Quote:
Originally Posted by Anachr0n
Hi folks. Thought I'd add to this thread rather than start a new one. I'm hoping to improve the road manners of my '98 190 Popular on the Dodge platform. She needs constant attention to keep her straight, and she leans outward like a battleship when turning. Had the shocks checked out and they appear to be fine, and bounce isn't really an issue. Looking at all the different threads here, there seems to be 3 common solutions. If I don't have the money to do all three in one shot, I'm trying to figure out what the best order is for maximum benefit.
1) Rear 2" spacers (rear track is 4" narrower). Hoping the broader stance will reduce the tippiness in corners.
2) Steering stabilizer, general tightening up. To help her run straight and true.
3) Rear stabilizer bar. I've seen many do this. This would also help the lean, but it seems to me like a wider stance would be more beneficial.
Which of these solutions did you find the most helpful, and are there any others you'd recommend ahead of these? And which ones will require an alignment afterward? I'd hate to have to pay for 3 alignments, one after each step. Might make it worth doing them all and amortizing the cost.
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You might want to join this group:
https://roadtrekkers.groups.io/g/RT
This is a rebirth of the dead and gone Yahoo Roadtrek list and has all the old Yahoo information moved to it. Lots of information on the Dodges there, albeit a bit hard to find sometimes due to the not great search but doable. Also a lot of current Dodge owners there.
Re the spacers: They really don't have much to do with stability due to a wider track. All they really do is widen the rear track width to match the front so the wheels run in the same track on the road. What they give benefit on is roads that have the wheel grooves worn into them which throw you around when the tires hit the change in slope. Having the front and rear not hit the slope at the same time makes the van turn and feel out of control. This is often mistaken as generalized wander, but is different as the van would be more stable on a non grooved roadway.
Re the steering stabilizer: There are those that like them, but I really don't care for them as they are a crutch that just hides some problems like loose steering parts or steering gears. The stabilizer also puts more strain on the parts and power steering because of having to overcome the quite high spring pressures of the stabilizer.
Re the rear sway bar: IMO a big rear swaybar is one of the items that will do the most to take out general wandering wind push, assuming the rest of the parts are in good condition. It will also take out a lot of the lean on corners and tilt from sidewind hits. Highly recommended.
Re the RAS setup. This setup appears to be simply a load leveling device that increases the springrate of the rear springs when the load goes up and springs get compressed. Just like having a progressive spring pack for the springs. As far a handling goes, the higher springrate will make the van lean less in corners and wind hits but it will not do any side to side load transfer like the sway bar does, so doesn't improve the handling as much. The Dodges do have too soft of rear springs so not a horrible change, but same can be done with adding an extra leaf to the springs or adding airbags, which I like best because they also let you adjust height as loads change.
Re the steering box: The Dodge boxes are pretty poor in most cases and adjusting the preload on the sector can help some, but you have to make sure you don't get it too tight in the off center places. Many times you can't get the center tight enough to take out the slop before the rest gets too tight. There is a current discussion on the group linked above that speaks of an aftermarket steering box that is said to work well, IIRC.
The steering box is also mounted to the frame which can flex and cause looseness in feel. The output bearing of the box also gets loose and causes so slop. There is a kit the can reinforce those places on the stock box that is said to work quite well.
Tire pressures can help and most seem to like 80psi rear and 65psi front for best stability in the Dodges with load range E tires.
There is also a Technical Service Bulletin for the Dodge handling that Dodge issued to address poor handling. You would be able to find it on the site linked above. It recommended stiffer rear springs, higher damping shocks all around, and a change in alignment specs from the original specifications as well as a good inspection of all steering parts.
IIRC, the 1998 was the first year for a model design freshening the changed the suspension some also. They are kind of known to be some of the worst handling of the Dodges with some being said the totally scary to drive at highway speeds. Others seem to be not as bad, so highly variable it appears.
Unfortunately, doing the necessary changes to get any particular Dodge to handle well can be quite expensive depending on how picky you are on handling which will determine "how good is good enough".
Good luck with your adventure, and I will be watching if you do drop in at the linked site as I visit that also.
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