davemilster
Sep 07, 2017Explorer
2013 Fleetwood Excursion Freightliner XCS chassis
Hi All,
I have the subject RV with 24XXX miles. It's a diesel pusher. It has NEW tires all around (age replacement) and their all inflated to 120lbs. I bought it with 10K miles on it. Since new, I've been bothered by a handling issue and have searched on line for solutions and found nothing per se' appropriate to my issue. The new tires have not changed handling either. While cruising down the road I find the coach when it LEANS to either side due to any causes, such as cross winds, tilted pavement, other trucks, etc, the back end swings out toward the side to which it's leaning pushing the nose of the coach the opposite direction. When you enter into a sweeping turn on the highway, you first turn the wheel to start into the turn, then the coach leans a bit which causes the rear suspension to "steer" a bit and then you have to correct the steering wheel back close to neutral. The sensation is a bit like you're driving on ice and have to make no sudden movements or you feel like you'll spin out of control. Not very calming on a long drive!
Now I've worked on sport handling cars and dealt with "OVERSTEER", but this is a bit different. In a car, the harder you corner, the more oversteer you have as the body leans. This COACH though doesn't seem to lean any farther (or if it does, no further oversteer occurs) and a hard corner produces no more oversteer than a sweeping turn.
On a car, I'd just add or increase the size of the FRONT stabilizer bar to minimize oversteer, or use urethane link bushings vs rubber, but this is different.
I've also noticed when going over a speed bump slowly at an angle, the front suspension seems to have NO side to side leaning (or stabilizer bar effect), where the rear over the same speed bump on an angle tilts the coach dramatically. I've looked underneath and see no stabilizer bar on EITHER end of this coach.
SO here are the questions:
Who are the experts in Freightliner XC/XCS chassis tuning?
Who has dealt with this overteer/body lean on an XCS (SHORT) chassis? It's 35ft long vs the typical 38-40 on an XC chassis.
I have the subject RV with 24XXX miles. It's a diesel pusher. It has NEW tires all around (age replacement) and their all inflated to 120lbs. I bought it with 10K miles on it. Since new, I've been bothered by a handling issue and have searched on line for solutions and found nothing per se' appropriate to my issue. The new tires have not changed handling either. While cruising down the road I find the coach when it LEANS to either side due to any causes, such as cross winds, tilted pavement, other trucks, etc, the back end swings out toward the side to which it's leaning pushing the nose of the coach the opposite direction. When you enter into a sweeping turn on the highway, you first turn the wheel to start into the turn, then the coach leans a bit which causes the rear suspension to "steer" a bit and then you have to correct the steering wheel back close to neutral. The sensation is a bit like you're driving on ice and have to make no sudden movements or you feel like you'll spin out of control. Not very calming on a long drive!
Now I've worked on sport handling cars and dealt with "OVERSTEER", but this is a bit different. In a car, the harder you corner, the more oversteer you have as the body leans. This COACH though doesn't seem to lean any farther (or if it does, no further oversteer occurs) and a hard corner produces no more oversteer than a sweeping turn.
On a car, I'd just add or increase the size of the FRONT stabilizer bar to minimize oversteer, or use urethane link bushings vs rubber, but this is different.
I've also noticed when going over a speed bump slowly at an angle, the front suspension seems to have NO side to side leaning (or stabilizer bar effect), where the rear over the same speed bump on an angle tilts the coach dramatically. I've looked underneath and see no stabilizer bar on EITHER end of this coach.
SO here are the questions:
Who are the experts in Freightliner XC/XCS chassis tuning?
Who has dealt with this overteer/body lean on an XCS (SHORT) chassis? It's 35ft long vs the typical 38-40 on an XC chassis.