[quote=trikergran01]We have a 2007 Seneca GS35. About a year after we bought it we had the 19,000 lb springs installed. That made a big difference in the way it handled. However it has a tendency to "wander" when driving. More so with a tow. You have to continually correct for that. We had a 34SS before this and it drove wonderfully. We are thinking about getting a rear trac bar from Henderson to see if that would correct the problem. Has anyone experienced this problem and if so what did you do to correct it.[/qu ote] Same here I put in sway bars shocks springs new rubber alinment . Still wanders??
Not a Super C here, just a smaller B+ on an E350 chassis. But they experience common handling problems with common solutions.
We tow a vehicle all the time when on trips, the setup shown in my signature. Our motor home has a long rear overhang considering the 158" wheel base, so we had some "tail wagging the dog" along with a bunch of other handling issues. Given our 2007 E350 chassis did NOT come with a rear stabilizer bar, the rig handled like a drunken sailor.
We went serious with suspension upgrades and now have heavy duty front and rear stabilizer bars along with a heavy duty steering stabilizer, made-for-motor-home shocks, and a rear trac bar. All in combination, the rig became etremely stable, comfortable, and very predictable. It is a joy to drive. Strong cross winds, trucks passing, uneven road surfaces, winding byways, all are much less influential. Driving is done with confidence. Aside from the ease of driving and comfort, all 6 motor home tires stay firmly planted on the road for maximum braking power, especially beneficial when driving on curvy scenic byways. So there is a huge safety benefit as well.
We bought the motor home new in 2007. All upgrades were done immediately after our maiden voyage, an extended weekend get-away. The chassis had only 800 miles at the time of the upgrades. Given our experience over handling issues with our first motor home, when we noticed handling trouble with the new rig, we weren't going to wait another day. So we did it right from the start this time. 4.5 years later and all is still well with all that.
It's all about the rear trac bar. It's the first thing to put on. We had a 2010 36ms that I put shocks, front and rear sway bars, steering stabilizer and front and rear trac bars. It rode great! All things made it a little better but the rear trac bar made a huge difference! Talk to Henderson and they will explain why. It has to do with the type of springs that are used.
I will give the opposite opinion of the trac bar. I put it on a 34SS and it did nothing. Total waste of time and money for a band aid. Sent it back.
Once I got the front end aligned and the proper springs and Koni shocks on it, it drove as good as could be expected. It is a grossly overloaded chassis with an extremely high center of gravity.
The spring guy showed me something interesting. He had me lay under the MH and watch what moves as he pushed the back side to side creating a large movement. Try it yourself before you waste the money on a trac bar.
I guess I'm not sure whether you are asking about front end “wander” or rear end “wander”. Since it was worse when towing and you are talking about rear trac bars, I am guessing you are referring to what I call tail wagging. When we bought our 36MS, we drove it 700 miles home. The whole time I was “white knuckling it”, particularly when a semi passed. A truck would pass and it would take a few seconds of me sawing the wheel back and forth before the rear end would settle down! When we got it home, I was done driving it until major improvements were made. Aligning it was first. That really improved the steering (alignment was waaaay off). When the alignment people had it, I did crawl under while he pushed side to side. What I saw was the body going one way while the wheels stayed basically stationary. Installing the rear trac bar locked the rear end assembly to the frame so that the body could only go up and down, not side to side. Shocks also helped.
That was your experience with a Super-C Seneca, and us with our E350. Adding a rear trac bar, changing to heavy duty stabilizer bars, better shocks & steering stabilizer, along with a proper wheel alignment, all in combination eliminated all of our "White Knuckle" driving.
I since two-finger drive with my left hand and hold a cup of coffee in my right hand. That all made a really huge difference for us, going from "Scary" to Merry".
I bought a used 2007 Seneca 34ss in California. It also has the 19,00 springs. I trailer-towed my LandCruiser back home from California. The trailer-Cruiser combination is very heavy. I think about 7,000 lbs. Even on a freeway this heavy combination pushed the Jayco all over the place. Even though I was traveling with a couple of guys who were professionals and had CDLs who said it was not that bad, for a novice it was very troubling.
I know most rigs I have seen don't use a trailer, but for anyone who does, the kind of trailer tires was very important in my situation. I was running inexpensive tires that came on the trailer. Later, on a freeway trip to Montana, one blew out. (Incidently, I hardly felt it go.) The tire girl in the farm store told me that the tires that came on the trailer were okay if, 1) I didn't put too much weight on them, 2) if I didn't go too far, and 3) if I didn't go too fast. I lost on all counts. Trapped in a rural farming community, she only had two Carlisle trailer radials. So we put them on the front axle of the tandem axle trailer. I immediately could tell a huge difference, the tailwagging was gone. Ulitmately I put radials on the rear axle as well. While before I refused to drive on two lane highways now it is not a problem. So a word to anyone trailer towing, for me the radial tires made a huge difference.
On the rear tracking bar, I suspect my 34ss with a heavy trailer would compare with the longer 35's. And even though the truck was much better with new tires on the trailer, it still was "not up to snuff". So I did the shocks and two tracking bars.
Recently I towed a LandCruiser that was even heavier than mine (which I will not do again). The difference was remarkable. I would highly recommend the tracking bar and shock upgrades. I also notice a big difference when not trailering. While I am still waiting for a long trip with my Cruiser, on short trips the rig handles very well. As the final touch I will likely put an equalizer trailer hitch between the MH and the trailer. I believe that these up grades will make the package travel very well in all conditions.
I have a 34ft 05 Seneca, it was wandering and swaying bad on the road. I must have lucked out because all I done was replace all the shocks with Koni FSD shocks. It fixed all the problems. We made a 5,000 mile trip to Colorado with no white knuckles. Great trip.
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