Itasca Sunstar 30T and Winnebago Vista 30T

[WBandJ]

Originally Posted by Glenn507

Tom, what do you mean by the bottom hole? As I view the sway bar, It's parallel to the axle and turns out to the front at both ends. The part that turns out is flat and has two holes in it. My sway bar has a suspension rod that comes down vertically and attatches to the front hole. Does this mean i should move it to the rearward hole?

Yes, move the link to the hole closest to the axle. A shorter lever arm requires more force to rotate the bar. The http://www.irv2.com/forums/f23/cheap...fix-72335.html thread has lots of information and photos.

[Still Bill]

Originally Posted by ghutch

Bill, I suggest that you go to the Ford Chassis section of this forum and look at the Cheep Handling Fix posts. I think you will find it a lot of help. If you decide to invest in aftermarket items, you should do them one at a time until you feel you have gotten the handling that you like. TeJay has a lot of good advise if you lookup his posts. Personally, I got the best handling improvement by adding a rear track bar. Additional items will enhance the handling too. My sig shows my upgrades.

Gary, My issue more relates to poor tracking by the steering. Seems that caster setting is likely compromised to address other issues (turning circle and tire wear); so, the steering stabilizer makes sense to me as an initial step.

I do currently view the rear track bar as being more beneficial for when I add significant weight at the rear of my Sunstar 30T and/or start flat towing something like a 3,500-4,500# vehicle. But, I am resisting the notion of flat towing for the near term.

Besides...Camping World has the Safe-T-Plus unit on sale this month with free installation to Good Sam club members. And maybe next month the rear track bar will go on sale...LOL

Still very interesting to get everyone's take on the handling characteristics of our behemoths.

Bill

[WBandJ]

Originally Posted by Still Bill

Gary, My issue more relates to poor tracking by the steering. Seems that caster setting is likely compromised to address other issues (turning circle and tire wear);

Bill

Bill,

TeJay ( http://www.irv2.com/forums/search.php?searchid=7120430 ) has several posts regarding the results of the camber change that was made to his Vista 30T.

[ghutch]

Bill,
Obviously, alignment is the most important item to have correct and I suggest having it checked first. Secondly, my opinion for the next mod, would be to get a rear track bar. It will reduce the push from passing trucks and improves stability and handling. Lastly, if you still feel the steering wonders (and all components are within specs), you could install a steering stabilizer. There many makers of this component. Most owners, including me, who have made these mods, have had good results and like the handling of this length chassis.
Gary

[Still Bill]

Gary,
Took me this long to find a good alignment shop that would do my 30T. Had to go 60 miles away from the Bay Area to Stockton, CA to get to this recommended shop. Was worth the miles and time because the alignment has significantly improved my overall steering experience. For my situation, the alignment shop took about 1 degree of caster out of each side. Should be able to install the steering stabilizer in the next week or two.


However, in doing an initial check of the rear suspension, the alignment technician found a major issue...the rubber bushings at the tail end of the rear leaf springs were absolutely shot...with only 5,100 miles on the odometer. They said they had seen many defective rubber suspension parts lately and this is an ongoing problem. Kind of crazy that the bolts supporting these rubber bushings are trapped in place by different components of the motorhome. Will be contacting Winnebago in the morning. Unfortunately, my rig is 13 months old; so, I am not sure where things stand in regard to warranty. This could be a very expensive issue by what I see.
Bill

[rvten]

This would fall under chassis mfg. warranty.

[ghutch]

Boy, the rear springs situation is hard to understand. My first thinking is that Ford's warranty would cover the parts and labor. However, I'm not sure how Ford will handle the added labor time if needed. Ford may go for the extra labor in light of their chassis being incomplete and manufactured for up-fitting. Its my experience that Winnebago will not participate. One day over a year and their done.
I would suggest the replacement bushings be the "poly" style if available.
Look for a Med-Duty Ford dealer, as they are more familiar with this chassis. Hopefully the MH components that are in the way can be moved.
Hope you can keep us informed. Good Luck

[Still Bill]

Originally Posted by ghutch

Boy, the rear springs situation is hard to understand. My first thinking is that Ford's warranty would cover the parts and labor. However, I'm not sure how Ford will handle the added labor time if needed. Ford may go for the extra labor in light of their chassis being incomplete and manufactured for up-fitting. Its my experience that Winnebago will not participate. One day over a year and their done.
I would suggest the replacement bushings be the "poly" style if available.
Look for a Med-Duty Ford dealer, as they are more familiar with this chassis. Hopefully the MH components that are in the way can be moved.
Hope you can keep us informed. Good Luck

Thanks Gary.

I hear you about the issues between Ford and Winnebago. I was a fleet manager for a large corporation for several years; so, I know how such things go. If we were talking about a bare Ford chassis, I could easily do the both sides myself. Thinking that it is the gray water tank causing the worst problem on the driver side. Can cut through the back wall of the passenger side storage compartment to get the bolt out on the other side.

Now thinking that a rear track bar might improve the bushing wear situation so the rear axle is not working the bushings side-to-side.

But, the important issue is that people check their bushings for wear. It is just a case of getting under the rear with a flashlight and checking to see that the rubber material of the bushing has not been pushed out from the end of the leaf springs...at that point you will only have the metal encasement surrounding the bushing going metal to metal with the bolt that holds the spring to the shackle.

The tech blamed the cause as being cheap rubber bushings made in India (not China in this case). He had seen it before; so, he was compelled to take a look.

Bill

[ghutch]

I agree on the inspection. I'll be taking a close look at mine. Front and rears.

[Still Bill]

Safe-T-Plus Steering Stabilizer is installed as of today. Nice that I did not need to constantly make steering adjustments on the way home.

Now I just have to deal with the defective rubber bushings issue in the rear leaf springs before moving on to the rear track bar installation.

Bill

[TonyLee]

We have had our 2014 Vista 30T for 8 months now and we love it. We use our 30T every other week for 4-5 days at a time and mostly up and down the west coast. We have encountered several issues that were corrected by the dealer, such as, bedroom door snap broke. I wish the bedroom fan-folded door was a pocket door. Also, the leveling system needed to be recalibrated, bubbles (3 small ones) on ceiling, all of which was fixed.

[ghutch]

Originally Posted by Still Bill

Safe-T-Plus Steering Stabilizer is installed as of today. Nice that I did not need to constantly make steering adjustments on the way home.

Bill

Good deal, Bill....

[Still Bill]

Originally Posted by TonyLee

We have had our 2014 Vista 30T for 8 months now and we love it. We use our 30T every other week for 4-5 days at a time and mostly up and down the west coast. We have encountered several issues that were corrected by the dealer, such as, bedroom door snap broke. I wish the bedroom fan-folded door was a pocket door. Also, the leveling system needed to be recalibrated, bubbles (3 small ones) on ceiling, all of which was fixed.

Tony,

Do you know what the recalibration of the Lippert leveling system actually involved? Every time I use mine and retract it, I will get 3-5 messages indicating that it is still down (and red warning light is on) for the first 3-4 times that I restart the engine. So, I go through the retract procedure again and again until the messages stop. After that, all is good. But, still very annoying!

Thanks.

Bill

[TonyLee]

Originally Posted by Still Bill

Tony,

Do you know what the recalibration of the Lippert leveling system actually involved? Every time I use mine and retract it, I will get 3-5 messages indicating that it is still down (and red warning light is on) for the first 3-4 times that I restart the engine. So, I go through the retract procedure again and again until the messages stop. After that, all is good. But, still very annoying!

Thanks.

Bill

Bill
Reset the levelers buy pressing retract and enter at the same time and this will reset the system. To calibrate there is a specific procedure of pushing buttons on the leveler console which Winnebago walked us through.
Hope this helps, Tony

[Still Bill]

Originally Posted by TonyLee

Bill
Reset the levelers buy pressing retract and enter at the same time and this will reset the system. To calibrate there is a specific procedure of pushing buttons on the leveler console which Winnebago walked us through.
Hope this helps, Tony

Oh yeah! That was in the manual; but, I forgot about it. Will give the reset solution a go next time.

Many thanks.

Bill

[Okierambler]

Hi all,

I have a 2012 Vista 30T and the driver side slide seems to be very close to the front edge of the opening and is rubbing very hard on the seal, has anyone else experienced this problem and if so does anyone have any sage advice on how to correct it besides taking it to the dealer, I think my dealer has Jessie James in his name some where.
Thanks in advance.

[ghutch]

My only major warranty repair was to replace both front slide wipe seals due to the slides being misaligned during production causing the seals to tare. I had it repaired at the factory. The process involved re-aligning the slides as well. The repairs were excellent and the slides move very well, even after 2 years. I would say, if you are up north sometime, make an appointment in Forrest City and you will be satisfied with the quality of work.

[Still Bill]

The rear shackle bushing issue on my 2013 Itasca Sunstar 30T is completely resolved. Ford had a very capable RV service shop in San Jose replace the entire shackle assembly (with the bushing) at the tail end of the rear leaf springs on both side at a cost of $1,300 to Ford under their standard warranty program. My thanks to Ford for taking care of the whole issue at no cost to us. Took approximately 6 hours for the shop to change out the parts supplied by Ford. Photos of the problem parts are available upon request.


Suggest you check your similar 30T motorhome for this issue. See my previous posts for more details.


Bill

[Still Bill]

My next project...

Has anyone with a 30T attempted to route an HDMI cable from the overhead front compartment above the driver to the 42" TV located on the buffet in the driver's side slideout? Is it doable? Thanks.

Bill

[ghutch]

Originally Posted by Still Bill

The rear shackle bushing issue on my 2013 Itasca Sunstar 30T is completely resolved. Ford had a very capable RV service shop in San Jose replace the entire shackle assembly (with the bushing) at the tail end of the rear leaf springs on both side at a cost of $1,300 to Ford under their standard warranty program. My thanks to Ford for taking care of the whole issue at no cost to us. Took approximately 6 hours for the shop to change out the parts supplied by Ford. Photos of the problem parts are available upon request.


Suggest you check your similar 30T motorhome for this issue. See my previous posts for more details.


Bill

Bill, glad you got the spring thing fixed and by Ford too

check your private messages.