B+ motorhomes

[Daniel_C_]

I just bought a Trail Lite B+ 211s with 8.1 Chevy
engine. This is my fifth motorhome (others range
from an old 20' Vagabond, and three Winnegagos, from 19 to 32'. This vehicle is fantastic. I am
using it as a mobile office (and sneaking in a fun
journey from time to time). It gets about 9.5mpg
and I believe I could pull a bus behind it if I wanted! I paid low $40's which is about what I had expected to pay for a five or six year old Chinook with a nicer interior, but fewer features
(slide). I am delighted thus far.

[Reno3]

No access door on mine. It's mounted underneath the running board on passenger side. Battery went completely dead this past summer when we were up in the mountains dry camping. Had to go buy a new one. Watched themn install it. Took two people to lift it into place and tie it in. Don't know how you could check the water in it??

[erip]

i have the same poor design for battery checking in my new rv. access door is too small and no room to check the battery. seems almost impossible to get access to add water. My suggestion and the solution i'll use is to replace the battery with a gel battery..no need to add water

[cheeze1]

thanks HJ, you are probably right, since my battery is also difficult to check. I sure wish it had a slide out drawer. I planned to make one, but the access door is too small anyway.

[happyjack2]

Is your house battery difficult to check the water level like mine? It was pretty dead and half the cells were dry when I got it in May and not knowing it's history I got a new one from wally world. I keep meaning to climb under there and use the mirror trick to check the water level. I kept it plugged in here at the house so it was ready for each trip and it always had juice. I'd check your water level, especially if it is the original.

[cheeze1]

Hi gang. I had my interior lights on for a few minutes and they popped off. The house battery switch light died out too, until I started the engine or hooked up. Do I have a battery with low water?

[rcwaz]

Gene,
I agree with the concept of "not worrying about it". It is what it is. There are a lot of gas motorhomes a lot worse than mine and the NTHSB has yet to recommend any recalls. I attempt to drive with 1/4 tank of water and empty waste tanks all the time. The issue that troubles me the most is the weight ratio front to back. As I remember from the days of my last motorhome, Ford reps have stated that 35% of the total weight is the minimum on the front. Unloading the front wheels causes a lot of difficulty with control and is probably the most dangerous aspect of the poor engineering. On both the F53 and E450 chassis I have had to do a lot of "tuning". The 32ft Georgie Boy on a F53 never was safe to drive. After many $ I sold it and bought a 5th wheel. After some "persuasion" I am back to motorhomes and, at least initially, reliving what I went through before. Luckily, this time the add-ons made significant improvements.

[Gene_in_NE]

rcwaz wrote:
I used a Cat scale to get weights on my 293TS TrailLite...With full water, fuel, and propane the weights were as follows: Front 4020 vs 4600 axle rating and the rear 9700 vs 9450 axle rating. The gross came in 330 lbs under the GVWR of 14050...

I would say your weights are very much in line, and not really that much to worry about. You are only 250 lbs over on the rear which is only one slightly heavier person. Can you shift some of that forward? Where is your fresh water tank? Can you run it only 1/2 full? Remember your fuel tank is only full when you start out, it gets lighter as you travel. Ford would like you to adhere to those ratings to provide you with a margin of safety. That safety margin is for when you hit a curb or the live weight walks around etc. Just drive a little more conservative when going around corners, hitting potholes, and hitting those moguls etc. Adjust your tire pressure for the weights the tires are carrying without going over the sidewall pressures. Those owners that are running several hundred pounds over need to put the RV on a diet.

[happyjack2]

I weighted the B+ because I wanted to establish a tire pressure for the best ride and safe inflation for next years trips instead of the bone jarring 65 psi it had. I had guessed after reading the forum threads on weight ( after I had "impulse" bought it )that the GVW would be low and that I had got lucky as many buyers find out they have little or no CCC after the sale. With so many RV's at or above max weight it is surprising to me there are so few reported accidents. Perhaps the chassis, tire, brakes etc have huge safety factors built in.

[rcwaz]

I re-read my post and realized I said "GAWR" when I should have said "GVWR". That could be due to too much wine while surfing. I did not mention that I told these facts to RVing friends and they decided that they don't want to weigh their RV for fear of finding out what I found out. Whether you think it's foolish or not, they said they want to enjoy their RV and not obsess about as I do.

[rcwaz]

I used a Cat scale to get weights on my 293TS TrailLite. I probably shouldn't have done it since I've been dissapointed every time I have weighed an RV. With full water, fuel, and propane the weights were as follows;
Front 4020 vs 4600 axle rating and the rear 9700 vs 9450 axle rating. The gross came in 330 lbs under the GAWR of 14050. I now know why TrailLite decided to put helper springs on the back axle.
I weighed the motorhome side to side by driving up on a concrete "sidewalk" on either side. The results did not total the earlier axle weights. I attribute that to either scale repeatability issues at these low weights or the technique of weighing only one side. Basically the weights indicated that the left front and right rear were 200 to 300 lbs heavier than the opposite side. The left front was the driver (I was alone and closer to 200 than 300 lbs FYI) and the right rear is likely due to the full large storage compartment.
That gives a weight ratio of 30/70 front to back and the wheel base measures 56% of the total body length. I consider both ratios very poor. I don't have anyone to blame other than myself for buying a motorhome based on looks alone.

[happyjack2]

Our scales here are built for 40 ton semis and dump trucks so it could be off a bit. To get the front and rear axles I first had the back half on the scale and then turned around and weighted the the front half with about the same amount on the scale. I wanted a ball park wt. so I could figure out the best tire pressure. The PO had 65 psi and we felt every crease in the road on our first few trips. I've ran 55 psi since the middle of summer and the ride has softened and tires are just warm to touch after hours on the road. There are two CAT scales at truck stops 15 miles south of us and I may see if I can weigh the corners there, however the rig seems evenly balanced side to side while driving. I read all the posts about bad handling rigs, especially the E-350s but ours has only been an easy driver.

[Gene_in_NE]

happyjack2 wrote:
Weighted the rig on our scales here at the quarry. GVW was 9200. The rear wheels were 5680 and the front wheels were 3520.....

Thank you for posting your weights. Our units are very similar. My rear axle weighed 5,760 lbs and the front axle weighed 3,260 lbs for a total of 9,020 lbs. The difference is minor and I only had minimal fresh water on board, however, I have a very light slide. There should be a place on this forum where owners could post their weights.

[happyjack2]

Weighted the rig on our scales here at the quarry. GVW was 9200. The rear wheels were 5680 and the front wheels were 3520. Had full to the top gas & propane and 3/4 water with 190 lb co-worker in the co-pilot seat. Also had tool box, hoses, bedding and linens still on board from last trip. Only thing missing was food and extra clothes.

[Gene_in_NE]

cheeze1 wrote:
Gene, Antique stores?...We have got to meet someday!!
Chas
uh, I hate to sound dumb, but what exactly do we mean about parking lot touring? (Maybe we have done it too);)

Well, it is obvious to me you just drive from one parking lot to the next looking for stores that sell antiques.:B We do have to meet someday. There will be a "B" rally at the Niobrara State Park in Nebraska. Bee Social in Niobrara, NE NE We would have to crash the party.

[happyjack2]

Stracos- My wife would shoot me if I showed her he pics of the dry bath in your rig. She hates the tiny wet bath in our 2003. What a great design they came up with. We love everything else about our T/L, especially the small size for driving in towns and sight seeing. We've put over 6200 miles this our first year.