Class C bashing
Hi folks. I have been shopping for a new rig and was looking primarily at truck campers due to the fact that I want 4wd. But I see there are some 4x4 class C out there (and Quigley can convert man...
Forum Discussion
There is one issue when converting a 2WD Class C into 4WD Class C ... that unfortunately there is no practical way around ... and most 4X4 pickups suffer from it, too.
That is the (excessive) raised center of gravity that one winds up with because of having to lift the body up high in order to gain clearance for the front differential/drive line and to gain fender clearance for large diameter tires. Notice how much higher off the ground Class C's coach is in the small photo above. It is possible, engineering-wise, to get around this but the cost would be prohibitive (for example the low profile - but high ground clearance - military version of the Hummer).
Ford made a "low profile" 4X4 pickup for a short while decades ago. I rode in one on a hunting trip and you could not tell by looking at it that it was a 4X4. It was compact and as low to the ground as was possible ... controlled solely by he diameter of the tires one put on it. We took it fully chained up in the winter into the High Uintas in snow so deep that it was pushing up over the hood! "High body height" is counter to one important parameter in a 4X4 whether it be a Class C or an offroad pickup ... a low center of gravity .... while at the same time maintaining as high drive line and suspension component ground clearances as possible.
We installed larger diameter tires, than what came stock on it, on our Class C to gain just a bit more drive line and suspension component ground clearances for off-highway use. The lower rear differential gear ratio of the E450 more than offsets any torque-to-the-ground loss from the larger diameter tires.
That is the (excessive) raised center of gravity that one winds up with because of having to lift the body up high in order to gain clearance for the front differential/drive line and to gain fender clearance for large diameter tires. Notice how much higher off the ground Class C's coach is in the small photo above. It is possible, engineering-wise, to get around this but the cost would be prohibitive (for example the low profile - but high ground clearance - military version of the Hummer).
Ford made a "low profile" 4X4 pickup for a short while decades ago. I rode in one on a hunting trip and you could not tell by looking at it that it was a 4X4. It was compact and as low to the ground as was possible ... controlled solely by he diameter of the tires one put on it. We took it fully chained up in the winter into the High Uintas in snow so deep that it was pushing up over the hood! "High body height" is counter to one important parameter in a 4X4 whether it be a Class C or an offroad pickup ... a low center of gravity .... while at the same time maintaining as high drive line and suspension component ground clearances as possible.
We installed larger diameter tires, than what came stock on it, on our Class C to gain just a bit more drive line and suspension component ground clearances for off-highway use. The lower rear differential gear ratio of the E450 more than offsets any torque-to-the-ground loss from the larger diameter tires.
