Community Forums

basic · 06-12-2014, 09:58 AM

We have a 2012 Itasa on a Freightliner chasis. From day one the rig wants to drift to the right. It is following the crown of the road. When I am in the left lane in which the crown is to the left, it does infact slighlty drift left. But as I spend 98% of my time in the right lane, it seems that I am constantly applying pressure to the left in order to track straight. I have had the alignment checked twice. And the shop says it's properly aligned. Maybe since I am driving a large truck I should expect this pull. Unlike my experience with Autos and SUVs. What is your experiene with a "drift"? Everything else relative to the rig's driveability seems fine.

Thanks much,

Dain

mel s · 06-12-2014, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by basic

We have a 2012 Itasa on a Freightliner chasis. From day one the rig wants to drift to the right. It is following the crown of the road. When I am in the left lane in which the crown is to the left, it does infact slighlty drift left. But as I spend 98% of my time in the right lane, it seems that I am constantly applying pressure to the left in order to track straight. I have had the alignment checked twice. And the shop says it's properly aligned. Maybe since I am driving a large truck I should expect this pull. Unlike my experience with Autos and SUVs. What is your experiene with a "drift"? Everything else relative to the rig's driveability seems fine.
Dain

Dain
You could spend $1000+ for a gadget like this:
Blue Ox RV Steering Stabilizer, Blue Ox TruCenter Motorhome Steering Stabilizer, to fix that.
Or you can simply live with that small inconvenience, (as I have for 105k miles).
Mel
96 Safari, 123k miles

spinn · 06-12-2014, 12:37 PM

You might also want to have your ride height checked, and ensure you are running the proper tire inflation. If these are things you have checked I apologize. Also when having your alignment checked make sure they check your rear axle alignment as well.

Note you have the issue resolved

ditto · 06-12-2014, 05:18 PM

Your so close to Gaffney sc, compared to most I mean, have the folks there ck your coach...they are very good.

F117plt · 06-12-2014, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by basic

We have a 2012 Itasa on a Freightliner chasis. From day one the rig wants to drift to the right. It is following the crown of the road. When I am in the left lane in which the crown is to the left, it does infact slighlty drift left. But as I spend 98% of my time in the right lane, it seems that I am constantly applying pressure to the left in order to track straight. I have had the alignment checked twice. And the shop says it's properly aligned. Maybe since I am driving a large truck I should expect this pull. Unlike my experience with Autos and SUVs. What is your experiene with a "drift"? Everything else relative to the rig's driveability seems fine.

Thanks much,

Dain

Mine does the same thing. You identified it, it's the crown in the road. Can't do much about that.

Harry B · 06-12-2014, 11:10 PM

A couple of years ago this was a discussion on this site. That person had the suspension adjusted to compensate for the road crown. This apparently is not standard practice on the Freightliner chassis.
Remembering the discussion it is more of a problem on the west coast than east coast roads.
I also have this problem but it was worse prior to a 4 wheel alignment. They had to reposition my rear axle by cutting the axle mounts and rewelding them.

You might make sure that they performed a 4 point alignment versus just checking the front wheels.

dengraham · 06-13-2014, 03:39 PM

Dain,
I can guarantee you, your problem is the ride height. Yes, take it to the Gaffney Service Center. Do a full (six way) alignment, ride height, and weigh all six tires. Every 42 footer I have seen come out of Forest City will "dog track" (depending on the model) because the weight distribution is causing the ride height to be incorrect. Ask them if you need to adjust the air pressure in the tag as well. After they get the ride height correct, the tag air pressure correct, and the right amount of air pressure in the tires, you will not experience the drift to the right.
(Have someone follow you and ask them if they can see all the way down the driver side of your motorhome as you go down the road? The incorrect ride height causes the rear axle to pull on the frame which causes the dog track AND the drift.
Enjoy your motorhome, especially after taking it to Gaffney.

D Lindy · 06-13-2014, 05:24 PM

If you've weighed your unit you'll know the pressure for the front tires, and that according to the tire chart for inflation there is a bit of wiggle room on the tire pressures. What I've done is increase the right tire's pressure by about 5 psi over the left and this little pressure difference made a big difference in the way the unit tracked and did not pull to the right as much.

basic · 06-13-2014, 07:46 PM

Thanks for input. I will try a few suggestioins and also plan on gettng to Gaffney this summer. It's also good to know that I am in good company.

Thanks,

Dain

powerboatr · 06-16-2014, 10:46 AM

definitely weigh all four corners and adjust tire pressure according to the charts

but crowned road ways are still goign to cause some pull in that direction
our texas NON federal interstate highways all crown pretty good.
If its a four lane i try to run in the left lane if no traffic is around if the road is bad
also i try to stay out of the GROOVE depression this helps very much in the right lane.
i have found riding close to the line is best, than when traffic approaches i ease over to the right a bit more.
our trip to harlingen last week was met with 20 plus mph side winds and horrible lane conditions on 77 south i had to hold the wheel at a pretty good angle to maintain a straight line. watch this week heading back the winds will have died off

Steverado · 06-16-2014, 07:44 PM

I had the same problem with a Freightliner chassis on my Thor motorhome. After going to six different dealers and Gaffney twice, Rush Truck in Charlotte rotated my front tires from one side to the other and
the pull went away.
They told me it was called radial run out

koda59 · 06-16-2014, 11:04 PM

When I release my wheel my rv tracks straight. When you have an alignment done the specs take into account road crowning.

stik · 06-17-2014, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steverado

I had the same problem with a Freightliner chassis on my Thor motorhome. After going to six different dealers and Gaffney twice, Rush Truck in Charlotte rotated my front tires from one side to the other and
the pull went away.
They told me it was called radial run out

Been there, done that! Mine was pulling right on flat roads, worse on severe crowned roads.

It was radial run out that was the problem and it, too, disappeared as soon as the front tires were swapped!