Community Forums

tomv · 04-08-2011, 02:30 PM

Have a 2010 Fleetwood Terra 34b on a Workhorse 22K chassis. Rig came with 19.5 in tires. Just got back from Florida and the rig still seems to wander a bit. weighed the unit and set the tire pressure based on goodyears recommendation 88 PSI in Front and 90 in the rears. Had the alignment checked and the workhorse dealer said it was good. Anybody got any suggestions? rear sway bar? steering stabilizer? and what to try first. any help would be appreciated.

mikron · 04-08-2011, 02:44 PM

On our 2008 coach with a 2007 F53 we added both a rear trac bar, Safe T Plus steering up front and Koni shocks. The Safe T Plus took 95% of the drifting with cross wind and big rigs out.

paz · 04-08-2011, 04:23 PM

Ditto on the rear track bar. A major reason for wandering is the relatively long rear overhang causes the axle to shift sway on the springs. We had that problem with our W24 when it was new. The addition of a track bar stopped that.

One source for a track bar is Brazel's RV, a sponsor of iRV2. Camping World also sells the Super Steer by Henderson's, which is what we have.

A sway bar is good to correct too much body roll when turning, rather than sway and wandering.

GaryKD · 04-08-2011, 05:25 PM

Hi tomv,
Welcome to iRV2. The after market devices mentioned in the OP should help. Consider starting with the steering stablizer, then the rear anti sway bar, then a front anti sway bar. Do them one at a time and drive the coach several hundred miles to see if it handles the way you desire. When it handles the way you want, stop. There is no need to add anything else.

frankdamp · 04-08-2011, 08:15 PM

It's an 11-ton truck for goodness' sake. You were expecting it to ride like a Cadillac? Unless you have a bottomless wallet, learn to live with it. Sure you could spend another $15K trying to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear, but underneath it'll still be a pig's ear.

Slow down, live with the ride quality limitations and save a bunch of loot you can spend on gas and CG fees. Just my viewpoint. I have an F53 Class A that rides like the 11 ton truck that is underneath it all, but it still takes us to all kinds of wonderful places and I'm willing to take the (sometimes very) rough with the smooth and enjoy the resulting adventure.

Finhawk · 04-08-2011, 08:55 PM

Try the SteerSafe. Check out their website. It's not expensive and makes a world of difference.
Contrary to what Frank said, no one has to put up with a bad ride. I have driven more than 500 miles a day and been no more tired than if I'd driven a car.
I guess I've been riding around in a 12 ton truck for 4 years! And enjoyed 99% of it
Bruce

Dutch Star Don · 04-08-2011, 09:15 PM

We had an 04 Terra 32'. We didn't own it that long because of plumbing and braking issues. It was a nice coach. I needed more lift in the rear to get it up into my parking spot at home. I added rear air bags just for that purpose. I could jack it up almost four additional inches with the bags. An unexpected bonus was handling improvement.

If it were me, I would start with some of the less expensive add ons that you'll probably want, like the steer safe. The steer safe should help quite a bit. Next would be the trac bar.....those rear ends really do move around back there.

Do the upgrades slowly as was mentioned. When you do it that way, it likes a new coach every six months or a year.

offthewall · 04-08-2011, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomv

Have a 2010 Fleetwood Terra 34b on a Workhorse 22K chassis. Rig came with 19.5 in tires. Just got back from Florida and the rig still seems to wander a bit. weighed the unit and set the tire pressure based on goodyears recommendation 88 PSI in Front and 90 in the rears. Had the alignment checked and the workhorse dealer said it was good. Anybody got any suggestions? rear sway bar? steering stabilizer? and what to try first. any help would be appreciated.

Any of those truck based chassis's can have the ride improved. It is best if you see a good chassis guy and develop a plan rather than just throw items at it willy nilly. I do disagree with one thing stated by a couple of posters though. IMHO, it's best to get the chassis itself right by doing tire pressure, alignment, track bars then shocks in that order before things like steering stabilizers. Steering stabilizers only cover up real chassis issues and should be added last as a final tweak. Yes they can help but you want to make sure the chassis is as good as it can be before adding the steering stabilizer.

As others have said, it will never drive like a Porche but you can do better than they roll off the line. These RVs are usually running right at the upper end of their GVWR and can be a little hairy under certain conditions especially those with longer rear overhangs. It all depends on your tolerance to the truck like handling. We previously had a 31' Ford E450 based class C. By doing all the changes I've mentioned, one at a time, the handling went from "white knuckle" to comfortable.

JimM68 · 04-08-2011, 10:34 PM

I'm afraid I'm with Frank, kinda. Our previous 99 F53 PaceArrow didn't handle too bad, or so I thought. But 400 miles a day was it, all I could do.

My second trip in the Knight, I covered 670 miles in one day. Only stopped because I'd arrived at my destination. Damn that big pusher is smooth...

Rook · 04-09-2011, 02:55 PM

I'm a nu-be......I will not pick up my used 36ft 98 National RV Tradewinds diesel pusher until next Thurs....but I read this little ditty in all my many hours of research and it got my attention.......

"The wheelbase length to total length makes a big difference in how MH's handle out on the open highway. The optimum set-up seems to be at least 58 units wheelbase to 100 units total length. For instance 58 feet wheelbase to 100 ft total length, or the same ratio for lower numbers. Under that ratio (shorter wheelbase to length), then you are stuck with wandering, etc." Rook

Mike Canter · 04-09-2011, 03:13 PM

If when you say the MH wanders do you mean with NO wind and NO trucks passing that it has a hard time tracking true and staying in a straight line. If so then all those sway bars, steering stabilzers and stuff are not going to fix it. Sway bars help tons while turning corners or going through tight curves or being hit by high cross winds but they CANNOT apply an equal on opposite force in the MH just wanders aling in a close to straight line. Sway bars work by twisting and applying an equal and opposite force. To stop a car or a truck or a MH from just wandering you need to go back to whoever aligned it and tell him it needs MORE positive castor. Get them to crank up the castor to maximum specified POSITIVE castor on both front wheels for that model chassis. This will make the MH track true by itself. Talk to the guy that checked the alignment and tell him what it is doing and see what he says about adding more positive castor.

tomv · 04-11-2011, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Canter

If when you say the MH wanders do you mean with NO wind and NO trucks passing that it has a hard time tracking true and staying in a straight line. If so then all those sway bars, steering stabilzers and stuff are not going to fix it. Sway bars help tons while turning corners or going through tight curves or being hit by high cross winds but they CANNOT apply an equal on opposite force in the MH just wanders aling in a close to straight line. Sway bars work by twisting and applying an equal and opposite force. To stop a car or a truck or a MH from just wandering you need to go back to whoever aligned it and tell him it needs MORE positive castor. Get them to crank up the castor to maximum specified POSITIVE castor on both front wheels for that model chassis. This will make the MH track true by itself. Talk to the guy that checked the alignment and tell him what it is doing and see what he says about adding more positive castor.

Thanks for the reply. The answer is yes. I can feel high winds and trucks passing and can live with this. But when the winds are relatively calm and I am all by myself on the road I find the coach does not want to stay straight requiring minor steering adjustments. It feel like the steering gear has a bit too much play. (feels like and old 70's era car with a front end going bad) Is this common

Mike Canter · 04-11-2011, 07:47 AM

Other than adding more castor you should also check for worn components such as tie rod ends. They should have done that when they did the alignment. It is also possible that the steering box can be tightened on the adjuster. You have to be real careful in doing that so it is not over tighten and cause the steering to bind. Again the place you had the alignment done should do all that. I had a real problem on my previous MH it would wander all over the place. I could not relax. The place that sold it to me had it aligned and it was still wandered. I called the guy who did the alignment and told him and he said he was told to just check the alignment and was not told it was wandering. He looked up the alignment specs from when he did my MH and came out to my house with some wedge shaped shims and loosened the front axle took out the old wedge shims and put in the new ones and it fixed it just like that. The thing is that somebody has to tell them the problem.

ehunt · 04-11-2011, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomv

Thanks for the reply. The answer is yes. I can feel high winds and trucks passing and can live with this. But when the winds are relatively calm and I am all by myself on the road I find the coach does not want to stay straight requiring minor steering adjustments. It feel like the steering gear has a bit too much play. (feels like and old 70's era car with a front end going bad) Is this common

We had a Davis TruTrac bar installed on our MH. I've made two trips since and it's a world of difference. Instead of driving white knucked with two hands gripping the wheel continually making adjustments, I'm now relaxed and only have to make slight corrections when a truck passes. I was following another MH yesterday (same brand and model as mine) watching him get pushed all over the road, commented to my wife how that was us a month ago while I had one hand on the wheel and taking a sip of water with the other.