Suspension Upgrades: 2002 Freightliner XC Chassis

[greamie]

Have a 2003 Newmar Kountry Star diesel pusher on a 2002 Freightliner XC Chassis. Am thinking about some modification for better control in cross winds and on rough roads.

However, knowing nothing about the subject, would like some input as to what I might get in improvement, which products are the better/best, how much should I spend, etc ??? Thanks for any help anyone might give me.

Gary

[hermanmullins]

greamie,

Welcome to the Forum. You might start with a steering stabilizer of some sort. Safe-T-Plus comes to mind. But there are several other good units available.

Do you have wandering when driving? Are the tires wearing unevenly? Some coaches just need a good alignment, a change of air pressure in the tires, and even weight distribution on the front axle.  

Herman

[wildebill308]

4 hours ago, greamie said:

Have a 2003 Newmar Kountry Star diesel pusher on a 2002 Freightliner XC Chassis. Am thinking about some modification for better control in cross winds and on rough roads.

However, knowing nothing about the subject, would like some input as to what I might get in improvement, which products are the better/best, how much should I spend, etc ??? Thanks for any help anyone might give me.

Gary

Welcome to the forum. The first thing I would do is get an all wheel alignment.  My rear axel was off and they had to adjust that. Then replace the rubber bushings in the sway bar with polyurethane bushings they are superior to rubber ones. Hear is a link to where I did  my bushings. http://community.fmca.com/topic/8004-sway-bar-bushings-bad/

See if Newmar added a rear sway bar. Check your shocks. I would weigh the coach and adjust the tire pressure. I would do this before I spent money on a steering stabilizer. 

Bill

[blakeloke]

Gary,

As Herman and Bill have mentioned.  Welcome to the Forum.  Both have good recommendations.

Let's ask a couple of questions:

Are you happy with the way your XC chassis tracks on the open road without cross winds?  Or do you think there's room for improvement also?

The reason I ask is we've struggled with our coach in crosswinds ever since we bought it new.  At the time, our Roadmaster chassis was heralded as one of the better pusher chassis available to us.  We were very happy with it tooling around the roads and mountains in California but when it came to the open roads of the plains and deserts that was a different story.

Once we moved from California to Texas we were faced with oft travel through Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and West Texas.  The crosswind gust in those areas can get pretty nasty and I found the best solution to keep me in my lane was to slow down.

But, here's some things that helped.  Changed the stock Monroe shocks to Bilstiens (slightly noticeable improvement), Keep diesel tank and freshwater tank as full as possible when expecting strong winds.  Added additional pressure to the tires.  And put higher rated tires on the front end (stiffer).

All of those changes have happened over several years and the coach seems to have much better road manners now than it had before.  But, a pretty subjective comment as crosswinds vary and I have no other way to measure other that our driver comfort.  Last fall we ventured back to California and back and it seemed to be an easy relaxing journey.  That was the road test for the Goodyear 315s tires that we swapped out from the Michelin 295s 

Blake

[greamie]

Blake, Bill, Herman

Thanks for your responses. I am back at the Club House here in Florida where I have a better WiFi signal.

I completed some of the suggestions from y'all. On the open road with little or no cross wind I really don't have a problem. I will seriously look into the new shocks nd the bushings. That should be much less money than the 'full meal deal'.

Again, Thanks much.

Gary