Aftermarket Shocks For 2022 Newmar Ventana 3407

[No Plan]

The majority of my travels take me on a number of twisty mountain roads. I am hoping to calm the yaw and pitch when going around 20-35 mph corners and switchbacks. I have read that some have installed Koni shocks on their coaches. But after checking into Koni shocks, and I had my dealer check with their parts supplier, there doesn't appear to be a Koni shock available for a 2022 Ventana 3407.

I am looking for information here to confirm this, and if that's the case, is there another shock I should consider to calm the yaw and pitch on my Ventana? Bilstein shocks perhaps?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Neal]

In my opinion, shocks are not going to fix what you're feeling, this is simply what driving one of these rigs feels like. The only alternate option would be to add HWH Active Air which I have on mine but I believe HWH is no longer installing Active Air. In essence, Active Air would calm the leaning motions from your higher center of gravity by rapidly adding air to the outside air bags countering the leaning forces.

 

[SteveMA]

Agree the shocks are only going to have a marginal effect on the roll. Valid also makes an excellent air leveling system. Have it on our 2020 Mountain Aire - to the best of my knowledge on all Newmar MA and up. We spend at least several months a year on mountain roads in the Rockies and I really never feel any significant roll or motion (until I push ‘ol Mae too hard Into a corner going to fast - (Different topic - driver error). Air leveling is not going to be cheap, although it can be added as a subsystem to I think any existing airbag system.

 

[No Plan]

Thanks gents for the replies and insight. I was hoping shocks would help with the stabilizing on the coach in the tight low speed turns. In my performance track cars shocks would keep the car planted in the corners... Evidently not the case in a coach.

 

[Rich W.]

My experience with Koni was on a Bay Star and they improved handling a bit but they made it ride so harsh that I was going to put the Bilsteins back on the front if I kept it, and I made that recommendation to the person who bought it. Konis may be different for an XCR chassis but I’m not going to take the chance.

At 60k miles I’m probably ready to refresh the shocks and I’ll likely go with OE (Sachs) shocks if I can find them. That said I too have active air and it really keeps things managable in the curves but does nothing for the very slow speed, parking lot type bouncing back and forth, going over uneven entrances, and speed bumps. I don’t think anything will help that - certainly not different shocks.

Supersteer sells a an improved rear sway bar kit for the XCR, and theoretically this would help, but I have never seen any independent confirmation on that. If you want to give it a try I’d be thrilled to hear about the results.

Roadmaster Rear Sway Bar for Freightliner V-Ride 2016+ 1209-140

Roadmaster anti-sway bars have a thicker diameter than stock bars (often, a quarter to three-eighths of an inch more). Each incremental increase in diameter has an exponential effect on performance - on average, torsional roll stiffness is increased by 30 percent with every eighth-of-an-inch...

supersteerparts.com

 

[Joe Hogan]

After a fair bit of modification on a 2018 Canyon Star I was able to get the suspension to be on par or better than any sub 7 figure RV available today, DP or otherwise.
This was verified by an RV experienced friend, who also happens to be a Monaco DP expert/owner/driver 30+ years. He was amazed at how well the RV handled.

It took some doing and $$$, but with the addition of a carefully selected modifications these RVs can be made to handle well. Much of what you are feeling is the vintage truck/bus suspension. Solid Front axle does not help.

Not sure if any of this applies to the Ventana Suspension, but we installed Supersteer heavy front sway bar, SuperSteer Front Radius Rods, Safe-T- Plus , Koni Front Shocks, and a Liquid Spring Rear Suspension. The RV was rock steady and stable. The radius rods improved "turn in" incredibly. No delay in turns especially on local roads. Radius Rods and Sway Bar eliminated any wonder on uneven road surfaces.
We drove the back roads in New England every year and were always comfortable with handling.

The RV was Stable in virtually any crosswind (tested up to 40 mph INT-40 in NM), overtaking vehicles/Trucks passed by unnoticed, easily handled uneven, curvy mountains roads (both East Coast and West), and had a comfortable ride.

Typically drove at 63-65 MPH comfortably on limited access roads.

Hopefully the new 2024 DutchStar will not require this much attention.

 

[Rich W.]

Reading Joe’s post reminded me of these for air bag suspension:

SuperSteer SSE4055 Motion Control Unit - 1/4'' - Over 30,000 Lbs GVW

The SuperSteer SSE4055 Motion Control Unit is designed specifically to help air ride motorhomes with unruly air suspensions. Stabilizes your ride for comfort and safety and reduces side whip when going over driveways, uneven roads, bumps, and dips.

www.rvupgradestore.com

I don’t know how well they work but if there is any improvement in low-speed rocking caused by uneven pavement, speed bumps, pot holes etc, it would be worth it considering the low cost and ease of installation. Something to look into and if you try them I’d like to hear about your results.

One thing you that has been determined conclusively is that you can’t mess with the steering on a comfort drive equipped RV with a safe-t-plus or other steering control adjunct. Confirmed by the designer, Ken Sherwin.