Steering wandering

[Brakeman48]

Just drove our Hurricane 35C 250 miles in light wind. My arms and back are killing me from constant correcting the steering.Tire pressures are correct and alignment was just done. Any suggestions???

[halfprice]

CHF front and rear, safe t plus, and rear track bar. Unfortunately the stock set up doesnt handle/drive that well. The about mods help a lot. I now drive with one hand with ne stress.


Jerry

[Phil Saran]

I've had the front end alignment, the Safe-T-Steer (it works), the
track bar on the rear and mine has sway bars front and rear.

I've been told by 3 shops not to do the CHF fix as it will break sway
bar links. Your results may differ.

Mine steers pretty good unless I get into a 30 mph plus side wind
(we have a lot of that here in Colorado) and that big slab of side
of my MH does still move around.

[halfprice]

Phil,
Interesting that 3 shops told you the links would break from doing the chf.
On irv2.com the chf thread has 4000+ post and ive read almost all of them. I dont recall anyone saying their links or the bars have been damaged at all.

All i can say is the chf has helped my coach ride much better with no broken parts or damage done.

We alll have choices and can pay hundreds of dollars for after market sway bars.

Jerry

[Brakeman48]

Jerry, thanks for the recommendations. I don't know what CHF is. Please explain.

Thanks

[Phil Saran]

Halfprice, my sway bars are factory from Ford.

CHF is cheap help fix, or something like that. On the F53 chassis
on the sway bars/links there are two mounting holes for the links
it is said that if you move the links to the lower hole it will tighten
up the sway bars helping control sway more.

As stated in my previous post I have been told by 3 shops (one is
the Med Duty Ford Dealer in Commerce CO where I go for oil changes
that doing the CHF will cause the links to break. So far I have not
done the CHF. Your results may differ.

[halfprice]

Originally Posted by Brakeman48

Jerry, thanks for the recommendations. I don't know what CHF is. Please explain.

Thanks

Jim,
The best way to answer what the chf
Is and what it does is to read. Please go to irv2.com and search chf or cheap handling fix. There is a huge long thread all about it. Basically its moving the contact position of the sway bar links to the inner hole on the sway bar. Front took about 15 minutes to do. Rears took 30. Made a big difference.


I will not argue, and we are not arguing now about it, about it being bad for the links and whether or not it will damage them. Everyone has the right to their opinion and what they are comfortable doing to their motohome. All i can say is it helped mine and probably hundreds it not thousands of other motorhome with no damage done.

But its up to you. You need to do your research and make that decision.

Here are a couple pics of the front chf done. You can see the sway bar is now bolted to the inner hole

Jerry

[halfprice]

Originally Posted by Phil Saran

Halfprice, my sway bars are factory from Ford.

CHF is cheap help fix, or something like that. On the F53 chassis
on the sway bars/links there are two mounting holes for the links
it is said that if you move the links to the lower hole it will tighten
up the sway bars helping control sway more.

As stated in my previous post I have been told by 3 shops (one is
the Med Duty Ford Dealer in Commerce CO where I go for oil changes
that doing the CHF will cause the links to break. So far I have not
done the CHF. Your results may differ.

Hi Phil,
Not doubting what the mechanics told you but my mechanic at a heavy duty ford truck dealer said it was fine to do. I dont know i guess even mechanics have their own opinions on this. Many people have had their ford mechanic do the chf for them. Like i said before its up to each person to research and do what they think is best.

Jerry

[Kev]

Originally Posted by halfprice

Hi Phil,
Not doubting what the mechanics told you but my mechanic at a heavy duty ford truck dealer said it was fine to do. I dont know i guess even mechanics have their own opinions on this. Many people have had their ford mechanic do the chf for them. Like i said before its up to each person to research and do what they think is best.

Jerry

Jerry can you tell me what track bar you put in the rear of your coach?
Did you see a noticible difference in your handling of the coach?

[halfprice]

Originally Posted by Kev

Jerry can you tell me what track bar you put in the rear of your coach?
Did you see a noticible difference in your handling of the coach?

Hi Kev,
Sorry for the late reply. Been busy. I got this.

http://www.brazelsrv.com/UTF53V8R-Re...s-(Fits-V10-V8)

Its the best mod I have done. The chf helped a lot but I still got pushed a round by semi trucks and the wind. Especially now that I am towing the jeep. After installing the rear trac bar I only notice the semi trucks when they get right next to me, truck cab front end next to my front end. But now its only a little push that needs very little or no steering correction on my part. I now usually use a couple of fingers to drive. No ore two hand white knuckle driving. On our last trip to Las Vegas there were lots of winds and never felt it. Maria and I could see the trees blowing like crazy and were amazed that it wasn't bothering us. SO I am extremely happy about that.


Jerry

[halfprice]

Originally Posted by Kev

Jerry can you tell me what track bar you put in the rear of your coach?
Did you see a noticible difference in your handling of the coach?

Kev,
Is your soon new to be 31 on the 18k chassis?? If yes the trac bar I posted will work for you. They have I believe two other models for the larger chassis.

If you plan to get it and do the install yourself youll want to get a hold of me for some tips. My install took 1-1/2 days. Learning curve. helped my buddy last week. It took 3 hours.

Jerry

[55chevrt]

We had a Blue ox tru center installed on 36.1 diesel. Night and day difference.

[Kev]

Originally Posted by halfprice

Kev,
Is your soon new to be 31 on the 18k chassis?? If yes the trac bar I posted will work for you. They have I believe two other models for the larger chassis.

If you plan to get it and do the install yourself youll want to get a hold of me for some tips. My install took 1-1/2 days. Learning curve. helped my buddy last week. It took 3 hours.

Jerry

Jerry
Thanks for the info. and yes it is on the 18k chassis. BTW when I click on the link it says page cannot be found. 3 hours definitely sounds better than 1-1/2 days.

[Joe-FL]

For the last several months I also have been attempting to improve the handling of my Ford F53 chassis. Did a front end alignment, the CHF (cheap handling fix), adjusted my tires to the correct psi, and had the Safe-T-Plus installed. So now we are on the road and as I gauge it weekly I feel it is about 50% to 60% better.

Yesterday I decided to order front and rear Sumo bumper springs. I was going to do a rear trac bar only but decided to go with Sumo's instead. This will put me almost to $1,800 on suspension upgrades but if it makes this chassis handle 75% to 85% better it will be worth every penny spent.

I guess if the Sumo's don't get me there then a rear trac bar will be the next thing to go on.

As far as it not being "good" or safe to do the CHF, I guess my question would be to those mechanics making that statement would be: if that suspension adjustment wasn't safe to do then why did Ford even have the lower adjustment holes there for the arms to be placed in?

[Chance]

There is "ZERO" doubt that CHF places more stress on entire sway bar system when suspension articulates the same amount. It's just an engineering fact.

By changing the leverage on sway bar with CHF, it twists the sway bar more for the same amount of wheel articulation, which is why it works. The sway bar in essence behaves like a thicker or stiffer sway bar. That's good news to reduce sway.

Under normal highway driving it's highly unlikely that a motorhome would sway enough to stress components enough to break anything. If there was enough sway to stress components, occupants would get motion sickness in short order.


If there is going to be a stress problem high enough to fatigue or break components over time it would likely be caused by driving the motorhome over uneven surfaces that forces significant suspension articulation. If you think about it, driving across a swale 3 or 4 inches deep at an angle is far worse than a motorhome swaying a little due to wind from passing trucks.

[Kev]

Originally Posted by Joe-FL

For the last several months I also have been attempting to improve the handling of my Ford F53 chassis. Did a front end alignment, the CHF (cheap handling fix), adjusted my tires to the correct psi, and had the Safe-T-Plus installed. So now we are on the road and as I gauge it weekly I feel it is about 50% to 60% better.

Yesterday I decided to order front and rear Sumo bumper springs. I was going to do a rear trac bar only but decided to go with Sumo's instead. This will put me almost to $1,800 on suspension upgrades but if it makes this chassis handle 75% to 85% better it will be worth every penny spent.

I guess if the Sumo's don't get me there then a rear trac bar will be the next thing to go on.

As far as it not being "good" or safe to do the CHF, I guess my question would be to those mechanics making that statement would be: if that suspension adjustment wasn't safe to do then why did Ford even have the lower adjustment holes there for the arms to be placed in?

Hello Joe

I had the Sumo Springs on the Vegas and was very happy with them. Please let me know how they work for you on your coach. I have a new Windsport due in June and in addition to the CHF and the Safe-T-Plus I was considering the Sumo Springs. I noticed that they cost considerable more for the F53 chassis than the E450. Hopefully you will find the improvement is worth the cost.
Kev

[carboss]

Originally Posted by Brakeman48

Just drove our Hurricane 35C 250 miles in light wind. My arms and back are killing me from constant correcting the steering.Tire pressures are correct and alignment was just done. Any suggestions???

Safety plus and sumo shocks

[petew]

Kev watch eBay motors for your F 53 Sumo Springs . Plug the part number and "Sumo Springs " title into the search box .
I was able to get a great deal with free shipping for the Sumo's I put in my Vegas.

[Kev]

Originally Posted by petew

Kev watch eBay motors for your F 53 Sumo Springs . Plug the part number and "Sumo Springs " title into the search box .
I was able to get a great deal with free shipping for the Sumo's I put in my Vegas.

Thanks Pete I have been checking Ebay and Amazon. The Sumos for the F53 chassis are larger and have brackets that require drilling some holes in the frame. Cost for the front and rear is approximately $900.00.

[Travelin' Texans]

Sorry Ford guys, but it's just that a Ford chassis. I have driven multiple Ford. F250s, 350s, 450s & all handled badly in high winds, rutted highways & rough roads. Unfortunately the majority of gas motorhomes all have the Ford chassis. Have friend that just bought a '17 F450 King Ranch & says he can hardly keep it between the ditches, 3 times back to dealer & they said there's nothing out of whack, but they suspect the tires, he's deciding whether let them have it back & buy something else.