What rear end do you have in your E350
I've never owned a Class C, Only Class A's. We are going to purchase a 24-26ft. Class C in the near future and there are a lot more used E350's for sale than E450's. I have seen E350 rear ends liste...
Forum Discussion
My sermon for the day: I prefer chassis overkill, operating systems with design specs well over expected use, and "using heavy duty stuff in a light duty way." ;)
We searched for and found a 24 foot Winnebago Itasca Class C on the E450 chassis when we bought it new in 2006. However, this was a rare combination ... we were fortunate. I partially compensate for it's 4:56 ratio differential by using taller tires on it, which moves it's overall gear ratio closer to what a 4:10 differential would provide RPM-wise and gas-mileage-wise. The taller tires give me more ground clearance for our off-highway rock hounding and occasional boondock camping. It's of no concern how much we load the RV down due to it's excessive weight carrying capacity relative to the coach's as-built weight.
The E450 chassis also has a wider rear stance for improved lateral stability and it's frame is slightly thicker steel for added rigidity that provides for less end-to-end twisting on rutted roads. A coach frame does not like to be twisted. The E450's brakes also contain larger swept areas - which means pads need to be replaced less often for any given Class C weight and driving style. The E450 drive shaft is also larger diameter - for whatever that's worth. For the year we bought ours, the E450's power brakes also were hydraulic boosted as opposed to the E350's vacuum boosted power brakes back then. We have almost completely compensated for the stiff ride - which is mostly felt in the rear - by using automatic variable rate shock absorbers back there.
Regarding using Tow Haul mode versus rear differential ratio versus towing or not towing: We do not tow and we burnt out or mysteriously lost our Ford TorqShift 5-speed computer controlled 5R110 transmission in only around 61K miles. Ford started using this tranny with the 2005 year chassis. I rarely used Tow Haul mode up to that point and rev'd up the V10 to whatever necessary to run at full highway speeds up whatever long grades presented themselves. I may have been slipping the transmission too much - but the fluid was still a healthy pink color in the failed transmission ... so the failure is somewhat of a mystery. $5600 later I now use Tow Haul mode a lot and try not to rev past about 3700 RPM. I ordered a heavy duty replacement version and it's smooth as silk in Tow Haul mode (the original one was a bit jerky in TH mode).
As a point of FWIW reference: Lazy Daze makes one of the finest Class C motohomes available and they use only the E450 chassis regardless of model length. Their smallest Class C is 23'11" long bumper to bumper.
We searched for and found a 24 foot Winnebago Itasca Class C on the E450 chassis when we bought it new in 2006. However, this was a rare combination ... we were fortunate. I partially compensate for it's 4:56 ratio differential by using taller tires on it, which moves it's overall gear ratio closer to what a 4:10 differential would provide RPM-wise and gas-mileage-wise. The taller tires give me more ground clearance for our off-highway rock hounding and occasional boondock camping. It's of no concern how much we load the RV down due to it's excessive weight carrying capacity relative to the coach's as-built weight.
The E450 chassis also has a wider rear stance for improved lateral stability and it's frame is slightly thicker steel for added rigidity that provides for less end-to-end twisting on rutted roads. A coach frame does not like to be twisted. The E450's brakes also contain larger swept areas - which means pads need to be replaced less often for any given Class C weight and driving style. The E450 drive shaft is also larger diameter - for whatever that's worth. For the year we bought ours, the E450's power brakes also were hydraulic boosted as opposed to the E350's vacuum boosted power brakes back then. We have almost completely compensated for the stiff ride - which is mostly felt in the rear - by using automatic variable rate shock absorbers back there.
Regarding using Tow Haul mode versus rear differential ratio versus towing or not towing: We do not tow and we burnt out or mysteriously lost our Ford TorqShift 5-speed computer controlled 5R110 transmission in only around 61K miles. Ford started using this tranny with the 2005 year chassis. I rarely used Tow Haul mode up to that point and rev'd up the V10 to whatever necessary to run at full highway speeds up whatever long grades presented themselves. I may have been slipping the transmission too much - but the fluid was still a healthy pink color in the failed transmission ... so the failure is somewhat of a mystery. $5600 later I now use Tow Haul mode a lot and try not to rev past about 3700 RPM. I ordered a heavy duty replacement version and it's smooth as silk in Tow Haul mode (the original one was a bit jerky in TH mode).
As a point of FWIW reference: Lazy Daze makes one of the finest Class C motohomes available and they use only the E450 chassis regardless of model length. Their smallest Class C is 23'11" long bumper to bumper.
