Alignment shop

[Joe and Pam]

Has anybody used the Alignment Shop in El Campo Tx. We are looking for something along I- 10 between San Antonio and Houston. Love the coach but can't stand the ride. I guess it is time to do something.

[Steve Ownby]

What's your main complaint with the ride? The Roadmaster Series S chassis is a compromise which favors handling over soft ride but the ride should still be acceptable.

Have you adjusted your tire pressure to your axle weights? Has your ride height been checked & set? Replacing shocks might help if a sharp jarring over potholes is a main problem. Konis' have a big following and Bilstein has just released a softer valved shock for Roadmaster chassis.

A good truck alignment shop will be able to set your chassis to specs but will not know very much about how to help you trouble shoot a problem.

Steve O

[Joe and Pam]

I guess my problem is tracking and hard bumps. This thing seems to go all over the place. Weight is correct alignment has been done several times and is correct. I wanted to try having the toe in set a little more in to see if it would track better.

[Steve Ownby]

Having the proper "caster" angle is more important than "toe" when wandering is a problem. If your steering has a very strong "return to center" then you may have too much caster. If you have weak to no "return to center" then you may not have enough caster. Typically about 6 degrees positive caster is the spec on these coaches.

Ride height also is important so have the shop check that if they will.

The hard hit on potholes is the result of the stiff valving of the Bilstein shocks. Monaco specified stiff valving because they favored handling over ride.

Steve O

[islandtees]

Just had a 3 axle alignment done at Josams in Florida.We had tracking issues but the problem was in the rear axles.My rear axles tires were facing toward the driver side.Monaco does not have adjustments in the back.They had to modify the trailer arms to pull the tag in alignment.Then they had to bend the drive axle to bring in in spec.They set the front caster and toe and the coach rides like its on a rail.I dont even have to make those back and forth movements on the steering wheel to keep it straight.I also had the front Goodyears replaced with Michelin XZA2 energy tires.I should have done this a long time ago.They are amazing at Josams. Gary

[The Texan]

Two things, do you still have the OEM shocks on your coach and are you running Goodyear G670 tires? If yes to either, time for a change on both and with a proper ride height set, I think you will be amazed at the difference. I had the same problem with wandering all over the road and when I got rid of the POS Goodyear G670 tires, added a little toe in and set the ride height correctly, it tracks very straight now. I will be changing the shocks this next year to Bilsteins new soft ride version.

[Steve Ownby]

hey Gary,

Do you mine sharing what your 3 axle alignment & repair work cost.

Thanks,
Steve O

[islandtees]

Steve ,I was there 2 days.The axle repairs for both were about $650.00 and the 3 axle alignment with shims etc was about $500.00The way the coach rides now it was worth every penny. Gary