We went into our purchase of a small class C with open eyes. Knew it would be small, have limited carrying capacity, and wouldn't handle on the road like our diesel pusher with tag axle.
Started our RV journey many years ago with a 38' class A gasser on an F53 chassis. Having never driven anything larger than a big pick up, the drive home from the dealer was absolutely terrifying. After about 500 miles we got used to the sway and wobble and constant steering corrections. Braced ourselves for the impact of big rigs going the other way on 2 lane highways and lived with it as a limitation of an F53 chassis.
Did a lot of reading about suspension enhancements and how miraculous they were in fixing every known F 53 handling issue. Descriptions like, huge difference, wonderful, drives and rides like a dream.
I was extremely skeptical and opted not to spend a ton of $. I did do the cheap handling fix and convinced myself in to imagining it made the ride better but in retrospect probably not. Also added a steering stabilizer and this did help relieve the constant steering corrections,
a little,
When we went full time, we moved into a diesel pusher with a tag axle and learned what a comfortable driving experience really was.
Now coming off full time and wanting smaller to access public parks we were prepared to go back to a less comfortable and more fatiguing ride.
Also knew we would be bumping right up to GVWR in the new unit.
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the ride on the Mercedes chassis. Tolerated, wind, bumps and passing big rigs quite well. The steering is superb compared to the F53 chassis. Only worrisome thing was turning into the driveway the rocking/swaying was rather more extreme than I expected, or was comfortable with.
Given the rocking/swaying and knowing we would always be at or near the GVWR I figured adding all that super stuff might help and would probably do no harm.
Sumo Springs. Yellow on rear and Blue on the front. Raised the RV on the levelling jacks and did not remove tires. Installed all 4 in less than an hour.
Hellwig sway bar. Did not remove tires, total install about 3 hours. Could have been less but at 73 years old crawling around under the RV ain't easy.
Super springs. $%$$ what a pain to install. A younger person probably could do it wheels on but I removed them one side at a time. First side took a bit longer than 8 hrs wheels off to wheels back on. 2nd side took 6 hrs. Compressing the springs with c-clamps is what took the time.
I didn't drive the rig after each install but waited till all 3 were done.
No
miraculous changes in driving or handling but I will say tghere was modest improvement in some areas.
Steering >>>No change, I have to say I love this Mercedes steering.
Ride>>> somewhat stiffer but not uncomfortable, as you would expect from the Sumo and Super springs. Not a huge difference but
noticeably less impact from strong crosswinds and passing big rigs.
Sway/Rocking especially the left right sway at the top of the rig when going over uneven terrain as in driveway entrance gas stations etc.
This is where the improvement was most noticeable. Once again
not life changing, super, or rock solid, but a noticeable improvement.
The degree or angle of sway was less, and I would no longer call it extreme.
The speed or velocity at which the house rocked was lessened more than noticeably, and the number of times it rocked back and forth was decreased more than noticeably.
When fully loaded with actual weight being 75# shy of GVWR including trailer tongue weight the RV rear end Measured at the trailer hitch. sits 1" higher than before the super and sumo springs. Not sure that is helpful in any way but it was the only objective measurement I could make.
Even though these add ons didn't make sex any better, grow hair on my bald head, help me lose weight or make my arthritis go away, I am pleased with the result.
My neighbor at the RV park smiled and suggested rubbing CBD oil on the sway bar and super springs. Said it would give me a 50% increase in GVWR
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