Steering stabilizer thoughts and recommendation

Stuart,

You have received many responses and most are not relevant to the real value of a steering stablizer. If your coach has handling issues, the stablizer may help.
However, the REAL VALUE of the stablizer is help you maintain control of your coach in case of a front tire blowout. Without a stablizer, the blowout may force your vehicle either off the road to the right or left and into opposing traffic. Neither is good. The stablizer will almost surely help you maintain steering control and bring your coach to a stop in a straight line. THIS IS THE REAL VALUE OF THE STABLIZER.
Yes, I have a Safe-T-Steer on my coach, and it's there primarily for the safety issue!
CarlGeo

S-n-L wrote:
Hello everyone,

A friend is recommending a steering stabilizer for our soon to own Holiday Rambler Navigator 45 foot DP. Do any of you have one for a similar coach and if yes what brand model would you recommend and what do you think of it?

Thanks

Stuart

If I recall the details correctly they go something like this.

The chassis manufacturer does an alignment when the chassis is built and shipped to the coach builder. Obviously in the case of in-house chassis this is not the case.

When the coach body is added there should be another alignment check before delivery to the selling dealer since the loading of the completed unit could (probably did) change the alignment.

Most good dealers suggest that once you, as the owner, have loaded your unit with all of the stuff we tote around, filled our various tanks, water, fuel & LP that an alignment check would be a very good idea.

Here again, a good dealer with an in-house chassis shop could and should (in my opinion) offer or provide that last alignment check as part of the sales deal. Some can and do so, others aren't capable and seem to avoid the whole issue, thereby dumping the whole thing on the owner.

Right, wrong or indifferent, that seems to be the way this thing goes.

Well I was thumbing through my owners manual and if I add a after market steering stabilizer it voids the chassis warranty. I believe that is two years.

Also found out that Freightiner doesn't warrant the alignment after the purchase. I can understand down the line, however I've had the issues since day one or 350 miles on the odometer.

Looks like I'm in for a $400 repair bill with less tha 1000 miles on my new coach. That really sucks the wind out of you.

Check your alignment and make SURE it has a "+" toe, NOT neutral or "-".

Well, we have new 2013 Fleetwood 42' DP. IMHO coming from never driving a big rig it does tend to wander, taking constant "small" corrections. It pulls to the right driving down the road. Yes it will be taken in to be looked at after my next trip as I had it weighed and adjusted tire pressure based on that. They were over inflated. So at least I can rule the tires out after this trip.

However what's noticeable is when hitting a good bump it's felt as a very slight directional change of the steering wheel one way or the other. So everyone saying a stabilizer isn't needed hasn't convinced me that there not beneficial based on my experience, albeit I will have the MH looked at for other issues before a final decision.

Perfect timing for this post as I've been considering this myself. I'm not a structural or mechanical engineer but it does make sense if you could damper and tighten up some of the weak points in the steering. Understandably some of he higher end coaches have better designed steering and suspensions. Even though mine is new its not much better than a dump truck driving down the road from a steering & suspension point of view.

So, I too are leaning toward this direction if all other avenues fail to diagnose any issues. One will be installed next spring depending on my results.

With a little practice it is amazing how LITTLE steering input it takes to drive the the Monaco/HR RR10S chassis. In my opinion many steering problems are caused by the nut behind the wheel of a long DP. Because of the longer length it takes longer for steering inputs to take affect so if you are new at it you add a little more. Now you have more than you need and then it,s easy to start over steering it.
I love the rock solid handling of my 10 airbag coach. Yes, it,s a little firmer than some coach,s but that is what I like in all my cars.
About the only thing that can go wrong is the toe in being off. There is no need for a steering stabilizer.

I have yet to understand how one of these things could help with wind push from a truck passing you. The air pushes the side of the RV no matter what you have on it and will always. Nothing under an RV can correct physics.

S-n-L,
The primary reason for a steering stabilizer is for stabilization of the steering. And that, primarily means "rapid" movement in lateral direction. In other words, if you have a rapid shaking side to side, caused by many issues, it will subdue that. Although the cause of any rapid side to side movement should be taken care of, even if the stabilizer is handling the problem as a band aid.

Diesel pusher rigs, commonly are heavier rigs and, therefor, heavier front end components and are usually more resistant to issues that cause front end steering issues on lighter chassis coaches like the F-53. (Not chastising the F-53 here, just using it as an example). As has been stated, normally no diesel unit needs "enhancement" components. There are a few, very few, exceptions.

I would like to know why your buddy is recommending one for such a nicely built, strong chassis?? Especially without test driving it and analyzing the front end in multiple road/operating conditions such as rough roads, hard braking, braking while turning, uphill, down hill, fully loaded fuel tank etc.

So, I too would recommend not being to antsy to got out and spend "diesel fuel" money on aftermarket parts. Good luck with your new rig.
Scott

Stuart - If that big long coach needs a steering stabilizer don't buy it. Look for a motorhome that does not need it. I laugh when people talk about all kinds of add ons for steering. Properly engineered and set up steering does not need any add ons to muck it up. HR a good brand. You should not need anything.

Drive it first and decide if you need/want one. I put a steer-safe on my HR (signature below) which was already a good tracking coach. It eliminated rut tracking was the only difference I saw, but the DW noticed the difference when she was driving so overall it was beneficial.

Fred