Our first motorhome question.

This is a far more complex question than you will ever get all the answers to in one thread. Gassers ride much worse than DP due to the lack of air suspension. Most of the fixes available are listed in the previous posts and you just need to spend some time researching things and making some decisions about if/what you want to try.

I'm not an owner of a class A but have done a ton of research in preparation for one. Of course, a DP would be great but I'll likely start out with gas. I'm mostly interested in safety upgrades to make the coach handle well in all conditions and to that end the Sumo springs look like a great option.

The shop at the place I work gets a lot of newer motor homes for suspension issues. Anti-sway bars and after market airbags seem to be he preferred solution.

When I was running the gasser at max sidewall pressure on the tires, and my current DP at max sidewall pressure, it was like the Flintstone-mobile. Every bridge expansion joint jolted the coach. Load up for a trip and get the rig weighed. After weighing, we were 2000 lbs under gross and I dropped the tire pressure from 125 to 95. Big improvement in ride. Consult the tire manufacturer's pressure chart for the proper cold pressure. Most people add 5 psi to that number for a safety margin. You can if it makes you feel good, but I'm sure that the tire company's lawyers have already thought of that.

Has anybody installed the MORyde RS suspension? MORyde claims it makes a much smoother ride. They do have a pretty good reputation. Wonder if it helps a lot?

David658 wrote:
We just recently purchased a 2016 Forest River Georgetown 335DS from Lazy Days in Tampa Fla. It was a used coach with only 3,000 miles. We love our coach however we were very disappointed driving back home to North Georgia. On a smooth road it glides along fine and couldn't ask for a better ride but when you get in bumpy road conditions the ride is horrible. It almost reminds me of the ride on a city bus or a trolley. With this being our first motorhome I just wasn't sure if this is normal in a Class A or not. We have previously owned travel trailers and a 5th wheel. Surely the shocks aren't bad already. Wondering if we have made a mistake.

I went from a gas Class A to a DP with airbags and although the ride got better, when the road is bad you get a bad ride. And roads all over are getting bad. Sounds like what you are describing is normal to me. There are ways to improve it, but you're still going to feel it on bad roads. Even the $ 2 million dollar coaches are going to feel it, although they are a lot better. Even in your own post you meantion it feels like a City Bus. Most City Busses are million dollar plus rigs with the best of suspension systems, yet still have a rough ride on a bad road.

Trade for a DP is easy to say.
A 2016 coach on a gas chassis most likely is a Ford F53. There's lots of experience and help at the F53 Forum at this link iRV2 F53. Might want to check it out.

David658 wrote:
We just recently purchased a 2016 Forest River Georgetown 335DS from Lazy Days in Tampa Fla. It was a used coach with only 3,000 miles. We love our coach however we were very disappointed driving back home to North Georgia. On a smooth road it glides along fine and couldn't ask for a better ride but when you get in bumpy road conditions the ride is horrible. It almost reminds me of the ride on a city bus or a trolley. With this being our first motorhome I just wasn't sure if this is normal in a Class A or not. We have previously owned travel trailers and a 5th wheel. Surely the shocks aren't bad already. Wondering if we have made a mistake.

You can only expect so much from a solid I beam front axle with leaf springs.
First get it loaded for the road.
Then get it weighed and check the tire pressures, adding 10 - 15psi for a cushion above the inflation chart specs.
There's not a whole lot you can do after that, except for sticking to smooth surfaces, whenever possible.
I have no complaints with our present air ride, but then had none with our old P30 IFS chassis either. Never did know why this chassis took so much flak, as there was never another that came as close to riding in a DP. A little on the light side, maybe, but most were never overloaded and changing out the front coils for Henderson's cured the air bag woe.
As for buying another coach, as has been suggested, it's a little late for that, without taking a real beating. When we buy, it's never new or even close, so as we can get as much quality for our dollars, as possible. Again, to each his own and am glad for new buyers that create some great bargains for the rest of us.

I often wonder how RV Dealers/Salesstaff portray the features of their products when dealing with first time buyers.

By definition, a Class A Gas Motorhome is not a Coach. A Coach is defined as follows:

Motor Coach
A vehicle that is built upon a commercial truck or bus chassis. Not just a motorhome, these are the higher end of mobile living. These include conversion buses.

A Diesel pusher is night and day different, in both ride and handling. As previous posters have said, get a DP if you want a smoother ride, if not, work to add some of the other handling packages available for Gas Motorhomes. I hope you get your concerns worked out.

As a side note, RV.Net really should have two categories for posting on this site. One for DP and one for Gas powered Motorhomes. I can imagine there is much confusion for newbies seeking advise, and hoping to apply a posted "fix" for their gas motorhome, that may only be applicable to a DP.

strudeau wrote:


By definition, a Class A Gas Motorhome is not a Coach. A Coach is defined as follows:

Motor Coach
A vehicle that is built upon a commercial truck or bus chassis. Not just a motorhome, these are the higher end of mobile living. These include conversion buses.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the F-53 is a commercial truck chassis. Just like the Workhorse, they could be underneath your favorite big brown delivery truck.

msmith1199 wrote:

David658 wrote:
We just recently purchased a 2016 Forest River Georgetown 335DS from Lazy Days in Tampa Fla. It was a used coach with only 3,000 miles. We love our coach however we were very disappointed driving back home to North Georgia. On a smooth road it glides along fine and couldn't ask for a better ride but when you get in bumpy road conditions the ride is horrible. It almost reminds me of the ride on a city bus or a trolley. With this being our first motorhome I just wasn't sure if this is normal in a Class A or not. We have previously owned travel trailers and a 5th wheel. Surely the shocks aren't bad already. Wondering if we have made a mistake.

I went from a gas Class A to a DP with airbags and although the ride got better, when the road is bad you get a bad ride. And roads all over are getting bad. Sounds like what you are describing is normal to me. There are ways to improve it, but you're still going to feel it on bad roads. Even the $ 2 million dollar coaches are going to feel it, although they are a lot better. Even in your own post you meantion it feels like a City Bus. Most City Busses are million dollar plus rigs with the best of suspension systems, yet still have a rough ride on a bad road.

True. Our coach rides like a city bus. Diesel pusher with no tag axle. A Prevost rides like a Greyhound bus, same chassis.

Empty - you will get a much rougher ride that it will be once you get your stuff loaded and have some weight in the rig. We noticed a huge difference between empty on the ride home and loaded heading out our first time.