Steering: 1991 Dynasty 31' is wandering - is this a TRW or Shepherd or maybe something else?

[Robert92867]

Thanks for posting the pics.  You have a nice vintage coach that will get you into a lot of State and National Parks that a longer coach will not.  Appears to be in good condition for its age. The 12 valve Cummins is reknown for its longevity, although underpowered by todays standards.

[DrewGeorge]

Thanks for the replies, and as an update, the steering is much better now that I've filled the hydraulic tank and reduced the air pressure in the front tires to 90 psi.  I don't know if I'll have to adjust the TRW, it seems very good now.

5 hours ago, Robert92867 said:

Thanks for posting the pics.  You have a nice vintage coach that will get you into a lot of State and National Parks that a longer coach will not.  Appears to be in good condition for its age. The 12 valve Cummins is reknown for its longevity, although underpowered by todays standards.

Thanks Robert, and I agree it's underpowered. Since purchasing I've learned that the weak link in the drivetrain is the Allison AT545 4-speed transmission, which does not have a lock-up torque converter - so the engine makes power but the trans basically slips, creating a lot of heat rather than top speed or power up the hills.  I understand that I can fairly easily and cheaply increase the HP and torque of the 12 valve but the transmission won't handle much more than the stock numbers. And apparently there are no options to improve the trans, other than replacing it with something stronger.

[Donflem]

Does anyone know where the hydraulic reservoir steering on my 2007  dynasty is? I’m embarrassed to say I don’t think I’ve ever checked the fluid level.

Don

[TomV48]

Don

My power steering reservoir on rear radiator 2005 Ambassador 34 is right rear corner near my oil dip stick.    

[Dr4Film]

 

1 hour ago, Donflem said:

Does anyone know where the hydraulic reservoir steering on my 2007  dynasty is? I’m embarrassed to say I don’t think I’ve ever checked the fluid level.

The 2006 Dynasty has a rectangle reservoir tank located at the right side of the engine compartment as you look at the rear of the engine. Possibly the 2007 is the same.

Here is a photo taken from the RVTrader website of a 2007 Dynasty engine compartment.

Your hydraulic reservoir tank is the black tank just below the rear run bay electrical compartment on the right.

[TomV48]

Well SIR's

I go blind with JEALOUSY every time a see  wide open rear doors on a side radiator coach.   I wonder if mine would be that nice looking if I didn't have those big clumsy looking Radiators and Inter-cooler coils blocking my view not to mention my access to everything.

[Donflem]

Thanks Richard.👊👊👊👍

[dl_racing427]

19 hours ago, TomV48 said:

Well SIR's

I go blind with JEALOUSY every time a see  wide open rear doors on a side radiator coach.   I wonder if mine would be that nice looking if I didn't have those big clumsy looking Radiators and Inter-cooler coils blocking my view not to mention my access to everything.

That was the reason I wouldn't consider ANY rear radiator coach when I was shopping for mine.

[DrewGeorge]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to post another update to this thread as I recently went to Source Engineering to have their custom Bilstein shocks installed, which made a huge difference in reducing body roll, allowing higher speeds on windy roads and overall, providing a much better sense of control.  Also while I was there, Scott Zimmerman took a look under my rig and very helpfully told me that I have a Saginaw 710 steering gear (not a TRW).  Based on that information I was able to do some research online and further determined it is more particularly a "Saginaw 710 Dual Piston Metric" steering gear.

To address the significant leak at the sector shaft, I purchased a seal kit from Power Steering Seals, Inc. in Broken Arrow, OK  ( https://powersteeringseals.com/product/saginaw-710-dual-piston-metric/) and while removing the old parts, I discovered that someone had failed to install one of the two seals on that shaft. I put the 2 new seals in 10 days ago and so far, no more leaks!

To summarize, I'm extremely pleased with the steering and handling now, and in case it helps others, I think that the things that made the biggest difference for me were as follows.

1. Reduced Tire Pressure: reducing the tire pressures in all tires, based on weighing all 4 corners and using the manufacturers recommended pressures for those weights.

2. Added Steering Fluid: I had lost a lot of fluid from the sector shaft leak without realizing it, and now I'm wondering if that may have caused air to enter into the steering gear and/or had some other negative effect on my steering.

3, Installed New Shocks: Scott confirmed my working premise that my rig still had the original Monroe shocks on it...and I didn't have to drive very far from their shop to be extremely pleased with my investment in the new shocks! 

And to confirm, I haven't attempted to adjust the steering gear.

My thanks to all for the helpful suggestions and encouragement.

Drew

Edited January 10 by DrewGeorge

[dl_racing427]

Wow, I didn't even know they made a 31' Dynasty.
Is yours also on an 8-airbag chassis?

[DrewGeorge]

Yes, mine has 8 airbags and interestingly, Scott thought they were still in good shape and didn't require replacement even though they all appeared original from 1991.

[jacwjames]

1 hour ago, DrewGeorge said:

Yes, mine has 8 airbags and interestingly, Scott thought they were still in good shape and didn't require replacement even though they all appeared original from 1991.

That's refreshing, Scott could have easily tried to convince you they needed replacing and any person would have agreed just based on the age.

If your bags are original and Scott still thinks their in good shape maybe I'm not crazy.  ~2 years ago I did a thorough inspection of mine and did not see any problems.  Dowsed them with soapy water no leaks.  Mine were ~20 years old then.  I decided to buy a couple spares and carry them in the coach just in case.