Buying a Class C

pnichols wrote:

DrewE wrote:
Most class C's that you'll be looking at will be built on a Ford chassis. There's nothing wrong with it; it's a solid and reliable design.

I used to think I agreed with the above comment about the Ford chassis.

HOWEVER, this past August really shook me up: The 2005 E450 V10 Ford chassis under our 2005 24 foot Itasca Class C surprised me, our regular mechanic, and a highly recommended transmission shop owner by blowing it's computer controlled, 5-6 speed, TorqShift, 5R110 transmission with only about 51K miles on the rig. Installed replacement cost for a heavy duty optioned remanufactured (new ones are no longer available) 5R110 transmission was well over 5K.

So ..... be aware. It's a mystery as why this happened. I now drive up grades a bit slower and invoke the TOW/HAUL mode very carefully to prevent those sudden automatic gear-downs when on down-grades ... just in case those habits had anything to do with it. I had assumed that an under-loaded E450 chassis supporting only a 24 foot Class C - with which I rarely tow only a small aluminimum boat - would be bullet-proof, including it's 5R110 transmission! That may .... or may not .... be true. :h

P.S. Do Chevy 3500/4500 van transmissions ever fail mysteriously?

Phil, sorry to hear about your trans can you enlighten us as to the specific circumstances of the failure? I know you like to load it up pretty good with all of the rock hounding you do which of course includes a lot of off roading. Were you running conventional or pure synthetic trans fluid? What exactly "blew"? Was it electronics/computer controls or gears in pieces? :E

I have gone to running in Tow Haul about 90% of the time as we are now running heavier than we used to and towing the 960# trailer/bike. I have yet to experience the so called "sudden automatic gear downs" that you and others have described. The downshifts we get when in TH are always smooth and quite predictable, generally a light tap on the brakes will drop it down one more gear but never more than that.

I don't remember if you have a Scan Gauge - if so what sort of temps were you typically seeing (from the trans)? Did you get any engine codes prior to the failure (if so which ones)? Good luck with the news trans but if not here perhaps a detailed thread on your experience could/would help the rest of us with what for me has been the perfect trans.

:C