Hi, I am going to buy a 30`ish class A or c this spring. Where we camp there is about 15 miles of gravel road. It is easily passable by car just gets washboardy. I am looking for opinions as to what wouls stand up better to this kind of use a class c or A??

I have had RVs on washboard roads. Spring based suspensions don't do well and tend to transmit all vibration directly into the rig. The air suspensions tend to do better at isolating the washboard effect.

Either one would be okay, but it may be pretty slow and none to comfortable going.I do agree that an air suspension will be smoother riding. If the road has any sudden changes in slope, you would be wise to check the ground clearance and approach and departure angles of whatever units you look at. Some motorhomes are fairly poor in that regard, and some others are worse.Edit: I should add that the chances of finding a full air suspension in a 30' motorhome are on the slim side. They mainly are used on diesel pushers, and those are typically longer because of weight and balance issues (associated with fitting the engine and transmission behind the rear axle).

All the answers you've received so far are good and accurate. Unless specifically built by a specialty company for "Out back" exploring and camping, on any coach, Class A, B, or C, you'll eventually start seeing loose cabinets, loose dash parts, many, many more squeaks and rattles and more. These type of structures are barely built good enough to handle Americas "really nice" (just a bit of sarcasm there) roads. Will any of them work, sure. It's just a matter of time, depending on your distance of travel off road, the speed at which you do it, tire pressure, type of suspension (air or spring) and frequency of travel in the outback. A diesel may be able to actually take the wash board better due to the type of suspension most have but, they have their own issues to deal with. Many, especially the rear radiator types, will dust themselves to death in an off road situation, due to the fan back there and, the amount of throttle the driver is using, even at a slow pace. We've done it for years but, again, it's not without potential issues. Even with our present coach, an '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the C-7 330HP CAT, I'm really hesitant to go off roading with it due to limited ground clearance and just the fact that, that kind of terrain is hard on cabinets, mounting systems for a zillion items and a whole lot more. It's just a matter of if one accepts the POTENTIAL issues that may, or may not crop up. Good luck.Scott

We drove our 40' motorhome on good gravel roads all the time. If it's washboard you'll just be driving very slow. Just make sure you'll do no boulder hopping! Sometimes if we weren't sure we'd disconnect the Jeep and drive it to find our boondocking spot. Then we knew what's ahead. We did have a side radiator.

If you are going to buy a 30 ft MH I am assuming that the A or C will be on gas chassis, if that is the case in general the A will have better GC and a more HD suspension.

Off road ?? | Good Sam Community

DrewE
Explorer II
Feb 09, 2017
Either one would be okay, but it may be pretty slow and none to comfortable going.

I do agree that an air suspension will be smoother riding. If the road has any sudden changes in slope, you would be wise to check the ground clearance and approach and departure angles of whatever units you look at. Some motorhomes are fairly poor in that regard, and some others are worse.

Edit: I should add that the chances of finding a full air suspension in a 30' motorhome are on the slim side. They mainly are used on diesel pushers, and those are typically longer because of weight and balance issues (associated with fitting the engine and transmission behind the rear axle).
msturtz
Explorer
Feb 09, 2017
I have had RVs on washboard roads. Spring based suspensions don't do well and tend to transmit all vibration directly into the rig. The air suspensions tend to do better at isolating the washboard effect.

Forum Discussion

Off road ??

About Motorhome Group

Related Content

Toll roads

Oklahoma Roads

Colorado Roads

Coffee on the road

Great River Road