Handling of shorter diesel

[milkman41]

Many on this forum have suggested using rv.org as a guide. They uniformly classify coaches at less than 40 feet as poor to terrible (depending on specific coach). I'm looking at a used 36 ft Phaeton. Those of you that have experience with this, are you having any problems?

[eheading]

That is interesting about the "pitching". I can see where this would happen and could be annoying, but I have to say going from our 41' on a Spartan Chassis, to our 34' on a Freightliner chassis, I think the "ride" is very comparable. The only thing I notice is that the new coach rocks (left to right) more, but I think this is more a case of the mounting location for the airbags. The Spartan airbags are further "outboard" than the Freightliner. Over all though, going down the road, I think the shorter motorhome rides every bit as well as our longer one did.

Again, the only way for YOU to know is to drive one yourself over a variety of road conditions to see how you like it.

Ed Headington

[Bigdog]

I drive school bus,also my 40' Tradewinds, and have found that the shorter buses handle differently. We only have transit style and I have been driving special ed "FRED" rigs lately and they'll beat you to death. We did have a short wheel base DP and they got rid of that in a big hurry.The shorter the wheel base,the more up and down in the front.

[frankdamp]

I drove diesel pusher transit coaches for a short time after my retirement from Boeing, which ranged in length from 30 to 40 feet. They were all Gilligs, and I got the impression that Gillig had a stock rear end (engine and transmission) and a stock front end (driver's station and passenger entry) and made the LOA by inserting a number of different pasenger compartment designs.

The 40-footers were very stable in the pitch axis, the 35's a bit less so. The shortest coaches could be challenging, particularly on bumpy roads, but we got a number of suspension damper/shock absorber mods that made them manageable.

We also had three 30-foot (or maybe 28 ft.) coaches, whose manufacturer/model I can't remember clearly, but "Opus/Optima" sticks in my memory. They had serious problems with pitch-poling and were very uncomfortable to drive. They had serious reliability and driver-ergonomic problems, too, and the agency didn't keep them very long.

I only drove for the agency for a little over 2 years, so I don't know any of the specifics.

I'm also puzzled by the fact that US manufacturers haven't caught on to the Leyland/Volvo configuration of their rear-engined double-deckers. They put the engine transversely across the back of the chassis, with the transmission partly underneath the engine and forward of it. This reduces the moment of the weight overhanging the rear axle.

[Pass42]

Our 2001 National Tradewinds 36' DP handles fine...first ride was in a major snowstorm.. no issues... trucks & cross winds aren't an issue.....

[gswcgi]

We have a 2003 36'Safari rear diesel. We have been delighted with the ride since we put on Koni shocks. Now has 46,000 miles on it. Great ride and coach.

[eheading]

We've had 2 motorhomes over 40' long and now have a Newmar Ventana LE that is between 34 and 35' long. As others have said, basically geometry of a diesel pusher dictates that a shorter diesel pusher will have a lower wheelbase/overall length ratio. I agree, and have noticed that our 34' Newmar does not do quite as well as the longer motorhomes in a strong cross wind or when a truck goes by. However, as a trade off for the more nimble maneuvering, I personally think it is a good trade-off. The handling of our Newmar is very predictable, and I do not find it objectionable.

So---- as others have said again, I would drive a motorhome you are interested in and see how it handles yourself. Unfortunately the best thing to do is drive it on a windy day, which may not be easy to do.

Ed Headington
2013 Newmar Ventana LE
2013 Nissan Versa toad

[Fishinghat]

wolfe10 wrote:
Yes, basic physics (impossible to overcome with hope or even good advertising) dictates that the worse the WB/OL (Wheelbase/Overall length) ratio, the more likely that there will be handling issues, particularly under adverse conditions such as cross winds.

BUT, handling, ride, etc are all SUBJECTIVE. So, many with both good WB/OL and those with poor WB/OL can honestly post that their handling is "fine".

So, given that everything else is the same (suspension, weight distribution, etc) WB/OL IS, repeat IS important.

Can a poor WB/OL be overcome with expensive suspensions-- sure. I know Foretravel made a 34' DP that did reasonably well. But 8 outboard air bags, 8 shocks, etc made for a pretty costly upgrade.

Best advice is to drive any on your short list UNDER LESS THAN IDEAL CONDITIONS-- on smooth roads and no cross winds, they all do just fine. Same thing we did in shopping for sailboats-- scheduled sea trials when the weather forecast was poor.

We have a 35 ft that we've owned for 11 years. It's worked out fine for us, but a longer coach (with a longer wheel base) would be better. I've also owned boats, and the advice to do sea trials in foul weather is excellent.

[jwmII]

Short coaches with rear engines and below 34/32 ft. in length are generally more road crazy than the longer models. Those short coaches with the generator mounted behind the rear wheels can be a handful on rutted roads and/or in the wind. A good cross wind will have you contemplating parking until the wind subsides.

[mpierce]

The longer the wheelbase, for a given length, the better. i.e., the closer the rear wheels are to the rear, the better. I have seen some single rear axle models with REALLY long overhangs. I always wonder how they do in cross winds, and one would NOT want to take them thru much of a dip in the road!

That said, I think there are a lot of pretty darn good handling coaches in that 36'to 39' range.

[rgatijnet1]

And remember that driving an empty coach off of a dealer's lot does not show you what the same vehicle will drive like once it is loaded and tire pressure is adjusted according to load. About the only thing you can learn is the driving position, visibility, and control placement. Handling changes with load, winds, traffic, and highway conditions.

[milkman41]

Old guy,

Yes according to the people who run (and sell) rv.org, bigger is better

[JimM68]

Drive it and see is the best bet.

It is relatively true that the weight hanging off the back of a DP, and the distance it hangs, is kinda fixed.

Still those things sometimes don't always relate to reality, especially when it come to high end coaches such as Foretravel.

[Trackrig]

milkman41 wrote:
Many on this forum have suggested using rv.org as a guide. They uniformly classify coaches at less than 40 feet as poor to terrible (depending on specific coach). I'm looking at a used 36 ft Phaeton. Those of you that have experience with this, are you having any problems?

I'll take the above with a pound or two of salt. Our 39' DP with air ride, handles just fine.

Bill

[old_guy]

so your saying bigger IS better??