Best Steering Stabilizer for an old '95 P30 (27' Fleetwood Flair)

[JohnBoyToo]

We had the safe-t-plus installed and noticed NO difference in the back and forth on our coaches steering..

Not sure if it's the product or the camping world installation, but not happy with it...

[Isaac-1]

Keep in mind that the Safe-T Plus is not intended to fix back and forth wobble, though it can act as a band aid fix for some causes of steering wobble. So the question becomes one of what was the underlying cause of the wobble. The Steer Safe spring system can also act as a band aid fix for some different causes of steering wobble, as it connects to a different part of the steering mechanism.

[whybother]

Originally Posted by LETMGROW

I will check my mounting today and see if it's different than yours.
Lynn

Thanks!

Originally Posted by JohnBoyToo

We had the safe-t-plus installed and noticed NO difference in the back and forth on our coaches steering..

Not sure if it's the product or the camping world installation, but not happy with it...

I'm guessing it could be any number of things, from worn parts in your front-end, to poor installation, and possibly even product design issues, like I believe 'm having. But if your front-end was tight, and the product was installed correctly, and didn't have defects, it should have made a noticeable difference. (I noticed a huge difference, until my right sway bar bushing bracket loosed up from being continuously punished in a way it wasn't designed to be.)

[Isaac-1]

On a side note here, the upgraded blue urethane sway bar bushings sold by Ultra-RV products come with a much beefier mounting bracket than the original black rubber bushings have. I don't know if it is enough to help in your case, but its a thought.

[whybother]

Just an update: The RBK3 and RSSP30 from road master do NOT fit my 1995 P30. I can install them, but on turning right, with at least one full turn of the wheel remaining, the stabilizer hits the sway bar and/or the bell crank's idler arm nut on the passenger side. Confirmed proper installation and incompatibility with Roadmaster. (I'm honestly not sure how the RBK3 + RSSP30 would fit any P30s.)

The RSSCP30 may fit my vehicle, but it's out of stock everywhere, Roadmaster said it's currently a discontinued part, and it's not confirmed to fit pre-1998 P30's, so it's not on their fitment charts as compatible -- but I guess it's been known to work in some older P30s, and it sure looks like it would fit. Roasmaster is currently trying to track one down for me.

[Daveinet]

Can you weld a long piece of angle iron from the end of the bracket to the other side of the frame? It seems like that would be the only way to truly reinforce it, so it won't move.



Also for handling, do you have a rear track bar? If not, that would help your steering 10x over what any steering stabilizer will do. My opinion is that steering stabilizers are bandaids and only mask handling issues, rather than fixing them. Track bars address the root cause of the issue. On my W22 the rear track bar addition totally changed the handling of the coach. Previously the coach handled like it had a 400 gallon water tank with 200 gallons sloshing around in the rear of the coach. That feeling is totally gone now.

[whybother]

Originally Posted by Daveinet

Can you weld a long piece of angle iron from the end of the bracket to the other side of the frame? It seems like that would be the only way to truly reinforce it, so it won't move.

Couldn't really find a great way of supporting it, but I agree something like that would be needed.

Originally Posted by Daveinet

Also for handling, do you have a rear track bar? If not, that would help your steering 10x over what any steering stabilizer will do. My opinion is that steering stabilizers are bandaids and only mask handling issues, rather than fixing them. Track bars address the root cause of the issue. On my W22 the rear track bar addition totally changed the handling of the coach. Previously the coach handled like it had a 400 gallon water tank with 200 gallons sloshing around in the rear of the coach. That feeling is totally gone now.

I'd need to re-route the exhaust on my P30 to add a track bar, and I didn't much a care for the new location the tail pipe would end up, but it's something I explored doing -- perhaps I should have gone that route.

I do like the potential safety feature steering stabilizers add in the event of front tire blowout, and they do help quite a bit with the effects of side wind, etc., (mainly just stiffing up the steering so slight movements in your body from sway don't transfer to the wheel) but they are certainly not the panacea some make them out to be.

Update our venture to replace the safe-t-plus stabilizer with a roasmaster:

Unfortunately I wasn't able to locate a RSSCP30 (should have ordered that in the first place when I saw they were in stock), so we heavily modified the mounting brackets for the RBK3 and RSSP30 and got it to work.

So far, the RBK3 and RSSP30 works better than the safe-t-plus, but it was a royal pain to install (required welding, heating, bending, etc. -- basically a custom mounting bracket) and tweak to get the required clearances. We tried to figure out a way to re-engineer the safe-t-plus mounting bracket first, but all attempts just transferred stress to another untenable point.

In a nutshell:

1. If you can find it, get the RSSCP30 for a P30, provided your existing P30 has an OEM steering damper installed. (Roasmaster really should update their fitment chart to reflect this fact: If you have an OEM steering damper on your P30, you probably need the RSSCP30, no matter the year.)

2. Avoid the RBK3 + RSSP30! (I really don't understand how they would fit any P30 and allow you to turn all the way to the right, without heavy modification.)

3. Avoid the Safe-T-Plus for P30s older than, is it 2001?

4. Seriously consider a rear track bar.

[Isaac-1]

Thanks, good summation, one thing to check on is make sure your setup is not rubbing the oil cooler line. I am having to replace my oil cooler line due tot he Safe-T Plus bracket rubbing through the rubber part of the oil cooler line, and exposing the woven metal jacket inside.

[Daveinet]

Surprised your exhaust goes over the rear axle. Most come out the side. My current coach, they exit either side, just in front to the rear wheels, which I don't like. My previous coach, they both exited as a pair out the driver's side just in front of the rear wheels. This meant if you were idling, it didn't come in the entry door and you could at least leave windows open on that side. Just a smarter way to do it. Beside all that, the real reason was so when I would drive by a construction barrier, I could open the driver's window a listen to that 502 rumble

[whybother]

Originally Posted by Daveinet

Surprised your exhaust goes over the rear axle. Most come out the side.

It actually does come out the side, but on the other side of the rear axle.

I don't want to throw any more cash at this old beast, but as my better half is test driving with the roadmaster stabilizer, it looks like a track/panhard bar might be unavoidable. (She can actually drive it for well more than 15 min. now -- been driving over an hour now as I type this and still going strong -- but the constant battle with the wind is too exhausting.)

Has anyone installed a universal panhard bar, like this weld on one, on an old P30? Any tips? (I'd like to avoid dropping another $600.)

[Isaac-1]

That does not look nearly beefy enough for a P30


Take a look at these home built track bars for P30/P32 http://oemys-performance.com/diytracbarp32.htm


Also see the new specials with premade parts http://oemys-performance.com/inetspecials.htm

[RickNC]

I have a 95 23’ Winnebago on a 95 P30 Chassis. It has a factory steering stabilizer. You replaced all the usual culprits but what has me wondering is what specs were used for the alignment? The usual specs shops use for a P30 are for the step van not the motorhome,huge difference especially in terms of caster. I chased most of the same demons in my p30 nearly 4 years ago. but what made the most difference in drivability was having the front end aligned to the specs that Super Steer sent me when I replaced the coil springs. FWIW I have the Roadmaster steering stabilizer that fits in place of the OEM, work great. We just finished a 10K mike trek and most of that was with one hand on the wheel and there was three 700 mile days last week.

[whybother]

Just a follow-up on this ~2 years down the road:

For anyone still trying to get an older P30 handling better, you basically need to "do all the things", but, in order of how much I feel it helped:

Note:
After 1, 2 and 3 an alignment will be required. Finding a qualified garage to do the alignment could be difficult, but is vital. Slight variations in alignment make a huge difference in handling on the P30, and finding that sweet spot that works for you can be tough. Get 1, 2 and 3 done first, as an alignment will be basically useless until then.

1. Replace all worn, even marginally worn, steering and suspension components front and rear. Use upgraded super steer or equivalent parts where available. (Bell cranks, bell crank/pitman arms, drag links, tie rod ends, control arm bushings, ball joints, etc.) This will not be cheap, but needs to be done -- and do it all at once. Do not trust one garage to identify all the worn parts -- and you'll probably need to jack the front up and inspect everything yourself, since there seems to be a shortage of competent mechanics that know the P30, or that care enough to actually do what they're being paid to do for that matter. In short: when they say "yep, everything is tight", ask them to check again -- and again -- and then check it yourself with a competent friend.

2. New super steer springs for the front. Not cheap, but needed. Make sure you get the vehicle properly weighed. Install new front air springs at the same time since they're relatively cheap, and they'll be there if you need them.

3. Replace front sway bar with upgraded one, including new rear polyurethane bushings for the rear sway bar. Also install Sumo Springs for the rear. (If you can fit rear air springs, do that, but sumo springs are all that would fit on my rig.) These upgrades will help limit sway immensely and combined made the most noticeable improvement in handling in windy conditions and trucks passing.

4. Install a steering stabilizer -- this one can be difficult as it seems they aren't being made for the older P30/P32 any longer. An upgraded steering damper will help if no stabilizer is available, but a full fledge stabilizer (damper with a spring) really does help with fatigue on longer drives -- also supposedly helps keep control in front tire blowouts, though I hope I never have to put that to the test.

5. Possibly install a panhard/track bar -- but after doing #3 and temporarily removing my panhard bar, I didn't notice as much of difference as I did before. Sway was much more of a problem than tail wag. Longer vehicles may be helped more by a panhard bar.


Your over-sized bread truck will never handle like a sports car, but can be improved to be acceptable. After all these changes, this old rig can conformably cruise at 65, even up to 70, with one-handed steering. 75 to 80 for passing gets a little more white-knuckle, but manageable. I generally keep it around 65 or lower.