My son & I installed my new Blue Ox TruCenter steering trim kit today. I installed Steer Safe springs years ago, but they did little to compensate for over-steering or side winds. My son is a certified mobile forklift mechanic, so he backed his service van up to my RV here at home, and we went to work (how lucky am I!).
First we removed the Steer Safe springs. The TruCenter installation manual seemed pretty straightforward, but I always look for tips from others who have DIY'd it themselves. I didn't find much here on iRV2, so I did a Google search and found a helpful YouTube video.
The instructions from Blue Ox say not to raise the RV for the installation. I can only assume that doing so may throw off the mounting points of the TruCenter. Without a work pit however, there was virtually no way to do it without the RV lifted. The YouTube video I mentioned was posted by a professional installer. His video seemed to show the RV raised, so we went ahead and raised the front end and supported it with jack stands.
The installation of the device and mounting plates was fairly easy as long as you follow the directions and take the required measurements, before and after the install. The hardest part was supporting the heavy cylinder by hand while securing the mounting hardware.
The time consuming part of this installation was running the 12V wiring from the TruCenter up into the cab. I didn't like the ugly momentary push button supplied by Blue Ox, so I custom ordered a momentary rocker switch that closely matched the rest of my cockpit switches. I checked with Blue Ox first to make sure this didn't void their warranty, and I was given a green light. Luckily, I had a blank switch plug in my switch console, so the new switch popped right in. The new switch is the one with the unmarked solid green face. It's not a perfect match, but it will do nicely.
My test drive through the neighborhood proved this to be one of the best mods I have done to date, and believe me, I've done a lot! The steering feels nice and tight with no play in the wheel. I looked for a crowned road to try out the trim feature and it worked quite well. I am very happy with the results and can't wait for our next trip to test it out on the open road!
Craig
Linear Mode
