New RV'rs and a New Class A

We just picked up our first motorhome, a new Thor Hurricane 31S Class A gas (F53 chassis) and are towing a 2013 Honda CRV. We got the Blue Ox setup for towing and braking the CRV. We drove it 100 miles the first day, over Federal, State, and County 2 lane roads and camped in a State Park. The second we drove 200 miles, over Federal and State roads, to a Good Sam's park. The 3rd day we drove 200 miles to our home via the Interstate. So far so good. The concern I have is when I go much over 50 or 55 mph the motorhome feels like it is wandering all over the road. Sometimes there is even a vibration from the front end. On the Interstate we were passed by other motorhomes (mostly diesels), trucks with 5th wheels, and cars and trucks pulling travel trailers, none of which seemed to be having the handling issue I was having. I am wondering if it will get easier to handle as it gets used more ot if I could get some kind stabilizer for the motorhome and if that would help with the handling. Thanks for your opinions.

There are aftermarket stabilizers that can be added to help with this.  These can be installed by your RV service shop.  Perhaps other Thor owners will chime in with what they may have done.

From what I've read ....Check the tire pressures on all tires, some places fill them to the max listed on the tire and that can affect handling. Go by the manufacturers  recommendations  or better yet get the MH  weighed,  front axle, rear axle  and check with the tire manufacturer for their recommendation for those  exact tires with the weights  you get when you weigh it

To expand on nfrederick's post: Overinflation of the front (steering) tires can cause handling problems ranging from mild to severe, depending on conditions. I've seen that on all three coaches I've had, and it was alleviated on all three by using the manufacturer's inflation vs. weight tables, then adding 5 psi, or so, to allow for temp and altitude changes. I've found that the Michelin and Goodyear tables are very similar for the size, though there are also variations by the model of tire.

WinterAdverse said:

We just picked up our first motorhome, a new Thor Hurricane 31S Class A gas (F53 chassis) and are towing a 2013 Honda CRV. We got the Blue Ox setup for towing and braking the CRV. We drove it 100 miles the first day, over Federal, State, and County 2 lane roads and camped in a State Park. The second we drove 200 miles, over Federal and State roads, to a Good Sam's park. The 3rd day we drove 200 miles to our home via the Interstate. So far so good. The concern I have is when I go much over 50 or 55 mph the motorhome feels like it is wandering all over the road. Sometimes there is even a vibration from the front end. On the Interstate we were passed by other motorhomes (mostly diesels), trucks with 5th wheels, and cars and trucks pulling travel trailers, none of which seemed to be having the handling issue I was having. I am wondering if it will get easier to handle as it gets used more ot if I could get some kind stabilizer for the motorhome and if that would help with the handling. Thanks for your opinions.

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Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new motorhome.
Getting more experience will definitely help. Also I would get a all wheel alignment done with the coach loaded like you were traveling. I would do 3/4 water 1/2 black and gray tanks and full propane. I bet somewhere in your paperwork/manuals it will menonton in passing that you"might"need this done. Get t weighed (4 wheel is better) and set your air preshure based on weight. Even if you get weights for all wheels you set the preshure based on the heaviest side on that axle. I recommend a 10% over the listed pressures for a safer ride.
I would try that and see if it improves the handling before spending on any outher "fixes". When they do the alignment get them to add as much + caster as they can it will improve tracking. Look at your sway bar if it has 2 sets of mounting holes try moving the mounts to the rear ones to stiffen up the sway bar.
If you have any questions let me know.
Bill

I'd like to thank everyone for their excellent advice. I will certainly check the tire pressure and get the unit weighed before adding any stabilizers or other stuff. It is comforting to realize that there is a site like this where a person can get good, unbiased, practical advice. Thanks again and feel free to offer any more advice or opinions as we are on a steep learning curve.

Well I got the motor home out of its' garage to clean it up and also took the opportunity to check the tires, etc.  The tire pressure was 105 psi cold in the front tires, measured before I even started it up. I looked at the chassis manufacturers label and the coach manufacturers label and they both said the pressure should be 82 psi. The tires are Goodyear 245/70R19.5 and the maximum pressure indicated on the sidewall is 110. I haven't had the beast weighed yet but I am thinking that 105 psi is a bit high. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

Good advice given up thread. Don't throw money at an RV problem until it is proven necessary. It costs nothing to check tire pressure and only a few dollars to get it weighed. You should not need steering stabilizers on a newer RV. You might want to also get the front end alignment checked too.

WinterAdverse said:

Well I got the motor home out of its' garage to clean it up and also took the opportunity to check the tires, etc.  The tire pressure was 105 psi cold in the front tires, measured before I even started it up. I looked at the chassis manufacturers label and the coach manufacturers label and they both said the pressure should be 82 psi. The tires are Goodyear 245/70R19.5 and the maximum pressure indicated on the sidewall is 110. I haven't had the beast weighed yet but I am thinking that 105 psi is a bit high. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

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The safest way is to run the max on the side wall till you know what the weight is. Then you can adjust tHe preshure accordingly.
Bill

If both those labels say 82, then I''d say the 105 psi (always measure cold) is the main problem with your handling. Were it me, I'd drop the front tires to around 90, or so, until I got it weighed, then use the tire manufacturer's tables plus 5-8 psi.

Drop the pressure to the mfgr's recommended level. If you want some extra margin in case you are dramatically overweight, add another 5 psi.  You would have to pile bricks in that rig to ever need the full rated carrying capacity of those tires @ 110 psi. It's only an 18,000 lb chassis, so 82 psi would be plenty even if overloaded.

Just an update for all those that offered me such good advice previously. Well it has taken me a while but I have taken the beast in to get the alignment checked and also went to Flying J/Pilot to have it weighed. According to the alignment guy the alignment was off a little. It was supposed to be 1/32 and it was 3/32. He also said it wasn't the reason for the wandering but that the fact the tires were still new was probably the reason for that. He told me that as the tires get broken in and age and the rubber gets harder it will be easier to handle. On the way back to storage I found I had to keep slowing down to stay at 65 mph so it seems to certainly handle better. As far as the weight, we would have to add 1000 lbs over the front axel and 2000 over the rear axle to meet the GAWR. Or we would need to add 2000 lbs to the beast to meet the GVWR. I can't imagine either of those scenarios occurring. That would be a lot of beer and wine. So the next time I visit the beast in storage I will drop the air pressure to about 87 lbs (recommended + 5 lbs) from the current 92 front and 94.5 rear. Thanks again everyone for all the advice.