I don’t post very often, but I sure spend a lot of time reading here. Sort of like cheap romance novels I guess;)DW and I have a new Thor Four Winds or something like that about 22 feet long. They say it’s an entry level Motor Coach. For us in the cow milking business its an awesome way to escape every once in a while to places that don’t have cows. This summer we are planning a mother in law farewell tour. Not really like it sounds, but almost. My mother lives near us in Utah. Our plan is to take her cross country to Connecticut, put her on a plane, ship her home then pick up my mother in law and work our way back west on a different track to go places she would like to go. Both are in their mid eighties and in relatively good health. Our challenge is that Thor has a dinette set that is okay to sit at and eat but is also the passenger seating which for any length of time to sit at sucks. Even for me or my DW’s mother in law. We would even like them to be comfortable and enjoy this trip. I checked out double recliners, went to work with the tape and was happy. Until I pulled the dinette apart and the water tank, pump inverter reared their ugly heads. Having that stuff mostly inside is probably good in the cold weather, but makes fitting other furniture in there more of a challenge than working Holstein cows all day in a mud puddle. First I have been trying to find out at the shop4seats place what the dimensions are underneath said recliner to see if some sort of build out is possible. Failing that I thought maybe a couple euro recliners away from that stuff and build some sort of storage around the other stuff might work. I’m pretty sure I’m not the first knot head to encounter this challenge. What ideas or experiences have some of you better informed run across for solutions? I thought about posting on some other forums but the handles look quite similar as far as active OP’s go. Tomorrow i will post a few pictures. Thank you in advance good people. John

Hi Dairyman,We are in process of doing exactly what you are thinking of. We found that our U shaped dinette was visually pleasing to look at but not comfortable to relax in or watch a movie from. We contacted Shop4Seats and had a great conversation with a knowledgeable person. Found that the couch we wanted required a 9in clearance. The exterior storage area under our dinette was 13in high. Shop4Seats could put a spacer under the couch to raise it to fit 13in but we found that would make the couch seat too high for my wife, her feet would dangle over the edge. So we are removing the exterior storage area and reworking it. My plan is to place the couch about 5in away from the wall so we can have a small shelf along the back to place electronic devices on while they charge from the nearby outlet and perhaps install some cup holders. I would be interested others experiences when replacing a dinette. Rolin

Dairyman John wrote:...makes fitting other furniture in there more of a challenge than working Holstein cows all day in a mud puddle. I dunno about that John, I've lived in farm country and saw what ranchers/farmers have to do with those cows! At least the furniture doesn't kick without provocation!I removed our U-dinette and replace with two non-swivel, 0 clearance recliners bolted to the floor. Very comfy!Moving the converter/inverter should be doable, but the water may be really challenging. Could you move the tank to a storage area though it would be exposed to cold, and insulating it? How about the possibility of splitting the tank into two smaller separated tanks that would fit where you have room?I dunno what to tell you about lost storage space other than to carry less stuff. DW and I never used the under seat area for anything in our class C, so I've never felt like we lost anything, and gained seating as comfortable as we have in our home.I did see this setup and wondered if something like it might work for you too...

I have no wisdom, but wanted to thank you all for the smile this light reading brought! My principle is to do as little as possible since they depreciate faster than split milk!

Off Pavement wrote: I did see this setup and wondered if something like it might work for you too... with the seats back from the edge, seems awfully uncomfortable to me.bumpy

Just need long legs to reach the floor. Maybe the items stored underneath, between the seats are platforms to put your feet on. Dairyman, I am concerned about loosing storage as well. On our installation it appears that we will only loose 30% of the storage we had. The wider the couch the more storage under it. How high is your water tank? The van jackknife couch has about 13in of clearance, not as comfortable as the regular jackknife couch which has 9in of clearance.

New class C partial remodel | Good Sam Community

21 Replies

Dairyman_John
Explorer
Feb 14, 2018
Ok guys, got the partial remodel and all the other things you all said I must do done. We have gone from Utah to Louisville Kentucky on a shakedown cruise. We had ten degree nights and 40 to 50 mph cross winds to learn how to drive this beast. I want to post pictures from my iPhone to here via my iPad. I have no clue how to do this. Then I can give a ful report of how and what i did to motor home replete with pictures so you can criticize, ridicule and maybe even give me an atta boy or two. Thanks for your help.....
Dairyman_John
Explorer
Feb 01, 2018
J-d, thanks for the CB advice, i will seriously consider your ideas and report back here when complete.
Pnichols, you are correct in your assessment of our small class c which is indeed an E not an F. I have a whole fleet of F trucks and mis wrote. When we were looking at the 22e camper they had a bunch on 350 chassis and this one on a 450. The salesman had no idea why,but after driving both i knew i wanted the heavier model. Being that it is taking up residence in my shop to get what i consider road worthy I can’t yet tell you how it handles. We will find out next week. As they make up to 34’ motor homes on these chassis i agree it should be stout. Thanks for your input.
pnichols
Explorer II
Jan 31, 2018
Dairyman John wrote:
There has been much talk here about steering stabilizers and brands that I cant recalll. What are some good ones? Also have any of you made any mods to front axle stabilizers? This is on a typical F-450 chassis, V-10 etc.

John,

It appears that you have a small Class C coach (22 feet) on the heavy duty Ford E450 chassis (assuming your "F-450" is a typo). Unless Ford changed it in model years later than ours, the E450 chassis - unlike the E350 chassis - comes stock with anti-sway torsion bars in both the front and back (stock E350 is/was front only with a sway bar). I believe that both the E350 and E450 also may come stock with a front steering shock absorber (our 2005 E450 Itasca Class C had a front steering shock absorber - as delivered from Winnebago).

The E450 chassis is overkill for only a 22 foot Class C - meaning that it should very likely in stock form deal with your Class C coach's weight and size like a piece of cake. You should not have to change the stock front and rear sway bars to anything from what they are. They are designed by Ford to handle up to a 14,500 lb. coach + chassis weight, which is way above what a 22 foot Class C RV will weigh.

Our 24 foot Class C on the E450 chassis has driven like a van since day-one in stock form EXCEPT FOR ONE THING: The E450's rear leaf springs are so stiff that they really pound the rear of a light coach hard on highway cracks and sharp bumps. We had to eventually install special high end dual-action shocks in just the rear positions to take the worst of this away. Our front shocks are the original stock ones and still performing well after 11 years of ownership. Our Class C tracks rock solid down the highway using one-hand on the steering wheel, and the brake pads seem to last year after year due to the E450's brakes having to stop way less coach weight than what the chassis was designed for. We take our 24 foot Class C off-highway and it handles tipped and rutted gravel/dirt surfaces just fine if driving slow and careful. We just came off another long trip along a wild part of the Colorado River on gravel and sandy roads and the rig never flinched. Strong highway cross winds do not present any problems.

You should like how your E450(?) in stock form handles a small RV coach.
j-d
Explorer II
Jan 31, 2018
For CB, I rigged a Mirror Mount. We have the "tripod" mirrors, so if you have the single arm VELVAC mirrors, that won't be too easy. It'd be a long cable, but some have mounted to the Rear Ladder. DO NOT drill the body for a bracket! Way too easy for water to leak in. Sure you can seal it, but if the antenna strikes something it'll unseat the sealant.
Again, you WILL drag something over it on the ROOF. Don't do something that can lead to compromised roofing.
I've seen Fender Mounts (fastens into the inner fender edge with the hood open) on some Class C's.
I don't believe you'll get textbook CB antenna performance on a motorhome. Just figure you can count on talking to people you can see.
Dairyman_John
Explorer
Jan 31, 2018
On the partial remodel project, what type and where have any of you put CB radio antennae on class c motor homes? You need a ground plane for them, Can you put them on the rubber roof? Do magnet mounts work up there? Too high?
Harvey51
Explorer
Jan 28, 2018
My mother would have loved a motorhome trip but we didn't get the MH in time. MIL had several summers with us in the MH for trips of several hours on the road and several days in the campsite. She enjoyed it and there were no complaints about the dinette seats or bed. Sadly she got too frail to trust by herself in the RV and eventually couldn't climb the steps to get in.
ron_dittmer
Explorer III
Jan 25, 2018
j-d wrote:
For your Chassis, Sway Bars, technically Anti-Sway Bars... Hellwig and Roadmaster. The two use the same grade of steel and the same diameters of 1-3/8 Front 1-1/2 Rear. Differences are Brackets, Finish and PRICE. Most of us have gotten Hellwig. I think part (maybe most) of the reason Hellwig is so much less costly than Roadmaster is the different types of outlets they're sold through. A good place to look them up is SDTruckSprings. That's where I got ours and many here have also. Personally, I believe upgrading the REAR Sway Bar is more helpful than the Front, but I did both. The link is for 2007 and earlier E450 Chassis Years. I'd do the front bar on those for sure, since the OEM Front Sway Bar design was terrible. 2008-18 is much better, but a Hellwig bar is better still
I couldn't say it any better.
j-d
Explorer II
Jan 25, 2018
For your Chassis, Sway Bars, technically Anti-Sway Bars... Hellwig and Roadmaster. The two use the same grade of steel and the same diameters of 1-3/8 Front 1-1/2 Rear. Differences are Brackets, Finish and PRICE. Most of us have gotten Hellwig. I think part (maybe most) of the reason Hellwig is so much less costly than Roadmaster is the different types of outlets they're sold through. A good place to look them up is SDTruckSprings. That's where I got ours and many here have also. Personally, I believe upgrading the REAR Sway Bar is more helpful than the Front, but I did both. The link is for 2007 and earlier E450 Chassis Years. I'd do the front bar on those for sure, since the OEM Front Sway Bar design was terrible. 2008-18 is much better, but a Hellwig bar is better still
Dairyman_John
Explorer
Jan 25, 2018
I was referring to front stabilizer bars. Sorry it’s late, trying not to dream about Holstein cows.
Dairyman_John
Explorer
Jan 25, 2018
Hello good people, I posted back in December on this thread about making our new class c Thor MH roadworthy. Also remodeling dinette to make more comfortable for our “mother in law farewell tour” . We finally bought a couple of nice captains chairs, tore out the dinette and working our way around. I will get some pictures up soon once I figure out how.
In taking the advice of you people here we are also putting in the five star tuner and banks exhaust system and headers with the power pickle and bill stein shocks. Also a huge rear stabilizer bar.
There has been much talk here about steering stabilizers and brands that I cant recalll. What are some good ones? Also have any of you made any mods to front axle stabilizers? This is on a typical F-450 chassis, V-10 etc.
Our inaugural trip is next month from Utah to Louisville Kentucky to the National Farm Machinery Show. That will be the shakedown cruise in preparation for our mothers in law tour.
Thank you for your advice, John