Does your motorhome handle good or not so good? Chances are, if you have a gas motorhome, it will not. That’s what I found out when I purchased mine. The first long trip (1800 mi.) in the rig I was completely worn out. Every semi that would pass me pushed the motorhome almost off the road causing me to turn the wheel to the left then back to the right. Then out of nowhere a gust of wind would hit causing me to jerk the wheel the opposite direction. Big time white knuckle driving!! You could not relax for even 1 minute without constantly fighting the steering wheel. I knew something had to change or I would be selling this thing.
I started researching what I could do to fix the problem and came up with this solution. The first thing I realized was my motorhome was a small f53 ford chassis (18,000) GVW which has 19.5 tires. I figured these two things were causing a lot of the problems. I believe the bigger f53 chassis (24,000) GVW and 22.5 tires will handle better than the smaller chassis.
What to do?
In researching all the suspension and handling products I decided on the products I would use. The first item I purchased was a Safety Plus steering stabilizer. They have been making this for decades. Easy to install
Next I settled on SumoSprings for the handling, also known as an airless airbag. They were about half the cost of other handling products and they work really well. Installation is pretty easy as well, but keep in mind you are dealing with big heavy stuff.
Those two purchases made this motorhome go from a nightmare to a dream. I also pay close attention to the tire pressures which is very important to handling. I will talk about tire pressures in a future article. Handling problems are usually with the gas chassis motorhomes and not the diesel pushers but that does not mean a diesel pusher can’t have handling problems. In closing, do your research and ask plenty of questions before deciding on the cure.
-Geo