Slack/Play in Steering

After you have followed Wolfe10's advise on how to check for slop in steering components and know that all is well in those components, you can probably adjust the steering box. There are several Freightliner chassis owners on the IRV2 Freightliner forum that have adjusted their steering box. Look at these two threads for additional info

Freightliner steering issue

Excess play in steering box freightliner

On my coach, the adjustment is on the side of the steering gear box, is hard to see, and has a hole in an adjacent frame member to allow access to the steering adjustment.

Fred

wolfe10 wrote:
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And, yes, more caster will give you better "return to center", but is really not a cure for play in the steering.

And I agree to disagree. :B

My experience with +caster, circa 2010

Same topic, but with a Jeep

Don is "on the money". Start by VERIFYING exactly where the play is.

With engine off, have an assistant turn the steering wheel back and forth while you look underneath for play in any of the steering components, including the bell crank. The assistant should turn the wheel in large enough arcs that it JUST starts to move the driver's side wheel. Then the right side wheel. That way, you can tell if there are worn components OTHER THAN the steering box involved.

And, yes, more caster will give you better "return to center", but is really not a cure for play in the steering.

A front steering stabalizer will also give you a tight feel as it brings the steering back to center. If your steering box it okay, you might consider one.

The original bellcrank for the Freightliner can get pretty sloppy. You can replace it with the Supersteer model and it will correct a lot of the wandering http://www.rvupgradestore.com/SuperSteer-Bell-Crank-FreightlinerMagnum-Chassis-p/ss100.htm

Some boxes, such as TRW do have an adjustment. However, this is a VERY persnickety adjustment. If you get the box too tight, and it is very easy to get it too tight, then you will have the most evil handling beast you can imagine. You can find a procedure on the internet to adjust it, but it involves disconnecting the drag link so that you can feel any freeplay in the gear. Do NOT adjust the box until the adjustment screw feels tight. Don't ask me how I know this? ;)

Some FL chassis actually have a right angle miter box in addition to the steering gear box. That can be a source of slop.

Sticky u joints in the steering column can made the steering seem sloppy, then twitchy as you turn the wheel more.

How much freeplay do you guestimate that you have? What diameter steering wheel do you have? I have had three Class A DPs, and I am OCD about the way they track and steer. The very best I have ever driven, including Prevosts, have about 1 inch of numbness in the center.

As previously stated, it is easy to overdrive the vehicle since there are two huge differences between a DP and a car. One, you are sitting in front of the tires, not behind them. This will make any front end side to side seem exaggerated compared to a car. Two, the steering has indirect linkage, compared to the direct linkage of almost all cars these days.

With all due respect, are you sure it's the mh and not you? How long have you had this mh and how much experience have you had driving it? The reason I ask, is that it is very common for a novice driver or over correct while driving down a straight highway...myself included. From personal experience, I found that was looking down closer to the front of the mh than I should have been. Once I started looking further down the highway, the more comfortable I became with the mh and was able to reduce the amount of over steer.

If you're an experienced mh driver, forget I even said anything. :o

Please tell us what steering box you have. Some, such as the Sheppard steering boxes are NOT externally adjustable.

Taking the play out of a Sheppard box means blue-printing/matching bearings very carefully.

If one feels the need to tighten up a steering box it is usually because of not enough front end +caster which is an alignment issue (as in toe, camber and caster). JMO.