Supersteer is not the only game in town

[bkahler]

Last spring when I was sorting out the issues with the steering on our 1984 310 motorhome I had found that the idler arm pivot assemblies were bad. The pivot assemblies are sometimes called bell cranks or bell crank pivots. According to the GM documentation they are called idler arm pivot assemblies and what are commonly called the bell cranks are actually called idler arms by GM. Anyway, when I was doing my searching for replacement pivot assemblies I was only able to locate some through Supersteer. The kindly informed me that they were the only company reproducing the pivot assemblies and the idler arms. Well that turns out to not be true, at least for the pivot assemblies.

A post in a thread earlier this week titled 1995 LY 33L Airbag help mentioned that Workhorse had a manual on the P30 chassis that was available for download. After I downloaded it I found information on the pivot assemblies with the Workhorse part numbers. I then called Workhorse who suggested that I call one of their dealers to place an order. I then called Mcgaugh RV and talked to Butch at 479-751-2174 in Springdale Arkansas and found that the repair parts for the pivot assemblies were still available. Turns out the bushings are only $17.96 each. Compare that to the $300 price tag from Supersteer and there is a significant savings. True there is more work involved because you have to rebuild the original assembly but since I prefer to do my own work anyway its not that big a deal. Once the parts arrive and I have time to do a repair I'll post back with the results.

I will note that the Supersteer replacement pivot assembly is probably a better design and is guaranteed for life. Time will tell whether the decision to rebuild original parts rather than replace with the Supersteer upgrade is a good idea or not.

Brad

[swebster]

Brad,
Great find. I'm very interested in your results as my Front Suspension needs some love this winter.

[reday]

Brad,

There is a lot of good info on the Workhorse chassis in that manual. Way more than I can digest! Hopefully word will spread on it and folks such as you can dig out the good stuff for the rest of us...

Sincerely,

Ralph

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by swebster

Brad,
Great find. I'm very interested in your results as my Front Suspension needs some love this winter.

Steven, got a call yesterday telling me the parts were on their way. I'm hoping to rebuild at least one before Christmas to get a feel for how easy or difficult the task is.

I'll keep you posted.

Brad

[klattu]

I'm not going to sleep until you tell us all about it.
Mine is needing something up under there.
Sometimes I think about a whole new front suspension.
$300 does sound alot less Christmasy than 20 bucks.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by klattu

I'm not going to sleep until you tell us all about it.
Mine is needing something up under there.
Sometimes I think about a whole new front suspension.
$300 does sound alot less Christmasy than 20 bucks.

From Supersteer that would be $300 per pivot assembly and $300 for each idler arm which means a grand total of about $1200 to replace the pivot assemblies and idler arms. Your idler arms may or may not be good but if you have the original pivot assemblies I'll bet they are shot.

I got the replacement bushings today and after looking at them I can see why they only last around 20,000 miles or so. They are a thin steel outer shell with a thin layer of brass or bronze as the bushing material. Each portion is only about .030" thick.

I'm subscribing to the theory that if your front end alignment has been set with the pivot assemblies in good condition you should be able to replace the bushings with no real change to your front end alignment. Of course its always possible that I'm all wet on this one.....

But if you can follow this practice you could just do preventative maintenance after x thousand miles and not worry about having to pay for a $150 front end alignment. Just food for thought.

I'm hoping to find time this weekend to at least pull one of the pivot assemblies from our Argosy to see how tough the rebuild job is going to be.

Stay tuned........

Brad

[92landyacht]

Brad,

I know that this is an old thread, but you never completed the results portion of this post. I'm currently looking at doing the Supersteer bell crank replacement but am always open to possibilities. The current price for the Supersteer Bell Crank assembly is $285.00 so there has been a price drop. Curious as to how your replacement went. Just picked up a new pickle fork set in preparation. Should come in handy since my plan is to not only replace the bell crank pivot but also the front springs at the same time. Just need to get the front end weighed so I know which spring set to order.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by 92landyacht

Brad,

I know that this is an old thread, but you never completed the results portion of this post. I'm currently looking at doing the Supersteer bell crank replacement but am always open to possibilities. The current price for the Supersteer Bell Crank assembly is $285.00 so there has been a price drop. Curious as to how your replacement went. Just picked up a new pickle fork set in preparation. Should come in handy since my plan is to not only replace the bell crank pivot but also the front springs at the same time. Just need to get the front end weighed so I know which spring set to order.

Sorry, it took me a while to recall the sequence of events that took place!

Back in December of 2007 and my last post on this subject I was smack in the middle of dealing with a job change that involved a relocation from Arkansas to Kentucky along with an upcoming one year work stint in Pasadena. Basically not long after starting this thread I was notified that I had gotten the new job and life as I knew it was about to change for a LONG time.

Pretty much everything I had going on at the time was put on hold while I dealt with working for a year in Pasadena, trying to find a new home in Kentucky and figuring out how to relocate a 36x80 shop and 24x30 garage and all our household goods.

In the end I made 24 moving trips from Arkansas to Kentucky and the Argosy project was put on hold until 2013 time frame. By the time I started working on the Argosy again I just decided to by the Supersteer bell cranks and be done with it.

If I remember correctly I still have the bushings on the shelf somewhere. In the long run I think the Argosy is better off having the updated Supersteer parts installed. I know just replacing the drivers side bell crank on our 310 with a Supersteer made a huge difference in how it handled.

Brad

[92landyacht]

OK, so you went with the Supersteer part and noticed a big improvement by replacing just the driver's side. I'm looking at my next spring projects on the ole Air Stream. Right now, I'm thinking of focusing in on a complete rear brake replacement (rotors, calipers, pads, wheel bearings, seals, wheel lugs, rubber hoses and brake fluid). I already have all of the replacement parts sitting in the garage, so cost is covered. This has been a project I've been wanting to do for a while but never seemed to have the time to do.

The next project will be a complete front suspension rebuild. Thinking of doing the bell cranks (Supersteer), upper and lower ball joints (Moog) and properly calibrated springs (Supersteer). Still need to get the frontend weighed to determine which springs to get. Probably will replace the shocks and steering dampener as well. I guess I'll see what else is out of whack once done and get a frontend alignment done. Figure this will cost around $1200 in parts and labor (alignment). Just getting all the information on parts sources now.

It's going to be an interesting spring.

[bkahler]

It was almost a night and day difference with the one new Supersteer installed. Previously you couldn't keep the motorhome in your lane when a semi passed. After installing the Stupersteer that problem pretty much went away.

Sometimes you get what you pay for. This is one of those products