Tame Wandering Ford F-53

[jfparsio]

Has anyone tried the Safe T Plus Steering Stabilizer and / or Koni Shocks article on RV magazine dated August 2022 ?

https://flipbooks.rv.com/29849/75368/

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by jfparsio

Has anyone tried the Safe T Plus Steering Stabilizer and / or Koni Shocks article on RV magazine dated August 2022 ?

SafeTPlus and the Roadmaster RSSA are frequent upgrades to the F53 chassis and a common topic on this forum. First I've heard of the Koni shocks as a cure.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by jfparsio

Has anyone tried the Safe T Plus Steering Stabilizer and / or Koni Shocks article on RV magazine dated August 2022 ?

Use the search function and read all about both.

[Pete'sMH]

Just search the forum. There are hundreds, probably thousands, of posts on these items. But start with a wheel alignment and matching tire pressures to the tire manufacturer’s recommendation for your specific vehicle weight.

[ducksface]

Seat time first and foremost.
Tightening random things is random.
Some is placebo, some is garbage, some is real.

[paulwadley]

I had the Safety Plus Steering Stabilizer installed and it made a world of difference. I first started off with many hours behind the wheel and then went forward with the Safety Plus Steering Stabilizer installed on our 2022 Thor Miramar 37.1.

Paul

[Agvegas]

Take a look at this video on YouTube. My coach is not on the F-53, but I’ve read that this method “worked wonders”. It’s called “ The Cheap Handling Fix”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75wXjuZHKJU

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by Agvegas

Take a look at this video on YouTube. My coach is not on the F-53, but I’ve read that this method “worked wonders”. It’s called “ The Cheap Handling Fix”.

AKA CHF and debated ad nauseum on this and other RV forums

[Lt Keefer]

I have the CHF and saf t plus and proper front end alignment as well as proper tire pressure for weight. Of all of those things I think the best fix was 25,000 miles behind the wheel. Driving from Texas to Delaware and back, then Texas to Montana and back sure helped as much as any add on. Driving the narrow roads of Virginia and Pennsylvania sure gives one a new perspective on lane control. As does the wide open expanses of interstate in Wyoming, specially on a windy day. Have patience and practice.

[halfprice]

Safe t plus, chf, and rear track bar made my 29m a pleasure to drive

Do one addition at a time as each one effects the drive differently. Each mh is different so the mods will do different things to different mhs

Jerry

[Norrirn]

Originally Posted by Lt Keefer

I have the CHF and saf t plus and proper front end alignment as well as proper tire pressure for weight. Of all of those things I think the best fix was 25,000 miles behind the wheel. Driving from Texas to Delaware and back, then Texas to Montana and back sure helped as much as any add on. Driving the narrow roads of Virginia and Pennsylvania sure gives one a new perspective on lane control. As does the wide open expanses of interstate in Wyoming, specially on a windy day. Have patience and practice.

I've done exactly what you've described on our '13 A.C.E. and have something close to 40K miles of much improved handling with no wandering. The expense of all three items was less than $1K. BTW, our travels pretty much duplicate yours and include Canada and New England.

[TRMott]

Originally Posted by jfparsio

Has anyone tried the Safe T Plus Steering Stabilizer and / or Koni Shocks article on RV magazine dated August 2022 ?

https://flipbooks.rv.com/29849/75368/

We had the Safe-T-Plus stabilizer installed and it made a world of difference! No more white knuckle driving! We took it to their business and the labor was free. They were done in less than an hour, then a ride along, 20 minutes actually having us drive it and telling them what was needed, they'd hop out, adjust, and back on the road. We definitely would do it again if we get a different RV!

[chunker21]

But first before opening the check book, load to travel weight, weigh the RV, adjust tire pressures to actual load carried (not randomly by placard), align the front end. If after that you still think it needs help stat by making the simplest cheapest thing first. ONE change at a time or you may offset one "improvement" with another.

[CactusJuice]

I thought I would give a shout out to all the members who keep saying "check that alignment".

I was under my rig recently to swap the oil filter and noticed uneven tire wear on the fronts. The siping was gone from the inside edges of both tires. OK, so that is one thing - alignment. I reached for the credit card and took it to the shop. What they found kinda floored me. My toe in was at a -1.08 degrees which translates to the front of the tires pointed out about 2/3 of an inch wider than the back. Way, way, way out of spec.

The signs of too much toe out besides tire wear are squirly handling, following ruts etc. I did have some of this but I put on a steering stabilizer and it seemed manageable.

But oh what a difference when I drove it home from the shop with the toe now set to 0.06 degrees positive. It stayed where it was pointed, the push from passing vehicles was reduced to barely noticeable, one handed driving was easy. Night and day.

So I am now in the "check your alignment" camp as a first approach to any handling issues.

[MLP]

I do not have a Ford chassis now, but I used to. I found that a lot in common and some non common things apply to Freightliner chassis.

Check tire pressure and get a four point weight.

1. Your rig is/may not be even weight from side to side. A cat scale gives you an average. I add ten psi to a cat scale weight for the tire psi. When I was able to get a four point weighing, I was spot on for the required psi. That was not as drastic with our class C.
2. Front end alignment.
3. On Our class C, the rig was tail dragging. I added air bags in the rear. That made the most difference in handling. Put pressure in until it was level. The weight on the front end stopped a lot of the wandering.
4. I put a larger anti sway bar(s) in the Class C and Class A. Made even more improvement. I did not know about the cheep fix back when I had the Class C. The larger anti sway bar very well may not have been needed for the Class C.
5. Added a Safe-T-Steer to both. Class C became a dream to drive.
6. With the Class A, I changed the stock shocks to Koni. Big difference in that the front tires did not bottom out over pot holes. California is full of big pot holes.
7. To eliminate most of the extreme swaying while turning into or out of driveways, I put air bag isolators. They stop the dumping bags on each side dumping to the other side. Class A drives without white knuckling now during side wind gusts, trucks, and buses going past. Going in and out of driveways know longer causes the RV to rock side to side four to five times. The rocking was not minor. Everything in the drawers and cabinets would slam against each other. I had to put locks on the Fridge doors and all cabinet doors to stop them from opening and dumping the contents on the floor.

Did I have to do all this? No, but I got an RV to enjoy it not to be on high alert driving it with white knuckles. A small amount of money and time testing after each change until I was relaxed driving. The cost is minor compared to the cost of the RV.