Jayco Redhawk 24B - My 2 Cents

[alazear]

My 2 cents on the Jayco Redhawk 24B. [sorry if it comes too late for others who have recently bought one]

My Redhawk 24B slide out is messed up badly, now jumping teeth top to bottom on the side closest to the driver's door known as the "fixed side" of the slide mech. I'm not going to get into what I've tried on this public forum, as I don't wish to void any warranty having my words used against me, but in short I've tried a whole heck of a lot. If you read my other posts you can see I'm not afraid to get in and fix things or customize when needed, I work with both wood and metal frequently.

If I had to do it again, I'd buy something else besides this rig. I'm now in agreement with others here on this forum; that this full wall slide, as it is currently designed by Jayco, is a time bomb waiting to go off. It just cannot handle the weight of what it is being asked to do long term.

Secondly, even after all my suspension upgrades, which have been extensive and costly, this rig still cannot tow my 4 door 2019 Jeep worth a darn in straight line without constant steering input from me every millisecond. The Redhawk 24B drives fine and true without the Jeep attached. The Jeep drives great on it's own too. But tow the Jeep behind the Redhawk and it just sucks no matter the road conditions or wind speed.

I need to get rid of this rig and go another direction all together. My wife and I are discussing options now as we this rig drive from Gardnerville, NV. to South Padre Island, TX. for a kiteboarding vacation. I imagine it'll be out of my driveway soon after we return home and we will go another way for our future RV life. If you are intrigued by the 24B's moderate size and large slide out, as we were, my recommendation is to steer clear of this model. If you really want one, mine will be for sale soon.

In the grand scheme of things, all first world problems though...

[drmike961]

It is a shame that such a great floor plan is just that in theory only without an operable slide. I am in my rig by myself or just with my son 90% of the time so it doesn't make sense for me to punt and sell it yet. I camp with the slide in and sleep diagonal in the bed. It is just ridiculous that I have trained myself to put up with this because I have the rest of the coach modded out the way I like it, and I don't use it enough to warrant starting over and paying far more in this market. I appreciate all of your help in chasing down and fixing noises on this thing in the past. Good luck on your next purchase.

[Enforcer110]

I use to have to steer my 2017 Greyhawk constantly. I toe a Chevy Spark 99% of the time. When it was windy I would have to turn the wheel a full half turn and back constantly. I put a Safe-T-Steer steering control unit on and all my constant steering problems went away. It is pricey though. I did install it my self. Sorry I can’t help on the slide issue.

[crockettlarry]

Safe-T-Plus?

I can't find Safe-T-Steer.

Larry

[Enforcer110]

Yes Safe-T-Plus. Sorry for the confusion.

[crockettlarry]

No problem. Although I don't need it, I wanted to read about it and also improve our search function. Thanks for the input. It will help someone.

[bucko]

What are the specs for towing with the Jayco Redhawk 24B? The slider issue stinks, especially that Jayco will not readily accept responsibility, but could towing a 4 door jeep be over the recommended weight class of this model? Then again, the Chevy Spark does not seem to be an over weighted vehicle either.

[Enforcer110]

The internet says 7,500 pounds. I have a 2017 Jayco Greyhawk 31FS which has a 7,500 tow capacity. I also have a 2020 Jeep Gladiator truck. The truck weighs about 5,600 pounds with 2 150 lb. people in it. I don’t know how much the Spark weighs, but it can’t be over 2,400 pounds.

[bucko]

In doing some research on this (was curious), I found:

1) The tow vehicle usually has a shorter wheel base than the wheel base from your rear axle to the axle of the towed vehicle. Any small movement of your steering wheel multiples to the towed vehicle.

2) Biggest problem in a trailer or vehicle being towed swaying is the weight on the ball, known as tongue weight.

Only solution I could find was to add weight to the towed vehicles front, which in turn adds to the tongue weight (weight on ball).

Not sure how this can be done for your towed car though. In a boat being towed, it mentioned adding weight to the boat's bow or front of the boat's trailer.

Maybe putting the car on a tandem (front wheel) or full trailer? You could rent one for a day from U-haul and see if the issue goes away.

[Enforcer110]

That makes sense, because of the rear swing when turning. I also have front tire issues. The front tires are worn on the inside, and chopped. This happened after 30,000 miles, and before installing the Safe-T-Plus. Took it to a shop and they said the alignment was fine. They could not find anything wrong. They did say when they stepped on the hitch (250lb man) the hitch moved on the alignment changed.

[alazear]

I'm flat towing the 4 door Jeep so very minimal weight on the hitch, aside from the weight of tow bar itself, so maybe 30 lbs. all in?

My Jeep weighs 4600 lbs. on the scales, so I'm well under the towing limit of 7500 lbs. as far as I can tell. The V10 engine has enough power in most circumstances, not an issue.

But the steering I cannot stand when flat towing any longer - it just is really bad over a long haul. Sure, the first half hour is doable, but by hour 5 you're unduly beat up by it, by hour 10 you're fully worked.

I'm not even going to address the crappy slide out...

We'll probably go back to a TT with a tow vehicle. No one I know of makes a really small Class A [24-26'] that sits on the F 53 platform that would be good to flat tow with. There is the Axis/Vegas Class A in that size, but I'm afraid I will waist my money and face the same towing issues if I get a Axis/Vegas on the E350/E450 platforms.

I've been chasing this for two years now. Could I be missing something critical that is going to change my towing experience with this rig? If not, I'm dumping it when we get home after I deal with the slide out.

[Enforcer110]

Did you put on a Safe-T-Plus or something similar? It made all the difference for me. Has your alignment been checked? Do you have any uneven front tire wear? I am towing the Spark with a tow dolly.

[alazear]

Suspension Upgrades I've done to try to calm this set up down:

1. Alignment of both vehicles.
2. Double checked all tow bar connections/bolts to make sure it's running true.
3. Cranked down on stock rear Helwig helper springs to 2" gap.
4. Roadmaster Steering Stabilizer, the red one.
5. Upgraded Front + Rear Helwig Sway Bars
6. Super Steer Track Bar from OR. [helped the most, but also the most expensive]

Even after all that, it still is bad to tow with the 24B. All the upgrades did help, especially driving the 24B without towing anything..., but they didn't solve my steering problem of constantly needing to micro correct every second. I think I'm done throwing money at it with aftermarket parts to get it to behave like it should when not towing. Unless I'm missing something, it is just a bad combo. It is almost something you might choose to put up with if you're only going an hour somewhere, but not all day. It is just ridiculously bad for that.

[Enforcer110]

Sounds like you have done more than enough to try and correct the problem. I don’t know anything else you could do.

[craigav]

I suspect that the issue is with the Jeep and not the motorhome. When I was looking for a newer toad ~2017 timeframe I had read that certain Jeeps, in particular those with electric power steering (which was the Cherokees and new JL series if I remember correctly) had issues when flat towing if the power to the steering wasn't enabled (or possibly the opposite as what I remember is from quite a while back). I also remember that for certain Jeeps there was a special harness required to enable the electric power steering while flat towing.

Sorry not to have the details, but it would help perhaps if you could share the exact model Jeep you have and if it has the electric power steering and if you are doing anything to enable or disable the power steering while towing.

Just FYI, my GreyHawk is actually more stable while flat towing, at least on flat roads and little to no winds, but even with higher winds it isn't much different in how it drives, toad or not (or even dolly towing which I do at times with a fwd vehicle). ~CA

[alazear]

Hi craigav,

That is information I've never heard before. I will look into it.

My Jeep is a stock 2019 JLU Sport, the 4 door version. No upgraded tires or suspension, just plain stock from the factory as a Sport model. It has power steering, which I'm sure is electronic. The steering is turned off, as is the rest of the car when being flat towed. To achieve this and still get lights in the Jeep when flat towing, I installed the $350 Mopar wiring harness. Part of the reason for choosing this harness over others was the fact that it bypasses the Jeep battery entirely, and runs power to the Jeep lights from the power of the Jayco system directly when hooked up. This is supposed to be easy, quick and work well. It does work very well. It also saves the Jeep battery when being flat towed and avoid having to trickle charge the Jeep battery with additional wiring. It is how Jeep/Mopar designed it to be flat towed, as I was told.

I have never heard anything about the steering possibly needing to be turned on though which would change that battery saving calculus entirely.

I do however think that your Grayhawk being 31+ feet makes a difference to how things tow behind it even without doing any modifications or upgrades. It seems like other people who have posted here say the same thing you do if their rig is over 30 ft. long, "it tows a Jeep great...no worries" Not sure if it's the longer wheel base, bigger weight difference or overall rig length that is making the difference, but something is different between yours and mine besides the difference in toads.

Again, thanks for the tip.

[craigav]

I think what I read was more specific to the Cherokee's as the JLU's where just coming out, so the issue probably does not exists with your like for the Cherokees.

On another thought, when you had the RV alignment done, did you have, or do you know if the alignment shop changed out the castor\camber sleeves and increased the caster to ~+5 degrees? If not, then I would highly suggest doing that. There are a few threads here in the forums regarding increasing the caster to ~+5.5 which prevents almost all of the E-Series steering wandering issues. ~CA

[Ttlanders]

Craigav is definitely right about the positive camber! Fixed most of my driving problems. I have always driven Chevrolets before this e450! Fords are temperamental.

[alazear]

Originally Posted by craigav

On another thought, when you had the RV alignment done, did you have, or do you know if the alignment shop changed out the castor\camber sleeves and increased the caster to ~+5 degrees? If not, then I would highly suggest doing that. There are a few threads here in the forums regarding increasing the caster to ~+5.5 which prevents almost all of the E-Series steering wandering issues. ~CA

Originally Posted by Ttlanders

Craigav is definitely right about the positive camber! Fixed most of my driving problems. I have always driven Chevrolets before this e450! Fords are temperamental.

Thanks to both of you. I'll look into this as well. I know it has not be done yet. I think they just did a standard alignment.

[JudyB]

We just had the wheel bearings repacked and the shocks and struts replaced (53,000 mi) because of uneven tire wear. Interestingly, we had chunks of tire loss at 35,000 miles and replaced all the tires ( those were Michelins). Now, on Firestones with uneven wear. Wondering if the fact we altered the caster early on may be causing the uneven wear. Service provider suggested alot of off roading!! We do boondock a fair bit, bit its not down miles of bad road.