Steering wheel vibration

[AxialFlux]

Just took the Ace out on a shakedown overnight trip this past weekend, and noticed on occasion, I get a shaking in the steering wheel like the front wheels aren't balanced. I am going to have that checked, but just thought it is odd that it's not constant. I could drive for a couple miles, and it be smooth as silk, only for the vibration to come back for a bit. Is there anything else I should look at?

[DavidEM]

Front end vibration that fades in and out is a sign of an out of balance situation. It wanes when both front wheels are in sync and waxes when they get out of sync. Get them balanced and it should go away.

DAvid

[Campnjoe]

Originally Posted by AxialFlux

Just took the Ace out on a shakedown overnight trip this past weekend, and noticed on occasion, I get a shaking in the steering wheel like the front wheels aren't balanced. I am going to have that checked, but just thought it is odd that it's not constant. I could drive for a couple miles, and it be smooth as silk, only for the vibration to come back for a bit. Is there anything else I should look at?

Get an alignment while you are at it. Load the coach like you would normally before a trip.

[MJC62]

Originally Posted by DavidEM

Front end vibration that fades in and out is a sign of an out of balance situation. It wanes when both front wheels are in sync and waxes when they get out of sync. Get them balanced and it should go away.

DAvid

Yep.

The newer method of balancing tires with internal beads sometimes causes temporary out of balance issues. On crappy roads, during acceleration and hard braking the beads can become free floating causing temporary imbalance situations. Something to keep in mind when having tires rebalanced.
On my last MH when I had the tires replaced the crappy roads around here cause us too much braking and re acceleration and I always had issues with temporary imbalance vibrations that came and went. The tire shop that installed my tires told me it was caused by the beads. As I paid a crap load of money for new tires they demounted the tires removed the beads and balanced with weights. Never had an issue again

[AxialFlux]

I'm having all of the tires balanced today, but it is with the beads, as I couldn't find anyone that could spin balance them. I was going to have an alignment done, however, that seems fine to me. On straights, I can go hands off, and it doesn't seem to pull to either side.

[DavidEM]

Originally Posted by AxialFlux

I'm having all of the tires balanced today, but it is with the beads, as I couldn't find anyone that could spin balance them. I was going to have an alignment done, however, that seems fine to me. On straights, I can go hands off, and it doesn't seem to pull to either side.

An alignment job isn't so much to adjust pull to either side. It is also to add enough caster so you get a positive return to center force. For the F53 chassis you want at least +5 degrees of caster. Most MHs come with less.

David

[taylorbob1]

Originally Posted by DavidEM

An alignment job isn't so much to adjust pull to either side. It is also to add enough caster so you get a positive return to center force. For the F53 chassis you want at least +5 degrees of caster. Most MHs come with less.

David

X2

As discussed in another thread, make sure you find the right Alignment Specialist
It takes calling around and discussing intelligently your alignment issues and + Caster.
You’ll know it’s the right shop when you talk to their tech