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ROADMASTER or HELLWIG?

THEFERMANATOR

THEFERMANATOR

FRANKENBURBAN
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Well after my trip back from La, I have decided it's time to do something about the rear suspension of my BURB. She rides great without a trailer, but with my travel trailer in tow it gets pretty squirrly when I pass or get passed on interstate and this resulted in a bit of an experience for my wife on the drive home. I've gotten used to the squirrlyness when getting passed or passing, so I'm always ready with the trailer brakes to pull her back straight. I've decidsed when funds allow I'm going to put a set of 2" steel wheel spacers on the rear to correct for the narrower rear track than the front. I'm undecided though for what to do about rear sway control though? I can pick up a rear HELLWIG sway bar for about $180, but I keep reading about the Roadmaster active suspension system for $350 and can't decide if it is justifiable to spend the extra money or not on one? Then there is alway the option of going to a junk yard and getting one off of a 1500 BURB, but by the time I build the brackets and replace the bushings I might as well have bought the HELLWIG kit. I've also read about a few people saying the HELLWIG rear sway bar has caused frame cracking as they don't really use a very good atatchment point with there add on kit(they use just one bolt hole in the bottom of the frame whereas the factory kit used a suppoort bracket that distributed the load out for about 10"s of frame), and this brings me back to the Roadmaster kit.

So my main question is, is the Roadmaster worth the extra money?
 
I Run nothing but Hellwig or Addco and haven't had any Problems.

Customer Service on Both are Great too.
 
Turbine doc has the roadmaster setup and likes it. I am starting to get a little bit loose in the back end flexing sideways and am pretty sure its the leaf end and shackle bushings getting soft and worn out.

I'd look into redoing your shackles and leaf spring bushings with the quiet energy suspension poly bushings (or set of greasable ones?) and adding the roadmaster set up. Your extra torque will appreciate the roadmaster setup stiffening the leaf up. I think the sway bar will help with body roll and sport feel but not so much towing due to the extra weight ???? is my thought.

I have some aluminum wheel spacers and do really like the way it sets the wheels out even with front stance and makes rear tires look better. But I can't really remember telling a huge difference in stability. I miss the hub centric rim fit though. I always wonder if the tire guys nip up the lugs appropriately a little at the time to center the rim. I have dreamed of trying to change axle and hub from a dually to the SRW housing to gain the wider wheel stance and keep the hub centric rim fit.

The roadmaster set up is going to help an aged set of leaf springs and helps reduce body roll and stability too as it helps dampen leaf spring flex with the extra weight.
 
I know TD is sold on the Roadmaster Ferm and I hope he checks in here but there was a thread on it too awhile back that was worth reading. Unfortunately I can't find it.:mad2:
 
schiker said:
I think the sway bar will help with body roll and sport feel but not so much towing due to the extra weight ???? is my thought.
Click to expand...

This afternoon I was behind a small SUV that had a sway bar in rear and I don't see how they really support any side to side lateral movement that I think is the squirrelly feeling. To me they look to only help body roll. ??? well ....on rethink I guess they do tighen the back end up some but moreso for a top heavy load or cornering. But if you are squatted down a little and the trailer starts to wag the truck its really putting more lateral stress on springs and then throws center of weight around and puts both up and down force on springs as well as lateral force. So sway bar probably does help but RM will too as it will dampen the leaf movement from center of gravity roll?

I am interested in other opinions on that.
 
I'm not to worried about the load carrying capacity as my bURB was ordered with the 1 ton suspension under it(the F80 snow plow prep package I think it was). I can put a thousand pounds of tongue weight on it with no equalizer hitch and it still doesn't squat down alot. I'm concerned with the wagging of teh trailer behind me when cars and trucks pass is my big concern. You can feel the back end of teh BURB pull when a vehicle breaks through that wall of air coming off the front of the travel trailer. My next trailer will be a good bit shorter as I learned from this one that I don't want another one that sits so dang high with a 7 foot clearance inside of it(I'm 5' 10" and even I have to reach up a good bit to turn the air on, I stil lcan't figure out how my 4'11" wife reaches it without a stool). Right now I plan on doing the wheel spacers and most likely the sway bar as I really don't have the money for the ROADMASTER's right now. I know I need to do something though as it shook the wife up a good bit as she isn't used to those kinds of situations whereas I towed with a CHEROKEE for MANY miles and it was just normal in it to go through it.
 
THEFERMANATOR said:
I'm concerned with the wagging of teh trailer behind me when cars and trucks pass is my big concern. You can feel the back end of teh BURB pull when a vehicle breaks through that wall of air coming off the front of the travel trailer.
Click to expand...

Thats my point I see a sway bar helping with body roll but not so much lateral support. ??? It would help sway from center of gravity roll if the truck is leaning with the wagging (inducing a sway/roll).

But if everything is sitting level and the trailer is just pushes the rear around I am not so sure a sway bar will eliminate that ??? I guess it will help if the wagging induces a roll then the body / roll / sway compounds.

One thing to think about is won't the steering idler will make the steering feel funny when the rear wants to steer the truck too.

Feel free to enlighten me (anyone).
 
Being pulled by a Burb rather than a PU will make for different air turbulance between the 2. I wonder if a spoiler of sorts on the Burb's luggage rack to push the air stream over the trailer would help. Les makes a good point about tongue length too.
 
ak diesel driver said:
Sounds like the trailer tongue needs to be longer
Click to expand...

I wish it was. This trailer doesn't have a very long tongue on it as it is built right up to a point at the front where the propane tanks sit just in front of the bed. Also it is so heavy that the wheels in it are almost in the center of the trailer to keep the tongue weght in check. This was our first trailer purchase, and was more of a spur of the moment type purchase as we had a trip in a few weeks and wanted a trailer and we got a steal on this one(under $4K for an 01 25 footer after I did all the repairs on it). When it starts to wag I can feel the body roll a good bit in the back, so I'm hoping a sway bar will help with the body roll which may reduce the wag a bit.
 
I have a flatbed trailer that the axles were in the center of the trailer. I put an extendable tongue on it night/day diff. I since rebuilt the spring assy and moved it so the front axle was in the center of the trailer. I hardly use the ext tongue anymore.
 
Looks like a bolt on panhard bar. Should keep the rear from being 'squirmy' feeling loaded. Under no-load, bet it'd bind and compromise ride... Shot from the hip..
 
Yep. especially ones as short as above. The leaf springs are very capable IMO of holding the axle centered.
 
I don't need any help with the added weight as I never really have problems with tongue weight. I need something to help with the handling in the rear. I see that CARQUEST carries the ROADMASTER set-up like TD uses, and I do enough business with them that I get good prices on stuff. I'll check with them and see what they get for them next week.
 
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