Motorhome swaying! Forums

normaa

Hi

Can any help me please with a problem that i have with our motorhome swaying on motorways. It seems to be very unstable... checked tyre presures and weights which are fine. It does it in any weather conditions even if it is not windy and a nice day.
Its a Damon Daybreak 3270 year : 2007 3.000 miles on the clock.

Phoned Brownhills they say it could be a stearing damper and to bring it in under warrenty Rolling Eyes

I cant see how a damper could have gone with 3.000 miles on the clock.
Any one have any ideas Question

Cheers Dennis Smile

carolgavin · Quiz Queen

Sorry as I am a complete mechanophobe I have no idea what would be causing motorhome to sway. It would worry me though so I would get it back PDQ!!
This will give post a wee bump and hopefully some of our lovely experts will be along to give you some advice!!!
Good luck with it and let us know what happens!!

muppet

Hi could be maybe too much weight on the rear and not enough on the front or air suspension on the front if fitted could be too hard and possibly if neither maybe a bad tyre or the damper as they say..my advice would be to return it under warranty as could be dangerous..... Rolling Eyes

camperian

Just saw this thread. Don't know if it's any use, but I had the same problem on my 1995 RV. It turned out to be the front air suspension was under inflated.

Ian
Three Green

IanH

Could be that your wheel base is narrower than most HGVs and your following the ruts in the tarmac.We always had this problem with 7.5t trucks and i nearly lost a caravan i was towing behind my recovery truck it was that bad and always bad around service stations or junctions.My solution was to stay in the middle lane in these areas
Ian

UncleNorm

Hi Dennis!

I am guessing that your RV is a pusher, engine at the back? If not, read no further! Rolling Eyes

Our first MH was on a 1991 rear-wheel-drive Transit, with the rear track being WIDER than the front. A similar problem hit us in the heat of the 2003 heatwave when the tarmac on many motorways and dual-carriageways seemed to melt and then rut very deeply, no doubt from the weight of the HGVs using them.

On several occasions, my front wheels wanted to steer the MH into the ruts but my back wheels wanted to push me in a straight line. So the front of the MH was going one way, the rear was going in a different direction. As I tried to correct the sway, it made things worse and, on two occasions, I had to let the MH have its head and go for the hardshoulder. This was not the easiest thing to do, especially with interference on sound from an equally petrified wife screaming at me, asking me what I was doing!!!! Shocked

It really was very frightening, especially when being overtaken by an HGV. See, we weren't going too fast! On a second occasion, I had to go for the hardshoulder but this time there was less panic, I was more ready for it.

Since those two incredibly scary moments I have made a point of NOT travelling in ruts unless unavoidable. The scares also convinced me not to have rear-wheel drive again. My current MH, and the previous one, both use front wheel drive with parallel track. Yes, I have felt the ruts but I have not had the sways!

It was IanH's comments that brought back those unhappy memories! Ta!

Whatever the cause, I hope you find a solution and enjoy driving what looks like a fine Motorhome.