Dave1949,
I think the steering damper (small shock absorber) you are refering to is a steering stablizer. Several manufacturers make them. Depending you your front axle (straight or independent) your choices may be limited. I like these and have had one on every coach I have owned. When considering a steering stablizer, the feature that has now become a must have (for me) is the unit must be re-centerable by the driver. Being able to recenter the unit really takes the work out of driving in a cross wind, all day long.

Gary- What do you mean by "re-centerable by the driver"?

Hi Rick,
This is when there is a cross wind hitting the coach. One can recenter the steering stablizer so the driver is not having to turn into the cross wind to keep the coach straight. Different manufacturers work differently. Go here to see the SuperSteer offering. Click on the picture of the catalog to enter the catalog. Scroll down about 1/3 of the way and look for the SuperSteer Trim unit.

During a cross wind, being able to let the steering stablizer keep the coach straight is a big + when it comes to driver fatigue.

My Howard System has this feature. Unfortunately, Howard has gone out of business. If I was to make this purchase today, I'd go with the SuperSteer Brand.

Many vehicles have a steering damper on them from the factory. Although it does some of the same thing, a steering stabilizer like many put on after-market is much more than just a damper that helps take out the "bumps" of hitting holes, etc in the roadway. An OEM damper would not be adjustable on the fly like a steering stabilizer package might be.

Gary

It's been a while since my last post and I thought it would be helpful to others to update the results of the improvements we've made to our rig. We added a Supersteer rear track bar while in Arizona . In McAllen TX new SS Bell Cranks and had the rig aligned. This made a very noticeable improvement in handling and tightened up the steering. No more see/saw steering . But we were still getting excessive body roll and poor/punishing ride so when we got back to the Cleveland area I took the rig to a Supersteer approved RPA shop in town. At their and others recommendation we had new Koni's installed and replaced the rear swaybar bushings with Polyurethane. We already had poly on the front swaybar bushings. WE just returned from a 1200 Mile trip to the upper Michigan Peninsula which was our first outing since the Koni's and bushing were done. The ride improvment with the Koni's is unbelievable the damping is there but the harsh ride and road noise is gone. Also gone is the side to side sway and you can feel the rear swaybar take hold when you take a curve and also when going in and out of uneven driveways which used to rock the coach a lot. This has not been an inexpensive journey but we consider it well worth the price. My wife now wants to drive and we both find driving to now be fun rather than scary. No more getting blown onto the berm from passing trucks now just a slight tug at the wheel. Wind is much less of a problem and even in gusty conditions, which we encountered in Michigan the rig feels solid and wind correction is positive and predictable. We think we are now done with Steering and suspension improvments. I have to say the help we've gotten here and on other RV forums has been invaluable and is very much appreciated. Hope this update helps anyone considering similar issues.

Dave And Becky

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the update. I'm glad to see the aftermarket purchases are working. You are correct on the point about this being an expensive journey. However, when the end of the road is reached and the coach now handles the way it should, it was all worth it.