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Old 12-21-2018, 07:10 PM   #29
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Originally Posted by DryCreek View Post
Go one more step and get the rear track bar. What you describe is the "tail wagging the dog" effect. Stiffening up the front with the new track bar just made the issue more obvious. A rear track bar will keep the long rear end of the chassis right over the rear axle instead of letting it "slide" over the top of it.
I believe I may have misread your original post. If you do not have a rear pan hard bar, it is a must for the F53 chassis.
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Old 12-22-2018, 06:31 AM   #30
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Originally Posted by rrtribble View Post
When I had my gasser MH and towed the frontend would lift due to the weight of the toad. One of the benefits of my DP is I don't have that problem anymore.

Best of luck - Richard
Towing a vehicle 4 down does not and can not lift the front end of a F53 chassis.
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Old 12-22-2018, 08:52 AM   #31
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Originally Posted by marjoa View Post
Towing a vehicle 4 down does not and can not lift the front end of a F53 chassis.
If it's done right.
I think that someone was trying to justify the added expense of moving up to a DP.
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Old 12-22-2018, 08:54 AM   #32
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Originally Posted by alank View Post
Best suggestion I could give you is to increase the trail In the Terrain and decease the trail in the F53 chassis. Increasing this alignment setting will make the Terrain follow the direction of the hitch assembly more easily, which is what you want the Terrain to do.
On the other hand, you want the F53 chassis to be less responsive to outside influences, such as the tug of the hitch on the rear end, gusty wind, truck headwind etc., which is what a decreased trail setting does. You change the caster angle to set the amount of trail you want to run. Big caster setting, lots of trail. Small caster setting, small amount of trail.
On my coach I am running about 3/4" of trail (1" is good) which takes about 2 1/4* of caster on my size tire. That setting by the way, is half of what Freightliner min. specs are. If I remember correctly, I ran about 3* caster on my F53 chassis & 19.5" tires.
Just a side advantage is that the steering you have to do is much easier.


I have been in the automotive service business all my life and I have never heard of setting “trail”. Please tell me what you are describing. Are you talking thrust angle, kpi, toe? Did you use tapered shims on your front axle to change the caster?
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Old 12-22-2018, 09:50 AM   #33
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If you can't release the air through your valve stems, how do you know what the pressure is? If you can measure it, you can release it.
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Old 12-22-2018, 10:53 AM   #34
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I am assuming that since the front tires were at 100 psi before that the back tires are also 100 psi. There would be no reason why the dealer would have set the back different than the front.
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Old 12-22-2018, 07:02 PM   #35
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Originally Posted by slemnah View Post
I have been in the automotive service business all my life and I have never heard of setting “trail”. Please tell me what you are describing. Are you talking thrust angle, kpi, toe? Did you use tapered shims on your front axle to change the caster?
Yes, you use tapered shims to set the caster.
Don't feel bad about not knowing, It's not taught in automotive schools. It's a term mostly applied to single steering wheels. A motorhome runs with two single front steering wheels, and they both operate with trail. TJay hangs out in F53 forum and is a 35 year automotive instructor said he had to look it up to see what I was talking about. He and I don't agree on front alignment specifications. Basically you want about 1" of trail, which is what the automotive industry runs. You then have to calculate the amount of caster needed for your tire diameter to run with 1" of trail. There are a lot of good things that come out of running 1" of trail, such as liter steering, less push from wind, less pull from a blown front tire, etc. . The things I claim I can demonstrate with a small solid front axle and shopping cart in a seminar environment so those in question can see the results. I get the same results with 2 1/4* caster in my Freightliner chassis that I get with about 4 1/2*caster in my CR-V toad. Many have said they would like the motorhome to drive more like their toad, well, I say try aligning it like the toad is aligned and see what happens, but be sure to use camber, toe & trail.

I had my Freightliner chassis done at my local Freightliner shop and it was not an easy task to get them to do it. I had to argue my way through two guys and convince them I knew what I wanted and why. My two previous F53's were done the same way with very good results and no other steering modifications or add on's.
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Old 12-23-2018, 05:41 AM   #36
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Just a thought, tow vehicle and MH are different track widths some roads have ruts that will make toad go one way and MH go the other.
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Old 12-27-2018, 03:07 PM   #37
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Tow 4 down handling

i did not see anyone mention if the tow bar is level, is it? Do you need a drop receiver to align the hitch and tow bar height? Towing off level with towbar will cause what you describe.

Rich
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Old 12-27-2018, 03:10 PM   #38
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I owned two MHs with the F53 chassis. Adding the front track bar was a good addition. Both the 2001 and 2005 model were prone to the "death wobble" because of the leaf spring front suspension. I talked with Ford about that issue and they said that the RV builders were loading the front too light, however starting in 2006 Ford added that part to the F53 chassis. I don't know if they added it to all of those chassis or just the stripped chassis for RVs because they had received so many complaints (or if the RV builders requested that they add it). For both of the F53 chassis that I owned, the front track bar cured the problem. Note that if it's a Davis Tru Trac Bar made by Roadmaster, the link is adjustable. I installed them myself and had to adjust both of mine, because I got a little of the same wandering that you mention. You need to get on a very flat road (no crown), drive it slowly and see if it pulls in either direction without your input. You can speak to a technician at Roadmaster about this at at 1-800-669-9690 and choose option 2. You can also call Ford custom chassis, but I no longer have that number (and Roadmaster can help you anyway).
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Old 12-27-2018, 03:21 PM   #39
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Make sure the tow bar is reasonably (< 3 INCHES preferably less) level from toad to tow. If the height of the tow connection is significantly different from the toad connection it will change your steering geometry whenever you accelerate or decelerate.
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Old 12-27-2018, 03:36 PM   #40
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You are towing 4 down , this should not effect the weight of the coach in any way.
That is absolutely correct. 4 down only affects GCWR but has no affect on GVWR.
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Old 12-27-2018, 03:41 PM   #41
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Hey Guys:

Just a quick update on this. I am getting both of the front leaf springs replaced as the passenger side leafs are separating from each other and the top leaf was bending more than the bottom.

I also got a Roadmaster Quiet Hitch which takes out the slop on the hitch and receiver. Also measured the height of the tow bar and middle of hitch. The tow bar was an inch higher than the hitch.

I'll let everyone know how the new springs worked with the toad attached.
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Old 12-27-2018, 04:07 PM   #42
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Originally Posted by rrtribble View Post
When I had my gasser MH and towed the frontend would lift due to the weight of the toad. One of the benefits of my DP is I don't have that problem anymore.

Best of luck - Richard
Hahahaha. Wow.
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