Forum Discussion
Golden_HVAC
Dec 30, 2015Explorer
I was looking at the specs on the Ford Transit cab and chassis, it is overall width of 81" for single rear wheel and 83" for DRW. Rear axle 'trac' is 68.6 for SRW and 65.7 for DRW, meaning the center of the tires side to side. So the rear axle overall is 17" wider than the center to center of the dual rear wheels. 83" would be the minimum width without the tires sticking out beyond the body width.
For the E-350, SRW, rear track is 72.1 and DRW is 75.4. E-450 is even wider at 77.7, reflecting the desire of most RV builders to have a wider 'stance' on the rear axle, so the tires are not stuck under the sides of the RV by more than a few inches when the body is 102" wide.
I did not get a overall width of the rear tires side to side, though that was what I was looking for. The Transit seems to be about 12" skinnier than the E-450 and 10: skinnier than the DRW E-350.
Outside to outside tire width on the E-450 seems to be around 92", so a body less than 8' wide might need fenders to cover the wheels and keep mud from splashing on the sidewalls. The E-350 should have a overall width of about 7'6" and that will fit nicely with the smaller coach that you are looking for. Yes it can be ordered with the 225 HP 5.4L V8 or the 305 HP V10.
The 12,500 GVWR for the 158" WB E-350 and curb weight of only 5,135 pounds leaves a lot of cargo capacity for the body builder and owner to use up. The GCVWR is 18,500 pounds. So with a overall curb weight of 11,000 pounds, the E-350 can still tow a impressive 7,500 pounds.
The 156" WB Transit T-350 dually with gas engine and 10,360 GVWR has a max payload of 5,930 pounds, indicating a 4,430 curb weight. This is about 700 pounds less than the E-350 with 158" WB. GCVWR is 12,000 pounds for the Transit gas or 13,500 pounds for the diesel engine. With a ready to travel curb weight of say 9,500 pounds, the towing capacity is limited to only about 2,500 for the gas version or 4,000 for the diesel version. Transit still is not coming with the Ecoboost 3.5L in the cab and chassis models.
I think that you will find that many manufactures will keep building 8' wide and 8.5' wide class C's on the Ford E-350/450 chassis due to the overall width of the rear axle tires. You will have a lot more towing ability with the E-series van based RV's. If that is important to you, then the wider RV is going to also offer more space inside while traveling. The RV sure seems to shrink a lot when the slides are in.
Have fun camping!
Fred.
For the E-350, SRW, rear track is 72.1 and DRW is 75.4. E-450 is even wider at 77.7, reflecting the desire of most RV builders to have a wider 'stance' on the rear axle, so the tires are not stuck under the sides of the RV by more than a few inches when the body is 102" wide.
I did not get a overall width of the rear tires side to side, though that was what I was looking for. The Transit seems to be about 12" skinnier than the E-450 and 10: skinnier than the DRW E-350.
Outside to outside tire width on the E-450 seems to be around 92", so a body less than 8' wide might need fenders to cover the wheels and keep mud from splashing on the sidewalls. The E-350 should have a overall width of about 7'6" and that will fit nicely with the smaller coach that you are looking for. Yes it can be ordered with the 225 HP 5.4L V8 or the 305 HP V10.
The 12,500 GVWR for the 158" WB E-350 and curb weight of only 5,135 pounds leaves a lot of cargo capacity for the body builder and owner to use up. The GCVWR is 18,500 pounds. So with a overall curb weight of 11,000 pounds, the E-350 can still tow a impressive 7,500 pounds.
The 156" WB Transit T-350 dually with gas engine and 10,360 GVWR has a max payload of 5,930 pounds, indicating a 4,430 curb weight. This is about 700 pounds less than the E-350 with 158" WB. GCVWR is 12,000 pounds for the Transit gas or 13,500 pounds for the diesel engine. With a ready to travel curb weight of say 9,500 pounds, the towing capacity is limited to only about 2,500 for the gas version or 4,000 for the diesel version. Transit still is not coming with the Ecoboost 3.5L in the cab and chassis models.
I think that you will find that many manufactures will keep building 8' wide and 8.5' wide class C's on the Ford E-350/450 chassis due to the overall width of the rear axle tires. You will have a lot more towing ability with the E-series van based RV's. If that is important to you, then the wider RV is going to also offer more space inside while traveling. The RV sure seems to shrink a lot when the slides are in.
Have fun camping!
Fred.
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