Track Bar,Sway Bar or Safe Steer

[micki49]

Ok guys need a little help. Which if any or all the above do I need. I have a 2005 Monaco Lapalma 36ft. on a Workhorse chassis. Crosswind and the big rigs move me around. Big rigs not so bad but the crosswind is a killer.

Thank for the help.

[DriVer]

Originally Posted by micki49

Ok guys need a little help. Which if any or all the above do I need. I have a 2005 Monaco LaPalma 36ft. on a Workhorse chassis. Crosswind and the big rigs move me around. Big rigs not so bad but the crosswind is a killer.

mickie49, The very 1st thing I installed was a rear track bar. 90% improvement.

I liked that so much that I installed a track bar on the front axle and a Safe-T-Plus as a system at the pretty much at the same time. Works great!

Finishing up, I put a Koni FSD shock absorber on the four corners.

The top shelf upgrade would be a Helwig anti-sway bars, Track Bar & Shock Package.

Before you do any hardware modification, make sure you rule out your front end alignment and air pressures.

[Pusherman]

Originally Posted by DriVer

mickie49, The very 1st thing I installed was a rear track bar. 90% improvement.

I liked that so much that I installed a track bar on the front axle and a Safe-T-Plus as a system at the pretty much at the same time. Works great!

Finishing up, I put a Koni FSD shock absorber on the four corners.

The top shelf upgrade would be a Helwig anti-sway bars, Track Bar & Shock Package.

Before you do any hardware modification, make sure you rule out your front end alignment and air pressures.

I agree with DriVer on his prioritized list. Rear track bar would be the first place to start.

[micki49]

Thanks Guys for the info.

[oh no]

I put the Davis tru trac bar on the front. I had install one on the rear also. IT drives great now 2003w22 allegro bay 36foot

[Desertthing]

I have a 2006 Southwind on the w-22 chassis.
Installed front and back Hellwig sway bars and a davis front track bar.
All problems solved (Workhorse should not have been able to sell the chassis' without this stuff) My friends Ford Class A chassis came stock with huge sway bars....

[DriVer]

Originally Posted by Desertthing

All problems solved (Workhorse should not have been able to sell the chassis' without this stuff) My friends Ford Class A chassis came stock with huge sway bars....

How much would you be willing to pay for aftermarket suspension upgrades installed at the time of manufacture?

Workhorse actually produced a SKUed product called the SSC or Super Sport Chassis package that had additional sway bars, headers, instrumentation, a rather nice horn button and his & her themed jackets. You could not get any manufacturers other than 1 to buy the SSC package and include the cost into the retail price of their coach and yet remain competitive with other manufacturers.

I have seen the bare Ford chassis suspension on several occasions and the suspension components are not huge in comparison to a Helwig anti-sway bar. Ford would have not installed them if they were not needed as well in order to maintain an acceptable level of performance.

Anyone would be able to do so much better by going after market and having all the suspension components installed at over 100% savings over the OE retail price.

[mllk3rd]

Hey Driver, I thought my 05 W22 had anti-sway bars already on it, do the Helwig anti-sway bar make a big difference? I was thinking about a rear Track bar as my next step as I'm getting a lot of wandering, I had it aligned and new tires about 3k miles ago, new koni's a few hundred miles ago, I'm not really getting pushed around by the 18 wheelers just wandering.

[DriVer]

Originally Posted by mllk3rd

Hey Driver, I thought my 05 W22 had anti-sway bars already on it, do the Helwig anti-sway bar make a big difference?

All W-Series motorhome chassis have front and rear stabilizer tubes. Call them what you will but they function similarly to stabilizer bars. That said, Hellwig (real) stabilizer bars impart many more hundreds of pounds of force to improve the control and eliminate body roll or side to side rocking.

I was thinking about a rear track bar as my next step as I'm getting a lot of wandering, I had it aligned and new tires about 3k miles ago, new koni's a few hundred miles ago, I'm not really getting pushed around by the 18 wheelers just wandering.

I speak about this a lot. One should drive their rig for a while and identify what it is they are trying to control. A rear track bar will go a long way toward eliminating yaw or wagging. You will be so spoiled by this "in time" that you will also want a track bar and steering damper on the front axle too!

[rvjer]

I have a Davis suspennsion pack that was installed by Eric Davis in 2003 it has IPD sway bars front and rear, Davis front trac bar and a Henderson's rear trac bar, 4 Koni adjustable shocks and a Blue Ox Tru Center steering stablizer. It was all installed when the coach only had 500 miles on it and that was 9 years ago. So I really don't remember having a big problem but I got such a one time good deal I couldn't resist and I have never been sorry since.

[Desertthing]

Hi Guys, Well I am definitely no expert on sway bars and only say what worked for me to try to help others. I have owned all types of rv's from truck campers to class c and now calss a. The first drive home with my 06 Southwind on the W-22 chassis was a white knuckler and I wondered what had I got myself into. I started doing some research on this site and others to find out what to do. Many of you out there pointed to sway bars and track bars, which is where I ended up. The folks at Hellwig are the best and just as good as their products.
I do however have a friend that did buy his 2008 Bounder on the Ford power platform brand new and while telling him what I had gone through we looked under his coach to see that there were sway bars front and back already in place, bigger than my Hellwigs....he did not special order this and had no idea they were there until we looked.
Oh well....I hope you all keep it cool....four weeks in the 100's here in CA....
PS. just had my brake recall done....thanks Workhorse and Mojave Truck Center...

[mllk3rd]

Hey Driver, I'm planning a 2-3k mile trip soon, I had the MH aligned last year when I got the new Toyo's but they set it to the factory settings, at that time I didn't know that they recommended setting the caster at +6 degrees, do you think before I go that I should have the alignment done again but setting the caster to +6 degrees?

[DriVer]

Originally Posted by mllk3rd

Hey Driver, I'm planning a 2-3k mile trip soon, I had the MH aligned last year when I got the new Toyo's but they set it to the factory settings, at that time I didn't know that they recommended setting the caster at +6 degrees, do you think before I go that I should have the alignment done again but setting the caster to +6 degrees?

Here is what I wrote back in January 2011. Member Ding-a-Ling had caster shims added by Brazel's RV. I believe that they added 3° shims ...

"You will probably require the motorhome to be setup on the front end machine again. The task therefore would be to R&R (or loosen) the front spring U-Bolts because some shops may want to replace those. Wedges will be placed between the axle and the spring that will change the caster angle. Re-torque the U bolts to spec. (not to exceed 5°) Verify the caster angle on the machine and get a printout. Test drive the vehicle. Don't let anyone suggest that the axle needs to be bent."

"Ours needed 3 degrees of shim to bring it up to spec of 5 degrees. Now it drives nice."

I am not sure where you heard that you need to have +6° of caster.

[mllk3rd]

I saw the 6 degrees in one post, searched it and I see that You and John at Brazel's recommend 5 degrees. So do you think it would be a good ideal to have this done before I go, then I can assess if it needs any suspension upgrades. Thanks