Ford E350/450 or Chev 3500
I don't want to start a Ford vs Chev battle; I have owned both Ford and Chev cars and trucks over the years and I like both brands. The wife and I are looking for a smaller Class C, 22 to 25 feet. Mo...
Forum Discussion
We own 2... a Chevy Silverado 3500 SRW (10’ Alaskan Camper) and Chevy Express 3500 DRW (Minnie Winnie 25B), both have 6L 324hp and GM/Allison 6spd tranny.
He’s my thoughts... having that SRW with 2,000 lb camper on it fulltime for last four years gave me a love of BOTH engine and tranny. Our 1st trip was 8,000 miles coast to coast and rtn with many side trips. Having ability to maintain engine at 1800-2200 rpm doing 65+ cruise is really nice. Going down a 5-6 mile 6% grade and having the tranny braking to hold rpm/spd is great. The cruise control is clickable... 1,2,3 up 1-2-3mph; 1,2,3, down 1-2-3mph.
6L Engine computer learns your driving habits and adjust fuel-power accordingly. When you replace air cleaner... always clean the Mass Airflow Sensor... disconnect chassis battery for 2-3 minutes. That resets computer to recalculate new air cleaner and MAS. It also re-learns next 10-12 trips of driver’s habits. That will increase your mpg.
Both my Chevy 3500s have a haul/load mode switch to tell computer when you’re running heavy or pulling a load. Remember trucks are designed to run MT and fully loaded. Both our 3500s run heavy at all times, as camper has never been removed and our Class C Minnie Winnie is a constant load on that 3500 chassis.
After 4 years with that 2K lb camper set-up on 3500, we saw our new Winnebago 26’ Class C with that same GM engine-tranny and went to look at it... While service mgr and I are bent over looking at DRW disc brakes and suspension... we hear my lovely wife telling the salesman “I think we’ll buy it...” We did...
He’s my thoughts... having that SRW with 2,000 lb camper on it fulltime for last four years gave me a love of BOTH engine and tranny. Our 1st trip was 8,000 miles coast to coast and rtn with many side trips. Having ability to maintain engine at 1800-2200 rpm doing 65+ cruise is really nice. Going down a 5-6 mile 6% grade and having the tranny braking to hold rpm/spd is great. The cruise control is clickable... 1,2,3 up 1-2-3mph; 1,2,3, down 1-2-3mph.
6L Engine computer learns your driving habits and adjust fuel-power accordingly. When you replace air cleaner... always clean the Mass Airflow Sensor... disconnect chassis battery for 2-3 minutes. That resets computer to recalculate new air cleaner and MAS. It also re-learns next 10-12 trips of driver’s habits. That will increase your mpg.
Both my Chevy 3500s have a haul/load mode switch to tell computer when you’re running heavy or pulling a load. Remember trucks are designed to run MT and fully loaded. Both our 3500s run heavy at all times, as camper has never been removed and our Class C Minnie Winnie is a constant load on that 3500 chassis.
After 4 years with that 2K lb camper set-up on 3500, we saw our new Winnebago 26’ Class C with that same GM engine-tranny and went to look at it... While service mgr and I are bent over looking at DRW disc brakes and suspension... we hear my lovely wife telling the salesman “I think we’ll buy it...” We did...
