How much rear overhang

My brother's coach is about as bad as they get. 31' body on a 208" wheelbase! Compounding that is it has stock rear springs. Many of the newer coaches have longer wheelbases and often upgrade the springs. Plus I think the newer E450s have higher arched springs stock than the older ones.

But that all said, dragging hasn't really been a problem. Some skids or rollers should help of the occasional steep entry driveway or dip.

There are a few coaches with rear slideouts, and those minimize the rear overhang.

Overhang can be a pain... I take approaches at an angle, that works pretty good. Our RV is pretty low so I have to be careful. Don't get too hung up on that if you like the RV though.

That rear overhang is why I got rid of our Tioga Class C. Sharp turns, mild driveways and a HORRIBLE ride was the final straw for us. It was impossible to take a little nap on the rear bed going down the road, a 2" bump in the road translated to a horrendous bounce at the rear of the coach. We went to a 25' Class C with a rear slide (2015 Forester 2501)and you had to put the rear slide out to use the bed, no naps or using the bed along the way. Enjoy your search, the right floor plan and length will show up. JH

rctoyguy wrote:
'm thinking we are going to want something in the under 30' range, and I've noticed they all appear to have a crazy long rear overhang (from rear wheels to rear bumper). I'd think too much would cause too many dragging issues - is there a rule of thumb to go by for what is too much? I've also noticed some are "beveled" at the very rear bottom which I'd think would help.

The beveling of the rear overhang's walls of course helps those coach walls from scraping and getting damaged. On our small Class C (only 24 feet) this beveling of the rear overhang's coach walls actually starts immediately at the rear duals' wheelwells - with no horizontal portion of the coach walls at all aft of the rear duals.

Actually there is a fairly straight-forward and not too expensive way to lift the rear of long Class C motorhomes only when you need/want to lift the rear. Have air bags installed even if the rear end already sits pretty level or even slants slightly up. Get them installed with the dash inflation control mounted right on the bottom of the driver's side dash. Set the control so that minimum air is in the bags most of the time. When you want to lift the rear a little temporarily for more rear end clearance, just hit the control and inflate the air bags a bit. Lower the rear end back to normal afterwards.

As a bonus, you can also use air bags installed the above way to help with leveling at campgrounds. Of course if the rear end eventually sags permanently due to rear spring fatigue, you can run with the air bags constantly inflated just enough to keep the rear end level.

rctoyguy wrote:
We are looking for our first RV and have decided a Class C will be our best bet. My family had RVs as I was growing up, and a couple of my siblings have 5th wheels now, and we have friends with bumper pulls. We are anxious to go play...

I'm thinking we are going to want something in the under 30' range, and I've noticed they all appear to have a crazy long rear overhang (from rear wheels to rear bumper). I'd think too much would cause too many dragging issues - is there a rule of thumb to go by for what is too much? I've also noticed some are "beveled" at the very rear bottom which I'd think would help.

You discussed dragging issues and several of the responses discuss that as a problem. It was implied that the long tail will also cause problems when turning especially around gas pumps. Some have pointed out the roughness of the ride.

One that has not been mentioned is driveability. With a long tail any semi-truck you meet will push the air sideways on your tail and will make driving a straight line very difficult. The ratio of the wheelbase divided by the total length should be 55% or greater.

"carringb" mentions that his brother has a 31' RV with a 208" wheelbase. That is really not as bad as some (31' = 372") 208" divided by 372" = 55.9%.

Another issue to be aware of on long overhang is under loading of the front axle. If you do not have at least 80% of the front axle load rating on the front axle you will have handling issues that can not be corrected. Weight behind the rear axle takes weight off of the front axle and the farther back from the axle the greater the effect. There has been some in the past because of design flaws , slides, generator, tanks fresh and waste being located behind the rear axle it is impossible once loaded for a trip to have enough weight on the front axle.

From experience, 31-ft (actually 32) on 218-in wheelbase, we started out with some tail dragging. Now, almost never. Angled approaches and departures almost always keep the rear from dragging. As Bryan said, you just get used to it and work around it
I believe the Weight and Balance issues noted by Gene and Tyrone are far more critical. And I'm not at all convinced the manufacturers set the wheelbase for proper weight distribution. Rather I think they set it to put the wheel wells where they don't compromise the floor plan. On ours, they're under kitchen appliances on one side and bathroom cabinets on the other. Builders want floor plans that will sell and what sells in a longer coach is walk-around rear queen bed, perhaps with a slide. On an "under 30" coach that can be a problem. Under-loaded front axle, over-loaded rear axle, poor handling. Long wheelbase is needed for all these reasons, but it comes at the price of a big turning radius. Like overhang, you get used to it and learn to work with it.

I, too, was concerned about the considerable overhang on our 5290 BT Cruiser - 30'6" long on a 208" wheelbase Chevy. To take care of a slight drag exiting our driveway I installed a pair of wheels on the tow bar. Works just fine and assures there's nothing damaged back there.

I believe Chevy's chassis tackles a bunch of issues discussed here. ...ride, push from passing trucks, tail wagging, handling, etc. are just not a problem with this chassis. Love it! Of course you need to take corners a little wider than with a shorter coach.

Gene hit the nail on the head, that long overhang causes big time handling problems. Then you add a toad and it is like playing crack the whip! My first Class A was horrible to drive!!



If you own a motor home or camper, or plan to purchase one, your safety can depend on how the wheels of your unit are placed. If their location is not correct, your vehicle will not handle well and will be more prone to accidents because the risks of roll overs will be greatly increased.

Some people assume that the more expensive a coach is, the safer it is, but even many luxury motor homes have unsafe wheel base ratios. The only way to know is to learn the formulas and use the right techniques for measuring before you ever make a purchase.

http://hubpages.com/travel/Why-RV-Wheel-Base-Ratio-Is-Important

We specifically went looking for a Class C that has good ground clearance at the back end. The hobby will sometimes take us to places that the clearance will be most welcome. The 2016 Thor 28Z Chateau is what we bought.

On our test drive, we tried to find places where we'd drag the back end and couldn't. The salesman was kinda having a fit and swore up and down that his own 2008 28 footer (don't know what make) would have scraped and hung up on most of the places we tried.

I'll let you know after our first full season whether our decision was on target. Very happy so far!

Jerry