Anti-Sway options for 2018 Sunstar 29VE

[edju]

I've got a 2018 Winnebago Sunstar 29VE on a Ford F53 chassis. I've done the CHF and it has helped, but I'm looking for more help with body sway. The sway occurs during quick turns or on a road tilted the wrong way on a curve. Seems like sumo springs, anti-sway bars and rear track bar are upgrades most often mentioned. I'd like to hear from those of you that have done one or both and did it make a big difference or was it worth it. If you did an anti-sway or track bar, what brand? Any other comments that would be helpful.
Thanks,
Ed

 

[creativepart]

Here's the truth... nothing short of replacing the suspension with a $27,000 Liquid Spring suspension will eliminate that body tilt you are asking about.

I've put on Sumo Springs, Koni Shocks and an additional rear Roadmaster Anti-roll Bar.

The Roadmaster Roll bar did the most to the reduce (not eliminate) body tilt.

The reason a Class A or C motorhome tilts is it's height and high center of gravity and the leaf spring suspension. Leaf springs work in the vertical up/down motion of the axles. They make things worse side to side. So as long as you have a tall vehicle with leaf springs you're going to have body tilt. There is only so much an antil-roll bar can do - but it does help some.

Sumos are helper springs - again up/down motion control. A track bar doesn't do anything but limit the fore and aft location of the solid axle. Shocks help with jounce.

Everything "helps" driving dynamics some - but none of it solves all the issues.

I'm happy enough with my Roadmaster rear anti-sway bar. The Sumos and Koni Shocks are less successful.

 

[JLUSoCal]

I have a 2017 29ve. Did as you said the CHF and that helped but I subsequently put on Koni's and Sumo Springs. Drives OK but as Createpart said, next step would be the rear roll bar - but I'm done and happy with the way it handles.

I think the combination helped enough and the shocks helped quite a bit with the "little stuff" that was driving me crazy with what I felt was too "busy" a ride. Some say that the Sumos stiffen the ride, perhaps, and that might be contributing to a bit less sway too.

The one item I also did was put in an RSSA front stabilizer, but it's been off for a bit till I get a chance to fix the overtightened UBolt (my fault). That didn't seem to make a huge difference, as I've always been able to drive one-handed on anything but mountain roads. The stabilizer I bought for potential blowouts too.

I would try Koni Shocks next IF you think it's a rough ride - it'll still be rough, but I feel like the Koni's soak up a bit more. Then add either the roll bar or Sumos, your choice.

I have driven another F53 about 18 inches longer than ours, an FR3, that had the upgraded rear sway bar, it wasn't much better, but hard to tell, both of us are about the same weight, he just has a bit longer motorhome with the same wheelbase. Biggest difference to me is he was last year of the 5-speed and I have the 6-speed - what a world of difference in terms of keeping the engine RPM's down.

 

[powercat_ras]

I've got a 2018 Winnebago Sunstar 29VE on a Ford F53 chassis. I've done the CHF and it has helped, but I'm looking for more help with body sway. The sway occurs during quick turns or on a road tilted the wrong way on a curve. Seems like sumo springs, anti-sway bars and rear track bar are upgrades most often mentioned. I'd like to hear from those of you that have done one or both and did it make a big difference or was it worth it. If you did an anti-sway or track bar, what brand? Any other comments that would be helpful.
Thanks,
Ed

I KNOW this is not the answer you want to hear but the best thing you can do reduce side to side sway without the Sumo Springs upgrade investment is to drive at a lower speed when making quick turns and on curves.

It drives like a big box truck because basically it IS just a big box truck!

 

[Quandt-WO]

I've got a 2018 Winnebago Sunstar 29VE on a Ford F53 chassis. I've done the CHF and it has helped, but I'm looking for more help with body sway. The sway occurs during quick turns or on a road tilted the wrong way on a curve. Seems like sumo springs, anti-sway bars and rear track bar are upgrades most often mentioned. I'd like to hear from those of you that have done one or both and did it make a big difference or was it worth it. If you did an anti-sway or track bar, what brand? Any other comments that would be helpful.
Thanks,
Ed

We have a '20 Sunstar 27PE. Our first 1500 mile trip we thought we were going to die. It felt more like being on the ocean than being on a road.
We did CHF, Sumo, Koni, rear antiroll, got alignment, front steering stabilzer, basically everything you could do we did (except liquid springs, but they quoted $28000).

We feel we are about 80% on shock aborber functions.
The steering stabilizer made driving more comfortable
We dont lean so hard during turns

That said its never going to be better than what we have it at. We keep our speed slower, dont travel during wind over 20mph (just not fun), travel with our tanks fuller seems to help, and dont try to do more than 300 miles in a long travel day.

Best of luck.

 

[Terry-REDW]

Before you spend alot of money, put a Davis true track system on you front ford axle. Made in Sequim Washington. You will not regret it

 

[edju]

Powercat,
Did you add the Sumo Springs?
Ed

 

[edju]

We have a '20 Sunstar 27PE. Our first 1500 mile trip we thought we were going to die. It felt more like being on the ocean than being on a road.
We did CHF, Sumo, Koni, rear antiroll, got alignment, front steering stabilzer, basically everything you could do we did (except liquid springs, but they quoted $28000).

We feel we are about 80% on shock aborber functions.
The steering stabilizer made driving more comfortable
We dont lean so hard during turns

That said its never going to be better than what we have it at. We keep our speed slower, dont travel during wind over 20mph (just not fun), travel with our tanks fuller seems to help, and dont try to do more than 300 miles in a long travel day.

Best of luck.

Thanks for the comments. Did you do all those upgrades around the same time? If you did them one at a time, when did you notice the biggest improvement?
Thanks,
Ed

 

[Terry-REDW]

Powercat,
Did you add the Sumo Springs?
Ed

No the trouble with the 53 chassis is the leaf springs are so long that the front end walks back and forth. It least that is what I was told, Davis true track addressed this by making the front axle one with the frame. If you can Look up Davies true track. Sequim Washington.Hope this helps.

 

[RayIN]

Here's the truth... nothing short of replacing the suspension with a $27,000 Liquid Spring suspension will eliminate that body tilt you are asking about.

I've put on Sumo Springs, Koni Shocks and an additional rear Roadmaster Anti-roll Bar.

The Roadmaster Roll bar did the most to the reduce (not eliminate) body tilt.

The reason a Class A or C motorhome tilts is it's height and high center of gravity and the leaf spring suspension. Leaf springs work in the vertical up/down motion of the axles. They make things worse side to side. So as long as you have a tall vehicle with leaf springs you're going to have body tilt. There is only so much an antil-roll bar can do - but it does help some.

Sumos are helper springs - again up/down motion control. A track bar doesn't do anything but limit the fore and aft location of the solid axle. Shocks help with jounce.

Everything "helps" driving dynamics some - but none of it solves all the issues.

I'm happy enough with my Roadmaster rear anti-sway bar. The Sumos and Koni Shocks are less successful.

As the saying goes: "and that's the bottom line".

 

[edju]

Update

Update - I installed the Supersteer rear track bar. After a 900 mile trip I would say that it does help the sway. I definitely notice it helps when a semi approaches me on a two lane road at 70mph, hardly any sway/wind buffet. I'd also say it helps a little if a truck passes me on a four lane; I still feel the push and pull, but less. It may help a little during turns. Maybe this is my imagination for not hitting washboard roads in a while, but it seems to make the bounce worse. All in all I'd say it helps.
I also installed the Safe-T-Plus steering stabilizer. That is a noticeable difference in driving, not needing to rock the steering back and forth. I still need to do another adjustment since it still pulls to the right.