Ford E350/450 or Chev 3500

fritzrs wrote:
Ouch great numbers Iamichabod thx... my wife sat in a Ford E350 with V10 and hated lack of leg and foot room. She said it felt very cramped.

The Chevy is much better in that respect.

We have a 23' on the Chevy with 6.0. I like it. It has plenty of power. In fact the 6.0 has more HP, but probably not more torque, than the Ford V-10 as found in the Class C's. Ford uses a down-rated motor in the C's due to space or cooling or something.

Since our rig is fairly light, under 10K lbs. fully loaded for travel, we could tow a heavy trailer. Our 3500 lb. hitch would need to be upgraded to do it, but the capacity exists in the GCWR. I want to say our GCWR is 16K. I know the GVWR is 12,300.

I am a Chevy person. I drive a Chevy pickup. I have owned 2 class c motorhomes on the Ford chassis with the V-10 engine. For the motorhomes I would vote for the Ford. Almost a bullet proof engine with proper maintenance.

Thx Rolin great review, esp on E450.
My dealer was clueless about 3500 axle ratio and it's mpg effect. He guessed at my Minnie Winnie 25B Chevy 3500 ratio, but said he could be wrong.

I went to a Chevy dealer, gave service mgr my VIN and he printed off the actual 'build sheet' for my 3500... rear axle ratio is 3.73

Your experience with moving Ford driver seat both up and back is not unique. Your steering issue is not unique either.
My Chevy Silverado 3500 steering is perfection. My Chevy Express 3500 chassis with MW 25B Class C front overhang has a severe oversteer problem. Next two months running from WA to NE to NY and back. After that trip I'll have front end realigned and put on super heavy duty shocks. I was told once when replacing shocks to always replace all four at the same time.
Thx again for sharing...

Had a Chevy based Jayco 23ft Class C on a 2002 3500 chassis with 8.1 Liter engine and Hydromatic (no tow/haul -not the Allison). Now have a Winnebago Aspect 26ft Class B+ on 2006 E450 chassis.

Chevy 3500; Liked the seating position, foot room for driver and passenger, general cab space and ease of getting from front seat to coach area. Did not need any special upgrades to improve handling. Liked the dash layout. Felt brakes were marginal.

Ford E450: Love the v10 with 5sp transmission, very solid feeling, great brakes. Transmission is terrific. Fuel mileage seems to be about the same 8.1 3500 vs V10 E450. Like the air bags on rear axle. The front suspension has some interesting steering characteristics....that is just the way the Ford is. Raised the drivers seat 2 inches and moved it back 1 inch which seems to increase the comfort level in the cab and makes it easier to get from the cab to the chassis area.

They are both good rigs. The 6.0 Chevy should have a mpg advantage over the E450 Ford V10. The Ford E350 mpg will come closer to the 6.0 Chevy because of the higher rear end ratio.

If I had a choice....for rigs 25ft and under I would likely choose the Chevy 3500 chassis with the 6.0. But it all comes down to personal choice as either chassis will work well for most people. Those who really need to haul a lot of stuff or pull heavy loads might want the Ford E450. We have the E450 because that was the only choice offered with the floor plan and design we wanted.

I think the engine and drive train on both units will outlast the coach...the front end of both are probably the weakest link.

Ouch great numbers Iamichabod thx... my wife sat in a Ford E350 with V10 and hated lack of leg and foot room. She said it felt very cramped.

Handbasket wrote:
Sit in the driver's seats of both for 15 minutes. Have your DW do the same on 'tother side.

Using the advanced search function at the top of this page, search this forum only for Ford handling.

Jim, "The trouble with bucket seats is that not everyone has the same size bucket."

With my trusty USA Made Craftsman tape I measured both the Ford and the Chevy inside and out after taking them all for a test ride.

Here is what I found.
The real story is the interior.

The area from the Dog House to the kick panel, the floor board where your feet are.

The Chevy is 18 inches wide and mostly flat.

The Ford is 15 inches wide but has a 2 inch rise that is 5 inches wide leaving only 10 inches of flat floor.

With the seat pushed back as far as it goes on both the Ford And Chevy. Both having Stock Factory seats
I found.
Foot well depth to front of seat. Chevy 31 inches Ford 27 inches

Seat back to steering wheel. Chevy 26 inches Ford 23 inches

Front of seat to Dash. Chevy 29 inches Ford 23 inches

Dog House width,measured at dash Chevy 15 inches Ford 23 inches

Dog House depth into cab from dash Chevy 8 inches Ford 11 inches

(These are not facts only the opinion of my USA Made Craftsman Tape Measure your opinion's may vary)

"Using the advanced search function at the top of this page, search this forum only for Ford handling."

Like here

OR HERE

Just passing along some info.................

The towing capacity on my 3500 is 5000# because of the 8.1 Vortec and the chassis and class IV hitch. I would have no problem towing any toad (with the exception of something large, truck like) all over the US. The problem is they are no longer putting 8.1 Vortec's in their MH and have gone to a 4500 with the 6L engine. Remember for MH's the chassis is different then a standard 1 ton chassis as for a truck. The GM MH chassis was a cutaway van.

Sit in the driver's seats of both for 15 minutes. Have your DW do the same on 'tother side.

Using the advanced search function at the top of this page, search this forum only for Ford handling.

Jim, "The trouble with bucket seats is that not everyone has the same size bucket."

Numbers from Winnebago on 3500 vs E350 and E450

Winnebago Minnie Winnie:
A - Chevy 3500 25B
B - Ford E350 25B
C - Ford E450 27Q-27QP

Fuel Tank (gal.) 57(A) 55(B) 55(C)
GCWR (lbs.) 15,800(A) 18,500(B) 22,000(C)
GVWR (lbs.) 12,300(A) 11,500(B) 14,500(C)
GAWR Front 4,300(A) 4,600(B) 5,000(C)
GAWR Rear 8,600(A) 7,800(B) 9,600(C)
Wheelbase 183"(A) 182"(B) 220"(C)

Chevrolet® Express 3500 Chassis 324-hp 6.0L GM Vortec™ engine, 6-speed automatic transmission w/overdrive and tow/haul, 145-amp. alternator

Ford® E350 Chassis 255-hp 5.4L Triton® V8 engine, Torqshift™ 5-speed automatic transmission w/overdrive, 120-amp. alternator

Ford E450 Chassis 305-hp 6.8L Super-Duty V10 SEFI Triton engine, TorqShift 5-speed automatic transmission w/overdrive, 120-amp. alternator

We own 2... a Chevy Silverado 3500 SRW (10’ Alaskan Camper) and Chevy Express 3500 DRW (Minnie Winnie 25B), both have 6L 324hp and GM/Allison 6spd tranny.

He’s my thoughts... having that SRW with 2,000 lb camper on it fulltime for last four years gave me a love of BOTH engine and tranny. Our 1st trip was 8,000 miles coast to coast and rtn with many side trips. Having ability to maintain engine at 1800-2200 rpm doing 65+ cruise is really nice. Going down a 5-6 mile 6% grade and having the tranny braking to hold rpm/spd is great. The cruise control is clickable... 1,2,3 up 1-2-3mph; 1,2,3, down 1-2-3mph.
6L Engine computer learns your driving habits and adjust fuel-power accordingly. When you replace air cleaner... always clean the Mass Airflow Sensor... disconnect chassis battery for 2-3 minutes. That resets computer to recalculate new air cleaner and MAS. It also re-learns next 10-12 trips of driver’s habits. That will increase your mpg.
Both my Chevy 3500s have a haul/load mode switch to tell computer when you’re running heavy or pulling a load. Remember trucks are designed to run MT and fully loaded. Both our 3500s run heavy at all times, as camper has never been removed and our Class C Minnie Winnie is a constant load on that 3500 chassis.
After 4 years with that 2K lb camper set-up on 3500, we saw our new Winnebago 26’ Class C with that same GM engine-tranny and went to look at it... While service mgr and I are bent over looking at DRW disc brakes and suspension... we hear my lovely wife telling the salesman “I think we’ll buy it...” We did...