Forum Discussion

4x4van's avatar
4x4van
Explorer III
Mar 12, 2019

2004 Workhorse chassis; no sway bars?

Have had this RV (2004 Itasca M30) on the Workhorse W-20 chassis for about 2 1/2 years now, and love it. But, realized something surprising the other day.

To be honest, I am not unhappy with the handling. Although it was a bit squirrely when I first purchased it, adjusting the tire pressures to match the actual load helped a great deal. However, I was still contemplating adding a rear trac-bar to improve things even more.

Imagine my surprise when I was rolling around on a creeper underneath doing some recon for a trans temp gauge install, and realized that there are NO sway bars on this chassis! None! So now I'm thinking that sway bars may be the best "Bang-for-buck" on my rig rather than a trac-bar. Heck, even my last 2 RVs (class C) had sway bars; I would've expected a bigger, heavier, taller class A to have them.

Thoughts? Is the lack of sway bars normal for the Workhorse?
Class A

9 Replies

  • dcbrewer's avatar
    dcbrewer
    Explorer
    Mar 22, 2019
    I never looked at the bars as sway bars, but our 36 ft Pace Arrow on the W-22 handles great to not have any add ons. Took a few miles to get use to it and the feel, now feels good on the road. I know i shouldn't but at times drive 70, and it still feels good on the road. But mostly drive around 60 to 65.
  • 4x4van's avatar
    4x4van
    Explorer III
    Mar 20, 2019
    Yup, mine have the 2 1/2" bars both front and rear. Didn't realize that they were sway bars till this post. I had to really look at what the ends of the leaf springs "want" to do when the chassis leans vs what the bars "fight" in order to really understand how they work. Completely different approach/process than a typical sway bar, but certainly quite effective.
  • tenn_vol_'s avatar
    tenn_vol_
    Explorer
    Mar 19, 2019
    My workhorse is 2002, on a 32 ft. chassis with 19.5 rims.
    I installed air bags on 4 corners, have no problem with sway
    or large vehicles rocking the M/H. Maybe if it was a longer
    chassis, then I could have a problem, but not on my 32 ft.
    Just the way I see it....tenn.vol.
  • GREGORYJ's avatar
    GREGORYJ
    Explorer
    Mar 18, 2019
    23hotrodr, agree. Once it warms up here, I just got a rear track bar that I'll install plus a Road-Master sway bar. I fact going one more step, I'm removing the old square tube sway bar to make room for Kelderman's 2 stage Workhorse rear air suspension.
  • 23hotrodr's avatar
    23hotrodr
    Explorer
    Mar 13, 2019
    Just FYI- I added a rear track bar to our 36' rig on W24 chassis and it helped tremendously with cross winds and passing trucks.
  • GREGORYJ's avatar
    GREGORYJ
    Explorer
    Mar 13, 2019
    Here is the rear sway bar for example on our 08 W22. After market ones are available for the W22 (one company is Roadmaster) but I'm not sure about the W20 chassis. To me it doesn't seem that effective when noticing how much the coach rocks side to side when pulling on or off some approaches and on to a highway.

    Update: It appears the W20 and W22 use the same sway bars offered from these 3 companies, Blue Ox, Roadmaster and Hellwig.

  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Mar 12, 2019
    One of the differences between Workhorse Custom Chassis and nearly everybody else.

    They built MOTORHOME chassis's. NOt Truck but MOTORHOME So they put on as the other respondent said Big Heavy Square Solid Sway bars that do a good job.

    They know Motor homes are top heavy and need the added sway control.

    Most companies build like a straight truck chassis and .. Well.. those have a much LOWER center of gravity.. I know.. I worked out of one for 7 years.
  • 4x4van's avatar
    4x4van
    Explorer III
    Mar 12, 2019
    rgatijnet1 wrote:
    The sway bars are there and they are more beefy than any aftermarket sway bars. They are the large square tubes that are near both the frnt and rear axle and they are SOLID mounted, with no rubber bushings to dampen their affect. You can add others if you want to but it is a waste of money. You would be surprised how many people have added others and not realized that the chassis already have them. They usually swear that after spending a lot of money, the handling MUST be better. :B
    I had no trouble with my "W" series Workhorse chassis so you may want to have the alignment checked and set your tire pressure at the correct psi for your weight. Since I traveled a lot in the Great Plains which is notorious for high winds, I added 4 corner air bags that I could inflate or deflate from a dash button. This stopped any swaying in high crosswinds. I also added Koni FSD shocks.
    Wow, what a great piece of info. I saw the square bar across the leaf springs but never considered those as sway bars. Thanks; at 57 I'm still learning every day.
  • rgatijnet1's avatar
    rgatijnet1
    Explorer III
    Mar 12, 2019
    The sway bars are there and they are more beefy than any aftermarket sway bars. They are the large square tubes that are near both the frnt and rear axle and they are SOLID mounted, with no rubber bushings to dampen their affect. You can add others if you want to but it is a waste of money. You would be surprised how many people have added others and not realized that the chassis already have them. They usually swear that after spending a lot of money, the handling MUST be better. :B
    I had no trouble with my "W" series Workhorse chassis so you may want to have the alignment checked and set your tire pressure at the correct psi for your weight. Since I traveled a lot in the Great Plains which is notorious for high winds, I added 4 corner air bags that I could inflate or deflate from a dash button. This stopped any swaying in high crosswinds. I also added Koni FSD shocks.

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