I worked on my class C motor home today.
On the recent trip, I had some white knuckle experiences on the road. It was particularly bad when crossing the Wyoming windswept prairie, on Highway 18 from Ammon to Lusk. The gusty 30-40mph (my guess) wind kept threatening to blow my MH and its toad off the road. At times, I thought about pulling off the road to spend the night boondocking by the side of the highway. And I would have done so, if not for the fact that no suitable spots could be found.
So, I swore that I would look into doing something, anything, to try to improve the handling of the MH. What bothered me was the fact that my MH is not one of those long class Cs, which can be up to 31' and loaded with slides. Mine is a short 25', and on the same chassis as the big ones, such that I have a CCC (cargo carrying capacity) of an impressive 2650 lbs. The car I tow is also light, at 3200 lbs. Could the lesser weight mean that I got pushed around more?
In researching RV forums, it appears that many people have handling problems with heavier class Cs that may be overweight. One unfortunate guy had problems driving his new MH home from the dealership, empty and not towing anything! And he was an experienced RV'er, having owned a 5th wheel earlier.
Anyway, I just followed the usual recommendation of putting in
wonderful HD Bilstein shock absorbers, and a
marvelous Hellwig add-on rear anti-roll bar. If you think I am getting kick-back from the manufacturers, let me assure you that I am not, and the superlative descriptions above were what I gathered from the comments on various RV forums.
See my proud accomplishment below.
The job was not as bad as I had feared, because the MH had plenty of clearance, plus I used the stabilizing jacks to raise its rear a couple more inches.
Well, do they work? Beats me! After the installation, I drove it around the neighborhood a few blocks, but could not really tell the difference. I guess I will not know until the next trip, when I again encounter strong winds and with the toad in tow.
PS. I will add here that the tires were all new, installed just prior to the trip and with pressures checked religiously.