Community Forums

Ellwill · 05-31-2020, 03:46 PM

My first class A is a Thor Windsport. 30 feet of really fun RV camping. But the driving is not so fun, especially in a cross wind. What is available to improve handling to keep me between the lines out there? I am not able to work on this rig myself so I will need to find a reliable shop to git er done. Suggestions??

GCSuper · 05-31-2020, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ellwill

My first class A is a Thor Windsport. 30 feet of really fun RV camping. But the driving is not so fun, especially in a cross wind. What is available to improve handling to keep me between the lines out there? I am not able to work on this rig myself so I will need to find a reliable shop to git er done. Suggestions??

Just do a search on this forum. There are thousands, maybe millions of threads you can read. Some help, some just lighten your wallet.

rrtribble · 05-31-2020, 04:43 PM

Had one myself. I went with the CHF - Cheap Handling Fix. Check it out; make a copy of the instructions and take them with you to your Ford dealer. I did the front only and it improved the handling significantly but there will still be some turbulence problems. You can also do a rear CHF but I never saw the need.

Before I did the CHF I added a steering stabilizer but it didn't seem to make any difference.

Drive safe and enjoy - Richard

dons2346 · 05-31-2020, 09:22 PM

First thing, and the cheapest, is to make sure your tires are inflated properly. Get the coach weighed and inflate according to weight.

Waiter21 · 06-01-2020, 04:49 AM

What chassis is this? What make, model, year?

Tire pressure. Get front / rear axle weights, verify tire pressures correct for weights.
If older than 10 years, replace shocks.
Front end alignment. Set toe in to max. set caster to max (If adjustment required, go 1 degree past max)
If Ford F53, perform CHF
Consider adding rear track bar

.

Jabber Jaw · 06-01-2020, 08:11 AM

These four things will make a big difference:

1) Saf-T-Plus steering stabilizer
2) Ultra-Trac rear track bar
3) Koni shocks (change all 4)
4) Proper tire inflation (based on the weight of your coach, have all 4 corners weighed individually)

Additional considerations would be the "CHF", Ford chassis cheap handling fix.
Sometimes it makes a difference, sometimes it does not.

Sumo Springs added to the front, should help with some of the road harshness.

And lastly, front, or front & rear sway bars!

Any decent RV Service facility should be able to easily install any or all of the items!

Best of Luck!

Cloud Dancer · 06-01-2020, 08:11 AM

Caster is the most important adjustment which might help you. However, in order for caster adjustment to do much good, the front axle must be loaded almost to its limit, otherwise you will not achieve sufficient 'caster authority'.

TheWoodBoss · 06-01-2020, 10:58 AM

I met a guy a few weeks back that was really liking the Airtabs he bought and put on his Class A. He said they helped a lot.
These are what I am talking about. I may try them but at the moment I want to do a paint job so for now the Airtabs are on hold.

Airtab | Aerodynamic Fuel Savers | Application

Also the "CHF" if you have a Ford Chassis will be a huge difference. I did it and the RV handles so much better.

Ellwill · 06-01-2020, 01:02 PM

Thanks everyone for the great suggestion.
FYI, I am doing the CHF and then adding a Safe T Plus steering stabilizer. I found several folks who used this combo and they were pleased with the result.
Drive safe everyone!

Ellwill · 06-05-2020, 03:40 PM

Hi guys, I’m baaaack!
I got under my Thor and found the gizmo to adjust for the CHF. Seems like pretty heavy duty sway bar so my next question for the guys that have actually done the CHF is: Do you just start loosening the bolts and try to move the rod into the inner holes or do I take it to my friendly RV shop for this project?
Sorry to be such a pain.

Waiter21 · 06-05-2020, 03:42 PM

Yes, You should be able to loosen the bolts, reposition the links, then tighten everything back up

twinboat · 06-05-2020, 05:58 PM

With tires on the ground, sitting level, remove the bolts where the 2 holes are.

Remove both sides, push the bar up and the links back, until you can fit the bolts in the other holes.

Tighten them up as hard as it was to loosen them and your done.

luvlabs · 06-06-2020, 07:00 AM

Since it is your first motorhome, the best fix starts with driver training and expectations. All of these mechanical fixes won't correct the basic situation - you need to learn some basic control tricks to prevent you from oversteering and causing most of your symptoms.

First off, you need to learn to steer by only using your wrists (this applies to open road driving, not turns). Plant your elbows on the armrests and keep them there. Make small movements with your wrists to keep yourself in the center of the lane. Make sure you are steering with the 500 ft view ahead and not focusing on 20 ft in front of the coach. Drive this way for a few thousand miles before you start looking for suspension upgrades.

While you are practicing driving, also realize that motorhomes will rock and will get pushed by wind and passing trucks. Learning to deal with these situations without overcontrolling will be a challenge but you can do it.

Learning to drive before you make suspension changes allows you to be selective in your changes and actually know if they made any improvements.

AveryF · 06-06-2020, 07:27 AM

Luvlabs offers some really good information! Driving a coach is not anything like driving a passenger car or truck and his information is spot on! I realize we're talking about a totally different chassis, model year, manufacturer, etc from our's but here's my 2¢ for what it's worth.

We have an older 2004 Itasca Sunrise on a GM Workhorse chassis that we only recently acquired. It's belonged to my wife's aunt and uncle since 2006 and I'm almost certain no mods have been done to it. We took it to a big rig shop north of Fort Worth for an oil change, check the fluid levels, tire pressure, etc. prior to leaving but driving it totally empty the first time from Texas to Alabama was indeed a white knuckle experience. Once I got it home, one of the first things I did was to load the coach just like we were leaving on a trip, weighed it on certified CAT scales, and adjusted the tire pressures accordingly. What a night and day difference! So much so that I don't really anticipate having to do any other driving or suspension mods at this point. Of course, I'm pretty sure a couple of thousand miles driving experience in our "new to us" MH probably had a lot to do with it as well.