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Trak, Sway or Stabilizer ?

Mbrown
Explorer
Explorer
I have an older Minnie that I have yet to take out, but after reading all the great info on this forum, I feel I need to put on one or more of these items for Comfort and safety reasons. My question is; I know the items have somewhat different functions but is there one item that handles all 3 and/ or can you use all 3 for extra comfort and safety. I'll be using my rig to drive from the coast through the Mtns to the desert often, where high winds will be frequent in So Cal.
Thanks from a New RV'er !!
6 REPLIES 6

gotsmart
Explorer
Explorer
I have a Safe-T-Plus steering stabilizer. It's a damper and a centering device. Here's why I chose it:
link to quote
j-d wrote:
Monroe replacement is under $30 at places like Amazon, closer to $20 at RockAuto. Advance had a special and I paid around $30 delivered to the house. Some sellers show "Lifetime Warranty" and others don't. Since Advance does, and there's a store around the corner, I went that way.
The RoadMaster unit looks like the same concept as Safe-T-Plus except the coil "centering" spring is external where you can see it. S-T-P has it inside the tubes. Looked at the RoadMaster install instructions and saw what I always expected. You must be sure the vehicle steering is centered or the stablilizer will introduce a pull to one side or the other. Easy to correct per instructions.
RoadMaster limits their retail outlets much more than Hellwig does for their products. S-T-P uses more outlets too, so chances are you can get that unit at a lower price than RM's stabilizer.
I prefer S-T-P and RM over Safety-Steer (the one with brackets, springs and bellcranks out at the wheels) because it lacks a hydraulic damper. The OEM "stablilzer" I call a "Damper" because it has no centering springs. So:

OEM, Monroe = Damper
Safety-Steer = Centering
S-T-P, RM = Stabilizer (Damper AND Centering)

My ratings, your opinions may vary.

This link has the sway bar and trac bar (and Safe-T-Plus) information that I had installed on my E450. I went with the rear trac bar because I'm towing a car. It helps a lot with tail way. The trac bar and Quiet Hitch have darn near eliminated all tail wag for me.

Later on I had the OE upper and lower ball joints replaced. They were totally worn out. I replaced them with NAPA ball joints that have grease fittings. New ball joints tightened up the steering quite a bit. Much improved.
2005 Cruise America 28R (Four Winds 28R) on a 2004 Ford E450 SD 6.8L V10 4R100
2009 smart fortwo Passion with Roadmaster "Falcon 2" towbar & tail light kit - pictures

Mbrown
Explorer
Explorer
beemerphile1 wrote:
I have noticed a somewhat common error amongst RVers on forums. They read about problems and items that have been purchased to resolve those problems. Because of that the newby starts thinking they also need to buy items to fix an issue that hasn't even been discovered yet.

My suggestion is to take the new to you RV and go camping. For now, keep your money in your pocket. You may find shortcomings in your RV and you might not. Deal with whatever issues you have when you discover them. Don't spend money now exorcising issues you may not even have.

That's great advice..
I just wanted to do at least the minimum for when i do hit high winds, which is inevitable, so I don't have an accident..
In my pants :E

Mbrown
Explorer
Explorer
Wow, really great and informative information, you folks are the best

beemerphile1
Explorer
Explorer
I have noticed a somewhat common error amongst RVers on forums. They read about problems and items that have been purchased to resolve those problems. Because of that the newby starts thinking they also need to buy items to fix an issue that hasn't even been discovered yet.

My suggestion is to take the new to you RV and go camping. For now, keep your money in your pocket. You may find shortcomings in your RV and you might not. Deal with whatever issues you have when you discover them. Don't spend money now exorcising issues you may not even have.
Build a life you don't need a vacation from.

2016 Silverado 3500HD DRW D/A 4x4
2018 Keystone Cougar 26RBS
2006 Weekend Warrior FK1900

wa8yxm
Explorer III
Explorer III
Let me make it easier

Sway: Side to side rocking of the body,, Tilts left, then right, then left (or the other way around) think of fans swaying in time with the music at a "We Love The World" concert.

WAG: side to side wagging of the "Tail" Think dog,, In this act the body is moving side to side over the axles.. Often the front moves left while the rear moves right, then they swap over and over (Again you can start in the other direction).. Pan-hard bars or Track Bars deal with this.. ONE (usually the rear, though I put on a front) will greatly reduce it,, TWO (One front and one rear) will stop it and I mean DEAD. 100$ elimination.. NOTE: Front trac bar not needed on vehicles with STRUT suspension or with independent front suspension (Only on vehicles with solid front axle) same applies to rear. but motor homes made that way.. DO NOT exist.

Steering stablizer... This device helps to keep you on the straight and however wide the lane is. There are several types but the idea is to hold the wheels in the "Straight ahead" position. Mine is a Blue Ox Tru-Center.
Home was where I park it. but alas the.
2005 Damon Intruder 377 Alas declared a total loss
after a semi "nicked" it. Still have the radios
Kenwood TS-2000, ICOM ID-5100, ID-51A+2, ID-880 REF030C most times

tatest
Explorer II
Explorer II
The three devices serve difference purposes (I'm assuming you are talking about a motorized RV, which is really a light to medium duty truck with a huge box.

What you call a sway bar is an anti-roll bar, a torsion bar that uses the tendency to lean towards the outside to lift the axle on the opposite side, in the hope that there is still enough load on that side to roll back that direction. With really strong anti-roll bars, and tight enough corner, the result is to lift inside wheels off the ground, something you see in road racing of small sedans and crude sports cars of 1950s to 1970s when everything still had truck suspension.

E350 has a front sway bar, E450 has front and rear. Aftermarket you can add rear bar to E350, or get stiffer bars. In racing cars with crude suspensions, we adjust anti-roll and one end or the othrr to adjust understeer vs oversteer. The stiffer the bar, the less ultimate grip (because we are pulling that inside tire up off the ground) so if we want to loosen the rear we stiffen the rear sway bar.

RVs don't usually operate near cornering limits, so the question becomes: do you have a problem with too much body roll? Factory antiroll bars were sized for stable handling at 80-90% GVWR, but you could have a problem with front to rear weight balance, or higherCG in the rear.

Track bars. On a motorhome chassis we are usually talking about a Panhard Rod, which helps to more firmly locate an axle laterally, which is otherwise located only by the leaf springs (Hotchkiss suspension, almost universal in light trucks > 1/2 ton for the last 70 years). Side to side looseness (fractions of an inch) are responsible for what we like to call sway, side to side movement of ther rear end. The Panhard rod doesn't stop movement, as its geometry forces a movement of its own, but what movement there is is more predictible, more controlled, than movement on the leaf spring mounts.

Really light trucks, compact and 1/2 ton pickups, use the shock absorber (damper is a better word) mounting geometry to help manage sway, and axle windup (another problem with Hotchkiss design, for which there is another product sold for correction, also called a track bar).

If you feel the rear end shifting in curves, Panhard rod/track bar might be the solution.

Third product you mention is a stabilizer, marketing name for a passive steering damper. A damper mounted between frame and tie rod, it filters out or resists small, quick steering movements, while offering less resistance to the slowet, larger movements used in turning.

Another device is sold as a stabilzer, and that is a set of springs to resist all steering movement off the springs' relaxed point. If properly adjusted, these can help keep the wheels in a going straight position when push away by conditions like sidewind, rad crown, or bumps in the road. The springs may not always provide the right corrections, but most of the time they do part of the work you would have correcting steering for these conditions. They'll also resist your efforts to deliberately turn, but you'll get used to that, and you have power steering to help.

If centering springs are not properly adjusted for the roads you drive, you may be fighting their corrective efforts from time to time.

Some owners also find it usefull to change shock absorbers (dampers) to a different rate and ratio, or to change to tires with differenrt roll stiffness or yaw stiffness. Sometimes it is just a matter of adjusting tire inflation pressures.

Have you observed a particular problem that you need to solve? I have a E350 van and a 12,500 pound motorhome on stock E450, have found no need to modify either, though I got a handling improvement going to stiffer tires on the motorhome.

If you are talking about pulling a trailer, sway bar means something different (a friction devide resisting yaw at the hitch) and stabilizer usually means a different solution using spring pressure and geometry on a weight distributing hitch.
Tom Test
Itasca Spirit 29B