Terrible ride quality with Ford F53 Chassis

[jps1145]

I joined not long ago and have been lurking but thought I'd post a problem I've had.
We took our 99 Winn Brave from here in DFW out to Vegas and Havasu to visit family over the Thanksgiving holiday. It's the 35' on the Ford F53 Chassis.
It acts as if all the tires are out of balance. The 4 rears are all brand new Sumitomos and the fronts are about 2 years old. I had all of the tires spin balanced before our trip. During the trip the coach shook so bad I thought the tires were gonna come off. When we got to Havasu I had the fronts rebalanced. The tech said they balanced fine, but were slightly out of round. The ride did not change. 2400 miles like this was very uncomfortable! I've played with the tire pressures but haven't seen a significant difference
The shocks are probably original so I thought I would change them in the near future.
Any thoughts???

[Rick Long]

Don't blame Ford... Replace the out of round tires with some Michelin or Good-years RV tires and put new shocks on.

[B Bob]

Bought four new Michelin tires last week for one of my cars. Had to take it back three times before store would admit one was not round. When the out of round was replaced ride smoothed out. Take the tires back to the place you bought them and have them replace the bad ones.

[adehaan86]

Quick thing you could do if you have a double lane highway. have on person drive the MH and another in a different vehicle watching the tires for tire hop. It could also be a problem with your shocks. But I would check for tire hop first.

[LVJ58]

jpsll45, The center pilot hole on Accuride wheels used on the 99 thru 2001 Ford f53 chassis are very slightly larger than the pilot guides on the hub so the wheel doesn't center 100%, barely noticeable, but creates an out-of-round condition. I believe the problem was corrected on the later model chassis.

I highly recommend Bridgestone tires and installation of Koni FSD shocks at least on the front. The Koni's won't eliminate the wheel vibration, but will certainly provide a more comfortable ride up front.

Good luck with resolving your problem

[Wanabee FTer]

Originally Posted by jps1145

The tech said they balanced fine, but were slightly out of round.

Hello jps1145 and welcome to IRV2!
Lets assume the tech that balanced your tires is correct. He stated the tires balanced ok, but were out of round. Imagine yours tires are like an egg standing on end. No matter how well you balance the egg it will still jump all over the place if it was rolling end over end down the road. Have a reputable tire shop check the tires for out of round. If the tires are good check all front end parts for excessive looseness and check the shocks.

[Midniteoyl]

Originally Posted by adehaan86

Quick thing you could do if you have a double lane highway. have on person drive the MH and another in a different vehicle watching the tires for tire hop. It could also be a problem with your shocks. But I would check for tire hop first.

Agree.. the balancer should be able to detect this too..

[jps1145]

Thanks for all the replies!
I did jack up the rig and spun the tires by hand and noted the fronts were about 1/4" out of round. I'd love to replace the tires, but dropping $400 per is not in the cards at the moment...
I'm sort of partial to Bisteins so I may try the new shocks and I'll look for a shop that can true the tires.
I'm generally pulling a 20' enclosed trailer and the problem is not so "in my face" then. This last trip we were not pulling anything.

Originally Posted by LVJ58

jpsll45, The center pilot hole on Accuride wheels used on the 99 thru 2001 Ford f53 chassis are very slightly larger than the pilot guides on the hub so the wheel doesn't center 100%, barely noticeable, but creates an out-of-round condition. I believe the problem was corrected on the later model chassis.

This is interesting... Not sure Ford will look at this by now... I may stick a dial inticator on that, but I can't imagine it being so bad that it would show up with the symtoms I'm seeing now.

If I find a shop that can true the tires I'll report back. I've seen this on the web, but haven't found a shop here that can do it yet.

[Wizard]

Please let us know what the outcome is. I have been fighting this problem for some time.

New tires, beads installed.
Beads removed, one tire could not be spin balanced, Goodyear replaced
Tires balanced again by different dealer.
Installed Koni shocks, noticed no change.
Installed air bags, still testing pressures.

NOTHING has helped yet.

Will be leaving for Florida next week, will start air bag pressure at 90 PSI and decrease at each rest stop, maybe will find something good.

[a k]

Have them balanced with a road force machine. That will tell you the whole story on your tires.

[RMS]

Same problem here. Had my tires,front, trued in Ocala Fl. at Raney's truck repair. Smooth ride after that. My tires are Bridgestones and were brand new at the time.

I'm sure you,ll get some naysayers but, it works!

[LVJ58]

"I'm sort of partial to Bisteins so I may try the new shocks and I'll look for a shop that can true the tires."

Bilsteins without doubt are great shocks, however they're not the best choice for the F53 front suspension as they're a bit too stiff and will not give you ride quality you'll get with the Koni FSD's.

Best of Luck

[Gary RVRoamer]

New shocks aren't going to fix an out-of-round tire. Save the shock money for tire truing or replacing the bad tire. If the bad one is a new Sumitomo, take it back to the tire shop.

There should be a shop in your area that can true a tire. You lose some tread when they grind it true, but that's not an issue with RV tires anyway.

[a k]

If you have to true a new tire, its bad. Have it replaced.