Wandering steering

[Gerald]

I recently purchased a 1994 Coachmen 34' Santara class A with rear 5.9 Cummings pusher. My problem is that I find myself continually correcting steering wander as it  travels downs the highway. So far I have had a full front and rear alignment  done, steering and front suspension checked, and a fresh set of Michelins installed, all to no avail. These stock front tires seem awfully skinny  for such a large unit, I'm wondering if this may be part of the problem. It feels as if the whole front end is "floating" down the Highway without full control. Tire pressure is 90 psi all around, and this unit only has 50,000 kilometers ( 30,000 miles ). I'm stumped , If anyone out there has any suggestions I would sure appreciate to hear from you. Thanks for reading.
                                    Gerald

 

[Tom]

I don't wish to oversimplify the problem, but have you weighed the four corners of the coach (or at least the two axles) and adjusted the tire pressures according to the tire manufacturer's inflation table? I had the same problem you describe when we first bought our Monaco Camelot. The dealer's tech had inflated the tires to 140psi. When I weighed the coach and checked the inflation table, the correct pressure was 95psi front and 100psi rear. I deflated the tires to the correct pressures and the problem went away.

 

[Shayne]

WE had a 93 Coachman and loved it, howeever the front suspension sucked.  Wound up putting new heavy duty Bilstin shocks on it and it helped a bunch and then installed next heavy grade tires on front only., don't remember what it was exactly, but I think we went from like D to E,  Anyway it was very heavy side walls to stiffen it up.  That helped some more, finally using the a good front  end man we tightened the Steering box just a hair.    It worked.  Not saying this will work for you but it did for us.  The Coachman was just too lite on the front end, and on groovey roads or cross wind and trucks passing  dealt us a fit.  After all that we were staisfied.  Put 70000 miles on it.  Good luck  Best I can offer.  Also  Tom is right on the weighing

 

[On The Road Again]

We used to own a 2000 Gulf Stream Sun Sport, our first class A. It had the same problem. Trucks passing almost blow me off the road. Front end checked out fine. A major, national tire company, I will not say who that is, but their first name is Les, sold us all new tires. The place that check out the front end, suggested that we install, steering tires on the front. (I think that is what it was called) We did, and that seem to sloved our problem. If you want to pay some big bucks, there are lots of things on the market that they say will also help. CW sells some of those items. Best of Luck. It can be frustrating, I know. BnA

 

[fredethomas]

Often if a rig feels very light on the front end - it is.  The location of the water tank and if you travel with it full has a lot to do with it.  Try and move some load forward and see if it feels better.  Rigs that have an over hang on the rear of 40% of the total length or more need to have a good heavy load on the front to keep that rear weight from lifting the front off the road.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

See if Roadmaster has a Davis Tru Trac bar for the front suspension of your chassis. An alternative would be a Hendersom Supersteer track bar for the rear, if available. Both of these devices are generically known as  a panhard rod and usually will do wonders for wandering problems that result from chassis suspension oscillations that are quite common in leaf spring suspensions.  Given that you seem to have ruled out alignment problems, it seems likely that is your problem.

 

[Gerald]

Thanks everyone for the advice . I will certainly try some of your recommendations. Gerald

 

[motojavaphil]

Gerald mentioned he thought his front tires were too skinny.  Having never heard of this problem it then begged the question of"Has this been a problem with MH's?".  I'd suspect that the wider the tire the more it would track with irregularities from the road.  Seems like a valid question,

Phil

 

[Shayne]

That was one of the things we did,  Added 1 size up, 1 size wider, and 1 size heavier.

 

[motojavaphil]

Shayne, The wider tire made for better stability on your rig?  That is good to know if I encounter the problem.  Thank you, Phil