Class ‘A’ motor homes FORD chassis.

[Dr_Quick]

If you own or are thinking to buy a Motor Home with a Ford Chassis, or you have just purchased one, you need to read this.
A friend of mine bought a new Jayco Class ‘A’ Motor Home in mid year 2020.
Recently while on a trip the right front wheel bearings went out, and he came very close to a catastrophic accident as the tire was just second away from blowing while he was driving on the interstate. Vehicle only had 20,000 miles on it.
He was about 60 miles form home when this happen. The Ford truck repair dealer closest to beak down refused to even look at the vehicle. It took him 26 hours to find a place to tow vehicle to have repairs done.
So since the Motor Home is only 2 years old it should be under warranty. But here is the problem. Since Ford sold the chassis to Jaycee mid hear 2019 that is when the warranty started. Not when Motor Home was purchased. Cost to have repairs done was around $7.000. So Ford says they are not responsible as it is out of warranty. The Ford owners manual requires wheel bearing repack at every 60,000 miles. So this should fall under being a factory defect. It could only be one of three things caused the problem. Insufficient greasing at time of manufacturer, bearing was installed too tight, or a defective bearing. Which lays problem completely at Ford.
I also wonder if this problem would apply to all Class A?

[Dutch_12078]

wildmanbaker wrote:
Our local Ford Dealer, had the big bays and a lift for MHs, but took it out for more service for pickups and cars. What does that tell you?

A local Ford dealer near Amsterdam, NY has built an entire building next to their dealership and service department that's devoted to RV collision repairs, body work, and painting. I'm told they also have the high bays and lifts needed for general service work on F53, F59, and other chassis. I had the Ford master cylinder switch recall done there on our previous coach, but that was simple enough that they did it in the parking lot. Judging by the number of rigs usually sitting in the parking lot, business must be pretty good.

[Hikerdogs]

wildmanbaker wrote:
Our local Ford Dealer, had the big bays and a lift for MHs, but took it out for more service for pickups and cars. What does that tell you?

Ford sold the HD truck business to Freightliner in 1998. The largest vehicle they now sell is the F750. The standard F750 has the same chassis capacity as the largest F53.There isn't much call for the equipment used on the larger vehicles unless the dealerships have acquired a different brand to sell.

Motorhomes and medium duty trucks are a small percentage of the vehicles they work on. Our local Ford dealer estimates less than 10% of their business is motorhome chassis. It's hard to justify the expense for space and tools for that small amount of business

[dougrainer]

Horsedoc wrote:
Couple of questions come to mind. Unless the bad bearings was super heating the wheel and thus the tire, why was it 'seconds' from blowing and causing the 'catastrophic' accident? Should he not have heard and or felt the bearing going out long before it reached the point of heating enough to cause the tire to blow?
Is the description of the incident being enhanced as it was being related to the OP from the driver? Not sure why the MH would need to be put on a jack just to change the bearing or the front spindle. Confusing post in the details

You do NOT understand why the MH would have to be on a Jack to "just change the bearing or Spindle"???? You should not be posting about things you are not knowledgeable of. I bet you can change your Auto tires when flat without a jack also:B

LAST, funny the OP has not come back. Sounds like a troll, disparaging Ford. Doug

[Horsedoc]

Couple of questions come to mind. Unless the bad bearings was super heating the wheel and thus the tire, why was it 'seconds' from blowing and causing the 'catastrophic' accident? Should he not have heard and or felt the bearing going out long before it reached the point of heating enough to cause the tire to blow?
Is the description of the incident being enhanced as it was being related to the OP from the driver? Not sure why the MH would need to be put on a jack just to change the bearing or the front spindle. Confusing post in the details

[dougrainer]

wildmanbaker wrote:
Our local Ford Dealer, had the big bays and a lift for MHs, but took it out for more service for pickups and cars. What does that tell you?

He did not have the amount of Motorhome service to justify the space and could utilize the old space with better economic results. Doug

[wildmanbaker]

Our local Ford Dealer, had the big bays and a lift for MHs, but took it out for more service for pickups and cars. What does that tell you?

[dougrainer]

The Basic rule to be a Motorhome Ford warranty dealer is the capability to have high enough space and the lifts capable of lifting a Motorhome. MOST Ford dealers do not have this capability. Doug

[Chum_lee]

JoeH wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
Yes, the 3/36 chassis warranty is good from the date of retail sale to the first customer, not the builder!
Someone at the dealer doesn’t know what they are doing.

Or they are just trying to avoid a warranty repair that is not as profitable as a retail repair. Local dealer tried to pull that on me with my pickup... I got Ford Corporate involved, they told the dealer to fix it.

The local Ford dealer needs to have facilities that will accommodate an oversize/overweight vehicle. Not all do. Agreed, warranty repairs are often a loser ($$$.$$) when compared to full boat customer pay retail repairs. Warranty repairs are part of the deal that Ford dealers must agree with to become a Ford dealer.

Where is the original poster in this thread? So far, me thinks this is just inflammatory nonsense.

Chum lee

[JoeH]

dodge guy wrote:
Yes, the 3/36 chassis warranty is good from the date of retail sale to the first customer, not the builder!
Someone at the dealer doesn’t know what they are doing.

Or they are just trying to avoid a warranty repair that is not as profitable as a retail repair. Local dealer tried to pull that on me with my pickup... I got Ford Corporate involved, they told the dealer to fix it.

[Chum_lee]

Dr Quick wrote:
A friend of mine bought a new Jayco Class ‘A’ Motor Home in mid year 2020. Recently while on a trip the right front wheel bearings went out, and he came very close to a catastrophic accident as the tire was just seconds away from blowing while he was driving on the interstate. Vehicle only had 20,000 miles on it.

I also wonder if this problem would apply to all Class A?

I don't understand. How can your friend know that his right front tire was seconds from blowing out while the right front wheel bearings were going bad? Did the right front wheel wheel lock up, depart the axle, . . . . orrrrr, . . . . . something else? Please explain.

I've owned a 1999 Ford F-53 chassis since 2011 (N=1) with over 90,000 miles on it and never had or heard of this issue. Anything's possible though. IME, bad wheel bearings may get red hot, but they usually make a lot of speed dependent grinding/clunking/howling/leaking/vibration before something catastrophic occurs. I'd suggest getting some first hand info with photos before throwing lightning bolts at Ford Motor Co. and their F-53 chassis.

Chum lee

[4x4van]

As others have said, a MH warranty begins on the date of sale to the first retail purchaser, NOT when the chassis is delivered to the RV manufacturer. That doesn't apply sometimes, or even usually, but ALWAYS.

[Lwiddis]

One bad experience with a Ford chassis, as told to you by a friend so it’s all second hand, doesn’t make this machine one to avoid by speculating all Fords are unreliable.

[dougrainer]

wildtoad wrote:
Don’t know about the 2020 units but my 2016 had a “Bumper to Bumper” 3 year or 36,000 mile warranty, and a 5 year or 60,000 mile power train warranty. Unless there is more to the story, it sounds like a valid warranty claim.

On a side note, finding a Ford dealer to work on Class A motorhomes is a **** shoot. Most of them don’t, even if Ford says they do. Many commercial truck centers will and can do warranty work.

ALL Motorhomes have a delayed warranty start. Does not make a difference what year. 40 years ago we had 1982 built motorhomes on the old Dodge M series class A chassis that were 1979 chassis that had the full year(12/12 back then) once the delayed warranty start form was filled out. Of course the Chassis warranty term is what the chassis maker spells out, but most, the minimum is 36/36. Doug

[wildtoad]

Don’t know about the 2020 units but my 2016 had a “Bumper to Bumper” 3 year or 36,000 mile warranty, and a 5 year or 60,000 mile power train warranty. Unless there is more to the story, it sounds like a valid warranty claim.

On a side note, finding a Ford dealer to work on Class A motorhomes is a **** shoot. Most of them don’t, even if Ford says they do. Many commercial truck centers will and can do warranty work.