Ride and Handling Improvement on 2006 2400

I have been reading Here and other RV sites where Ron Ditmer and many others have been adding sway bars and installing shocks on their Ford rigs. I recently did this to my Cruiser and what an improvement! If you travel in yours a lot do yourself a favor and change it. You will not regret it. I didn't use the torsion bar on mine as I got mine from Brazels called UltraTrak bar. The only thing I would change is to not do it myself! I have discovered I am not the young guy that is invincible like I once was. I did get it done myself with my wifes help but i am not doing that again lol! Took me a week to recuperate. Ha! I think am going to sell my tools so I don't get the stupid idea to DIY work like this again!

Our next improvement was to take a little trip back the factory for fun and to fix a couple things the grand kids broke by accident. While we were there I asked about some other things i had been curious about and the next thing we know there are three people working on it. Five hours later we get it back good as new! I asked Kermit what we owed and it was a no charge on all of it! Where can you go and have a company fix your mistakes! Free! Thank you PC!

You have experienced what makes many of us loyal to Phoenix Cruiser......a good product and continued exemplary owner support.
So much so, in fact, many of us travel around the country with a packet of brochures as self-appointed emissaries for them.
How good is that?

Bob, you are correct. I was really surprised at the service. We looked at other ones new and used while we were there but elected to stay with what have as we are slowly getting it customized to our tastes. Did you see they were featured in Motor Home magazine? I was also in there at the end of the letters to the editors on safety suggestions. I can never wait until I have time for another trip. Safe travels Bob.

Awilson (Alan & Dianna),

Thanks for sharing your story.  Many PC owners, whether an original new purchase or a used purchase, have a similar story.  I personally have not yet gone back to the factory for the few minor issues that came up with my 2007 rig.  They were very easy to repair myself.  The factory is also very good about shipping such replacement parts to your house.  The only thing that actually broke on me were a few cabinet door latches.  There was no charge for the replacements.  Documented stories like yours really helps in demonstrating to the "curious" if a PC is worth considering.  Thanks for sharing.

BTW:  It seems the older 2100, 2350 and 2400 are the models that benefit most from the suspension improvements we did.  The older 1999-2007 Ford E350 chassis is one reason, and I think because our 41 gallon fresh water tank sits against the rear wall directly over the rear bumper, (not so with the later 2350 models), has an exceptionally heavy & long rear over-hang in relation to the wheel base.  The 2100 has a 138" wheel base, the 2350 has 158", and the 2400  has 164".  By comparsion, the next longest rig is a 2551 with a long 194" wheel base yet a similar overhang.  It also has the fresh water tank placed much more forward.  I eventually figured out why owners of longer models thought I had a loose screw.  It took some time for me to figure it all out.  I should go back in my old post and update it.

Now you and I can kick back and enjoy our travels without our hearts skipping a beat now and then.  I am glad to read someone new out there is benefiting from that old post of mine.  Thanks for sharing that Alan, and validating my story.

hey Ron, I have been reading a lot of you as it seems I find you on other sites also. I prepared for the sway bar by searching forums and found you there also. I studied the pictures posted and crawled under my camper to locate the holes. To my surprise I opened up a package to see a straight round  adustable bar intead of U shaped bar. I installed it and it works great!

I have also used some of your other tips and tricks like the TV you used. It fit and works great. I added adjustable mount that doesn't work so well. It has to be encrdibly tight to keep the TV from moving. I haven't got enough drive time with the better ride to see how much that reduces that movement.

A straight adjustable sway bar?  Interesting.  What brand did you purchase?

About our TV.  I mounted it to an angle-cut board, then using three 1/4" lag bolts, bolted the assembly from behind to the cabinet.  I later concluded I did not like the TV facing so straight forward, even when considering the angle-cut board.  I increased the "down angle" by adding 5 washers (the kind you use with carriage bolts when building a deck) per lag bolt which tipped it more forward nicely.  Those washers also made a gap in back which increased air flow behind the TV.  The down-angle made it better for the passenger seat viewer when travelling, and also for the 3rd seat which was oiginally a barrel chair.

I had also added a wide homemade metal bracket to anchor the bottom of the TV.  That stabilized the TV perfectly.  It also helped when mounting the TV to the cabinet as there is a resting place while working-in the lag bolts.

During our last long trip, our TV developed more than the usual amount of rattling.  About 3 weeks ago, I dismounted it and brought it in the house.  I removed the back panel to discover the top-dead-center screw tab had broken off the plastic back cover.  I used a lot of 2-part epoxy and hope that won't happen again.

With the back of the TV removed, I went through every place where metal rattled or vibrated.  There is a lot of sheet metal in our TV, from framing to RF shielding.  After tightening all screws, I tapped with my finger-tip.  When I heard a vibration sound, I added adhesive backed rubber pads and such.  In the end, the TV no longer rattles at all.  I tested the TV in the house when finished and all works great, but I have not yet road-tested it.  If I did harm in the end and the TV fails in some way, then it will be time for a new thinner, light weight TV.

Our 2007 model, widescreen 26" TV is the first of it's kind and is quite heavy compared to new TVs.  TVs today seem much more appropriate for the application.  The new thin edge-lit LED TVs use much less power than our TV which is a huge factor with a whole house inverter and no hook-ups.  Considering the power hog that our TV is, I almost wished it would break so I could buy a new low power edge lit LED TV.

I keep tightening the arm bracket swivel points as they are not very tight to begin with. The harsh ride from the original shocks were a big contributor to the TV floating around so I hope the new shocks make the difference as it took several miles for the TV to work its way out of position.

As for the bar, I got it from Brazels out in Washington and from the warranty card I think they manufacture it themselves. I was surprised at what it looked like after all my prep work for the other type bar. The brand name is UltraTrak and the warranty card address is their address which is why I think they build it. I also wanted to get the tune for the V 10 they have but wifey was starting to put the stoppage on the credit card spending! Jon says they do the programming themselves and it is nothing you can buy off the shelf from Edge or Bullydog. They also have one of those rear wheel rollers used to test performance at the wheels. I dont remember what its callled. How many places have that?! I looked the website over and they have quite the place out there.

as for other improvements I do want to replace those barrel chairs. They are not comfortable to sit in at all. I would like to replace the driver and passenger seats as well to add some creature features. It appears that I would be spending a lot of money on it but compared to trading for a new one it is pocket change as I would need to upgrade the new one to have the things this one has. The new ones (any brand out there) have some of the stuff we wanted but didn't have a lot of what we already get in this one. To me it is not worth the $50k difference and still have to upgrade the new one. We looked at one that didn't even have the ability to dry camp! What good is that? We dry camp a lot now that we read how you do it. Thanks for that by the way. It really has added to our RV experience. We had been totally unfamiliar with that until recently.

I am a bit confused.  What rig do you own?  Your profile on the side says a 2005 2350, but your message here says 2006 2400.  Also, what is the model year of your Ford E350 chassis?

Do you have the whole house Tripp-Lite interter?

Good call Ron. When I first got it the literature that was in it (I got it used) was for a 2005 2350. I discovered later that it is actually a 2006 2400. The chassis is also 2006. Sorry for the confusion and I will try to fix it. Hope that clears up my misinformation.

Ron, I now have that fixed. I did not realize that I had that wrong. Thanks