Has anyone had a Safe-T-Plus installed on their U270/295/320?
Coach will be in the shop at MOT next week and thinking about putting one on.
Not on a Foretravel, but had one on my previous coach, a 1994 Bluebird BMC 37' on Spartan Chassis. It made it less "flighty" in winds and semi truck wakes, and added safety in event of a blowout.
I had one front tire blow out on another rv. Have had Safe-T-Plus since, including current FT. 100% satisfied, 100% warranty to original purchaser. They are overbuilt and do the job intended. Each one has a serial number.
Had the safety steer put on my 1997 U-320 in April at the factory in Atlanta. Took them an hour including the test drive and adjustment. 623.00 out the door and what a difference it has made!
Steven what differences did you notice?
Put one on years ago, safe t plus. It helps to maintain steering neutral center, reducing wander. Mitigates violent directional changes caused by road forces.....like dropping a wheel off the edge of pavement. Smooths the reaction. Definite improvement.
No more being blown off the road by trucks, no more constantly correcting the steering. Much more stable going down the road in windy condition s.
Steve
Steven my sister coach to yours does not move when opposing trucks blow by.
No constant correction. Yours is fixable. Trust me.
The safe-t-plus tends to cover up loose front ends.
As a manager I fixed the issues first then the customer could add that if they wanted.
I assume one could have it installed on an Oshkosh Chassis also, with comparable results?
I've seen this response often. Yes, the safe t plus tends to compensate somewhat for cumulative front end wear. Yes, it would be better, given time and money no object, to completely rebuild front end from hubs to steering box, seeking out experts to tweak wheel bearings with custom preloads, etc. The question in my mind about taking that route....why should a rebuild be necessary after the relatively minimal mileage most coaches have driven on these heavy duty Meritor parts?
Sometimes it's appropriate to slap a bandage on. Assuming no defective or worn beyond service limit parts in front end, you may find these measures helpful:
Premium steer tires with careful adjustment of air pressure within service limits to maximize handling. While my service life has been less than stellar with Michelin tires, I do have to say they handled best.
Alignment, or rather, the one simple adjustment that is typically adjusted during alignments, which is toe in. I, and others, have found that the recommended toe in is insufficient for stability. This is quite easy to adjust. Loosen two nuts, rotate the track bar, retighten, test drive. Five minutes max. If you're taking the coach in for an alignment, suggest a frank discussion with the tech.....no reason they can't add in toe after test drives. Chances are, if you drive out with standard settings you've wasted your money.
Not a bad idea to carefully check wheel bearings and associated play is within spec.
Safe T Plus helps. It has other potential benefits in an emergency situation that can't be achieved with a stock front end. Not to say that in a blowout, or unintended offroad excursion that Michael Andretti class driving won't save your bacon, but I like to stack the deck in my favor.
IMHO. YMMV. And most importantly, "Do what makes you feel good."
When I bought the Monaco Dynasty it had the Howard Centering System that some owner had put in. When test driving it I could
feel the toein was out and before I drove it again I reset the toein and it drove straight. The only time I used the Howard System was in heavy cross winds as I could set it with the wheel turned into the wind so steering wheel would center there. It was easier to drive but without the wind it was easier to drive with it off. The Foretravel handles great so I have never checked the toein.
Where do I find a good technical description what a Safe-T-Plus does and how it installed to a 2003 U320?
Thank you
Klaus
Ask these people.
Safe T Plus Steering Control / RV & Truck Steering Stabilizer (https://www.safe-t-plus.com/)
Chuck? When you loosen the two bolts ? How much is a little? Half turn ? 2 turns? I assume you can tell by the threads which way ? If pulling or pushing the tire?
Thanks
I had the safe t plus.. took it off.. after having the steering by box rebuilt and all new ball joints and an alignment I still have an issue .. going to try this first . Ordered a new steering box so I am going to take the rebuilt one out (it didn't change anything when it was rebuilt ) and put in the replacement m100-pgw1.. see if it helps
When adjusting toe in you need to measure it. I like 3/16 of an inch toe in. I made my own toe in bar, 1/4 inch pipe and a rod that
can go inside and drill a hole near one end and weld a 1/4 inch nut and make a wing nut with a 1/4 bolt.
I read Chuck Pearson's and Caflashbob's submission on this topic again today, now that I know what a Safe-T-Plus is.
Excellent contributions of authors that can explain a quite complex issue (steering dynamics of a vehicle) and then stating their conclusions based on their experience.
I am in the market for 2 new steering tires, and before I knew about Safe-T-Plus I was leaning to Toyo (like all my other tires). I am not experienced enough to state conclusively that I have directional stability problem, but I wish the coach's steering response was tighter.
My new plan now is as follows:
Find a good price for 2 Michelin steering tires
Install these with proper alignment and 3/16 toe-in
See how coach handles
If still not satisfied, install Safe-T-Plus
Any comments?
Regards
Klaus
Purchase Michelin steering tires.
David, rotating the track bar 1/4 turn will make a major difference in toe. The bolts that are loosened are pinch bolts on each end of the bar, this allows the bar to rotate and change the length between the tie rods. On my coach....and I have no idea if yours is the same..... I reached over the axle, and rotated the bar with a pipe wrench, the wrench gripping the bar in a horizontal position with the wrench pointing towards back of bus, jaws open up...pulled wrench to a vertical position thus giving a 1/4 turn to bar.
Pretty easy to see what your toe is now, and recommend this be done before adjusting anything. Old Guy has one suggestion, I used a pair of 1x1 wood strips, each about 5' long. Lying under coach, butted each strip to the wheel rim on each side, half way up wheel on trailing edge. Holding the sticks together, drew a pencil line across both when everything was positioned on trailing edge of rims. Repeat process on leading edge of rims...once again half way up the height of wheel. Label these marks so you know which one is leading, which one is trailing. The difference in overall length of the sticks when lined up with respective marks is the amount of toe in of the rims..... So, after taking initial readings, of your present settings, you can crank in a bit of toe, recheck with sticks, label your new marks, Retighten pinch bolts ! test drive..... Keep these sticks, they are a durable record of adjustments.
Of course a machinist like yourself will most likely make a digital caliper of some sort......but this works.
One very important consideration.....these instructions are for the straight axle style Foretravels. The do not apply to the IFS front end styles that started showing up in later years.
I put it on our coach strictly for assistance in case of a blowout. Nothing to do with front end compensation. I had a blowout on rear of last coach, and after watching a couple of videos where people rolled their coach I bought the safe t stear. Also, would not be as worried if DW was driving and has blowout
Chris
Like Chris, this is strictly to help in a blowout or other emergency and the decision is a "no brainer". I installed it (myself) on my Safari and I experienced good results as previously described, but then I also replaced all my bushings at that time. A roll over, like the one we talked about earlier ("my story"), scares the hell out of me and this conversation reminded me that I needed to get this done.
I have not experienced being kicked around by winds and passing trucks with the U320, so this isn't a factor in the decision. Keeping the steering wheel from being ripped from my grip is.
I just ordered it from Shock Warehouse. $499+bracket ($99) and CA tax brought it to $646.47 with free shipping. Amazon did not have the bracket and the shock was a bit more there.
They had a deal on it at the tent in Jan. Maybe they will have it again.
I have seriously overexpounded on the fixing of the suspension and using the Michelin's.
Way more money. How much for what?
My personal thought would be is can you substitute less self steering tires and a looser front end with the safe-t-steer AND drive the coach in normal medium conditions and drive it from the rearward seat position and with my hands at 6 and 9 o'clock.
If so and I hope that it does work that way this would seem to be a cost saving similar result mod.
No insult but if not a different idea
Bob, as Sven and I both stated-- this is not installed so you can continue driving with a wore out front end-- it is strictly for safety
Just my 2c worth
Chris
Safety is over-riding issue. look at the name of the product. "Safe-T-Plus".
That's a hard one to answer. Extremely subjective. I have had an owner tell me in all seriousness that his coach drives just as well, and as effortlessly as his Cadillac Escalade. Sadly, my experiences don't mimic his....not even close. So if you're achieving driving nirvana like this with a program of overhaul, blueprinting and tweaking front end, you are unlikely to duplicate it with a safe t plus and toe in adjustment.
These easy fixes can help tame some issues and reduce driving effort as well as provide stability in a blowout/wheel off road situation. Incremental improvements, not transformative.
When asked about these systems long ago I told countless customers that it was hard to tell them a safety item was not a good idea so I did not tell not to install any such systems
I have U300. We installed a Safe T Plus for piece of mind in the event of a blowout. I didn't/don't see a down side. It did end up making a difference I could feel when being passed by 18 wheelers.
I had a full alignment at FOT last year and that made an even better difference.
Belt and suspenders.