Maintenance on Class A

[MetalGator]

The wife and I are trying to decide on a future fifth wheel or class A. If we go the class A route, it will be a 30-35' gas. I assume it would be a Ford V10 since that seems to be the only gas motor in this size of class A. I currently have a 30' TT and tow with a Ram truck. I do all the normal maintenance on my truck myself (oil changes, spark plugs, battery, belts, etc). Anything more difficult I take to my local mechanic. Are these types of maintenance items doable by the average Joe on a V10 class A? Going the class A route would be considerable more money so I was hoping some of the maintenance items could be done by myself.

[427435]

timmac wrote:

donandmax wrote:

Class A gassers are quite noisy especially when the motor fan kicks in. You can hardly hear each other talk when that puppy kicks in.. I would buy a diesel which would take care of the noise but dont travel enough for it to be of any benefit..

My 08 Bounder with Ford V-10 was a little noisy in the mountains and when fan kicked on, so I bought sound/heat insulation and installed it in the dog house and under the floors under the driver/passenger seat and my noise level was cut in half, seems almost to quiet sometimes.

Seems some RV manufactures spend more money on sound proofing while others do very little.

Mine is fine too, after I added some sound deadening material under the dog house. Under most driving conditions, all I hear is the wind noise and tire hum-------------much like a friend's DP I drove.

I've also done all the routine maintenance from spark plug replacement to oil changes on my V10. It's probably easier to do a lot of things on than a PU.

[J-Rooster]

I try to do as much maintenance as possible! I own a 35' Winnebago gasser. I don't like getting underneath the rig anymore so I have a local shop change oil for me $65.00 plus tax synthetic oil. I don't notice noise when I'm driving due to I have the radio on all the time to relax me, while I'm driving. I agree, everything is doable, good luck in whatever you choose to do!

[timmac]

donandmax wrote:

Class A gassers are quite noisy especially when the motor fan kicks in. You can hardly hear each other talk when that puppy kicks in.. I would buy a diesel which would take care of the noise but dont travel enough for it to be of any benefit..

My 08 Bounder with Ford V-10 was a little noisy in the mountains and when fan kicked on, so I bought sound/heat insulation and installed it in the dog house and under the floors under the driver/passenger seat and my noise level was cut in half, seems almost to quiet sometimes.

Seems some RV manufactures spend more money on sound proofing while others do very little.

[dezolen]

If it is anything like my 2009 V10 Ford F250 nothing but 2 50$ oil changes a year for the first 5 years.

[dezolen]

Class A gassers are quite noisy especially when the motor fan kicks in. You can hardly hear each other talk when that puppy kicks in.. I would buy a diesel which would take care of the noise but dont travel enough for it to be of any benefit..

Not sure how old of a gas motorhome you were in but new stuff is very quiet. (at least our Tiffin 36LA)
Only time I can hear our engine is when engine kicks down while climbing steep hill.
All I can hear is slight wind noise which would be no different than one would notice on any coach whether gas or DP

[bsinmich]

One thing we noticed is how quiet it was in our class A gasser compared to our previous Cs. The noise in the Newmar is very low and we can carry on normal conversation while going down the road. Entry level coaches may be a lot noisier. Another poster referred to 454 Chev and V8 Fords. Those are from the last century and not current motors in anything today

[donandmax]

crasster wrote:
It's kind of mushy but I bought my RV to be able to spend time with my wife and we could travel together. We have both a Class C, Class A, and a TT. The Class c what is nice about it is that we sit closer to one another like in a pickup truck. The class A is like we are in two reliners far apart. It's not a big deal or anything, so I'm just throwing it out there.... We just found that the class C makes the trips more personal. We can hear each other talking better too while on the road.... It keeps us a "bit more" seperated on the road from our children, yet it's just a step back and we are right there with them.

Class A gassers are quite noisy especially when the motor fan kicks in. You can hardly hear each other talk when that puppy kicks in.. I would buy a diesel which would take care of the noise but dont travel enough for it to be of any benefit..

[crasster]

It's kind of mushy but I bought my RV to be able to spend time with my wife and we could travel together. We have both a Class C, Class A, and a TT. The Class c what is nice about it is that we sit closer to one another like in a pickup truck. The class A is like we are in two reliners far apart. It's not a big deal or anything, so I'm just throwing it out there.... We just found that the class C makes the trips more personal. We can hear each other talking better too while on the road.... It keeps us a "bit more" seperated on the road from our children, yet it's just a step back and we are right there with them.

[Clay_L]

Regarding the oil change, I helped a friend do his and he ended up getting an EZ Oil Drain Valve
They used to be made by Fumoto but I don't know if they still are. In any case the one with the hose adapter lets the oil drain right into a container without making a mess on the cross member. We did use a flat pan sitting on the cross member the first time but I was able to spill oil all myself moving it off and down. 🙂

The grease fittings are shown below: The picture is a few years old but still good as far as I know.

[MetalGator]

Roman Duck wrote:
To answer your question about driveability of a class A, compared to a class C. A c is probaly alittle easier than an A.

What I meant about drive ability in the Class C I rented was it rode really rough. Every little bump in the road you felt. By the time I got to my destination, I was wore out from the drive. Could have just been the rental class C was wore out (had about 80,000 miles on it). But I did rent a new class c to tour Yellowstone (it was a 22' with only 3000 miles) and it rode pretty rough as well. Maybe because of the small wheel base of both the class C's I rented.

[dieharder]

Dale.Traveling wrote:
The one PIA is engine oil changes. Engine drain plug is right over the front axle so you'll need a big funnel or something to divert the oil. I cut the bottom off a laundry bleach bottle.

There is enough room between the engine and front end on mine to squeeze the oil catcher under the engine and sit on top of the front end while the engine drains.

[Roman_Duck]

To answer your question about driveability of a class A, compared to a class C. A c is probaly alittle easier than an A. I've owned both and although I think a c is easier, I own a class A. There are a number of reasons a MH A or C can be hard to drive, 1st is tires, 2nd is alignment, 3rd is the type of road/highways and the weather conditions(ie cross winds).
The DW perfers the A, as it offers more storage options and when the g-kids come with us they can sleep in the bedrm instead of over the cab. You should really drive before buying, every motorhome handles a little different,
another up side is insurance is more reasonable then your TW
As far as engines either a chevy chassis with a 454 or ford with the V8 of V10.

[MetalGator]

JayGee wrote:
If you are happy with your travel trailer and the storage etc that it provides I would probably go with a fifth wheel, especially if you intend to keep your truck for other purposes. Adding another drive train, tires, and engine to support is not necessarily the cheap option. Not to mention the upfront cost of the MH.

This is exactly why I started looked at fifth wheels. However, I would need to purchase a 3/4 Ton or 1 Ton truck as I only have a 1/2 truck right now. The wife needs a new vehicle and has been looking at Jeeps so my thought was if I went the Class A route, we could use the Jeep as a toad and I wouldn't need to buy a new truck. I know there is more maintenance on a motor home but if I could do some of the maintenance myself, it would offset some of the costs.

My wife's uncle has a Class A that he has been trying to sell for a couple of years. We could purchase it really cheap but we don't like the floor plan. However, he has said he would like us to use it once in awhile so it gets used and doesn't just sit. I am thinking about taking him up on the offer and see if I like the Class A. I have rented two small Class C motor homes in the past (25') and I wasn't happy with the way they drove. I don't know if a A would drive any better.

[Dale_Traveling]

The Ford chassis maintenance is pretty simple and not much different than what you would do for a truck just everything is a bit bigger. Regular oil/filter changes, pump a few shots of grease into the zerks on the steering gear, normal fluids and such. Brakes are disc all around and wear pretty slowly while spark plugs are rated for 100K so you can probably leave them alone for a very long time. Filters and fluids can be found at any parts store with nothing exotic in nature. Transmission has an external filter and a drain plug.

The one PIA is engine oil changes. Engine drain plug is right over the front axle so you'll need a big funnel or something to divert the oil. I cut the bottom off a laundry bleach bottle.