Ford V10 Power, effectivity
Since this seems to be the primary gas engine for motorhomes, and all applications are the same engine and power. Is there a general consensus on coach weigh where the engine no longer seems acceptab...
Forum Discussion
I have owned 4 v-10's.
2000 35' Rexhall with full BANKS. Went over every pass in the Rockies pulling a Jeep Cherokee, CGVW 25,500 and always at that or over. Down to 20mph at 11,000 feet in 1st gear, but no problems pulling the load anywhere. Averaged 7.75 mpg over 130,000 miles.
2004 24' BT Cruiser pulling same Cherokee. Drove like a sports car, but the house part was a POS that defied fixing. Drove it a month and went back to the Rexhall, which I fortunately hadn't disposed of.
2010 28- Coachmen Freelander on 14,000 chassis with 2008 V-10 towing an Odyssey van. Plenty of power, but handling marginal. Average mpg 7.1. DW didn't like the layout and traded after 2 years.
2014 Itasca Sunstar 30T on 18,000 chassis towing the Odyssey van, CGVW 23,000. The rear end ratio is a pathetically poor match with the 5 speed tranny and the programming of the engine computer. On the slightest rise in the road cruise control will shift from 5th down to 2nd in about 2 seconds going from 1850 rpm to 4400. Installed the 5 Star tuning. Some improvement, particularly in the 5 to 4 downshift with most small grades staying in 5th or 4th. On steeper grades the shift from 4th to 2nd has only a 1/2 second stop in 3rd. However this only happens at speeds of 64-65. At speeds of 58-62 the downshifts occur much earlier and the downshift to 3rd only creates an additional 200 rmp instead of the 500 it should (if I add additional fuel via the gas pedal rpm will increase by 500 and the tranny will stay in 3rd until the grade steepens substantially. Think this is a 5 Star programming problem and will be contacting them when I get the stick house under control. Just returned from 5 months, 9600 miles on the road. Mpg before 5 Star; 6.75 over 5,079 miles. After 5 Star; 6.82 over 4,555 miles. Power is good, but not as good as the 2000 V-10 with BANKS. Think most of that is the tranny/rear end ratio and engine tuning issue. The the gearing of the 18,000 chassis does not enable the V-10 to turn high enough to pull the load on even modest grades until the downshift to 2nd. Driving manually with the 5 Star package the shift points can be pretty well controlled.
Added the Safe-T-Steer to the 30T but handling was only slightly improved, and remains bordering on dangerous with winds/crosswinds of 25mph or more.
2000 35' Rexhall with full BANKS. Went over every pass in the Rockies pulling a Jeep Cherokee, CGVW 25,500 and always at that or over. Down to 20mph at 11,000 feet in 1st gear, but no problems pulling the load anywhere. Averaged 7.75 mpg over 130,000 miles.
2004 24' BT Cruiser pulling same Cherokee. Drove like a sports car, but the house part was a POS that defied fixing. Drove it a month and went back to the Rexhall, which I fortunately hadn't disposed of.
2010 28- Coachmen Freelander on 14,000 chassis with 2008 V-10 towing an Odyssey van. Plenty of power, but handling marginal. Average mpg 7.1. DW didn't like the layout and traded after 2 years.
2014 Itasca Sunstar 30T on 18,000 chassis towing the Odyssey van, CGVW 23,000. The rear end ratio is a pathetically poor match with the 5 speed tranny and the programming of the engine computer. On the slightest rise in the road cruise control will shift from 5th down to 2nd in about 2 seconds going from 1850 rpm to 4400. Installed the 5 Star tuning. Some improvement, particularly in the 5 to 4 downshift with most small grades staying in 5th or 4th. On steeper grades the shift from 4th to 2nd has only a 1/2 second stop in 3rd. However this only happens at speeds of 64-65. At speeds of 58-62 the downshifts occur much earlier and the downshift to 3rd only creates an additional 200 rmp instead of the 500 it should (if I add additional fuel via the gas pedal rpm will increase by 500 and the tranny will stay in 3rd until the grade steepens substantially. Think this is a 5 Star programming problem and will be contacting them when I get the stick house under control. Just returned from 5 months, 9600 miles on the road. Mpg before 5 Star; 6.75 over 5,079 miles. After 5 Star; 6.82 over 4,555 miles. Power is good, but not as good as the 2000 V-10 with BANKS. Think most of that is the tranny/rear end ratio and engine tuning issue. The the gearing of the 18,000 chassis does not enable the V-10 to turn high enough to pull the load on even modest grades until the downshift to 2nd. Driving manually with the 5 Star package the shift points can be pretty well controlled.
Added the Safe-T-Steer to the 30T but handling was only slightly improved, and remains bordering on dangerous with winds/crosswinds of 25mph or more.
