DRIVING in the wind

[realter]

Currently a thread on camping in the wind, but I need suggestions on driving in the wind. As I sit here, we have had steady winds in the 40mph range with gusts up to 60, here in the Upper Midwest. Any suggestions on driving in these conditions?

[jmtandem]

Sometimes the winds are less early in the morning, travel then. Otherwise, I would watch the 18 wheelers and when they start getting off the road you should too, if you have not already. Where I live if RVers did not drive in 40 mph winds they would almost never go anywhere. Any summer evening the afternoon breeeze can be 40-50 mph. The great American author, Mark Twain in his book Roughing It described the 'Washoe Zephyr' winds that occur in our area, winds that can easily exceed 100 mph. Most of us will start to take the winds seriously when they get to around 60 mph or more when traveling with an the RV.

[snowdance]

We also live in an area where 40-60mph winds are common. Many of the roads we travel are made so the road bed ends at the edge of the pavement with no shoulder and may have a 10 to 60 foot drop there with no guard rails. And we do have to drive our small MH in them or set 40-50 miles from home for days. What did help us was running the rear tires up to max side wall listed pressure. We added a rear sway bar (our MH came with a nice heavy front sway bar) and it made a big difference. Also get a loaded weight on the rig by axle or wheel if you can. You can find charts showing how much air pressure you need to run for the weight on the front. Play with that some. We run less than listed for my rig but it steers and handles very well. We also seek back roads when we are forced to travel in the high winds as then we can move at our speed. It becomes a must to be able to change the air pressure in the rear tires so you will need to stop some place you can do that or carry a small compressor. Running them up that high when not in the winds might be a problem making it harder to drive and ride harsh unless you need that much..

[enblethen]

Turn around and go the other way!
I would wait it out!

[Victory402]

What would you gentlemen consider a safe cutoff point, for wind speed, for the average TC?

[rockhillmanor]

Johno02 wrote:
Don't..

X2

Nothing lasts forever. Pull over have some coffee and wait.

Even if you think you can do it there are MANY others who don't have a clue how to drive in the wind.
I have seen WAY too many jackknifed semi's AND RV's on the side of the road in high winds after they have tagged 4 other motorists. IMHO not worth it to save a few hours of getting to your destination.

[RV_daytrader]

if it will be a tailwind I would go for it!...nice gas savings!...head or side wind I would sit out.

[exhaustipated]

Stan, I wouldn't risk it either driving into the wind or having to deal with cross winds especially if you're going to be encountering steady sustained winds of 40mph and gusting to 60mph. I think I would just leave the Northstar Laredo at home and ride it out and then go when the winds calm down a bit. It's just too risky otherwise.

[kerry4951]

My suggestion is that if you can tell its getting too bad than find a place to pull over and wait it out.
My mods are listed in my signature and I am able to drive in some very heavy winds without having it bother us. The only time I ever pulled over is when it was a head on wind and our fuel mileage was suffering considerably. Never had issues with heavy side winds.
You might be able to stiffen things up with additional rear mods....ie. Supersprings, Stable Loads, better shocks.

[BayouBoys]

Don't. IMO with those kind of winds I would sit tight until the winds die down. Otherwise you are looking at a very missreable drive that may not end well.

[Buzzcut1]

go slow or park it

[Johno02]

Don't..