Community Forums

JMLifecation · 08-06-2018, 06:58 PM

I know there have been many discussions on whether to have a steering stabilizer and are they worth the money.
Here is my reason I think it was well worth the money to put one on.

I had new tires, alignment and a Safe T Plus steering stabilizer put on 6 or so months ago. My reasoning at the time was that if a steering tire blew and my wife, who is not very big, was driving it would help her keep the coach straight until she could get it stopped.

Well the reality was, I was driving.

We had left a campground and a bit later made a 90 degree right turn. I do not drive all that fast so was slowly working the speed up as we crested a hill. As we headed down the hill the speed picked up to about 35/40 miles an hour and the coach started bouncing like we were on a very rough road. As I told my wife this and started to get on the brake, gravity had moved us to about 40/45 MPH.
At that point the coach started bucking violently. I mean BUCKING! I am 220 lbs, and while not in my prime I am not weak. It ripped the wheel from my hands as I was thrown against the side window. The second buck sent me to the other side of the seat pretty much hanging by the seat belt. The third and last buck pretty much sat me back behind the wheel sitting straight up, where I was able to grab the wheel and get my foot on the brake. Along with the slowing of the coach as we hit the bottom of the hill and me finally being able to get on the brake as we slowed past 25 or so the bucking stopped and I was able to get pulled over, blocking one side of an intersection. Hell, I was out in the middle of nowhere, still there were 2 cars that squeezed by to turn down that road. LOL

Anyway. Once I got the coach stopped, checked on my wife, who still has a huge bruise from the seat belt, it had a very noticeable lean to the right back. As I started inspecting I found that the right rear airbag was deflated. I think as I turned the corner something must have happened causing the leveler on that bag to deflate it. This caused the coach to come down onto the tires causing the bucking.

I cycled the leveling and the airbag came up to level, I found no damage to the tires or coach so I nursed it back home.

Having some previous commitments I was not able to work on it so I ran it down to Freightliner to have them make sure nothing was tore up and check on what caused it in the first place. They found the leveler on that side to be defective and are replacing it for me.

100.00 deductible on my extended warranty and shop fees. Not too bad.

Thankfully my Wife and I are okay and the new tires and coach were not damaged.

I truly do believe the steering stabilizer saved our asses on this one though. With the violence of the bucking and me being tossed like nothing the coach stayed going straight down the road.

Good deal it did because there were deep ditches and trees on each side of the non-shouldered road.

Would it have done it doing 60 or 70? I do not know but I do know that after this I feel a hell of a lot better having one on the coach than not. For under a thousand dollars this device just may have saved my wife and I's life.

Dsallach · 08-06-2018, 07:14 PM

Glad you both made it through without serious injury! Thanks for sharing the story. I installed a safe t plus for the same blowout protection. I hope I never get to test it out!

MO Fred · 08-07-2018, 06:45 AM

First, I am really happy that you and your wife are OK. I also have a stabilizer on my coach. Yes it does very well tracking the coach down the road with less sway and I can steer the coach easily with one hand. What I fail to understand is how the stabilizer would be able to exert enough pressure to keep the coach going straight after a front tire blowout when you can easily turn the front tires with one hand.... there is no lock mechanism on it. Maybe I am missing something here.

CountryB · 08-07-2018, 06:53 AM

So what caused the bucking?
Was the rear tire hitting the body or something? Driveline binding?

With such violent bucking, you would think there must be some significant damage.

Dsallach · 08-07-2018, 07:03 AM

The safe t plus will not keep your coach straight by itself in a front tire blowout situation. It’s purpose is to give you a little extra time to respond and gain control. It is similar to a shock absorber. The speed at which fluid inside the shock can move from one side to the other is determined by its internal orifice. On a slow turn the flow rate is not exceeded. On a sudden jerk blowout it is exceeded and restricts the turning. It gives you a second to react and gain control.
Hope that helps

MSHappyCampers · 08-07-2018, 08:18 AM

WOW! That's scary!

Sure glad you're OK!

JMLifecation · 08-07-2018, 11:41 AM

Hi Country,

From the violence I figured that there was going to be a whole lot of damage but thankfully it is rather light.

There is a support beam under the wheel well, it got bent. Not a big deal but that does seem to be the biggest damage. It looks like when the airbag deflated that this is where the tire hit the coach, or coach hit the tire?

All the light covers came off with the biggest damage coming to the light bar above the sink in the bathroom. It must not have been put on very well but it came down.
It knocked one of my batteries out of the tray, not totally as it was still sitting in the tray but it was halfway out sitting on the end of the tray.
All the stuff tossed around in the basement etc but not near what I thought things would be like.

I tell you, I am so happy we were doing 40/45 and not 60/65.
At least now I will feel comfortable taking it to Indiana in a couple weeks, I have an appointment to have Pauls RV fix a bad slide roller, move the TV and some other house upgrades.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CountryB

So what caused the bucking?
Was the rear tire hitting the body or something? Driveline binding?

With such violent bucking, you would think there must be some significant damage.

Sherpa Vern · 08-07-2018, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CountryB

So what caused the bucking?
Was the rear tire hitting the body or something? Driveline binding?

With such violent bucking, you would think there must be some significant damage.

There are solid rubber bumpers inside the air springs in my coach. They are about half the height of the inflated air spring. When the air spring fully deflates, the suspension drops onto these solid rubber bumpers. These bumpers keep the coach supported enough to prevent tires and body from making contact, but when traveling during a sudden collapse of the air spring, a very uncomfortable, sometimes violent bucking occurs. Firestone lists the bumpers as optional, but they would never be an option that I would want to be without.

Bumper is #7 in upper illustration.

https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/image...components.gif

I had a front ride height sensor fail suddenly at speed and will forever remember the feeling. The bumper provides little to no suspension benefit except to prevent body parts and turning parts from coming in contact with one another. It was like riding a rodeo bull, even at 25 mph, until I could get off of the highway and manually raise the suspension to proper ride height and disable the auto leveling function.