Agile RIP kit "gave" me death wobble???

[Chinook]

Reading this is funny. This is a common deal on Class C RV's. Mine suffered from the same issue and i kept blaming it on the front end. Tried everything, even bought the biggest beefiest swaybar hellwig makes for the E-350 chassis front and rear to no avail. Multiple alignments to no avail. The sway bars certainly stiffend up the ride though. If the wind was blowing, forget about going on the interstate or hiway at anything above 50 mph. If a semi passed me i was all over the road correcting and over correcting, any long trip was a white knuckle affair and you would be exhausted by the time you arrived at destination. The problem is in the rear of the truck, not the front, but it does mimick front end problems or out of alignment issues. The big hellwig bar will help some but it probably wont eliminate the problem. But then again his rig is some what smaller than mine so it might but it will most likely be short lived.

I ditched the beefy rear hellwig bar because it made the truck ride like crap. I then installed a trac bar on the rear, problem solved, that was 5 years ago. It took me a years worth of screwing around to figure it out. My front end was all tight and beefed up but the truck is tall enough that it acts like a sailboat and when any side draft pushes against it the body shifts sideways and you think its coming from the front end when its actually the rear of the truck shifting sideways while the tires remain planted on the road, then once the wind or draft force stops the chassis centers over the axle again and of course once again youre forced to compensate with your steering. Very miserable driving experience and quite exhausting.... Trac bar not a sway bar, problem 100% eliminated.

I think everyone here knows how a trac bar functions, it prevents the chassis from shifting seperate and apart from the axle. It does the same thing on the rear as it does on the front. Hope he chimes back in at some point.... Of course this isnt a fix for a truck thats out of alignment to begin with.

https://www.hendersonslineup.com/tail-wagging-the-dog

[ctb]

Nemesis...I have been following this post in hopes (fingers toes eyes crossed each time i flip through it)...as a complete idiot compared to the brilliant mechanic, engineers, 4x4 experts, I have only had this happen once in the 60K miles I have had our SMB. We had a flat (50K miles on them) and had to put on spare...in Western Washington, NOBODY had E-rated goodyears in stock EXCEPT Seattle...since heading there we ordered and headed there. Next day, installed...two new on front (never used spare & new tire), had old ones on back thinking I'd get two more when I got back home in a couple weeks...headed to Redding to see my sister...We were on HW5 and the Ghosting or death wobble started...wandering, correcting which ended up overcorrecting, then back, slowed waaaaay down which helped... made it to a rest area N of Weed, CA....my Rears were @ 80psi, front @65psi (as Goodyear suggests)...decided to near equal psi to 72 rear, 68 front...it helped, but not enough for steering at speed to feel "back" to normal...we decided to go ahead and get the two new e-series for the rears thinking it might be that...It completely solved MY issue and haven't felt it since.BTW I have a Quadvan setup with airbags... I know that is super simple fix for MY particular experience but incase everything else fails, Maybe? I can't wait to hear how things worked out!

[arctictraveller]

This is great information. I was aware of the benefit of a rear tracbar but had forgotten. I've never had death wobble with my Advanced conversion, but sure do get blown around by semi's and side winds. I think there is a tracbar in my future, thanks.................

[Chinook]

Tail wagging the dog, i just wish i had taken the time to dig deeper prior to spending all that money on swaybars, a new steering box, and literally replacing everything under the front of my truck, i must have paid for 8 different alignments in that years period of time.

I can honestly say that out of all of the modifications i made on this truck, the trac-bar for the rear was the #1 biggest bang for the buck modification i made and worth every penny i spent on it. The difference on my rig was night and day, i actually felt comfortable driving it and was able to finally relax and drive with one hand on the wheel versus having both hands clamped on the wheel getting white knuckles in anticipation of the next truck passing or gust of wind.

[Forrestvt]

https://supersteerparts.com/products...-sway-bar.html

anyone tried this product or similar?

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by Chinook

I can honestly say that out of all of the modifications i made on this truck, the trac-bar for the rear was the #1 biggest bang for the buck modification i made and worth every penny i spent on it.

Well, You have convinced me. I installed one today, and despite some last minute adjustments, the install was easy and everything fit well. Sadly, I wont know how well it works for some time since next week I'll be removing the old axle and replacing it with another, so I won't get to drive it. Never the less, it's got to help. Fingers crossed.................

[bisonthecruiser]

Supersteer, yeah? Can't wait to hear what you think!!!

[Twoxentrix]

Originally Posted by arctictraveller

...I installed one today, and despite some last minute adjustments, the install was easy and everything fit well...

I experience some rear end swagger in high winds & while passing big rigs (not much, but just enough to be annoying), unfortunately don't have the room for a sway bar (lifeline battery tray sits directly behind the Diff cover).
Sent you a PM, hoping you can confirm this track bar doesn't stick out past the width of the Differential - Cant quite tell from the pic you attached...fingers crossed that it doesn't in hopes this may prove to be my answer as well.

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by Twoxentrix

hoping you can confirm this track bar doesn't stick out past the width of the Differential - Cant quite tell from the pic you attached...fingers crossed that it doesn't in hopes this may prove to be my answer as well.

The tracbar is somewhat limited in where you can mount it due to the size and geometry of the frame clamp. Still, it's pretty well on the center line of the axle tubes, so you should not have any fore or aft clearance problems. The first time i installed all the bolts, the bar was a bit out of parallel with the axle clamp, that's to say the bushing didn't sit flat against the plate it bolts to, due to the frame clamp being too far aft. I had it back a bit more than needed due to a concern about the axle hitting it at full bump travel. Carefully moving it forward just enough so that the axle will clear at full bump, and making sure it clears my custom bump stop should bring it into parallel on the far end. Either way, I haven't done the fine tuning because I'm removing the axle to install a full float, so there's no point in doing it twice. (I ordered the tracbar prior to finding the new axle) The first axle clamp on bracket was too tall, and would have hit the exhaust, so they sent me a much shorter one. Their customer service was great, they shipped the new bracket immediately and didn't ask me to ship the old one back. If you go this route, ask for the shortest bracket they have.

[nemesisnight]

Wow, great info everyone!!! If I still had my van I would for sure go the route of a rear tracbar over the sway bar for atriculation offroad alone. I didn't even think of that or realize anyone made one that would work on a van. Once my van had the rear sway bar installed I actually ended up completely removing my front sway bar and drove it like (without one at all) that for at least 10k miles before selling it. So all the front end work helped so much I didn't even need one and it wasn't perfect but felt pretty good and stable. Might have to try one out on my next F550 if I can ever get up to Canada to drive it home, dang Covid!!


Oh and welcome Bisonthecruiser, he now has my old van and looks like he is a new forum member!