Steering 04 w22 National Dolphin 5355

[gr8pix]

Hello,
I recently acquired an 04 5355 Dolphin, in reasonably nice condition, tires are 2 year old Michelin's, as far as i can tell everything works as it should with the exception of wandering of the steering, I really have to fight to have it track straight. Where should I start looking to correct this? Koni's are installed (albeit 13 years old), as well as Roadmaster front & rear sway bars, tire pressure is 95lbs back, 90lbs front with the coach pretty much empty. Also towing a featherweight 2007 Accent Hatchback TOAD. I'm planning on taking it in for an alignment next week to see if anything is off. Would there be any suggestions as to where I should start to troubleshoot? At the same time as the alignment, I'm having brakes done, chassis greased and fluids topped up, and was wondering if I should consider replacing the Koni's?

Thanks for any help,
Walter

[twinboat]

Start with alignment, straight or towed out tires will wander.
Need to be towed in a bit.

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[yeloduster]

These spec for Caster is ≈3° positive. The Workhorse W series drives much better with ≈5.5° positive caster.

Click THIS. It is a long discussion on taking the wander out of the steering on a W series Workhorse.

Edit: Air pressure matters. My 34' Georgetown likes 90 PSI front and 80 PSI rear. Yours will probably be different. Weigh the axles and set the pressure according to the load/inflation chart for your tires.

[PappaBull]

set the castor 6 degrees positive and the toe in 1/8 degrees. personally I would go ahead and replace the shocks while the work is being done IMHO. when you can have the coach 4 cornered weighed and adjust air pressure based on load, I generally run 105 front and 100 rear. 1 more thought I added air bags front and rear with an on board air compressor to adjust ride on the go to help with ride and sway.

[gr8pix]

Thanks all for the constructive reply's! I'll definitely do as suggested first with the alignment, adjusting to a positive caster and the toe in. Take it in to be weighed and determine if I should replace the shocks, my gut tells me they're okay as there's no excessive bounce.
Merry Xmas all!


Walter

[gr8pix]

Originally Posted by PappaBull

set the castor 6 degrees positive and the toe in 1/8 degrees. personally I would go ahead and replace the shocks while the work is being done IMHO. when you can have the coach 4 cornered weighed and adjust air pressure based on load, I generally run 105 front and 100 rear. 1 more thought I added air bags front and rear with an on board air compressor to adjust ride on the go to help with ride and sway.

I'm going to look into airbags, I didn't know they have them for Workhorse, I had them on my old Phaeton and it rode beautifully.

[edgray]

Originally Posted by gr8pix

Thanks all for the constructive reply's! I'll definitely do as suggested first with the alignment, adjusting to a positive caster and the toe in. Take it in to be weighed and determine if I should replace the shocks, my gut tells me they're okay as there's no excessive bounce.
Merry Xmas all!


Walter

You mentioned "front and rear sway bars" by Roadmaster. I don't know IF that is the same as a rear "track bar", or not, but in case it isn't, I believe you get a lot of bang for the bucks if you install one. Basically, a rear track bar "ties" the frame rail to the differential housing and minimizes the side-to-side movement allowed by the spring-pack. It will dramatically reduce the side push created by passing trucks and minimize the steering corrections you are making trying to keep it headed straight.
FOR WHAT ITS WORTH, I agree about increasing the caster, but if taken too far, that can create excessive tire wear.
Good luck and Merry Christmas to you also.

[gr8pix]

Originally Posted by edgray

You mentioned "front and rear sway bars" by Roadmaster. I don't know IF that is the same as a rear "track bar", or not, but in case it isn't, I believe you get a lot of bang for the bucks if you install one. Basically, a rear track bar "ties" the frame rail to the differential housing and minimizes the side-to-side movement allowed by the spring-pack. It will dramatically reduce the side push created by passing trucks and minimize the steering corrections you are making trying to keep it headed straight.
FOR WHAT ITS WORTH, I agree about increasing the caster, but if taken too far, that can create excessive tire wear.
Good luck and Merry Christmas to you also.

The receipt says sway bars, both front and rear. I searched the part number and came up empty.

[PappaBull]

Originally Posted by gr8pix

I'm going to look into airbags, I didn't know they have them for Workhorse, I had them on my old Phaeton and it rode beautifully.

yes they are made for the Workhorse. I can supply part numbers etc. that I put on mine if you need them.

[edgray]

Originally Posted by gr8pix

The receipt says sway bars, both front and rear. I searched the part number and came up empty.
Attachment 383239

Go to henderson lineup or urvp.com and look at their rear track bar. I’m guessing you can see the difference between them and whatever you have. I think the henderson part number for a w-22 is SS302 and believe that is what I added to my 2003 W-22.

[CamJam1]

Front AND rear alignment first, as mentioned. Thereafter, if your wandering is mostly when faster trucks pass you on the left, trac bars will really help that.

If your wandering is pretty much constant, a steering stabilizer really helped solve that problem on my 2004 W-22. This is assuming you already have anti-sway bars. The combination of the steering stabilizer and sway bars made a HUGE difference in my coach.

I also added more caster, as mentioned previously. That made an incremental improvement, but it wasn't until I added a front sway bar (I already had the rear) and steering stabilizer that I was really happy with how my coach handled.

Here's what I have:

Front and rear sway bars
Front and rear trac bars
Front and rear Sumo Springs (W22 Sumos in front, P32 Sumos in back)
Roadmaster Reflex steering stabilizer
Bilstein shocks all around

Seems a little excessive, but I love how my rig handles now, and by doing most of the work myself it wasn't as expensive as it might have been.

[dieselclacker]

Correct air pressures in tires for the weight of vehicle.
Have shims installed on front axle to obtain approx 5 1/2 degrees positive caster.
Adjust front end alignment to 1/8 to 1/4 toe in.
Install trac bar on rear axle.

These are the thing I would try to help with your wandering problem.

[F4Gary]

Originally Posted by dieselclacker

Correct air pressures in tires for the weight of vehicle.
Have shims installed on front axle to obtain approx 5 1/2 degrees positive caster.
Adjust front end alignment to 1/8 to 1/4 toe in.
Install trac bar on rear axle.

These are the thing I would try to help with your wandering problem.

Only thing I would add to this is a SafeTPlus steering stabilizer.
I did all of the above to my W20 and it is easy to drive.

[gr8pix]

Originally Posted by CamJam1

Front AND rear alignment first, as mentioned. Thereafter, if your wandering is mostly when faster trucks pass you on the left, trac bars will really help that.

If your wandering is pretty much constant, a steering stabilizer really helped solve that problem on my 2004 W-22. This is assuming you already have anti-sway bars. The combination of the steering stabilizer and sway bars made a HUGE difference in my coach.

I also added more caster, as mentioned previously. That made an incremental improvement, but it wasn't until I added a front sway bar (I already had the rear) and steering stabilizer that I was really happy with how my coach handled.

Here's what I have:

Front and rear sway bars
Front and rear trac bars
Front and rear Sumo Springs (W22 Sumos in front, P32 Sumos in back)
Roadmaster Reflex steering stabilizer
Bilstein shocks all around

Seems a little excessive, but I love how my rig handles now, and by doing most of the work myself it wasn't as expensive as it might have been.

Originally Posted by dieselclacker

Correct air pressures in tires for the weight of vehicle.
Have shims installed on front axle to obtain approx 5 1/2 degrees positive caster.
Adjust front end alignment to 1/8 to 1/4 toe in.
Install trac bar on rear axle.

These are the thing I would try to help with your wandering problem.

Originally Posted by F4Gary

Only thing I would add to this is a SafeTPlus steering stabilizer.
I did all of the above to my W20 and it is easy to drive.

Thanks guys for all your help "steering" me in the right direction . I was under the coach yesterday. and I in fact do have Roadmaster sway bars, both front and rear. I'll be doing the alignment with positive caster shims as well as 1/8 toe in, then weighing, adjusting correct tire pressure to load, then if need be install rear track bar first, and if still need be do the steering stabilizer. This thing will handle like a Ferrari by the time I'm done!!!


Walter