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Topic of the week (2)

Yahoo Message Number: 2374
Given some of the discussion this week it seems appropriate that our
second "Discussion Topic of the Week" relate to handling issues -
shocks, sway bars, helper springs, airbags, etc.

So, if you have made modifications of this nature please let us know
what problems you felt were going to be cured, what modifications were
made, the cost, where you obtained the parts, difficulty of
installation (did you do it or have it done for you) and most
importantly, I guess, did you find the improvements in handling you
hoped for.

Don

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2375
I've got a 2009 Jayco Seneca 35GS.

I had Camping World in Winchester, VA install a Roadmaster rear-sway bar. Good thing too. There are two different rear-ends on the Kodiak. One with rivets and one with bolts. Unfortunely I had the one with rivets which a real pain - for the CW guys. Luckily I had a coupon for 50% off the labor costs.

I installed the Roadmaster Front Sway bar myself. Its a pretty easy install - just needed to go out and buy a 30 or 32mm deep socket since the normal depth wasn't cutting it. One person could probably do the install, but two people make the job really easier.

The front and rear sway bars really helped the handling and ride a lot. I'm going to install a Supersteer rear trac bar in about two weeks that that should be it for a while.

The directions for the sway bars and the trac bar both say you should put it up on four inch blocks to give you extra working room underneath. I did the sway bar without 4" blocks - cause I didn't have any. However, I'm thinking I'll probably need the extra 4" for the rear trac bar.

I was thinking about fabricating some drive-up blocks from 4x4s. Anyone got a better idea? What did you use to get the extra room or did you just grin and bear it?

Glenn

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2377
I have a question for you all.... I have a Four Winds FunMover Kodiak
6.6 diesel
It seems most of you have Senecas or Enduras, I was wondering about the
handling that is always being
mentioned and the sway bars, mine came with rear sway bars and didn't
know if all came with them or not.
I went to CW to check them out to compare with what I had and the
RoadMasters are the same size bars
if not smaller than mine on the truck now. Just trying to figure out
what I have !! thanks

Gary

cggunte wrote:

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2379

I also have a Four Winds product(Chataeu 34G) and it also has a substantial sway bar on the rear.

Roger

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2383
, Gary Myers  wrote:
Quote
I went to CW to check them out to compare with what I had and the
RoadMasters are the same size bars
if not smaller than mine on the truck now.

Gary,

That's the same observation I've had. The rear anti-sway bar installed on the 2006 Kodiak chassis by McCormick Motors as part of the "Stabil-Ride" package, is a big honkin' piece of steel and certainly never looked any smaller to me than the Roadmaster product.

I finally measured the thickness today with a micrometer and it shows the bar to be about 1-7/8 inches in diameter. Everything I've read says the Roadmaster bar is 1-5/8 in (i.e. smaller). The Roadmaster adds claim they use a higher grade of spring steel in their product when comparing it to stock. I don't think what McCormick installs is a GM stock part so who knows what the composition of their steel is.

I can only speak to the 2006 year Kodiak chassis. Don't know what was installed for "Stabil-Ride" before or since then.

Bill

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2385
My 2004 GS Kodiak did not have Stabil-Ride on it. Bought the parts from McCormick Chevy. They included a new sway-bar on front and a set of longer rear spring snubers on rear springs. They also offered Bilstein shocks. I bought those from Eshocks.com for far less cost.
I have seen more complaints from Seneca owners about handling than I have from GS/Four Winds owners. I keep wondering if the small sway bar on front is the reason for the difference. For those that do not know what the front sway bar is. It's the square tubing that you see just below front bumper. Stabil-Ride is a 2 1/2" bar. Stock is 2". The same 2 1/2" bar is used on Workhorse W22 chassis. The small changes I made have made my MH handle very well in almost all conditions. Total cost was less than $500. I did the work myself.
Last summer I added a set of Firestone Ride-Rite air bags. Did this as a upgrade to rear springs for 5000 lbs of load capacity when I put 245 tires on my MH. The air bags seems to have improved handling even more without giving a bad ride.

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2387
I'm sure about the rest - but the OEM sway bar on my Seneca (Kodiak C5500) was substanially smaller than the Roadmaster. I Roadmaster was huge by comparision.

Glenn

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2389
I have an 06 Jayco Seneca HD 34 SS. My unit was actually built on an 05 Kodiak chassis.

My issues were a lot of sway at low speeds and rough surfaces. I also had an issue that it was just plain scary if I went over any ridge, say at the junction between the pavement and the emergency lane.

I was considering a lot of mods, air bags / springs etc. and following the old threads on this discussion group. Also did the normal stuff like head to the CAT scales, look at the load...

Meanwhile - The Goodyear tires on my Jayco were original equipment. I also discovered that this particular tire was upgraded by Goodyear in early 06. Hmmmm. So based on the tire age, and inspection of the tires in general I decided to get new tires and to upgrade from Level G to Level H tires.

The load level H tires I settled on were Michelin XZE. I run them on the high side of psi per the weight tables as well.

Since then I have had no issue, no burning desire for airbags or springs. The ride is sweet.

Kevin

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From: KodiakChassisClassC@yahoogroups.com [mailto: KodiakChassisClassC@yahoogroups.com ] On Behalf Of Don Leslie
Sent: Saturday, March 21, 2009 7:00 PM
To: KodiakChassisClassC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [KodiakChassisClassC] Topic of the week (2)

left

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2392
Good move. I have to say that as I read I was worried that I was going to read XRV - that would have been a real mistake.

Don


On 22-Mar-09, at 4:14 PM, Kevin (Real) McCoy wrote:

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2393

I am running the XZE's on my coach also with NO complaints, and they handle more weight.

Denny

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2396
Goodmorning all, Until we joined this group we were not aware of the ride and sway problem's of the 5500 kodiak chassis. Our PonyXpress came from the factory with oem front and real anti-sway bar's and Michelin 245 tire's. we use nitrogen in all tires. The good ride and steering qualities were one of the reason's we bought the coach. It ride's and steer's just GREAT, we're extreamly pleased . This is a really good forum, thanks ...Bob&Carol 2006 Ponyxpress 34' 6.6 duramax

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #11 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2397
I think mine rides pretty good, but this is the first motorhome I've ever owned so I don't have anything to compare it to. I don't know anything about sway bars, trac bars etc. What do these things look like so I can see if maybe I was lucky enough that the previous owner added them.

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #12 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2399
Good questions. Now its time for a tutorial. RON, what do you think - would you like to lead off?

Don

On 26-Mar-09, at 2:47 PM, leej211979 wrote:

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #13 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2400
Check this it may help http://www.roadmasterinc.com/products/rss/rsspage2.html Like you mine handles pretty good, I think anyway, What I`m wondering though is, did all the folks doing suspension work have heavy enough springs in the rear? It seems to me that since Jayco started putting the 19,000lb rear springs in the Seneca there are not so many complaints about how they handle.

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #14 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2401
Brad has posted some good pictures. The rear sway bar is like the one shown on the Roadmaster site. Except Kodiaks are in front of rear axle.
I have posted a picture of the front sway bar on the Kodiak in my photos.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KodiakChassisClassC/photos/album/427332225/pic/1922830570/view?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=21&count=20&dir=asc
I have heard of some that are similar to the rear type. But never seen one.
Before I upgraded to the larger size bar I had problems making turns at the posted truck speeds. After the upgrade turns are above posted speed.

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #16 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2415
Our '07 Seneca 34SS came with Goodyear G107 tires which were made in Luxemburg. Had to replace one damaged one and Les Schwab tire store said they were no longer available. So, we now have two Goodyear G647s on the steer axle, so far so good. Wish I had Michelin, sure hate those rough riding G107s.

Paul

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #17 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2416
There are two options - drill out the rivets or fabricate (weld)
a new mount. I seem to recall that the Roadmaster people told CW that drilling out the rivets would increase the install time to about 12 hours.....The CW mechanic went the welding route and was finished in with everything in about four hours including lunch. I'm planning on de-winterizing this weekend and will see if I can get a decent picture of the area and the work done.

Glenn

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #18 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2417
Thanks Glenn. Even though the RPO code on my Seneca build sheet is EV8 indicating rivets, a quick look at the rear spring hangers shows bolts. At least I think I'm looking at the spring hangers. A photo would be great.

Thanks again,
Paul

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #19 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2418
Well it looks like mine has the front and rear sway bars and on our first trip this last weekend we had quite the test for it. We went down to the sand dunes last Friday night, knowing that a storm was coming in Sunday we were loaded up and ready to roll first thing in the morning but we still didn't beat it home. When headed back we had some ripping cross winds, for about 50 miles on I-15. I don't know what the gusts were up to but it was a little scary, at times it felt like it was going to blow the thing right over on its side. I was relieved to finally get into falling snow rather then the blasting winds ahead of the storm. I had never pulled my previous travel trailer in anything like that in the 9 years that I've had an RV but in lighter winds it seems like the trailer was much harder to keep in line then the motorhome, I think I would like stiffer springs on the rear to prevent so much lean.

Re: Topic of the week (2)

Reply #20 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2471
Finally got a chance to take a picture of the welded mount. Just as a refresher - some of the Kodiak's have Rivets on the Rear Springs and some have Bolts. Caused a bit of a slow down when it was time install the RoadMaster Rear Sway Bar. RoadMaster basically said drill out the rivets - it'll take about 12 hours. CW elected modify the mounting bracket and weld it to the frame. I took a couple of pictures of the rear mounting bracket. You can see the rear portion of the spring bracket and the front portion with the RoadMaster mounting bracket welded.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KodiakChassisClassC/photos/album/825880093/pic/list

Regards, Glenn