Rick Jay
Greater Springfield area, MA
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bmwdriver2019,
Reread dodge guy's post. He said his rig had all the added suspension bells and whistles when they bought it and it was still a handful. What fixed it was an PROPER alignment.
I like Nv Guy's analogy, too, and pianotuna's comment seems to be applicable for many rigs, especially gassers.
I just don't see how you can blame Ford when the vehicle owner does not verify that the alignment is correct per specs. Ford builds the chassis, but has no idea how much weight the coach builder is going to put on it, which can affect the alignment of the complete coach.
Weigh it fully loaded ready to travel, get front and rear axle weights, based upon these check tire pressures per the tire manufacturer and bring it to a good shop and have it aligned. Then and only then should you consider other "fixes", if needed.
That seems to be the overwhelming advice you've been given so far. Why not give it a shot? ![[emoticon]](https://forums.goodsamclub.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/smile.gif "smile")
~Rick
2005 Georgie Boy Cruise Master 3625 DS on a Workhorse W-22
Rick, Gail, 1 girl (27-Angel since 2008), 1 girl (22), 2 boys (23 & 20).
2001 Honda Odyssey, Demco Aluminator tow bar & tow plate, SMI Silent Partner brake controller.
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oldave
Tx
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Maybe you should get BMW to make a chassis. ![[emoticon]](https://forums.goodsamclub.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/rolleyes.gif "rolleyes")
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way2roll
Wilmington NC
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If you took a BMW chassis and added a Sherman tank on top of it is BMW to blame because it handled poorly?
2023 FR Sunseeker 2400B MBS
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bmwdriver2019
usa
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you guys dont get it , to me its a common issue with the f53 chassis, im sorry i even said anything , with people coming back with sacastic replies , im not a two years old, im college educated and i dealt with bmw enginners in my day , and its funny how many people do actually agree with me, but i wanted a more professional look and i get replies like this, but i do see and know that there are numerous amounts of people who will never condemn the ford product no matter how bad it is
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LouLawrence
Traveling the US fulltime since 2000.
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Joined: 03/16/2021
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BMW, not sure why you are not interested in listening to the good advice given. Just because you want someone to condem Ford foe something that's not their fault does not make your assumptions correct. If you like what you have you should get a proper alignment. If you are uncomfortable with the coach you now own you should get rid of it.
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bmwdriver2019
usa
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to be honest here as i critically am , why does the issue that many motorhomes experience across the board , no matter who made the coach , i have spoken to people where the alighnment was dead on perfect, nothing worn, missing , mis adjusted , and the one thing that did actually repair the issue was a rear tack bar.and its pretty much the same issue , driving over speeds of 50 mph, the coach drives like your in a tornado and its all over the road , after the addition of a rear track bar, its perfect ,no change was made to alignment settings , tire pressures, tire change , weight Distibution , this is my point, you people are i do believe not hearing me or im not explaining it , im sorry i even made a question and stated i have 20 years bmw experience, i was ase certified in bmw. bme e/v and bmw m performance , not bragging , just stating that im not green nor an idiot as some may believe, or think,
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way2roll
Wilmington NC
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bmwdriver2019 wrote:to be honest here as i critically am , why does the issue that many motorhomes experience across the board , no matter who made the coach , i have spoken to people where the alighnment was dead on perfect, nothing worn, missing , mis adjusted , and the one thing that did actually repair the issue was a rear tack bar.and its pretty much the same issue , driving over speeds of 50 mph, the coach drives like your in a tornado and its all over the road , after the addition of a rear track bar, its perfect ,no change was made to alignment settings , tire pressures, tire change , weight Distibution , this is my point, you people are i do believe not hearing me or im not explaining it , im sorry i even made a question and stated i have 20 years bmw experience, i was ase certified in bmw. bme e/v and bmw m performance , not bragging , just stating that im not green nor an idiot as some may believe, or think,
The Ford F53 chassis is used for a myriad of purposes, one which happens to be a motorhome. I would imagine that driving the chassis alone would be just fine provided you don't mind picking bugs out of your teeth. I am sure that other vehicles built on the chassis have their share of handling issues and mods that are required. It's just a chassis and neither Ford nor Chevy can make engineering allowances for every conceivable configuration that manufacturers decide to bolt on them. The motorhome manufacturers don't do their due diligence to ensure it handles properly when the house is built. Heck, most don't even set psi right. A rear track bar as an example is likely compensating for a poor house design or improper load on the chassis. That's on the manufacture of the house, not Ford. Ford has made improvements to handling in the newer chassis, but gassers in general have always driven poorly. That's why they are at the bottom of the food chain in terms of Class A's. You get what you pay for. A diesel pusher handles exponentially better. It's also exponentially more expensive. If you want the handling of a BMW you wouldn't buy a Yugo. All that said, despite poor handling, there aren't a lot of reports of motorhomes just crashing. I mean you can drive them at normal speeds with the expectations of how a 20k lb house would handle going down the road provided it's set up right to accommodate the house load on the chassis. And that's the key point you seem to be missing. I don't think anyone on here is defending Ford. What you have are logical and reasonable responses to why they handle poorly. But the onus can't be on Ford alone since they have no clue what or how manufacturers will bolt on to them. They build the chassis and I am sure the chassis is just fine when it leaves Ford.
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bmwdriver2019
usa
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thank you for your adult reply , it is very much appreciated , i research to learn not trash , i dont plan on getting rid of my motorhome, i question many things and recieved many replies, i questioned the actions of my motorhome and was told , a rear track bar will surely help, at least 95% , and it did, but if i did not question it in the first place, id still be having the issue, when we dont question , and leave things be , we gain nothing
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oldave
Tx
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Didn't you road-test or research it before you bought it?
They sell more upscale motorhomes, and one of those might suit you better.
I'm not a Ford guy either but I don't hate them, and it doesn't go down well for
you to come on here touting your BMW while bad-mouthing Ford.
You're comparing apples & oranges.
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dougrainer
Carrolton, Texas
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The Ford chassis are aligned when they leave Ford. BUT, that is the NO LOAD alignment. The Motorhome Maker then aligns and WEIGHS EVERY completed Motorhome when it leaves the factory. Then it is driven to the selling dealer. Ideally, (we used to do this, but do not have time and the personnel), the selling dealer drives the Motorhome before accepting from the Transport company. The PROBLEM, is, there can be anywhere from a few hundred miles to a few thousand miles driven by the transport driver. They can hit potholes, ANYTHING, that causes the alignment to go out of spec. YEARS ago, we used to get an honest report from the drivers that stated any handling problems. They stopped, because ANYTHING they state may cause extra costly damage reports that the transport company may have to pay. The NORMAL way a NEW chassis is handled when sold is, ON THE TEST DRIVE, if there is a handling/control issue, Ford in conjunction with the OEM maker will step up and pay to have the Motorhome aligned. THEN, it is on the retail customer, who accepts the Motorhome and test drives and goes home. IF THE MOTORHOME IS USED ON A RETAIL LOT, Then it is up to the customer to test drive and if handling issues are noted, then the dealership pays for the Alignment. IF a dealer refuses to do an alignment, then why buy from him? We have had NEW motorhomes that had to have 2 alignments done(they did a bad alignment) and all 6 tires balanced, to get a happy customer. BUT, the main thing is this, FORD builds millions of Class A chassis, and if handling was a huge engineering issue, there would be major lawsuits. Doug
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