Bside60 wrote:
Here is some of what I've found regarding the E450 advantages over an E350: "an E450 gives you bigger brakes for more time between brake jobs, more transmission cooling for less heat load on the engine and longer transmission life, a 4.5 inch wider rear dually stance for better lateral stability offroad and in high side winds, pump boosted power steering instead of vacuum boosted power steering, thicker steel in the chassis frame for less frame torsional twisting transfer into the coach box, and lower differential gearing when pulling up long grades for less heat load on the V10 in hot weather.
What Biside60 posted above is what I have also found out concerning differences between the E350 and E450 chassis, except for possibly one more difference: Another thing that may be different between the E350 and the E450 is that, at least on ours, the front suspension contains a steer dampening shock. I don't know if Winnebago installed this or if it's a standard Ford item on just the E450, or on both the E350 and E450.
We have a 24 foot E450 Class C and we intentionally looked for an E450 when shopping for a small motorhome because we wanted an "overkill" chassis underneath our motorhome for the best long term reliability and ruggedness - especially for us traveling off-road. Our total loaded weight is around 11,800 lbs. - so we our well below the chassis maximum - which is exactly what we wanted. We have no concerns about loading it up with "just in case" stuff for RV trips because loaded weight is not an issue. We don't even feel our boat back there when we tow it.
The handling is superb because of the chassis underloading - other than sharp jolts in the rear of the motorhome from highway cracks and holes - that I feel is partially or fully due to Ford's stock shocks. There is no harsh ride in the front - smooth as silk for the driver and passenger - probably due to coil springs being there as opposed to the leaf springs and OEM shocks in the rear. Due to the larger E450 brake swept areas, at around 35K miles we still had about 90% of our front brake pads still intact.
I'm hoping to partially or fully eliminate the rear end sharp jolts by using replacement shocks especially designed for this -> KONI FSD (Frequency Selective Dampers) shocks. An FSD shock part number is due to finally be available from KONI for the E450 anytime now. (This shock has been available for other chassis for quite some time.)
P.S. Us getting an E450 chassis when not really needed was in order to at least partially comply with an old Chinese Proverb (that I just made up): "One will get the best long term vehicle satisfaction by buying a heavy duty one and then using it in a light duty way." ;)
