Check your Roadmaster Reflex Steering Stabilizer

[BigHomey]

My MH is on a 2016 Ford F53 chassis and I had a Roadmaster RSSA steering stabilizer installed shortly after purchasing the rig in Oct 2016. I have put about 5K miles on the coach with it installed without any problems.

When leaving our camping site on Wednesday, I backed out in order to connect the toad and heard a loud bang. I looked under the coach but did not see anything wrong. After connecting the toad, we were leaving the rv park and had a hard pull to the left and no ability to turn to the right. I crawled under the coach and disconnected the bracket for the steering stabilizer from the tie rod. I thought that the bracket had somehow slipped on the tie rod due to too much pressure while backing and turning hard left out of the space.

We made it home without incident and I called Roadmaster technical support the next morning to see if they had heard of any reports like this. The young lady told me it is possible, but a one in a billion chance.

Today when trying to reconnect it, I noticed that the spring had come out of its base. The spring is supposed to be threaded into the silver collar and the collar could spin freely on its shaft.


I called Roadmaster technical support again and explained the situation the a young man. He told me the the spring could be threaded back on the collar, but the collar should be fixed to the shaft. He told me there is a set screw hidden under a label that fastens it to the shaft. The set screw (5/32" hex head) apparently had not been tightened at the factory as I got 2 complete turns on it before any contact. The pressure of the spring moving in/out over time must have caused it to 'unthread' itself.


I reconnected and tightened everything and will give it another test when we leave for the next trip on Monday. If this had happened when coming out of a gas station or something instead of in the rv park, it could have been a lot more fun without the ability to turn right past center.

AL

[mrt_1111]

[fatguy57]

I’ll be checking mine thanx for the heads up.

[triplewide]

Just had the same issue with my RSSA stabilizer. Had been installed for several thousand miles. Spring became disconnected just like yours. Happened when making a hard (all the way) right turn a slow speed. Unable to steer the coach.
I removed the RSSA at the campground in Elkhart, IN. Drove home to Greensboro, NC without it.

When I first installed the RSSA it seemed like the steering had been restricted from full travel. Contacted Roadmaster and was told that was not possible.

I plan to measure the travel of the steering from lock to lock before reinstalling the RSSA, then measure it after install. I suspect that the spring is slipping off the retainer because it is being pulled off when making tight turns.

I'll check the set screw also. I'll post what I find.

Thanks for posting your issue.

[Unicorn Driver]

Something similar happened to me on a coach I traded in last month.

[Fiesta48]

The set screw was loose on mine too..but...
It should be loose until near the last thing to do is turn the aluminum sleeve so the spring is coiled is tighten but...
It's not in the instructions.
Or if it is 1/4 unscrewed like mine came, so the spring can twist when turning. And the alum collar should be locked with the set screws.
I could only find one...

[BigHomey]

Originally Posted by Fiesta48

The set screw was loose on mine too..but...
It should be loose until near the last thing to do is turn the aluminum sleeve so the spring is coiled is tighten but...
It's not in the instructions.
Or if it is 1/4 unscrewed like mine came, so the spring can twist when turning. And the alum collar should be locked with the set screws.
I could only find one...

My take is that the spring should be completely tight in the collar and the set screw should be tightened from the factory. Like you said, there is nothing in the instructions about the set screw and it is purposely hidden under a sticker. So how would anyone even know to look for it?

AL

[triplewide]

Originally Posted by triplewide

Just had the same issue with my RSSA stabilizer. Had been installed for several thousand miles. Spring became disconnected just like yours. Happened when making a hard (all the way) right turn a slow speed. Unable to steer the coach.
I removed the RSSA at the campground in Elkhart, IN. Drove home to Greensboro, NC without it.

When I first installed the RSSA it seemed like the steering had been restricted from full travel. Contacted Roadmaster and was told that was not possible.

I plan to measure the travel of the steering from lock to lock before reinstalling the RSSA, then measure it after install. I suspect that the spring is slipping off the retainer because it is being pulled off when making tight turns.

I'll check the set screw also. I'll post what I find.

Thanks for posting your issue.

Just finished re installing the RSSA. After investigating, I think my problem was the same as BigHomey's. The set screw was very loose, doubt that was making contact at all.

Checked for turning restriction and found none. Turned the steering wheel lock to lock, marked the points and counted the revolutions. Was exactly the same before and after the install. It was , of course, a little harder to turn the wheel after install.

Thanks again for the post BigHomey. Never would have found that set screw on my own.

[BigHomey]

I just got back last night from a 650 mile round trip to KY. The steering stabilizer works much better now that it is secured properly.

AL

[triplewide]

Originally Posted by BigHomey

I just got back last night from a 650 mile round trip to KY. The steering stabilizer works much better now that it is secured properly.

AL

Good deal!

My confidence in the RSSA is still a little shaky. Will take a lot of trouble free miles to restore it.

[ScottnKat]

I came home at noon and crawled underneath the mh. The roadmaster spring is still intact but the bracket has shifted left on the tie rod about 6 inches. Im going to remove it and see if that solves my problem. Thanks to everyone.

[btolle]

Might be a good idea to use blue Loc-Tite on the set screw to keep it from happening again.

[hohenwald48]

This topic has come up in the past but it does seem that Roadmaster is letting a good many out the door with a loose set screw these days. It's a good thing that it's coming up again and hopefully the word will get out to more folks. It's one of those things I recheck anytime on on my back under the front end.

[BigHomey]

I looked at the latest installation instructions for the RSSA (dated 07/18) and Roadmaster has added this note to the beginning of the procedures:

Note: Before installing the shock component
of this system, please ensure that the spring is
fully-seated in its track on the collar of the unit. If
it is installed without the spring fully-seated in its
track, the unit could malfunction or otherwise fail
to operate properly (Fig.1).

I still think they should make a note about the set screw on the collar since they hide it with a label.

AL