Sway Bar and Steering Stabilizer Questions on 1999 Shasta

I asked John your exact question, and he said the S-T-P was equivalent to upping the caster setting. You could call or write Henderson. They freely share their information and might be able to suggest a shop they trade near you. Yes, it takes a shop that understands Ford E-Series front ends and offset bushings. Some will say they won't use the adjustable bushings because they can work loose under heavy load. Some shops will set the Toe ONLY and call it good. Find one that understands. And be prepared to PAY. Have them do an estimate first if you can. There may be worn parts that you can replace yourself at a savings. John told me they used them (Ingalls 59400 or Specialty 24180) if the parts are clean and the pinch bolt is properly torqued. (I'm having trouble with EDIT - The sentence "John told me..." belongs after "...under heavy load") These are the settings I wrote down in MAY 2013 when I visited with John: Left Camber 0, Right Camber +1/4, Left Caster +5, Right Caster +5.5, Toe 0 to slightly IN (Positive).

j-d wrote:
We have an E450 and replaced both OEM sway bars with Hellwig bars. Same size and steel as Roadmaster but far less expensive. The new bars helped immensely, both on the road and on the campsite.

I visited with John at Hendersons Line Up in Grants Pass Oregon. One of the top shops in RV ride and handling. He agreed with the same 5-degrees of caster like Harvard mentioned above. Also said that adding a Safe-T-Plus steering stabilizer worked like setting caster to 5-degrees. It'd be the silver 31-140 model. The OEM damper brackets won't fit, you need a S-T-P bracket kit as well.

A Damper, like OEM and replacements from Monroe and Bilstein, absorb jolts. They don't help keep the steering centered. There's a kit called Steer Safe that centers the steering. Safe-T-Plus has hydraulic shock absorbing AND coil springs to center the steering. So does Roadmaster's "Reflex" unit but it uses one exposed spring instead of S-T-P's two enclosed springs. Henderson sells a lot of Roadmaster products, so if they select S-T-P instead, that's what I'd do.

Thanks much guys!
JD, you mention you replaced BOTH OEM bars on your E450. I see one solid (apparently) OEM bar on our E350 in front and just shocks in the rear. Does the E450 have both front and rear bars or did I miss seeing the rear bar5 on our E350?
Would a truck tire shop be my best bet to set camber? Regarding what the gentleman, John at Hendersons in Oregon said: so if we go with the Safe-T-Plus, we would not need to set camber? Thanks for this excellent and detailed info., appreciated.

We have an E450 and replaced both OEM sway bars with Hellwig bars. Same size and steel as Roadmaster but far less expensive. The new bars helped immensely, both on the road and on the campsite.

I visited with John at Hendersons Line Up in Grants Pass Oregon. One of the top shops in RV ride and handling. He agreed with the same 5-degrees of caster like Harvard mentioned above. Also said that adding a Safe-T-Plus steering stabilizer worked like setting caster to 5-degrees. It'd be the silver 31-140 model. The OEM damper brackets won't fit, you need a S-T-P bracket kit as well.

A Damper, like OEM and replacements from Monroe and Bilstein, absorb jolts. They don't help keep the steering centered. There's a kit called Steer Safe that centers the steering. Safe-T-Plus has hydraulic shock absorbing AND coil springs to center the steering. So does Roadmaster's "Reflex" unit but it uses one exposed spring instead of S-T-P's two enclosed springs. Henderson sells a lot of Roadmaster products, so if they select S-T-P instead, that's what I'd do.

Replacing the steering damper might be a reasonable idea if it's the factory original. Sometimes driving in a few figure eights in a parking lot can loosen up a damper that's not doing its job, or so the previous owner of my RV told me.

Do be aware that these are not ordinary shock absorbers; most shocks are designed to operate more or less vertically, and won't last well at all when used horizontally.

Making the caster set properly will help a great deal, as Harvard mentioned.

Too little front end +caster will manifest itself as "loose steering" (and wandering) at highway speeds. Ford ships these E series cutaways with the caster set at about +3.5 degrees which is OK for city driving but you want to have at least +5.5 degrees caster for highway driving. The OEM fixed concentric caster/camber sleeves need to be replaced with adjustable concentrics such as Ingalls 59400. Google E350/E450 Handling for more info on caster.