My motorhome is hard to control at highway speeds.

[Steve_Sheree]

We made the plunge and bought a Thor ACE 30.1. We had a fifth wheel for about 5 years and wanted to be more comfortable going down the road. Our fifth wheel camper was 30 foot and the motorhome is about that, so about the same size. So far we have 2 things we don't like about PEARL. We bought it on Dec. 7, if you get the reference.

Anyhow, it has limited towing, which is my fault for not checking. I wanted to tow a full size truck and a golf cart, but am limited to 5,000 lbs. I guess thats out.

The other thing is the highway swaying. Its all right as long as I keep it under 50, but any faster and I find myself fight the wheel to keep it in my lane. I talked to the dealer and he suggested several things to check. Front end alignment, tire pressure, and adding a sway bar system. I would think a new unit would come with the proper equipment (sway bar stuff) already installed. Maybe the bigger motorhomes dont have the same problems with control. I had no problems with the fifth wheel set up.

Has anyone else experienced these issues? Thanks

[tegu69]

Pulled a fw many years and our's, that we just sold, was rock solid going down the road. We decided to get a mh and after a lot of looking, we decided to look for a class A. We made a deal on price and such, with a dealership, contingent on a suitable test drive (gasser). I drove it on the Interstate and looked around for a semi. Unusual, but not one in sight. A van passed me and it pushed me part way on the emergency lane. I got back to the dealership and told the salesman, no thanks.
We found one from a private seller and purposely test drove it on a very windy day. Not as good as the fw, but handled pretty well. Bought it and I'm currently tweaking on it. First with alignment, then with the chf on the front.I think it has improved some, but not there yet. I will be doing the rear chf and then a rear track bar I think. I want to try one thing at a time, to see what helps most.

[TechWriter]

Steve Sheree wrote:
We made the plunge and bought a Thor ACE 30.1. We had a fifth wheel for about 5 years and wanted to be more comfortable going down the road.

The other thing is the highway swaying. Its all right as long as I keep it under 50, but any faster and I find myself fight the wheel to keep it in my lane.

My sympathies. Between wheel alignment and steering stabilizers, I hope you find a suitable fix.

I had similar issues with our first RV, a Class A gasser. That's why we bought a DP for our 2nd Class A, and it's a night & day driving difference.

[TNGW1500SE]

Steve Sheree wrote:
CHF?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MozieIP58PY

[TNGW1500SE]

All I've done to mine is the cheap handling fix front and rear. Then buy adjustable sway bar links for the front to level out the front sway bar. Left the rear links alone. It's like night and day. It was all over the road. Not anymore.

[04fxsts]

Our 2015 ACE 30.1 had handling problems also and I started with cheap and easy. Alignment was first followed by weighing front and rear axels and adjusting air pressure. These two things did help but not where I wanted to be. The CHF front and rear came next and this made a huge improvement in the way it handles. I think a rear track bar would also be an improvement in semi-truck push on the interstate. Still something I might add in the future but after the CHF not nearly as necessary in my mind.
To OP your ACE should be set up the same as ours which has front and rear sway bars and a front track bar. One other thing is to check the rear sway bar brackets that attach to the rear axle. There have been a lot of reports of the bolts being loose or the brackets broken. These bolts should be torqued to 66 ft/lbs and it is a good idea to put blue locktite on the bolts. When I got under the MH to look at the sway bar in preparation for the CHF I found the street side bracket loose and the driver side broken. Ford took care of the bracket under warranty so that was no problem but that would have meant virtually no sway control on the rear. For some reason it only seems to happen on the rear and application of the blue locktite and proper torque should fix it forever. Jim.

[HackerAce]

Put airbags on our 39' 1999 National Tropical and it is now a joy to drive. Of course it costed around $2,000

[down_home]

When you have it aligned have them check the rear axle. We had ours "aligned" several times.
last year at the factory they found the rear axle was not perphendicular to the frame.They removed welds and moved axle about an inch with wasers and welded them in.
I hd heard Freightliner chassis from the factory were not often true,as of several years ago. Probably not true today.
they had to take some toe out too. that was front tires pointing toward each other at the front a bit. That made it handle so much better.
With tires too stiff it wanted to wonder too.
Next up is Steersafe.

[timmac]

Steve Sheree wrote:
CHF?

Cheap Handling Fix, google it like said above, its free and easy to do..

[jspringator]

Cheap Handling Fix. Google it. It changes the sway bar settings.

[jspringator]

Steve Sheree wrote:
Thanks for all the comments and advice about the steering problem. I just read one comment that someone installed a trac and sway bar system and then installed a Safe T Plus system to correct steering problems. Another installed a Steer Safe system. My question is why wouldnt the track and sway bar system be enough.

I installed the SteerSafe last. I thought it was snake oil until I tried it. I installed a steering stabilizer that has a spring and is shaped like a shock absorber and it didn't do much. I think it is a systems thing. It is a combination of a lot of small improvements that combine to make a big difference.

[Steve_Sheree]

CHF?

[timmac]

Steve Sheree wrote:

Anyhow, it has limited towing, which is my fault for not checking. I wanted to tow a full size truck and a golf cart, but am limited to 5,000 lbs. I guess thats out.

You can do improvements to tow more weight, that's what was done with mine, I tow 6500 lbs without a issue, also do the CHF and it will help with the sway.

Check my profile pics.

[Steve_Sheree]

Thanks for all the comments and advice about the steering problem. I just read one comment that someone installed a trac and sway bar system and then installed a Safe T Plus system to correct steering problems. Another installed a Steer Safe system. My question is why wouldnt the track and sway bar system be enough.

The local RV dealer installs the Roadmaster rear track bar and reflex bracket kit for the front. Has anyone had any kits like that installed and did it help?

Thanks

[352]

Its called the white knuckle stress test. This means you will continue to stress out until you figure out why you have white knuckles. Hope this helps