First Drive -A Question orTwo

A Class C is a box truck full of heavy stuff, with high center of gravity, slab sides, easily disturbed by passing big rigs and riding on cupped concrete highways damaged by big rigs and weather extremes. The rear leaf springs are stiff to accommodate varying weights. Tires are stiff and under high air pressure to carry the weight. Cupped roads give a jolting ride which can promote tire failure when tires have sidewall cracks. Tires should be replaced every 5-7 years regardless of tread depth/appearance for your safety and to protect items under the rig from flailing steel belts. Upgrades can help, frequent breaks from driving help save your nerves. Driving on secondary black top roads, more scenic than interstates, that are in good condition, give a better ride. If long distance touring is your major interest, investing in upgrades may be a good idea.

I only quickly scanned other responses but here is what I found on buying my last unit.....

- Test drives NEVER show you all the issues for many reasons. Once you own it you become more sensitive to all the issues. I test drove my last unit and it was fine. Bought it and within 20 minutes was ready to return it if I could. The issue was the road noise I could not hear myself think when driving and it was not there before. Fortunately after I got out of town I pulled off and found a window had opened slightly, closed it and all was good (funny thing is that it still opens itself every once and a while and ticks me off as I hate noises).

- I also found that my unit was a wanderer, took it to a mechanic and they did an alignment, we adjusted the tire pressure and other tweaks and off I went. I cannot say if any of that helped but just driving it I got use to the feel and the response. Still does not drive like my SUV but then my SUV does not have a washroom and kitchen sink. I think most issues with handling are the fact that we have a new to us unit and just are not use to the feelings when driving.

I would strongly suggest that you take it to a mechanic that you trust and have them check it out. I took mine in and told the mechanic to look for anything wrong, only thing they found was the alignment was off and like he said with that much weight on it the alignment is good to check regularly anyways and after 150 kilometers it was time. After driving for a while I made some notes as to what I wanted fixed / updated and had that done (they did a full tune-up and the RV feels like a new unit). I have started another list and someday will take it in to have more updates done (thinking I will upgrade the suspension / new tires and rims) but that is as much making it mine as anything.

After several trips I do not notice a lot of the things any longer as I am now use to the unit, on the last trip other than the window opening I was shocked at how well it handled and with the low noise and that was even with having to do some emergency defensive driving thanks to some idiot that passed on a solid line!

Forgot one thing.....

When I bought my last unit it is a Ford E450 and I had not driven a Ford for years and no vehicle heavier than a 2500 and this is a 450. That in itself makes a difference as well. A different manufacturer and different weight will make things feel so different.

Ron, a few specs... 2007 Bigfoot (thought it was an '06, turned into an '07), was tested to -18 F by previous owner (water in system, no freezing issues). Like us, he used it in winter (he and his wife are avid cross country skiers). So...it should work for late season hunting and a little ice fishing!

The rig is a 30MH26 Sl with dining room slide, had just under 22,000 miles, length is 26', height is 11'1", wheel base: 176", dry weight: 11050 lbs.. We had some gear plus about 50 gallons water (about 3/4 full) on board. The new Toyo tires were at 80 psi all the way around. So...we will first weigh it and probably dropfront tire pressure a bit.

Captain, yes we did drive it but...it was a short drive, straight open road with limited speed and distance and with some city driving (slow speed and cornering). I detected the "nervous" steering and some body roll in the testing but these issues became more apparent on I90 at speed, on mountain passes, curves, wind, road construction, etc. The "nervous" steering improved somewhat within a few hundred miles. Sometimes somewhat aggressive tires (Toyo All Terrain tires all the way around) require a few miles of use to stabilize. This is not that unusual but ... the body roll will not likely improve with tire pressure changes or an alignment (with the unit loaded). I do, however, disagree with money wasted on after market equipment. Even the Air Force periodically upgrades its aircraft as technology advances. The auto industry, much like the RV industry, rarely goes the "extra mile" (pun intended) with the best (more cost) equipment available! So...depending upon what "we the consumer" want, it falls on our shoulders to "upgrade"!

Seeking a little moderation here... My thoughts are...

The very "stretched" chassis, even with a decent wheelbase (and wheelbase:length ratio) seem in most cases to be more prone to handling issues

The stretched ones tend to get more front end wear. Steering parts, ball joints, even bushings. This can be because a proper weight distribution on a larger coach means 1000 or more pounds on the front axle than a shorter one (being lighter) would have.

The smaller units, up to say 25-feet (ballpark guess) seem to do better with an all-OEM suspension than bigger ones. I know that was true for us. Our "24" was more like 25 and handled well on the E350's stock wheelbase 158". But it was also a pre-1992 chassis, and those actually (go figure!) handled better than 1992 and newer.

Loading, Alignment and Tire Pressure are often overlooked.

User experience and expectations vary widely

Finally, call it Luck, Grace, Karma... there seems to also be a randomness to this. Or maybe not. Perhaps the Lucky Ones are loaded right, proper wheelbase, good alignment, proper tire pressures... all by Chance.

A short test drive on a calm day isn't much of a test. Spend at lest an hour, get it out on the interstate and see how passing trucks affect you. Merge onto a highway with your foot to the floor. Find a decent hill or two to climb and then seek out some rough roads and tight gas station entrances with steep dips.

Any coach that cannot successfully pass a proper road test is the wrong coach... probably. If you test drove and expensive SUV and it handled badly would you still buy it? An RV is going to cost a lot more so why buy if you have to do anything beyond alignment and proper tire pressure?

As always.... Opinions and YMMV.

:C

Desert Captain wrote:

After market crapola to make a Class C ride/handle/drive decently is all a huge scam.

Any new Class C should roll of of the showroom floor with zero handling/ride/performance issues.

Absolutely, totally untrue......when talking about E350/450 motorhomes.

Are you saying that the DOZENS of owners who have experienced a HUGE improvement in the handling with an alignment modification are ALL either stupid or lying ??

I quite assure you that neither is the case.

And things that SHOULD happen often don't. Factory production often uses the cheapest parts available. While you should not run out and spend money on every "improvement" that one individual recommends, ignoring a consensus over a large number of users is not the best course either.

Making blanket statements like you did is NOT doing the membership here any favors.

theoldwizard1 wrote:

Depending on how many miles you drive, you might need to have the front end checked for alignment/wear as often as every 1-2 years.

And to repeat:

The twitchy wandering steering on E350/450 chassis CAN BE FIXED relatively inexpensively.....in most cases.
It is due to improper alignment specs.....for motor home use.....and NOT due to wear, usually.

IF.....you don't fix the real problem, repeated alignments are just a waste of money.

memtb,

One more point to make on the handling of your rig.

You mentioned it is a 2006 on an E450 chassis. You did not mention the make and model of the rig. You did not mention the length or wheel base. You did not mention the miles driven. All that information influences how a motor home will handle. Most influential is the wheel base. The more distance between the front and rear tires, the more stable the rig will be. The ratio of the wheel base to the rear over-hang is also a big factor. Adding the miles driven and you could have some wear and tear on your suspension and steering components.

We bought "brand new", our 2007 Phoenix Cruiser built on a 2007 E350 chassis. On it's maiden voyage, it handled like a drunken sailor on less than ideal road conditions and surrounding wind-influenced conditions. Soon thereafter, we invested in heavy duty front and rear stabilizer bars, a heavy duty steering stabilizer (that horizontal shock absorber looking thing attached to the steering linkage), heavy duty shocks, and a rear track bar to help because we tow. To finish it off, we had a wheel alignment done with the rig loaded as if ready for a trip. All in combination, the upgrades did wonders, since has been handling closer to a tight SUV. I don't have to concentrate on keeping the rig in between the lines. I simply hold the steering wheel in a fairly fixed position and it stays put. Of coarse there is still some compensation required, but nothing like before. I went from holding the wheel with two hands tightly to one hand gently and a cup of coffee in the free hand. The suspension improvements made a world of difference for us with our rig. And, not only is our rig more stable on the road, it is also more stable at the camp site. We have no need for stabilizer jacks.

With that experience with our rig today and also with our prior rig, I cannot agree with some of Desert Captain's comments. A test drive on a smooth local road on a calm day can be quite a different driving experience compared to a loaded rig on an interstate highway with a worn wavy surface with a consistent cross wind and trucks passing. They can be quite different experiences. And in my experience, "ideal" driving conditions is very rare.

Ron Dittmer

Since we are on the topic of tire pressure, everyone here should find THIS interesting to read. It was an evaluation of my collection of tire gauges. My most trusted tire gauge was reading 9 psi too high, which meant that I was putting in 9 psi too little.

I think I improved the ride on our small E350 MH by experimenting with tire pressures in between the Michelin weight table and the Ford recommended pressures. It is easy to steer in the absence of side wind.