Hi Dave gegetit,
Whether Helwig or Roadmaster, the front and rear stabilizer bar should not require drilling. The specs between the two are the same so I vote for the Helwig to save big money,.
Every rig has their own unique handling characteristics. And the characteristics will change pending your driving conditions and your load. If you plan to own your new rig for a very long time, don't mess around trying to get by with as little as you can. Just do the gamut and benefit from now until the day you sell the rig. That was our strategy in 2007 when we bought our rig. We have been enjoying our road trips out west, in-part from the comfort of our driving experience.
Not just for handling, but for driver fatigue and the comfort of your passengers. There is also the safety factor in having a well planted rig on the road. Imagine driving on a mountain or canyon byway, the road is wet, and you stumble on a large animal as you come around a sharp bend in the road. With all tires firmly planted, your control and stopping power will be dramatically better.
I advise doing the following upgrades now and benefit throughout your ownership.....especially since you experience handling issues under certain conditions.
- heavy duty front and rear Helwig stabilizer bars
- heavy duty front and rear Bilstein shock absorbers (I bought them on Tire Rack's website at a good price)
- heavy duty front steering stabilizer (you did this already)
- rear trac bar (this to eliminate "Tail Wagging The Dog" especially when towing)
- 80 psi in all your tires with consideration to your near 33 foot length
- get a front wheel alignment with your rig loaded up just as if you were ready to leave home. If you can, include weight to represent the people sitting in their respective seats. I placed exercise weights just behind the driver and passenger seats to represent my wife and me in our seats.
Other than the wheel alignment, I think you could handle the installation of everything.
CLICK HERE to read about my shock absorber story. It covers installation on a 2007 E350. Your 2018 E450 will be the same.
About the 80 psi.
CLICK HERE to read about my experience with tire gauges. A poorly calibrated gauge at 80 psi could put you in harms way.
A point about tires. You own the longest class C rig on an E450 that I ever read about, at 32'-9". I would be very concerned that your tires are under-rated for your rig's loaded condition. Get the rig weighed during your next trip at a truck stop. Then calculate the actual load on each tire. Standard "E" rated tires handle only so much weight. If you find your tires are over-loaded, consider those special "E" rated tires that handle around 500 pounds more per tire at 83 psi. A rear tire blow-out can do piles of damage to a motor home, much more costly than a set of higher-rated tires.
The steel belted rubber thrashing around often damages your wood RV floor so such repairs go only so far. Nobody is going to replace the floor in a motor home, and any attempt will degrade the house structure.
A front tire blow out has most risk to your own safety.
to see a video on a motor home getting a front tire blow out.
Do everything you can to avoid a tire blow out. Make sure your tires are inflated properly and are not over-loaded.
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