn’t notice smoother ride, but better control in wind, when turning, and when going over large bumps. That was what I wanted and I’m happy with the change.
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Old 05-03-2018, 04:35 PM   #38
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Originally Posted by macnut View Post
The RV is only a year old and everything is stock except for the Sumo Springs. I have not done the CHF.

The ride is a tad stiffer, but not very noticeable. I also upgraded the chassis from 22K to 24K when I bought it, so I have over 4,000 pounds of CCC. It’s possible as I add more weight the sumo springs will smooth the ride.

For right now, I didn’t notice smoother ride, but better control in wind, when turning, and when going over large bumps. That was what I wanted and I’m happy with the change.


It’s good that your happy with it. There’s nothing worse than paying for an upgrade that makes the ride worse (speaking from experience here).
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Old 05-03-2018, 05:09 PM   #39
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Originally Posted by Skywagon View Post
Tejay, amen. Yesterday as I crossed a state line I went from a beautiful road to one with seams and wash-boarding. I will not write the name of the state because I don't want to anger anyone. I have come to the conclusion, after driving on the bad roads of this particular state that no matter what one does the bad roads are king, in charge. I've driven my rig in many winding, windy, rough high altitude roads. Konis and CHF have resolve 90% of my ride and handling issues. Seams and wash-boarding still destroy my ride.
Come on...come clean..it was Washington roads right...like right IN Spokane? Yes?
Has to be...we have the WORST roads!

Okay..back to the main topic.
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Old 06-07-2018, 05:30 AM   #40
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Just purchased a 2018 Winnebago Sunstar LX 30T.

To begin with, I purchased the Road Master sway bars (front & rear) and steering stabilizer.

Installing in 4 weeks. Will let you know how it performs after installation.

Shocks next, if necessary. Doing a lot of reading. Will be looking for advice in the fall.
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Old 06-07-2018, 06:32 AM   #41
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macnut,

Interesting that you had an upgrade from 22-K to 24-K. Did you order the larger chassis or just have the leaf springs changed??

You also said the ride is a "Tad stiffer." That would be expected with the heavier leaf springs.

I was under our 18,000 lb chassis the other day and noticed on the bottom of the leaf spring stenciled: 16,000 18,000, 20,000. The leaf spring is used on any of the three chassis. How does that work? Maybe the 16-K chassis is stiffer. The 18-K is OK and the 20,000-K chassis is softer. You just can't have the best of all worlds using a leaf spring in that manner.

Consider this!! Those familiar with pick up trucks know if you have one it will be stiffer. Hence the phrase I like my truck but it sure "Rides like a truck."

Add a heavy load to the bed and it rides much smoother. Considering the cars from years ago. The big heavy "Tanks" as we called them road very smooth. Hence the phrase, "Man this rides like a Cadillac" even when it wasn't a Cadillac.

Things have changed a great deal. We had a Ford F-150 2010 and it did ride close to a Cadillac even without a load. We now have variable rate leaf springs and the manufacturers are doing a lot more to make the ride smoother even while still being able to carry the extra load.

I don't believe Ford is working all that hard to smooth the ride on an RV chassis but I'm sure they could if they wanted to do so. It is a truck chassis and will generally ride like a truck.

We have Sumo's on the front but except for helping with the SWAY I don't know if they helped that much. Yes they will not usually come into play until wind or the ground rocks the RV. That also depends on how much weight is bearing down on the Sumo's after your load is added. They are a progressive rate type of spring. The greater the compression the greater the resistance to compression.
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Old 06-07-2018, 04:34 PM   #42
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After a drive to MN with constant westerly cross winds I decided to get the RSSA Road Master steering stabilizer. It's a shock and heavy coil spring to assist with steering wheel (SW) centering. Maybe the "Safety Plus" is the same idea??

It took to days to install because I used my DIY brackets from my shock only stabilizer and I had to re-fab those.

On the first trip around town it pulled to the right. To fix it this is what I did. I used a stick against the MH wheel well and centered the wheel as best i could with a stick checking on each front tire sidewall against the stick against the wheel well.

Once it was centered I loosened the drag link end of the shock and it moved about 3/4" and stopped. The coil spring was compressed or stretched and once it was relaxed I tightened it down and took it for a drive. All is well!!!

Except!!! When I drove out of the drive my steering wheel didn't turn as far as it did before. I think it bound up some so I loosened the two bolts holding the swivel points. We'll see how that works out next week.

I do like the feel of the RSSA stabilizer.
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