Rear sway on turns and curves on a Freightliner Century 2007

My guess would be loose/stretched u-bolts. Are the air bags tilted toward the center?

Due to the way Freightliner designed the suspension, with the swing arm underneath the axle tubes, the u-bolts take all of the stress from the suspension pounding up and down.

If the air bags are tilted, the u-bolts are stretched and need to be replaced.

 

Here is a really stupid question, I fully expect the entire Industry to laugh me out of here... here goes.

Ive relied on Nitrogen Gas shocks always in my vehicles. They hae the ability to keep the body stable but also feel every pebble when need be during racing.

Do they make nitrogen gas shocks big enough for 18 wheelers? You think fluid shocks will overheat on bad roads over time. I don't do shocks much in trucking. Ive encountered a few but not enough to gain experience with them.

 

If everything was ok with the drives up to the point of having the steer axle spring(s) replaced then you have to believe that something is wrong at the steer axle repair. Short of having something broken or missing on the drive axles you can have badly worn 'bushings' on the torque arms and or leaf spring eyes and the truck should not want to jack knife. Shock absorbers would never have anything to do with this problem. Shocks control axle rebound nothing more. You would hear a lot of clanking & metal to metal slapping back there. Check all of your cross members / trunnion. Any decent alignment place should have noticed worn bushings. Something has to be broken and or crazy loose. Loose metal to metal parts will have polished spots at the point of contact / rubbing. If the problem is more pronounced with a loaded trailer then hook up to one, drive onto a big empty parking lot make a turn & when you see the axles fish tail stop, set your brakes and place chocks under your tires and start checking things.

 

Could this cause the rear to pop and feel like it jumps to the side? Trying to figure out where to start. '04 Columbia with Airliner 40k rear

 

I'd jack it up by the frame and try to wiggle the rears around. Any loose bushings or u-bolts should be apparent.

 

I was thinking about doing that this weekend. Just have to come up with enough stuff to get my jack that high

 

my truck felt like what your saying but turned out the torq bar under the sleeper the hole were wore out back of the cab was fish tailing in the corners least that's what it felt like

 

did find out what was the problem?

 

Slight leak on air bag fitting,froze shock/shocks,ride height,bearing worn,etc.JMO