New to Class A traveling

[mudduckdon]

We just purchased a 2005 Bounder Fleetwood after having a living quarters horse trailer.
Driving this thing home was certainly a challenge. So far we have put a steering center balancer on it, huge improvement, only partial white knuckles now

The windows are fogged up, anyone have suggestions on how to fix this?

Thank you, looking forward to reading and sharing experiences with the group.

[FloridaSon]

“partial white knuckles”
You may be over steering. I came from driving firetrucks and was muscling the motorhome steering wheel. Passing and getting passed was pretty violent. I did not want to use the arm rests. Finally I thought I would try it. Much less stress. There is a learning/comfort curve. Of course if you are close quartering maneuvering at slower speed, you need both arms involved.

Are you using the arm rests and only using your wrists to steer at road/highway speeds? When you are passed by a semi, you can expect a push to the right, then left and SLIGHTLY compensate for it.

This convo is useless. You should get some training on driving from someone you trust. Take your time, it will come.

[Flyer15015]

See my signature for the mod's I did at others sugguestions to make mine handle just fine. Of particular note should be the Sumo's (stock in front, P32's in back). I drive her like a hot rod now.

Mike in Colorado

[Camp CA]

Welcome to the forum!!

What rv and chassis do you have? So you installed a steering stabilizer? Which manufacturer? Consider installing a rear trac bar and larger front and rear anti-sway bars.......I found all of these, including steering stabilizer, very helpful to mitigate sway on my previous F53 chassis motorhome.

[SteveJ.]

Originally Posted by mudduckdon

We just purchased a 2005 Bounder Fleetwood after having a living quarters horse trailer.
Driving this thing home was certainly a challenge. So far we have put a steering center balancer on it, huge improvement, only partial white knuckles now

The windows are fogged up, anyone have suggestions on how to fix this?

Thank you, looking forward to reading and sharing experiences with the group.

The Panhard bar in the back really helps with the sway. In addition

There are a few places around the country that repair foggy windows. Or you can do it yourself. Google is your friend for both statements. We used Suncoast Designers in Hudson, FL for our windows. Very pleasant experience with free camping and a lifetime warranty. We took the opportunity to hop in the toad and killed a day eating Greek food in Tarpon Springs and Safety Harbor.

[Dutch Star Don]

Often, new Class A owners will try and steer their RV like a car. Driving/steering for the road directly in front of them. It's similar to what "Florida Sun" mentioned above. Rather than steer to stay in your lane directly in front of you, look/steer to a point much further down the road. This will help to reduce the "see saw" motion of steering the coach, making for a more relaxing drive.

[WeeBeenew]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

Often, Rather than steer to stay in your lane directly in front of you, look/steer to a point much further down the road. This will help to reduce the "see saw" motion of steering the coach, making for a more relaxing drive.

Yup! This worked wonders for me! That. And remembering that your rig does fit on the road!

[bentjm]

+1 on Suncoast Designers. Figure on $400 a window.

[Isaac-1]

As mentioned there are a handful of RV window specialist shops around the US, Suncoast near Tampa, RV Fog Dr in Searcy, Arkansas, Auto Glass Boss in Arizona, etc.


As to handling the first step in addressing this should always be getting the coach weighed, and adjust proper tire pressure using an RV tire inflation chart such as:


https://www.goodyearrvtires.com/pdfs/rv_inflation.pdf

[Dodge Guy]

Lots of DIY videos and kits for the foggy windows. I haven’t done them, but they are pretty straight forward.

As for the handling, it is a learning curve. I would also check tire pressures. Don’t just fill them to the pressure on the sidewall. Weigh the coach and then adjust the tires per the tire manuf weight/pressure chart.

[Flyer15015]

OP,
Re the foggy windows, we had 4 done in Searcy, Ark by RV Fog Dr.
Drove in and camped w/ full hookup on a Sunday Night. They started @ about 08:30 Monday morning, and we pulled out about 11;30. Cost was $250.00 each and we had 2 small and 2 large windows done. Even got a free "T" shirt. We're very happy w/ results.

Mike in Colorado

[scenic route]

Our previous coach was a '05 HR Vacationer 36' on the W-22...Set of Koni SFDs and a Blue OX Rear Trac bar cured the white-knuckle syndrome. Also, had the front end caster set @ 5 deg + for better directional stability.

We had some fogging on the entrance door window on our present coach. Bought everything needed to do the job. Cost was about the same if I had it done professionally and would not of had a bad case of 'cramp hands'. Take other's advice and HAVE it done professionally.

Note: Sometimes that 'fogging' can etch the window permanently, so they can replace those for you.

[mudduckdon]

Thank you

[Wes Tausend]

Originally Posted by mudduckdon

Thank you

If you haven't had much luck yet, the following may help.

If you analyze systematically, you will probably discover that all coaches can steer satisfactorily when equipped with a functional standard factory set-up. The steering gremlin arises when some coaches don't seem to obey that obvious rule.

The first thing to do is check toe-in. Make sure the wheel bearings are tight. Camber makes very little difference. Toe-in can be crudely checked by sighting it like a rifle. Look down the inside of a front tire towards the same side rear tire with both tires as straight ahead as you can aim them. Since wheel base widths always seem to be different, front to back, make sure what you are looking at in the rear is the same distance apart. The front tires should aim about an inch further to the outside as opposed to the same width they are in front. That means the front is toed-in and that is about what it should be at least. Just so it is not toed-out.

Generally the front tires must be toed slightly in unless the axle is a driving axle such as front wheel drive or constant all-wheel drive. If the axle is toed out, the steering will become grabby, very "dart-y", very quick acting. Some auto-cross racers do this on purpose for quicker steering. The sole reason for factory toe-in is that ordinary rolling drag straightens the slack in the tire track toeing it out because the tire fronts are pushed apart. As an example, if it's front wheel drive, the correct toe setting is toed-out and the forward pull of the driving force on the front tires cause them to toe back the slack to straight ahead when under way. All wheel drive may require a neutral setting. The factory works this out and recommends the best setting for the least tire wear. That's it... it's not rocket science.

The second thing to do is check to make sure nothing is loose that will make you have to herd your coach down the road with a tedious abundance of steering efforts rather than steer it with two fingers. That "loose" check done, the next step is to do the opposite; make sure nothing is binding. Again, a binding result also causes a tedious abundance of steering efforts rather than steer it with two fingers. And it's not as easy as one thinks to tell the difference. Many steering sectors have been changed for perceived looseness when a bind somewhere else was the culprit.

To properly check the most common binding problems, one must lift the front axle to support the vehicle as though the tires are still resting on the ground. In other words, the suspension should remain compressed like it would parked. The tires will no longer drag on the ground when steering though.

Now get a cheap sports fishing scale and check what sort of tension is required to pull the unloaded steering wheel right and/or left with the engine (and power steering) off. Hook the scale to a spoke near the rim. The scale should read around 5-6 pounds and 10 would be excessive. At this point, grease the ball-joints/kingpins if they might be dry and check again. This procedure is mostly from a Ford service bulletin and my own experience. This grease might fix it.

If this doesn't fix it, this is probably where most tiresome steering problems are sourced. Correct caster makes the coach automatically go straight when one takes their hands off the wheel. That is why caster is used. Self-centering only.

Excessive steering bind makes the front tires lock-steer in a different direction every time a front tire encounters a slight bump, turns steering slightly and sticks there. That, in turn, makes the driver forcibly correct it, likely over correct it, until he finally zeros in on straight again. Until the next road imperfection. It's an endless fatiguing loop, very similar to too-loose steering in feel. Remember... a little loose is normal... as long as steering self-corrects.

When folks change factory caster settings for extra caster, they are usually compensating for a slight bind with intentional-overkill caster. Increased caster makes the binding steering self-center again. But it is better to eliminate the bind than increase factory set caster.

Too much caster not only makes the coach steer harder trying to turn normally; it especially makes it steer harder when braking, when the driver might wish for the ability to turn easier and quicker to avoid an accident or pothole.

Just a few things cause bind. A notorious felon is binding ball-joints. They bind because they are dry. They bind because they are new and tight... as in just-installed or right off the showroom floor. Finally, they bind because they are installed wrong. By wrong, I mean that some ball joint pairs (like 4x4 live axels) require a certain sequence of tightening each other during installation, avoiding permanently binding the top joint against the bottom joint like a vise.

That's why Ford came up with a check (see above). New trucks and joints normally break-in in about 2 or 3,000 miles. Break-in unless they are improperly tightened to bind against one another, in which case they will continue to bind 1000's of miles until they are worn out about one fourth or so.

--wes