How to Check Timbren Rubber Springs for Bad Performance on Class B Motorhome

Published 07/29/2022

Question:

2018 Mercedes B. Sprintet 3500 carrying a 2019LTV Unity coach About 3 months ago, I replaced factory installed, rear anti- sway bar. Vehicle roll was excessive. Especially, when going slowly over dips and rises between street and filling station driveways or any drive with deep but bowl-shaped ruts. The new Hellwig bar made a huge improvement for about 6 weeks. Now Im back to rock and roll status. My vehicle, at purchase, got a Timbren rubber suspension installed in the rear. Now, finally my question: could my Timbren system be worn out and causing the sway problem? I have 40K miles on the vehicle I live full time in it except June - September and use it around the city and for nearby camping the remainder of the year. I drive from SC to Maine and back annually. I have almost no off-road mileage on it. What is the expected life span for the system, and what clues should I look for? Thank you.

asked by: Roger M

Expert Reply:

It's entirely possible for any product to fail at some point in time but I would be shocked if the Timbren Rear Suspension Enhancement System # TMBRSP35A on your 2018 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 3500 is failing because these are solid pieces of heavy duty rubber so it's not like an air bag kit that can develop a leak.

I would check to see if these are maybe rolling away when you go over one of the dips like you mentioned. The bottom of the Timbrens should be making contact with your motorhome so if that isn't happening for whatever reason then that would be a problem.

If the Hellwig bar made a significant improvement when you initially installed it then that performance improvement suddenly dropped off the face of the earth I'd check the Hellwig sway bar first to make sure all of the components are working like they should. You may want to have a shop check it out for you to make sure everything is properly in place.

expert reply by: Jon G