Hi,
I will be bringing the Cambria in to have my new Borg tire valves installed on the rear duals. I'm also going to have them check the front end alignment as it has not been done since I picked it up last May. This is a 2011 Ford E450 chassis. I have had no steering issues at all. This Cambria drives awesome, steers straight, and tracks well even when towing. Is there anything I should be concerned about? Is an RV alignment any different than a standard E450 truck alignment? Where I have no drive ability issues should I even bother with the alignment? Any info would be a great help and thanks in advance.
Todd
Todd, Shirley, and the "Maddawgs" min-pins Precious and Buster Brown
2011 Itasca Cambria 30C
2011 Demco KarKaddy 460SS
TST 507 RV TPMS
"if there is anything left when we are gone, then we miscalculated"
In general if you have steering problems or tire wear then I would worry about the alighment. If none of those things are showing up then I would worry the guy checking it would change some thing and then you would have them. If it works great don't fix it..
Snowdance
We spent most of our money traveling... Just wasted the rest..
Hi Snowdance,
That is my worry to (don't want to screw it up) but Winnebago (warranty?) and many of the posts on different sites say I should at least get it checked.
Thanks, Todd
Maddawgs wrote: Hi Snowdance,
That is my worry to (don't want to screw it up) but Winnebago (warranty?) and many of the posts on different sites say I should at least get it checked.
Thanks, Todd
Like my old Chevy. Its out just a little but drives like a dream and no tire wear. Not sure I want to do any thing about it. But you need to do what makes you feel better about your rig. Pehaps have them check it and talk it over with you before they change any thing. Thats what I did.
MHs do need to be loaded for the road prior to getting an alignment. Add some water to the fresh water tank to a level which you would normally carry. Some grey and black water would be beneficial.
It is good to get new rig weighed before going for alignment.
Factory does alignment(?) before rig is shipped to the RV manufacurer for the coach portion to be added.
I have it done on my 2005 E-450 chassis about every 15K miles. I skipped once and ended up "cupping" the front tires. When I take mine to the shop I usually try to "load it up" so that its weight is close to our normal "traveling weight." I don't know about recent E-450 chassis, but IMHO the frontend on "my vintage" was a little "soft" and easy to knock out of alignment.
Regarding the alignment of any motor home, you can't take it to just anyone. It needs to go to a truck alignment shop.
Emphasizing what emblethen stated.......
When getting an alignment done, the rig needs to be loaded the same as if going on a trip. The weight and the distribution of weight is very influential on an alignment. One of the biggest influences is your travel habits. Do you generally dump then fill with fresh water just before you head out? Do you travel never going below 1/2 a fuel tank? Then that is what your rig needs to be carrying when taking it in for an alignment. Empty waste tanks, full fresh tank, and at least 1/2 fuel tank. The same for people, gear, food supplies, everything. The closer you get your rig loaded for a trip, the alignment will be calibrated off the most common load distribution.
For me when the season is over, I clean up my waste tanks by adding a little bleach in them then fill both tanks to full for a 1 hour soak, then drain & flush. I am very surprised to see how much the rear sags when both waste tanks are filled at the same time. If that was how I traveled on trips, then that is how I should take my rig to the alignment shop. I don't travel with full waste tanks, but my point is here that whatever your load is and how it is distributed, sagging, leaning, whatever, that is what it should be when going in for your alignment.....real condition representation. If you typically travel with lots of people, it would be smart to place appropriate weights on the seats to represent the people in those locations inside the rig.
Taking an empty motor home to a truck alignment shop could be doing more harm than good.
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