38 foot gas

I just purchased a 35 ft Newmar Bay Star with the V-10 and I am really happy with it. I traded in a Class C with a diesel and do not miss the engine noise or the HP. I don't think the extra 3 feet will make a difference.

I have a 38 foot on a 24k ford chassis and no problems at all. No handling or power problems. I also tow a Jeep Rubicon Unlimited behind it with no problems.

bsinmich wrote:
I had a 38' Mountain Aire on a Workhorse W22 and it was a great combo. It did have the 8.1L engine that put out the power at lower RPMs than the Ford.

Ditto,
I have a 38' Tiffin on a W-24 with the 8.1 and it does ok.
Gas mileage in the hills isn't great, but who buys any Class A for gas mileage.
I too added air bags to the rear, but my driveway has a real steep slope down, so have to I back in and the hitch hit at the bottom where it levels off.

I had a 38' Mountain Aire on a Workhorse W22 and it was a great combo. It did have the 8.1L engine that put out the power at lower RPMs than the Ford.

Our 96 Southwind is 37' with a 454. it's not a ball of fire in the mountains but it gets the job done.
I would consider a 38' V-10.

I have a 2006 SouthWind that is 38 ft long with a v-10 with a tow haul trans and it has plenty of power and serves me very well,

carringb wrote:
I test drove a 40' Newmar on the 26k chassis. It had a 266" wheelbase. Very stable going straight. Power was acceptable (unloaded weight was a tad over 22k) and ride was good but I didn't like the mount of body roll on sharp corners. Now after doing some research I think the Roadmaster anti-roll bar upgrades would have made it good enough, so it's back on my radar again.

Now, it does spend a lot of time at high RPMs in the hills, but Newmar does a good job with sound insulating so that didn't really bother me. The new 2016 chassis makes more torque lower down, so it spends less time screaming and owners report it actually climbs better even with less HP, probably due to the flatter torque curve and better gearing.

lot of MH for a v10 even w/6speed

I used to have a 36'gasoline motor home on a F-53 Ford chassis. I think anything longer then 36' would be too long and you would get too much wag the tail on cross winds. Also my 36' would drag the rear end on just about any dip. Later I found out it had air bags and I added 90 lbs of air which really help lift the rear end up and it seemed to help stabilize the motor home and it gave more carry capacity.

I test drove a 40' Newmar on the 26k chassis. It had a 266" wheelbase. Very stable going straight. Power was acceptable (unloaded weight was a tad over 22k) and ride was good but I didn't like the mount of body roll on sharp corners. Now after doing some research I think the Roadmaster anti-roll bar upgrades would have made it good enough, so it's back on my radar again.

Now, it does spend a lot of time at high RPMs in the hills, but Newmar does a good job with sound insulating so that didn't really bother me. The new 2016 chassis makes more torque lower down, so it spends less time screaming and owners report it actually climbs better even with less HP, probably due to the flatter torque curve and better gearing.