30 and 31 ft. C's

[moisheh]

In my quest for a new to us MH I see quite a few that are 30 and 31 ft. long. Isn't that a little much for an E450? Must be getting close to the GVWR. Or at least cuts down on the stuff you can carry. What about handling?

Moish

[Robocop]

Been with mine since day one fully loaded and with a toad the last 3 years. Just over 25,000. Yeah, I need to be patient on more steeper elevations but once done with that it is all good. I get 7-8 mpg with the toad and almost 10 mpg without.

[mgirardo]

We owned a 32' Class C with 2 Slides on the E-450. We put over 30,000 miles on it. The engine never struggled. It also handled very well on the road.

-Michael

[Racine96]

I don't think power would be the issue. Weight and handling can be challenging. Hellwig Sway bars help. I installed the front one this year. Next will be the rear one.

[memtb]

moisheh wrote:
In my quest for a new to us MH I see quite a few that are 30 and 31 ft. long. Isn't that a little much for an E450? Must be getting close to the GVWR. Or at least cuts down on the stuff you can carry. What about handling?

Moish

It simply "boils down" to construction of the unit. A 26' unit could easily weigh similar to that of the 30+' unit. If the 26' has thicker sidewalks,framing, more insulation and the 30' is built with many weight saving features... they could be of similar weight. So... it's not merely the length. So....yes you cc can be limited with the 30'but also with the smaller unit.

Historically the E series (350/450) have two issues that are easily addressed. It is annoying to some (me included), and doesn't bother others. Ours ( only a 26 footer) was a "tiring" challenge to drive, because of the "nervous" steering! You really had to constantly "Drive" it. You couldn't relax...driving with your knees and eating a hamburger was "out of the question"! A good alignment shop and putting in 5 degrees or a little more caster, makes it much more comfortable to drive. Also....has more "body roll" in cornering than I ( and many others) like. A set of Hellwig Sway Bars are coming to my house soon. It won't turn it into a Corvette, but will help with the "body roll". Neither are very expensive items, and offer a it of help! The sway bars are pretty easy for the " do it yourselfer"!

[tjfogelberg]

We are 1 year and 5,000 miles into ownership of our Minnie Winnie 31D. We (2+ dogs) load everything we want and always run with full water. Have weighed twice and she comes in right at GVWR...slightly over on this trip. Towing CRV. Handles very well and plenty of power...no worries. I haven't used towhaul yet as primarily flat landing but plan to do so out west. The 31D is a great unit. I worried about length and weight but am now very glad I went with a 32' unit. No issues on the road, getting into camp, gasing up, or parking. When you get set up for 2 weeks, it is great to have a bedroom that closes off and tons of living space.

[j-d]

PartyOf Five wrote:
We're at 32' bumper to bumper

What's the Wheelbase on this 32'? Door jamb label should say.

Thanks!

[PartyOf_Five]

We're at 32' bumper to bumper, rated for 4550 front and 9500 on the rear dually. It's run fine through to Yellowstone, Colorado, SLC, and much of the Midwest. Although I keep trying to balance better, it's hard to get the front axle to weight, whereas the back is always near or slightly over-weight. We keep the rear tires at the recommended 80 psi, travel around 74mpg and 7-8 mpg, and fill fuel/ carry water when we need to. Hope this helps, and (as always) appreciate any tips from the others.

[moisheh]

Thx for the replies.

Moisheh

[j-d]

Ford sells E350 cutaway chassis for RV's in 138, 158, and 176-inch wheelbase. E450 in 158 and 176. So (probably) Don's 28-ft is on a stock 176 chassis with a rear overhang extension.

Otherwise, it seems the manufacturers buy 158" and have them stretched to what they want for their RV design. Our chassis has two labels. Ford's says 158 and Jayco's says 218. There's also a label from an outfit called Sellers that stretched it.

I mentioned wheelbases up around 220 and maybe more. I think I saw a Class C with 223. I think they were able to go that long once Ford increased front axle GAWR to 5000 in 2008. Before that, E450 and many E350 were 4600 front. The extra wheelbase on newer coaches, lets them take advantage of the 400 increase in axle rating by shifting more weight forward. We max out our 4600 front axle rating on our 2002 E450 with 218 WB. Works out to about 57 pct.

[pianotuna]

60% length to wheel base ratio is ideal. On a 176" that works out to 26'. Below 50% driving suffers.

Mine is at about 54% and my previous was 60%. I find it MUCH more fatiguing to drive. I also had 4 tail swing accidents. Fortunately there was little damage to the RV, but the cars were.....not pretty.

I believe there are some where the wheel base is 213", but I don't know if that is "stock" from Ford or not.

I'm at 28'5" on a 176" base. They designed it with water tanks, battery bank, and waste tanks all on the drivers side. I upgraded my wheels and tires so that the driver's rear duals would not be over the tire rating--and I'm just under the maximum for the chassis with all tanks full (waste and fresh water, too) with the RV provisioned and two souls in the cab. I do have rear air bags and wish I had them at the front, too.

The new wheels and tires had the added benefit of raising me up about 1.5 inches, but it is still definitely a pavement princess.

[John_S_]

I thought the same thing after ten years with a 24 foot so I bought my current one on an F550 19,000 gvwr chassis. No problem accelerating up the steepest mountains and I get around 12 mpg at 29.5 feet.

[j-d]

Most "newer" (our 2003 Jayco does) RV's have weight label that is supposed (which is why I say "Go Weigh It!) to state what it's "as shipped" weight is. Ours is 11,300 with GVWR of 14,000. Ours is the bargain-basement rental-fleet entry-level no-slides not-much-else 31A (32-ft long) class C. We can pack heavy and have a few hundred pounds left over on both axles.

A friend has a Jayco 31SS and it's "as shipped" is about 1,000 pounds more. If we packed it like we pack ours we'd be over GVWR.

If you want to think of an RV as a slab-on-grade house, there's a flat metal frame that the flooring goes onto, the walls mount to, etc. Our slab/frame is steel. I think some of the newer ones have substituted aluminum, and my guess would be they pick up about 500 pounds by doing that.

NCRoamer and I experience the same kind of axle weights - Front Axle nearly at Capacity. That can only be done if the Wheelbase is long enough. Ours is 218" and some newer ones are at and over 220". Again, Weigh It! If the wheelbase isn't adequate, then the Front axle will be Light (poor steering and tracking) and the Rear axle will be overloaded. I've seen this again and again. Instead of proper load distribution, the RV builder tries to hang a "walk around queen bedroom" behind the rear axle of a shorter coach. They don't put the axle farther back because they want to hide the fender wells under something like cabinets or appliances.

We just got back from a 900-mile evacuation/vacation courtesy IRMA. Towed our Frontier pickup at about 4,000 pounds. We ran about 65 mph running combined weight right at 18,000. Had to drop out of Overdrive often on the grades around Atlanta, but the power was there and MPG just a pinch below 8.

There are Class C's that big that'll do your job. Just gather the specs, actual data, and compare. See if there's enough capacity for your Crew and your Stuff.

[avan]

Mine is 30' and I pull a toad. The past 3 yrs I've traveled @ 10,000 miles each summer and, loaded for a 5-6 mo trip and pulling my car, I've not had any problem with the E450 handling the load. That includes the western mountains. I have no problem with the handling either. Over time the rear air bags tend to lose a bit of air and when I start feeling truck bow waves too much, I know it's time to add some air. I always tow in tow/haul mode.

OP. Didn't you use to hail out of northern Virginia?

[NC_Roamer]

Our Jayco Greyhawk class C is 32' and we do have to watch the loads. Went across a CAT scale with myself and wife. RV was fully loaded for a long trip including a full pantry, fridge, and freshwater, propane and gasoline tanks. Front axle was 60 lbs. under max allowable and rear was 440 lbs. under.

Have not had any problems with the E450 being underpowered even going through the NC mountains fully loaded. Do not pull a car though. We cruise at 62-63 mph and average 8-9 mpg.