Our RV Mechanical Modifications
The Winnebago Vista 31KE is an okay coach right out of the box. It’s performance and handling left quite a bit to be desired, however.
We have made strategic improvements to the mechanics of the RV with an eye toward balancing improvements and total cost.
I started with the engine. The Ford V10 is a powerhouse, however, if it looks at a hill it downshifts! There are programmers available, but being in California, none were available to me. Officially, that is.
I ordered a Five Star Tuning tuner for our year and model of V10. Since it wasn’t available to be sold in California, I, um, worked around that fact.
The tuner was incredibly easy to use. It came with a tune that changed the shift point of our V10 and made a tremendous difference. In addition, I believe we have picked up 1 to 1.5 miles per gallon. That is a huge jump!
The first thing we bought was a Safe-T-Plus RV Steering Stabilizer. This was a straight bolt-in job. Reduces road wandering, over-steering, and driver fatigue caused by side winds, passing semi-trucks, crowned roads, bad roads, and rut tracking.
To further help out the steering and stability of the coach, our next addition was a set of SumoSprings for the front end. Again, these are bolt ins, using factory holes. They are two piece units that are designed to cut down on sway, improve driver control, and help with ride comfort. I can verify that they do all of that, and maybe more.
For the rear of the coach, we added a Roadmaster 1139-146 Rear Anti-Sway Bar. The anti-sway bar is a great add-on. Like the steering stabilizer, it is a total bolt-on job. The sway bar offers better handling, less driver fatigue, and higher performance.
I purchased a Minder Research TM22143 TireMinder i10 RV TPMS with 10 Transmitters The ten transmitters will allow us to monitor the air pressure of our coach tires, as well as the tires on our “toad” a 2014 Ford Edge.
We have added a Roadmaster Invisibrake auxiliary braking system in our Ford Edge. In most states, they are required for towed vehicles. This unit mounts permanently in the car and does not have to be installed and removed each time you drive the car.