Wallowing Beast

Just an update, I installed a Hellwig rear anti-sway bar. The installation went easy enough and in the spring we'll see how it is...

j-d wrote:
Charles is right. Posted all the Good Stuff. Gauge and Chuck where one head is Straight. And those Air-Through Caps are a blessing. Look carefully and see if you need Straight or Angled gauge and chuck. Then, you can probably get by with ordinary METAL valves. Not regular or "high pressure" ones involving rubber. With those and air-through caps, you should be able to check and inflate your tires.

IF IF IF you use the long gauge and chuck. I wanted to be able to check and air up with whatever was available, and many air stations are for cars and single wheel trucks only.

So I got Dually Valves by BORG The kit looks something like this for GM Class C


The straight valves for inner tires suggest that a straight gauge and chuck will be best for you.

What YEAR is your Chassis (may be different from the Year Model of your Coach, and Registration might show either)? I'd like to look at the Installation Instructions for the Hellwig rear sway bar to fit your chassis.

The chassis and coach year are both 1995. The kit is the same part number for 1995-96.

http://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3612

Charles is right. Posted all the Good Stuff. Gauge and Chuck where one head is Straight. And those Air-Through Caps are a blessing. Look carefully and see if you need Straight or Angled gauge and chuck. Then, you can probably get by with ordinary METAL valves. Not regular or "high pressure" ones involving rubber. With those and air-through caps, you should be able to check and inflate your tires.

IF IF IF you use the long gauge and chuck. I wanted to be able to check and air up with whatever was available, and many air stations are for cars and single wheel trucks only.

So I got Dually Valves by BORG The kit looks something like this for GM Class C


The straight valves for inner tires suggest that a straight gauge and chuck will be best for you.

What YEAR is your Chassis (may be different from the Year Model of your Coach, and Registration might show either)? I'd like to look at the Installation Instructions for the Hellwig rear sway bar to fit your chassis.

Racine96 wrote:
How old are the tires?

They are old enough that they will need to be replaced I think.

CharlesinGA wrote:

DrewE wrote:
As with most (all?) duallies, the valve stems on the rear are in between the two wheels. I'm assuming you have daullies; it sure looks like it from the picture, though it's hard to tell with absolute certainty. If the chrome things are wheel simulators (i.e. hub caps), it may be easier to get at them with them removed. The ones I have, and others I've seen, are held on by two of the chrome lug nuts, the remaining ones being fakes. It's not hard to tell which are functioinal by tapping them gently with a wrench or something and listening to the sound.

You do of course need a dual head tire gauge to get at the valve stems of duallies. At least with the Ford wheels, the ones with a straight-on end chuck, rather than an angled one, seem to work better. The angled ones are somewhat more common, though.

Ditch the wheel simulators, will make life much easier.

straight and angled head tire gauge with long stem.



Straight and angled tire servicing chuck for truck tires.



Alligator V2B thru the cap inflation caps. No caps to remove.



Charles

I have an angled one like you posted, thanks

j-d wrote:
We had an older Class C, about the size of yours, on a Ford E350. Rebuilding the front sway bar with new end links and end bushings, made a big difference in the coach's stability. I replaced rubber with polyurethane.

I helped an OP here on RV.net with installing a Hellwig rear sway bar on a Chevy chassis and he noted a big difference. Even more importantly, his WIFE noted a big difference...

EDIT: From the pic, it doesn't look like the rig is riding low in the rear, but it's certainly possible that the rear leaf springs have gone soft. An RV isn't like a box truck. RV is pretty much fully loaded all the time. That's a lot of weight standing on the springs, 24x7, the whole life of the RV.

The Hellwig bar is what I was looking at and will likely install. Thanks

DrewE wrote:
As with most (all?) duallies, the valve stems on the rear are in between the two wheels. I'm assuming you have daullies; it sure looks like it from the picture, though it's hard to tell with absolute certainty. If the chrome things are wheel simulators (i.e. hub caps), it may be easier to get at them with them removed. The ones I have, and others I've seen, are held on by two of the chrome lug nuts, the remaining ones being fakes. It's not hard to tell which are functioinal by tapping them gently with a wrench or something and listening to the sound.

You do of course need a dual head tire gauge to get at the valve stems of duallies. At least with the Ford wheels, the ones with a straight-on end chuck, rather than an angled one, seem to work better. The angled ones are somewhat more common, though.

Ditch the wheel simulators, will make life much easier.

straight and angled head tire gauge with long stem.



Straight and angled tire servicing chuck for truck tires.



Alligator V2B thru the cap inflation caps. No caps to remove.



Charles

How old are the tires?

We had an older Class C, about the size of yours, on a Ford E350. Rebuilding the front sway bar with new end links and end bushings, made a big difference in the coach's stability. I replaced rubber with polyurethane.

I helped an OP here on RV.net with installing a Hellwig rear sway bar on a Chevy chassis and he noted a big difference. Even more importantly, his WIFE noted a big difference...

EDIT: From the pic, it doesn't look like the rig is riding low in the rear, but it's certainly possible that the rear leaf springs have gone soft. An RV isn't like a box truck. RV is pretty much fully loaded all the time. That's a lot of weight standing on the springs, 24x7, the whole life of the RV.

Regarding alignment, Fortunately the tracking is very good on it. It doesn't seem to wander at all and the steering is very tight. The tires also have a fair amount of miles on them and show no signs of uneven wear. The problem is really just the top heavy, tippy feeling of it. In any case I'm going to bring it to my mechanic and have him go over the whole thing.