Community Forums

Cliff-fa-fa · 12-05-2011, 04:52 PM

I just bought a 2002 Winnebago Adventurer 35ft. and drove it from Ft. Myers, FL to Nashville, TN. It seems like I am having to constantly correct the steering with both hands any speed over 50 mph. I am not comfortable with a speed over 63-64 mph. We have new tires on the back and just had everything aligned and balanced. Is this normal? I drive a Ford F250 and pull a 16ft trailer for my business and don't have any problems. This just seems to be very difficult to drive and I am not sure why it should be this unstable. Any suggestions? Thank you.

az bound · 12-05-2011, 05:06 PM

Give yourself some more wheel time. Its quite a transition from a truck or car to a motorhome. Try focusing farther down the road and make smaller corrections.
Hang in there.

texnet · 12-05-2011, 05:17 PM

You should weight your coach and adjust the air pressure of the tires to the recommendations of the tire manufacture. I had the same problem on our coach and once I got the air pressure correct the change was very noticable!

hawg6 · 12-05-2011, 05:25 PM

What chassis do you have?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cliff.

I just bought a 2002 Winnebago Adventurer 35ft. and drove it from Ft. Myers, FL to Nashville, TN. It seems like I am having to constantly correct the steering with both hands any speed over 50 mph. I am not comfortable with a speed over 63-64 mph. We have new tires on the back and just had everything aligned and balanced. Is this normal? I drive a Ford F250 and pull a 16ft trailer for my business and don't have any problems. This just seems to be very difficult to drive and I am not sure why it should be this unstable. Any suggestions? Thank you.

Pusherman · 12-05-2011, 06:46 PM

There have been hundreds of posts on this forum for improving handling characteristics of a coach. Ronnie's advice above is spot on. First thing to do is have your coach weighed and adjust your tire pressures accordingly.

An over-inflated tire makes your coach run like a squirrel.

After that, do a search on this forum, and you will find lots of good advice. There are lots of after-market products which significantly improve coach handling, such as track bars, sway bars, shocks and more (advice for gas coaches).

But first, make sure you address the basics before doing the after-market items. Basics include proper tire inflation, good 'round' tires, proper alignment, etc.

RickO · 12-05-2011, 06:56 PM

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new rig!

The advice above is ALL spot on. Your experience is not unusual. I suggest taking care of the basics outlined above... focusing a bit farther down the road to avoid injecting over corrections... and giving yourself a bit more wheel time. THEN, search the forum for possible causes and fixes. There are many.

Best of luck.

Rick

wa8yxm · 12-05-2011, 07:16 PM

There are several things that cause that to happen.

One can be loose steering, however it it has been aligned by pros. they should have notified you of that.

Another is WAG. This is where the body of the motor home "Wags" like a dog's tail. You might notice when a dog wags his tail the feet do not necessarily move.. So even though you are, in fact, going STRAIGHT down the road, the body is at an angle. I suspect this is worse with gassers because the rear wheels are more foreward.

A TRAC Bar or Pan Hard Bar (2 names, same bar) can help big time there. This device "locks" the body squarely over the axle so it does not "Wag" side to side.

A steering stabilizer can also help.

I would recommend you contact the Ultra Power People (Brazil's rv if I've not mangled the name) for the Ultra Power trac bar.

As for stering stablizer.. I bought the Blue Ox True center due to a feature that was unique to it at the time.. One other (At least) now has that feature.. It is the ability to "Re-Center" from the driver's seat. No wrench needed.

MaverickBBD · 12-06-2011, 11:06 AM

X2 on weigh your coach and adjust accordingly. Also, you may want to check into a steering stabilizer. I recommend a Safe-T-Plus. I had mine installed for an around the continenent trip. Would not have been able to do it otherwise as it cut down on the fatigue factor tremendously.

Billieg · 12-06-2011, 03:05 PM

I'd take it to a truck center and have the front end checked first. Mine had bad ball joints, a bad bell crank and bad bushings. Just because they aligned it doesn't mean they checked it all out. You can waste thousands of dollars on aftermarket stuff but if your suspension is not good nothing will work. After fixing all the above it drove great.

gklehner · 12-06-2011, 04:18 PM

Had the same problem with my little 21' class C AFTER tire replacement. A driving battle over 55 mph. Dealer pumped the tires up to max pressure on all. Reduced to proper (must have it weighed) pressure and a very comfortable drive at 65 - 68 mph. As a final help for truck passing and cross winds, added a "steer safe" system. DW is now a comfortable driver!
Of course in addition to the pressure and steer safe, did have all steering/suspension components checked and replaced as needed.
Have fun!!

MaverickBBD · 12-07-2011, 09:49 AM

Oh yes forgot the ball joint as you have a Workhorse. May be worth checking into as well. Give Brazel's a call and see what they say. They are very helpful and knowledgeable and they don't charge for conversation.

Steve N Sal · 12-07-2011, 09:55 AM

Check your tire pressures. To much air could cause it to wander a bit.

Billieg · 12-07-2011, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve N Sal

Check your tire pressures. To much air could cause it to wander a bit.

If your coach is all over the road and you need 2 hands to steer it there is a lot more going on than tire pressure. Why does everyone echo what they read on other threads? Unless your tire pressure is way off it won't make much of a difference in handling.

Buying aftermarket products won't fix broken or worn out suspension parts. Get it checked out by a truck company that knows front ends and get the broken/worn parts fixed first and then check your tire pressures.

burmashave · 12-07-2011, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by az bound

Give yourself some more wheel time. Its quite a transition from a truck or car to a motorhome. Try focusing farther down the road and make smaller corrections.
Hang in there.

absolutely

all the other things mentioned, and as yet unmentioned, may or may not be part of it. The quote from az bound is for sure true.