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09-26-2021, 06:50 AM
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#1
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Texas Gulf Coast
Posts: 328
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Added Hellwig Sway Bar behind rear axle
Decided to purchase and add a 2nd sway bar to the rear of our MH. Removing, installing, and torqueing leaf spring U bolt to 250 ft/lbs is hard work with only hand tools, and while laying on concrete.
Will test soon on a regularly traveled route; DW & I drive a 700 mile round trip every month to check our RV Port Home.
Thankfully I had 3/4" drive sockets and ratchets, otherwise this would have been almost impossible for me to loosen the factory nuts. The leaf spring shackles require 250 ft/lbs torque. I have a snap-on torque wrench that goes to 250 ft/lbs, but is 1/2" drive. Had to use a cheater pipe on torque wrench handle for leverage. I managed to do this solo. If I ever do another one, I will get someone to help.
Other items I've done:
Bilstein shocks front & rear;
CHF front with extended Hellwig links;
CHF rear;
Safe T Plus front;
Blue Ox Trac bar rear;
Firestone air bags at all four corners (35 psig front, 70 psig rear).
__________________
SMSgt USAF Retired
2001 Tiffin Allegro Bay 36DB, CHF, Bilstein B6 HD shocks, BlueOx rear tiger-trac
'13 Jeep, '12 Victory Cross Country Tour, Hollis Prism2
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09-26-2021, 07:44 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2020
Posts: 140
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tripntx
Decided to purchase and add a 2nd sway bar to the rear of our MH. Removing, installing, and torqueing leaf spring U bolt to 250 ft/lbs is hard work with only hand tools, and while laying on concrete.
Will test soon on a regularly traveled route; DW & I drive a 700 mile round trip every month to check our RV Port Home.
Thankfully I had 3/4" drive sockets and ratchets, otherwise this would have been almost impossible for me to loosen the factory nuts. The leaf spring shackles require 250 ft/lbs torque. I have a snap-on torque wrench that goes to 250 ft/lbs, but is 1/2" drive. Had to use a cheater pipe on torque wrench handle for leverage. I managed to do this solo. If I ever do another one, I will get someone to help.
Other items I've done:
Bilstein shocks front & rear;
CHF front with extended Hellwig links;
CHF rear;
Safe T Plus front;
Blue Ox Trac bar rear;
Firestone air bags at all four corners (35 psig front, 70 psig rear).
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I did those mods on mine too. That rear sway bar was a bear to handle by myself at home. I keep the RV in an enclosed, cement floored building but do not have a lift in there. Doing all those things made the rig stable in every situation so far. Fortunately my Dad was a MH technician and I inherited his shop tools. Will definitely get help next time. lol
__________________
Ron & Kathy
2009 Fleetwood Tioga 31M Class C
2013 Honda CR-V EX-L
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10-12-2021, 01:15 PM
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#3
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Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2021
Posts: 1
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Hi, just seen your post.
I'm new to Class A RVing.
What is CHF front with extended Hellwig links; CHF rear?
and what do the Firestone air bags do exactly?
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10-13-2021, 03:29 AM
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#4
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Texas Gulf Coast
Posts: 328
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Quote:
Originally Posted by STohm
Hi, just seen your post.
I'm new to Class A RVing.
What is CHF front with extended Hellwig links; CHF rear?
and what do the Firestone air bags do exactly?
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Your signature doesn't mention which chassis your motorhome uses. If it is a V10 Ford F53, then these mods apply.
CHF stands for Cheap Handling Fix. Front & rear sway bars on V10 F53 chassis have two sets of holes on them. Factory uses the outermost hole. CHF moves the mounting bolt position to inner hole. Doing so increases the anti-sway force, which helps control sway better.
Firestone air bags were added on top of the leaf springs. Placing them between the leaf spring and frame helped my MH handle better.
__________________
SMSgt USAF Retired
2001 Tiffin Allegro Bay 36DB, CHF, Bilstein B6 HD shocks, BlueOx rear tiger-trac
'13 Jeep, '12 Victory Cross Country Tour, Hollis Prism2
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10-18-2021, 09:29 PM
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#5
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Junior Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Cochrane, Ab. Canada
Posts: 26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tripntx
Decided to purchase and add a 2nd sway bar to the rear of our MH. Removing, installing, and torqueing leaf spring U bolt to 250 ft/lbs is hard work with only hand tools, and while laying on concrete.
Will test soon on a regularly traveled route; DW & I drive a 700 mile round trip every month to check our RV Port Home.
Thankfully I had 3/4" drive sockets and ratchets, otherwise this would have been almost impossible for me to loosen the factory nuts. The leaf spring shackles require 250 ft/lbs torque. I have a snap-on torque wrench that goes to 250 ft/lbs, but is 1/2" drive. Had to use a cheater pipe on torque wrench handle for leverage. I managed to do this solo. If I ever do another one, I will get someone to help.
Other items I've done:
Bilstein shocks front & rear;
CHF front with extended Hellwig links;
CHF rear;
Safe T Plus front;
Blue Ox Trac bar rear;
Firestone air bags at all four corners (35 psig front, 70 psig rear).
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I just bought a 2015 Ford F53 under a Fleetwood Southwind 32V.
I couldn’t get answers from the original owner as he is now elderly and has lost his memory.
Hoping for help I have a couple of questions:
1. Are there 2 rear sway bars in these from Ford?
I’m curious as mine has one in front & one behind the differential.
2. Mine has 4 yellow Bilstien shocks on it.
Are these the stock shocks installed from the factory?
3. Winds really affect the handling to the point it can be dangerous to drive.
What is the best thing one should do to help with this?
I am on a tight budget right now so looking for the one thing to help the handling with the best bang for the buck. I’ll add more to the handling modifications later if it needs more.
Thanks in advance.
__________________
Jim & Barb Messner
2011 Roadtrek 210 Popular - Chevrolet. Calgary, Ab.
SnowBirds AZ. We've owned Class A's, B+'s & now this!
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10-19-2021, 12:30 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Forest River Owners Club Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: Metchosin BC
Posts: 463
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Steering stabiliser (shock on the steering components - tie bar?) should help with crosswinds if your rig doesn't already have it, and is fairly cheap. Really just a shock with 2 brackets tying the steering to the frame (or something fixed). Said to help with (front) tyre blow outs too.
If crosswinds are high, best thing to do is slow down or pull off. Most Class A RVs' sides are like a sail and no getting around that. Was actually driving across the country in a rental Class C a few years ago and there were strong northerly winds once we left Medicine Hat. Not sure where we had intended to stay for the night but ended up in the municipal campground in Bassano and got pelted with branches all night. There was at least one semi truck trailer in the ditch when we were approaching Calgary the next morning.
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10-19-2021, 03:44 AM
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#7
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Texas Gulf Coast
Posts: 328
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Messner
I just bought a 2015 Ford F53 under a Fleetwood Southwind 32V.
I couldn’t get answers from the original owner as he is now elderly and has lost his memory.
Hoping for help I have a couple of questions:
1. Are there 2 rear sway bars in these from Ford?
I’m curious as mine has one in front & one behind the differential.
2. Mine has 4 yellow Bilstien shocks on it.
Are these the stock shocks installed from the factory?
3. Winds really affect the handling to the point it can be dangerous to drive.
What is the best thing one should do to help with this?
I am on a tight budget right now so looking for the one thing to help the handling with the best bang for the buck. I’ll add more to the handling modifications later if it needs more.
Thanks in advance.
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1. They came from factory with one rear sway bar in front of differential. The sway bar behind your differential was added by a previous owner.
2. The aftermarket Bilstein B6 I installed are silver & blue. Mine came from factory with motorcraft shocks, so I'm not sure what color the Bilstein's were from factory.
3. Best bang for the buck: tire pressures and CHF. Check the front sway bar, has the end links been moved to the rear sway bar holes?
Same a person above asked, has a steering stabilizer been added? If not, a SAFE-T-PLUS could be very helpful, but I can't say if that is exactly the one item you should spring for.
The steering on my 2001 F53 improved a lot after I changed from two to four house batteries. On mine, the batteries are mounted behind from front bumper, so the added weight was on very front of MH.
__________________
SMSgt USAF Retired
2001 Tiffin Allegro Bay 36DB, CHF, Bilstein B6 HD shocks, BlueOx rear tiger-trac
'13 Jeep, '12 Victory Cross Country Tour, Hollis Prism2
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10-20-2021, 08:07 PM
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#8
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Junior Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Cochrane, Ab. Canada
Posts: 26
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My Bilstien shocks are yellow.
So not sure if Ford put them on at the factory?
(I doubt it.).Same with Fleetwood I doubt they’d add custom shocks either. So my guess at this point is the previous owner must have put them on?
With the CHF:
mine are still mounted as they were from the factory (on the front sway bar).
I’ve heard tho that the extra pressure (when moved to the other bolt hole = CHF) has caused the arms (can’t recall their proper name) to break in some RVs.
Has anyone actually seen this happen?
Steering Stabilizer:
Mine had a Blue Ox Steering Stabilizer on it when I bought it.
I can’t tell if it’s actually doing anything tho? If it is then it isn’t helping much with wandering on bad roads or windy days. I do hear a click when I press the button.
I’m surprised Ford would let something that handles this bad leave their factory. Sad! 😞
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10-20-2021, 08:58 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Forest River Owners Club Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: Metchosin BC
Posts: 463
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Messner
My Bilstien shocks are yellow.
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Mine are yellow too. I thought it was a Monroe shock. Haven't seen/found the labels yet.
Quote:
I’m surprised Ford would let something that handles this bad leave their factory. Sad!
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This is how the current F53 leaves the factory
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12-01-2021, 12:17 PM
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#10
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Junior Member
Tiffin Owners Club Florida Cooters Club Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Aug 2021
Location: Previously owned; Gulfstream Endura 6430 Super C
Posts: 19
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If I am understanding your message about the CHF fix; you added longer Hellwig Links to the front sway bar?
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12-01-2021, 01:53 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Damon Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2020
Location: Clovis NM
Posts: 4,389
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Messner
My Bilstien shocks are yellow.
So not sure if Ford put them on at the factory?
My factory original shocks were blue and yellow; I replaced them with Koni's.
With the CHF:
mine are still mounted as they were from the factory (on the front sway bar).
I’ve heard tho that the extra pressure (when moved to the other bolt hole = CHF) has caused the arms (can’t recall their proper name) to break in some RVs.
Has anyone actually seen this happen?
I'd suggest checking out the "CHF" thread located in the Ford sub. Only one or 2 have broken, and those were both the 'dogleg' arms
Steering Stabilizer:
Mine had a Blue Ox Steering Stabilizer on it when I bought it.
I can’t tell if it’s actually doing anything tho? If it is then it isn’t helping much with wandering on bad roads or windy days. I do hear a click when I press the button.
press the button? What button? The steering stabilizer is passive; it has no button controlling it
I’m surprised Ford would let something that handles this bad leave their factory. Sad! 😞
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As mentioned above, Ford builds a basic chassis. It's up to the coach manufacturer to add changes to augment the design.
__________________
2006 Damon Daybreak 3276 35'with 5 Star Tuner. 3 200 Amp Lithium batteries and 2000 watt PSW inverter/charger. 2013 Elantra on a Master Tow dolly.
Retired USAF
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12-02-2021, 03:19 AM
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#12
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Texas Gulf Coast
Posts: 328
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pacman774
If I am understanding your message about the CHF fix; you added longer Hellwig Links to the front sway bar?
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Yes, I added longer Hellwig Links so the factory front sway bar would be level with CHF.
__________________
SMSgt USAF Retired
2001 Tiffin Allegro Bay 36DB, CHF, Bilstein B6 HD shocks, BlueOx rear tiger-trac
'13 Jeep, '12 Victory Cross Country Tour, Hollis Prism2
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12-02-2021, 05:58 AM
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#13
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Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Morehead City NC
Posts: 492
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I bought my 2016 Precept used and the PO had a rear sway bar installed from Tampa Springs in Florida. They also added a leaf spring to the rear. Drives very good with very little effect from wind and passing trucks.
__________________
2016 Jayco Precept 31 UL
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