Ride comfort

Dakzuki wrote:

ron.dittmer wrote:

Calisdad wrote:
I find noise very tiring. We put that waffle material between every dish and pot or pan we have. Also bungee any door that can rattle.

Yes, here too. We place a paper towel in between certain pans. For our dishes, we switched to Corelle initially because they stack so small & tight for space sake, but we learned that since they stack tightly, they don't rattle.

We also line all drawers and cabinet bottoms with the foam-like shelf liner as shown.

I added chair leg bottom felt pads on the rooftop antenna so it would not tap-tap-tap on the roof. I eventually took apart our TV and added numerous pads inside it so the RV shielding sheet metal inside would not resonate. A few other touches inside and our rig runs fairly rattle-free, quite satisfactory. It did take some determination to get it good after the obvious noise makers got addressed.

Ron,

Get some strips of that thin rubbery shelf liner stuff and put it between the pots and the lids. It will stop that potential rattle.

But then we have no paper towels handy.... :) Yep, some squares of that shelf liner material would do well too.

One rattle we learned to resolve easily is the stove grates. We drop a silicone trivet bridging across the two grates, then place the stove covers. All quite then there too. The pot holder/trivet is always handy when you need it, whether cooking or afterward and ready to travel.

This is what we use, bought from Walmart.

pnichols wrote:
Ron,

Is that chair from Paul's Seating a recliner? If so, is it a zero clearance recliner such that it moves forward as you recline so it's back doesn't have to move up against the wall behind it? Paul's Seating website doesn't seem to provide much info on their chairs.

I seem to recall a photo you posted once of your wife reclining in that chair.

Does the chair mount on the stock base that came in your PC? The base supporting our barrel chair swivels and slides for/aft for great flexibility and we'd like to keep that capability but a have a recliner instead of the barrel chair.

Yes it is a recliner but conventional, not zero clearance. The pedestal base swivels and slides so the seat can be adjusted away from the wall to recline. I reused the pedestal, off with the barrel, on with the recliner, taking all of about 20 minutes to swap seats. I like to slide the captain seat close to the dinette and recline & use the dinette bench as an ottoman. That also works good for TV watching, but here my wife demonstrates "The Ideal Position".


It sounds like you have the same barrel chair pedestal as us. Just be sure to supply the seat manufacture the distance between the 4 mounting studs. They are threaded rods that stick downward from the frame of the seat. They slip into holes in the pedestal and you reuse the 4 nuts to complete the mount. The seat belt is mounted to the pedestal, not the seat, so you do nothing at all with it.

My Coachhouse 23 F450E road like a truck (surprise?) I ripped the rear leaf spring suspension out of it and installed a Reyco Granning true air suspension. Big improvement. Lot of work for an old man - - not real cheap but much better ride than it was.

ron.dittmer wrote:

Calisdad wrote:
I find noise very tiring. We put that waffle material between every dish and pot or pan we have. Also bungee any door that can rattle.

Yes, here too. We place a paper towel in between certain pans. For our dishes, we switched to Corelle initially because they stack so small & tight for space sake, but we learned that since they stack tightly, they don't rattle.

We also line all drawers and cabinet bottoms with the foam-like shelf liner as shown.

I added chair leg bottom felt pads on the rooftop antenna so it would not tap-tap-tap on the roof. I eventually took apart our TV and added numerous pads inside it so the RV shielding sheet metal inside would not resonate. A few other touches inside and our rig runs fairly rattle-free, quite satisfactory. It did take some determination to get it good after the obvious noise makers got addressed.

Ron,

Get some strips of that thin rubbery shelf liner stuff and put it between the pots and the lids. It will stop that potential rattle.

suprz wrote:
Until my wife and I can retire, the long distance trips we want to take are going to have to involve alot of driving to get to our destinations. 8 hrs or more driving per day. What can we do to make the ford chassis more comfortable, and less of a tiring affair?

Seats, seats, and seats. Some vehicles I am fatigued at 3 hours and some I can drive a full tank without stopping. Remember, cushy doesn't always mean comfortable. Support in the right places is king. Adjustability is also a big plus.

The lateral stability in my Sprinter RV is better than my previous E350 based RV. I suspect when Ford gets around to a heavy duty Transit cutaway folks will see similar improvements in stability. The E series front suspension is prone to bump steer so when it rocks you get a steering input whether you like it or not. That causes the driver to have to make an input to correct for it. You can read on the forums all the read on this forum all the methods used to tame E series vans. It can be done.

Hi Suprz,
When buying an RV most people do not take a looooong test drive. I know we didn't. So often you get stuck with what it is. Some MH vendor units (on Ford Chassis) seem to drive better than others...luck of the draw? There are things you can do to make them handle better but some are ok with just making sure the alignment is correct. We were very lucky. Purchased a used Winnebago B+ and it handles fine for a large vehicle. No improvements required.

We typically drive long days. Stop every 2+ hours for a break. But (my opinion) you will be tired after 10 to 12 hours behind the wheel. I have driven ours 700+ miles and I was really tired at the end of the day. Left at 4:00am and stopped for the night at 7:00pm. It was a long day and its a large vehicle...lots of things to pay attention to when you are on the road.

However, I love to drive our motorhome. Just a cool way to travel. Never get to spend as much time as I would like traveling that way. So if you have to drive long days in a motorhome....that is (to me) a neat part of the vacation. i.e. its not just the destination, but also about the journey getting there. Have lots of fun along the way ;-).

Ron,

Is that chair from Paul's Seating a recliner? Is so, is it a zero clearance recliner such that it moves forward as you recline so it's back doesn't have to move up against the wall behind it? Paul's Seating website doesn't seem to provide much info on their chairs.

I seem to recall a photo you posted once of your wife reclining in that chair.

Does the chair mount on the stock base that came in your PC? The base supporting our barrel chair swivels and slides for/aft for great flexibility and we'd like to keep that capability but a have a recliner instead of the barrel chair.

Hank85713 wrote:
We do not like the seats that came with it, right now the wife is having some back pains from our trip. I am going to look for seats out of an F2-350 to replace these seats. No real support, the big claim to fame is that they turn around for additional seating!

Again to me biggest thing is to improve the seat. As to a chebby, I drive school buses and last year drove a 3500 cutaway. Same problem with the seat as I have with these fancy ones. Room is marginally better IMO. Just have to find what you like and go from there. I will be looking for some electric seats, saw some in a Jayco Melbourne and then the other day in another Jayco. Good side bolsters and fully electric. Granted you will adjust 1 or 2 times but to get it right!

Phoenix USA gets it's seats from Paul's Seating Inc. HERE. We ordered a 3rd matching captain seat "Lexus" to replace a barrel seat inside the rig. They are offered with and without manually adjustable lumbar support. You can order none, one, or both armrests as your rig requires. I recall the armrests and lumbar were all very cheap so we got it all for our third seat. Total including delivery to the house was $400 about 5 years ago. They can make them to any color swatch you give them to work from. There are two rail dimensions, I think maybe 8" for a pedestal and 11" for the front swivel and power seat bases, for direct bolt-down replacement onto your existing bases.

The seat in the picture is the one we ordered 3 years after we bought our rig. It is identical to the seats up front. People on the Phoenix Cruiser forum thought our older Lexus seats were hard on their back though the seats were not equipped with adjustable lumbar. People like the later seats Phoenix installs for their back troubles, I think the Excursion. If ordering, be sure to get the adjustable lumbar. I want to say each armrest was $10 and lumbar feature was $15, but don't quote me on it.

We purchased a 2012 winnebago aspect. Overall its pretty fair. We do not like the seats that came with it, right now the wife is having some back pains from our trip. I am going to look for seats out of an F2-350 to replace these seats. No real support, the big claim to fame is that they turn around for additional seating!

Cross winds are a handful (this is a B+ so somewhat more aerodynamic than a standard c), tired yesterday and today from the head/crosswinds from colorado to AZ. There was an article sometime back about light front ends and wandering but I have not been able to find. It did get a little better when I went to 70psi in the airbags. Will change front stabilizer to a HD one when we get home.

On average we drive 8-10 hrs to get to where we want to be which is somewhere around 4-500 miles. Use Cruise to help. Agin to me biggest thing is to improve the seat. As to a chebby, I drive school buses and last year drove a 3500 cutaway. Same problem with the seat as I have with these fancy ones. Room is marginally better IMO. Just have to find what you like and go from there. I will be looking for some electric seats, saw some in a Jayco Melbourne and then the other day in another Jayco. Good side bolsters and fully electric. Granted you will adjust 1 or 2 times but to get it right!

Calisdad wrote:
I find noise very tiring. We put that waffle material between every dish and pot or pan we have. Also bungee any door that can rattle.

Yes, here too. We place a paper towel in between certain pans. For our dishes, we switched to Corelle initially because they stack so small & tight for space sake, but we learned that since they stack tightly, they don't rattle.

We also line all drawers and cabinet bottoms with the foam-like shelf liner as shown.

I even lined the individual flatware compartments.


I added chair leg bottom felt pads on the rooftop antenna so it would not tap-tap-tap on the roof. I eventually took apart our TV and added numerous pads inside it so the RV shielding sheet metal inside would not resonate. A few other touches inside and our rig runs fairly rattle-free, quite satisfactory. It did take some determination to get it good after the obvious noise makers got addressed.