Adventures in alignment or wanderer no more
I got a new class C about 2 months ago from a dealer about 500 miles away. I was coming from a bumper pull toy hauler pulled by a silverado 2500hd that towed solid as a rock. I had a nice long drive...
Forum Discussion
gotsmart wrote:
Ford (and Chevy) assumes that the coach companies will beef up the suspension, etc to accommodate the requirements of a motorhome.
What suspension, etc. requirements of, say, a 13,500 lb. Class C motorhome based on an E450 chassis are different than those requirements for a 13,500 lb. delivery truck on an E450 chassis?
If anything, an equivalent weight Class C motorhome should handle better than an equivalent weight delivery truck on that chassis because many of the motorhome's heavy items (refrigerator, generator, propane tank, black water tank, grey water tank, fresh water tank, batteries, etc.) are carried down low on the chassis making for a low center of gravity ... whereas delivery truck cargo may be higher, perhaps with some of the cargo's weight extending all the way up to the top of the cargo bay.
One thing delivery trucks do have that many motorhomes don't have, is a rear end that DOES NOT stick out very far past the rear axle. Perhaps a motorhome's "tail wagging the dog" effect is what screws up their handling versus a delivery truck. I have noticed that more and more short Class C motorhomes in the last few years are built on a chassis with around a 170" wheelbase, where my 24 foot Class C is built on a chassis with only a 158" wheelbase.
A 170" wheelbase under a short Class C motorhome will make it's geometry more similar to that of a delivery truck ... and it has the protential for a smoother ride than that of a 158" wheelbase short Class C. However, for the small percentage of us who take their short Class C off-pavement, a 158" wheel base makes for a tighter turning radius and presents less chance for low-center hangups on rough off-roads.
That being said, our 158" wheelbase E450 Ford chassis Class C rides and handles fine, with no problems other than for stiff vertical bumping in the rear on highway cracks (but we ride in the front - where it's real smooth sitting over those good old coil springs). Maybe we lucked out, or maybe Winnebago got it right for some reason, or maybe good handling comes automatically with a chassis that's considerably under-loaded all the time.
