2008 PW Excel steering issue

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Dwund

New member
Joined
Sep 14, 2022
Posts
3
Location
Cedarburg, WI
We just bought a 2008 PW Excel with about 80,000 miles on it. We had to drive it home about 400 miles and was totally surprised at the difficulty with steering once over 60MPH. I didn't notice at the time of purchase that the right side rear air bad was not keeping pressure. The tires are all new plus there have been spacers added to the back suspension. I know I have to address the air-bag issue but whats next? Where do I start after fixing the air-bags without putting thounds of dollars into it???? Help! I am knew to RV's
 
Pleasure Way class B coach?

It's just a van, with maybe some suspension enhancements. If it doesn't steer well, start with a front end alignment and a weigh-in to get the tire psi correct for the load. And since you know there is a defective component, get that fixed too. Then see if there is still a problem.,
 
As with heavier class C units, the chassis is aligned from Ford for city driving, and needs more caster to make it track properly on the highway. As far as steering stiff, is the power steering working OK? On the highway at 60 you only need to tweak the wheel a bit, It could need greasing or new ball joints but first do what Gary suggested.

Charles
 
I owned a 2008 PW Excel for 8 years. A great travel machine. Pleasure Way is a quality manufacturer and the Ford E-350 chassis is a reliable platform. We traveled all over the US and Canada in it. It will never handle like a sports car. The rear wheel separation of that chassis is narrower than the front wheels so Ford could use the same axle for duallys. I installed wheel spacers to alleviate this problem, which apparently has also been done to yours.

I had to replace the ball joints at 50K miles which I was told was typical. Yours may be worn out as well. MIchelin tires made a big difference to handling, the OEM Hankook tires were terrible, one blew out on I-10 in Arizona.

I don't know what it takes to fix the air bags but you need to do it. I contacted PW for their recommended alignment specs and they sent them to me, you might try contacting them yourself.

Good luck with your RV, if you get some basic repairs taken care of and drive carefully, you will have many great experiences, as we did.
 

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