RE: Astro/Safari Owners

[PopupSgt]

 I wanted to pose this question to those that own this type of vehicle.  It seems the when we tow our new 2003 Jayco 14SO camper we get a tremendous amt of sway[: (].  After all of the tricks of more tongue weight, tire air pressure the dealer & Jayco thinks that the rear of the TV wiggles to much which causes the camper to start to sway (it does wiggle).
 
 I have installed air bags to the TV which helped the rear squat problem and it took some of the wiggle out, I couldn t use wdh due to surge brake system.
 So any suggestions to remove the side to side wiggle?  The dealer suggested replacing the tiger paw tires with LT tires which have a larger ply side wall and more air pressure($$$$).  Also maybe a load sensing shock but unsure if that would even help at all.
 
 So I open to any comments that can help, I have purchased sway control but found out it s the wrong type (dealer screwed up) so now trying to buy the correct one from Acar Industies at a tune of $250 (ouch).

[Jeffrey]

 PopupSgt
I m sure you ll get a more detailed answer soon. []
 There are alot more mechanically minded Astro/Safari owners here, then me[].
 
 I don t think tires would do much? I think the wiggle is caused more by the design of the Van and the trailer than the tires. I would get the swaybar installed before I did anything else.

[PopupSgt]

 PopupSgt
Sway bar?  Never knew your could install one on this vehicle.  Would that help?
 

[Jeffrey]

 PopupSgt
Oh, I thought you meant a sway bar?
 
 I don t know, maybe you can t with your PU brake type?
 
 But on my van, I did add a sway bar and it helped with the sway I felt.
 

[OC Campers]

 PopupSgt
$250.00 for piece of mind seems cheap to me. I think i spent something like $500.00 getting my van set to get rid of the sway. That s not including the wrong stuff I bought before I found this web site.
 
  One thing that helped my Astro and sway is I put top of the line gas shocks on the van. It seemed to take out some of the " wiggle"  and made everything seem more stable. Prior to that it seemed every twitch of the steering wheel caused sway. f your Safari is anything like my Astro, the shocks probably need replacing anyway.
 
 Randy

[PopupSgt]

 PopupSgt
Randy,
 What type of shocks did you place on your van, mine does exactly what you are talking about, every little move & she wiggles from side to side.  We are still purchasing the sway control device but still want to remove the wiggle feeling that this van has seem to have since we purchased.
 Do you recommend the load sensing shocks that have the spring around them & maybe they help more or maybe a brand that you purchased that helped.

[mike4947]

 PopupSgt
Been there, had the sway. IMHO Astro s after about  96 have a softer rear suspension and the tires also seem to be different that the earlier vans in what I see is GM s attemp to make the ride more car like.
 We d have the pressure at least 5-10 pounds over the door panel pressure when towing, but making sure to not go over the sidewall pressure.
 Better quality tires, more sutable for towing were always boughten when the OEM one gave up the ghost.
 
 As for the 14SO swaying, I haven t towed a 14, but have owned 2 Jayco s and towed several others and never had a sway problem unless they were drastically overloaded or radically incorrectly loaded. IMHO I d have the trailer weighed and get a good tongue weight as well.
 
 FYI, electric brakes have been standard on the 12 foot & 14 foot Jayco s for several years now. So the surge brakes were ordered by the dealer.

[PopupSgt]

 PopupSgt
Mike,
 Thanks for the advice on the tires, I ll drive these until they give up the ghost.
 I had taken the trailer to the dealer some time ago & they pulled it w/ one of their vehicles a extended cab ford truck.  The camper didn t move an inch when we pulled it & even passed some semi s & they passed us & she didn t move an inch.  
 
 Connect the trailer to my TV & she s swaying but the technicians noticed that the back of the van is swaying, also which they believe is compounding the problem.  Then you get the magnification effect with the end of the camper being magnified of the small sway from the back of the van with the small twitch side to side.
 
 Thanks for the info on the surge brake system but I already knew that the dealer had ordered the surge system as an option.  It seems this particular dealer is fond of the system due to not having to install brake controls on TV s pulling the PUT s.  I would have purchased one w/ electric brakes but the this particuliar one was a $2k savings over the closer one with electric brakes.
 

[OC Campers]

 PopupSgt
The shocks I had put on were just a standard gas shock that a friend of mine who works at Goodyear stocks. They were the best ones he had in stock, I don t believe they were load sensing but I would guess that would be even better. I combined the shocks with the biggest tires I could fit on the van for load. The Astro has a really soft rear end and a short wheelbase and I m pretty sure that causes most of the sway. The gas shocks just made the ride feel more stable and in my case reduced the instance of sway. It is an expensive fix if it doesn t work though. in my case, my shocks were wasted anyway so I figured why not upgrade.
 
 
 Good Luck
 
 randy

[PopupSgt]

 PopupSgt
My sway control will be in next week to really test out the scenerio.  I just wasn t sure if the dealer was full of bull telling me my passenger type tires were some of the cause of the sway problem.  Due to they are the tiger paw passenger rating w/ a 2 ply side wall.

[birol]

 PopupSgt
What size are they Popupsgt ?

[PopupSgt]

 PopupSgt
They are the stock 215 75 R15 Tiger Paw tires made by Uniroyal

[birol]

 PopupSgt
If you were  going to dump them and right size I was going to make you an offer, wrong size though, I need 215/70/R15 ..... Missed it by just by a mere " 5"  [:@]

[PopupSgt]

 PopupSgt
Hey Birol,
 You might want to check w/ a tire dlr to see if you can place that size tire on your rims.  I d make you a heck of a deal, plus they only have 25k miles on them [], these tires are 70,000 mile tires.

[birol]

 PopupSgt
Checked online, too big, it would rub the spring protectors, which are already too close to my tires [>:]