Installed Safe-T-Plus On My Seneca
I would rate the factory steering & handling of my Seneca at about an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. It really handles well and is very easy to drive. That being said I decided to install the Safe-T-Plus system for three reasons.
1)-It was easy to install. It took me about 45 minutes in my driveway using hand tools.
2)- It will help maintain control in the event of a front tire blowout or over correcting after falling off the shoulder. I know this is not an autopilot and don't expect it to guide me hands-free to a safe stop but it should help a fair amount. I have had front tire blowouts in the past and am fairly confident in my ability to control them but... (see #3)
3)- ...at some point I would like to be able to take a break while my wife drives. She has zero experience driving anything larger than a Suburban and if the first drive does not go well then there will likely not be a second drive and my hopes of taking a break die right there on the side of the road. I'm trying to stack the deck in my favor in any way I can.
So my first impression of the kit:
The stabilizer itself is huge! Very heavy duty for a steering stabilizer.
The instructions are not great. They are really generic to pretty much every vehicle with a steering wheel and tires. Some of the lines are super vague with something like 'you may have to bolt the one end of the cylinder to the top of the bracket or to the bottom of the bracket or both' or ' try to bolt the cylinder in between the axle and the tie rod like diagram #1 or #2 but you can also mount outside like diagram #3". It is a pretty straightforward design though so, once you realize that the instructions are not for your specific vehicle, it goes on easily.
The overall install took about 45 minutes using hand tools (after spending 45 minutes trying to understand the directions). If I would have drug out the air tools it would have been half that. Those 3/4" locking nuts on the leaf spring u-bolts and on the stabilizer take a lot of time and muscle to remove and tighten. My arms felt like noodles by the time I was done. Good workout though!
I could immediately tell the difference after adding the stabilizer. I have some long sections of rough pavement on the interstate near my house and decided to go take a drive through there before and after. After the install you no longer get that tug on the steering wheel every time you hit a bump. It was not terrible before but was all but gone after the install. The small ledges between the main road and the shoulder no longer try to drag you off of the road. You can tell they are there but the motorhome tracks straight on. After a couple adjustments to center the stabilizer (the stabilizer has internal springs to help keep the steering centered) the truck drives very nice and straight. You can actually drive basically hands free for very long sections of road and stay in your lane- even with trucks passing you.
Anyway.. I highly recommend this kit if you have $500 burning a hole in your pocket. It really makes a very good driving truck into a great driving truck and hopefully adds a little safety in there too.
Bracket Kit: V-917K3
Stabilizer: 41-180
Safe-T-Plus.com
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