DickWells
10-29-2018, 11:56
Been with the Seneca for --- growing on 2 years, now. Don't know where the time went, but: thought I'd post on the few things I've learned, and some of the things I've done to it.
Learned right away that we'd made a pretty fair deal on the rig. The Seneca is, indeed, a fairly high-end, heavy duty Class C. Lots of room, and cargo capacity, and in some ways, therein lies a problem.
It's very easy to overload the thing. The basement would hold enough junk to double the carrying capacity.
The handling, as delivered is abominable! Made it all the way from Brownsville, Tx, to Rainier, Or. and on to Vermont in 017 without any mods done to the suspension, but it wasn't from lack of wanting them (mods). Since then, I've installed Air Ride bags in the rear, a rear track bar, Sumo Springs in front, a front track bar, a Road Master steering stabilizer, and a big-ole 1 and 5/8" sway bar in front. (Jayco chose to eliminate that option on the Seneca) The handling is vastly improved, but not up to what I would call even "good". BTW, I did take it to a good truck suspension specialist, back in 017, before I did any of the mods.
Still to come, is a new set of shocks, all around, and an additional sway-bar in the rear to help the wimpy one that's now mounted ahead of the rear axle. From what I've read, these last two things should eliminate most of the remaining handling issues.
That brings up a question. Or, two. I'd be interested to know what Y'all think about Bilstein, vs. Koni, shocks, or, do DP people have another brand that they prefer? Secondly, since I found out at the alignment shop that my Kodiak has a little over 2.5 deg. of positive caster, and that shop wanted me to try the above mods, first, before I went to more caster, and, that they didn't recommend more than 4 degrees, what's the consensus on that issue?
I've always thought that good tracking was contingent upon the most positive caster permissible. So, in the case of the Kodiak, is more than 4 deg. advisable, and if so, how much more?
Given what I've already done, the only thing that I can experiment with, are the air-bag pressure, and tire pressure. I haven't done a lot, but I think I've proven that 60 psi in the bags gives better control than 50, but that's about as far as I've gone.
Meanwhile, we're enjoying the heck out of this thing, and it's even more like a home away from home than anything we've had before. Having a nice little workshop/garage, with a cute little fun-to-drive run-about in it, right behind us all the time is just frosting on the cake.
Learned right away that we'd made a pretty fair deal on the rig. The Seneca is, indeed, a fairly high-end, heavy duty Class C. Lots of room, and cargo capacity, and in some ways, therein lies a problem.
It's very easy to overload the thing. The basement would hold enough junk to double the carrying capacity.
The handling, as delivered is abominable! Made it all the way from Brownsville, Tx, to Rainier, Or. and on to Vermont in 017 without any mods done to the suspension, but it wasn't from lack of wanting them (mods). Since then, I've installed Air Ride bags in the rear, a rear track bar, Sumo Springs in front, a front track bar, a Road Master steering stabilizer, and a big-ole 1 and 5/8" sway bar in front. (Jayco chose to eliminate that option on the Seneca) The handling is vastly improved, but not up to what I would call even "good". BTW, I did take it to a good truck suspension specialist, back in 017, before I did any of the mods.
Still to come, is a new set of shocks, all around, and an additional sway-bar in the rear to help the wimpy one that's now mounted ahead of the rear axle. From what I've read, these last two things should eliminate most of the remaining handling issues.
That brings up a question. Or, two. I'd be interested to know what Y'all think about Bilstein, vs. Koni, shocks, or, do DP people have another brand that they prefer? Secondly, since I found out at the alignment shop that my Kodiak has a little over 2.5 deg. of positive caster, and that shop wanted me to try the above mods, first, before I went to more caster, and, that they didn't recommend more than 4 degrees, what's the consensus on that issue?
I've always thought that good tracking was contingent upon the most positive caster permissible. So, in the case of the Kodiak, is more than 4 deg. advisable, and if so, how much more?
Given what I've already done, the only thing that I can experiment with, are the air-bag pressure, and tire pressure. I haven't done a lot, but I think I've proven that 60 psi in the bags gives better control than 50, but that's about as far as I've gone.
Meanwhile, we're enjoying the heck out of this thing, and it's even more like a home away from home than anything we've had before. Having a nice little workshop/garage, with a cute little fun-to-drive run-about in it, right behind us all the time is just frosting on the cake.