Yep Another Steering Stabilizer Thread

From Popular Mechanics May 1973

QUOTE:
"If too little caster exists, the car will wander and weave, thus necessitating constant corrections in steering."
END QUOTE:

Just a heads up I'm a black or white type kind of person no grey area I tell it like I see it. So not trying to sound like a know it all, smarta$$ or even attempting to act like I know any of it, its just my experience.
I'll be up front and tell it like it is !
A good example is buying the Koni FSD shocks , felt like I wasted my money should have stayed with Bilstein HD's.
Some feel if its more money it must be better... And won't let their pride say otherwise.

Saying all that;

Ok got a chance to take it out for a test drive, since I-80 is a very heavily traveled freeway and most lanes had ruts , it was hard to really get a good test drive in.

Saying that got into the middle lane, lined up going straight let loose of the steering wheel and it drifted/pulled left. After several attempts I took notice of where I had to hold steering wheel to stay straight.
Kinda hard to do since I still had to continue to move steering wheel to track straight.
Pulled off the freeway into a large Walmart parking drove along abit in the parking lot nice level area stopped where I felt the steering wheel was needed to be.
Since I was by myself (instructions say to leave engine running and have a person hold the steering wheel while another does the adjustment) I shut the eng off , slid underneath loosened up the ubolts retaining nuts, tapped on the stabilizer a few times per instructions.
Made sure the ubolts were lined up ok and tightened the nuts back up.

Got back on the freeway center lane, yep now it wanted to drift/pull to the right. Even moved over into the far left lane now on downside crown still pulled/drifted right.
Turned around went back to the Walmart parking lot samething I did before .
Only this time left the eng running. Loosen tap tap check ubolts tighten nuts back up , back out on the freeway still wants to pull/drift right.

Now there was a slight breeze and alot of traffic ! Trucks, other MH's etc so it was kinda hard trying to find the hole in the traffic where I wouldn't be pushed around by passing trucks or me passing them etc.

Did this on both sides of the freeway with last adjustment so even wind blowing didn't effect it , it still wanted to pull/drift right.

This weekend will get my bride to go out with me and see if with her holding the steering wheel will help any on getting it adjusted.

I think my next step is to take it to a good alignment shop (if I can find one local) and see what they have to say and do.

I still get pushed by passing trucks and always will ,anyone who says they don't get pushed over abit by a semi passing after they had the stabilizer, anti sway bars, shocks and or tracking bar installed is only kidding themselves.

Still getting the wondering not as bad as before I replaced the front anti sway bar.
Between upgrading the anti sway bars (Hellwig) , tires (Michelin's), shocks (Koni's FSD's), and now steering stabilizer (Safe-T-Plus).
I feel upgrading the front way undersized anti sway bar helped the most.

What I know now vs when I started out , owning a ford I would start out with replacing the undersized front anti sway bar , if shocks are needed ? Replace them with the Bilsteins HDs wouldn't go with the Koni's ! If still getting allot of sway while parked upgrade the rear anti sway bar.
Add the steering stabilizer for the added safety in case of a blow out..

Maybe after this weekend with help and readjusting the steering stabilizer maybe I'll be whistling another tune. Right now I just feel its an added safety factor in case of a blow out.

I'll report back after I get help with adjusting the stabilizer.

Yep same video JD Same principal for adjustment with any of them.

Wish someone would make a video on complete remove of old "dampener" install the Safe-T-Plus , test drive adjust if needed.
Reason why I say that is every video I've seen it shows one being installed on either a F53 chassis or even a semi like the video you shared .
The "Blue" stabilizer is lined up right along side the tie rod link, where as both the stock "dampener" and now the new Silver one (our size) does not line up right along side the tie rod link !

When I tightened up the stabilizer end on the drivers side bracket I had to pull it just a hint to fit the ubolts through the retaining bracket and positioned it as close to neutral (inline) with the tie rod then tightened the nuts .

Totally agree on "what were the engineers thinking when they build an engine around an oil filter or fill in blank _________ "! Everyone of them needs to have to work on them ... lol

Yes JD got out early to beat the sun, once its over the tree tops from the neighbors house, it forget about working on anything till the sun goes down behind the trees of our neighbor's house. Then its everything is heat soaked !
Will see if its the same video I've watched before Thanks !

Man you ain't kidding ford did the cheapest route they could do on supplying MH manufacturers on cut away chassis.
Or its a coup between the chassis manufacturers, MH manufacturers and the aftermarket knowing darn well we the end consumer will have to do so much to correct what should have been done right in the first place !

Looking forward to test driving it this morning and I'll report back .

We've had pretty-much the same setup as you, on our 2007 E350 chassis motor home for 10 years now. All in combination, the upgrades really did do wonders for handling. Here is what we had installed back in 2007.

- Roadmaster front and rear heavy duty stabilizer bars
- adjustable Koni RV shocks set to max load (red colored, not gold colored FSD)
- Safe-T-Plus steering stabilizer
- Henderson rear trac bar (because we tow)

I agree that the original Ford steering stabilizer is a decoration.

Here are some interesting facts about the E-series cut-away 2007 and older......
- The original shock absorbers are the same ones Ford installed on their standard E250 van.
- The front stabilizer bar is the same one installed on the E150 van.
- The E350 cut-away chassis never had a rear stabilizer bar to begin with.

What does that tell you? Ford really fell short in those areas, hence the reason for the need to upgrade.

You're up'n'out early! Probably trying to lay on the pavement while it's still below 120.

I found this YouTube on how to tweak the centering of a Safe-T-Plus for another OP awhile ago.

I label Ford's OEM unit, the Monroe, Bilstein etc. "shock absorber looking things" as "Dampers" since they don't have anything to push the helm back toward center.

There's Steer Safe from Deming NM that's a collection of brackets and springs. It provides centering only, but I think the OEM or other Damper can stay in place.

S-T-P and Roadmaster RSS have both "shock" and "spring" so I call them "Stabilizers."

John Henderson told me that adding an S-T-P unit (the "140" model for Class C) is equivalent to bumping Caster up to 5-degrees. Got one out of his stock and held it up for me to see.

You're a very objective kinda guy, so I look forward to your road test report!

Most of the time things are designed by engineers that have never worked on a vehicle in their life.... Being an old school mechanic, i just hate opening up the hood of a new car and seeing....... A pretty plastic cover .....AARGH!!! I have always said that a designer/ engineer should have to work on his own designs before they are allowed to go into production... My favorite thing is when a car, a part etc is doing something and you call the "expert". and tell them what is happening a they say. " that's impossible". I usually reply. "well come on over and let me show you what impossible looks like"