RodneyWright wrote:
yup, I have 2 cents worth here. First, put some kind of wrap around the steering wheel. When I drove it, may hands were sticking to it. That plastic/vinyl crap is creepy to touch.
Next, and this one will need some work is addressing how the trailer is loaded. As I drove the bus, I noticed how it swayed at any speed above 50. When I pulled my travel trailer, I had to make sure I loaded it correctly. I think the issue w/ the bus/trailer is the weight distribution on the trailer. There needs to be more weight up toward the front of the trailer. You have all of those heavy cones biased to the back of the trailer and you don't have enough tongue weight. Maybe something to consider down the road for safer towing.
Rodney can you pick up a steering wheel cover and bring it to the next event? I won't have time to.
As for the trailer loading, I actually think we're distributed about right. I believe the tongue weight is pretty high, like 600-700 lb. ALL of the stability problems with the rig is the ridiculously long overhang of the bus. That allows any slight movement of the trailer to be levered onto the bus. When laying out the trailer we didn't expect so much of a stability problem, so no attempt was made to overload the tongue -- which may not even make much of a difference... Lesson learned though, as we need to make sure Bus 3.0 has an extended *wheelbase* not an extended rear overhang. I think the E550 chassis is much longer than the E450 just from checking out church and hotel buses driving around.
Would be easy to test distribution though. Next time we load the bus up just stack all the cones up front and see if it drives any differently.
In any case, whenever loading the trailer be sure to put heavy stuff up front if possible!
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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1
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