First Drive -A Question orTwo
We just brought our '06 unit home last night...a 700 mile drive. It is on Ford E 450 chassis, and is our first experience driving something other than a truck/5er. First...The steering initially...
Forum Discussion
memtb,
One more point to make on the handling of your rig.
You mentioned it is a 2006 on an E450 chassis. You did not mention the make and model of the rig. You did not mention the length or wheel base. You did not mention the miles driven. All that information influences how a motor home will handle. Most influential is the wheel base. The more distance between the front and rear tires, the more stable the rig will be. The ratio of the wheel base to the rear over-hang is also a big factor. Adding the miles driven and you could have some wear and tear on your suspension and steering components.
We bought "brand new", our 2007 Phoenix Cruiser built on a 2007 E350 chassis. On it's maiden voyage, it handled like a drunken sailor on less than ideal road conditions and surrounding wind-influenced conditions. Soon thereafter, we invested in heavy duty front and rear stabilizer bars, a heavy duty steering stabilizer (that horizontal shock absorber looking thing attached to the steering linkage), heavy duty shocks, and a rear track bar to help because we tow. To finish it off, we had a wheel alignment done with the rig loaded as if ready for a trip. All in combination, the upgrades did wonders, since has been handling closer to a tight SUV. I don't have to concentrate on keeping the rig in between the lines. I simply hold the steering wheel in a fairly fixed position and it stays put. Of coarse there is still some compensation required, but nothing like before. I went from holding the wheel with two hands tightly to one hand gently and a cup of coffee in the free hand. The suspension improvements made a world of difference for us with our rig. And, not only is our rig more stable on the road, it is also more stable at the camp site. We have no need for stabilizer jacks.
With that experience with our rig today and also with our prior rig, I cannot agree with some of Desert Captain's comments. A test drive on a smooth local road on a calm day can be quite a different driving experience compared to a loaded rig on an interstate highway with a worn wavy surface with a consistent cross wind and trucks passing. They can be quite different experiences. And in my experience, "ideal" driving conditions is very rare.
Ron Dittmer
One more point to make on the handling of your rig.
You mentioned it is a 2006 on an E450 chassis. You did not mention the make and model of the rig. You did not mention the length or wheel base. You did not mention the miles driven. All that information influences how a motor home will handle. Most influential is the wheel base. The more distance between the front and rear tires, the more stable the rig will be. The ratio of the wheel base to the rear over-hang is also a big factor. Adding the miles driven and you could have some wear and tear on your suspension and steering components.
We bought "brand new", our 2007 Phoenix Cruiser built on a 2007 E350 chassis. On it's maiden voyage, it handled like a drunken sailor on less than ideal road conditions and surrounding wind-influenced conditions. Soon thereafter, we invested in heavy duty front and rear stabilizer bars, a heavy duty steering stabilizer (that horizontal shock absorber looking thing attached to the steering linkage), heavy duty shocks, and a rear track bar to help because we tow. To finish it off, we had a wheel alignment done with the rig loaded as if ready for a trip. All in combination, the upgrades did wonders, since has been handling closer to a tight SUV. I don't have to concentrate on keeping the rig in between the lines. I simply hold the steering wheel in a fairly fixed position and it stays put. Of coarse there is still some compensation required, but nothing like before. I went from holding the wheel with two hands tightly to one hand gently and a cup of coffee in the free hand. The suspension improvements made a world of difference for us with our rig. And, not only is our rig more stable on the road, it is also more stable at the camp site. We have no need for stabilizer jacks.
With that experience with our rig today and also with our prior rig, I cannot agree with some of Desert Captain's comments. A test drive on a smooth local road on a calm day can be quite a different driving experience compared to a loaded rig on an interstate highway with a worn wavy surface with a consistent cross wind and trucks passing. They can be quite different experiences. And in my experience, "ideal" driving conditions is very rare.
Ron Dittmer
