MH test drives

[Gjac]

Last week I test drove a 2009 National MH and a 2013 Tiffen MH both on the Ford chassis and 32 ft long. Both had plenty of power (13 sec from 40-60 mph). I am in Fla so I could not test them on any hills or rough roads but the ride seemed smooth and the handling seemed ok. The only issue that I had was the eng noise when accelerating. The salesman said it is only noisy for a short time but having driven an old 454 where the max torque is 1800 rpm's this was hard for me to get used to. On my current MH I added another layer of insulation and hear very little eng noise, I hear more exhaust noise due to the headers when accelerating. My question is for those that have the Ford Chassis does adding another layer of insulation under the dog house reduce the eng noise much? Most of this noise seemed to come from the dash area up front and not from the dog house.

[Gjac]

mike brez wrote:
Specs
Nada

Mike, if I read the specs right it only has a 3500 lb towing capacity when fully loaded. That is the same as a P30 chassis.

[rgatijnet1]

lanerd wrote:

Gjac wrote:

lanerd wrote:
When we got our first MH, we were looking at different make/models of 36' gassers and like you was very disappointed in the noise of the engine at anything over 3000 rpms. It was suggested to me to try out a 36' dp, so we did. Wow, what a difference. We could carry on a normal conversation at any time and any speed. There really is just no comparison.

Ron

This was my thinking several years ago also. I bought this MH 10 years ago when I retired to see if this hobby was for me and learn about MH's and just thought the logical transition was to a slightly bigger DP because my wife would never want to full time. Thinking and people change. 10 years and 80k miles later she is now less likely to part time. I like the shorter lighter MH's not only for camping but for power. The DP MH's I tested did not perform as well as these short gas MH's which is another thing that I would have a hard time getting used to. My friend has a 36 ft 2012 Tiffin Phaeton and he could not keep up with my old 454 on hills on our trip to Branson Mo. I think a 340 or 360 HP gas MH that weights 15k lbs will always have better performance than 330-360 MH that is closer to 30k lbs.

It's all about weight to power ratio. My first mh was only about 80 lbs per hp and it went up the hills quite rapidly. Our newer mh is closer to 100 lbs per hp and yes, it does seem to be a little slower on the steeper grades. However, I still get to the top and if it is a couple of minutes later...no big deal...right? At least I go up in relatively quiet vehicle (at least, inside) and in a much smoother and much more comfortable surrounding.

To each his own, of course. Good luck in whatever you decide and if you come by Newport in your travels, be sure to stop and say Hi. I always have a cold beer for my friends here on rv.net.

Ron

Actually it is all about gearing. For instance the six speed Allison transmission Workhorse 8.1L gasoline chassis units came with a 4:88 rear end and a double overdrive transmission. The five speed overdrive Allisons had a 5.38:1 rear end. In third gear you can climb some of the steepest mountain roads at 55 mph and about 3000 rpms, passing most RV's along the way. Shifting to fourth gear, which was 1:1 would still pull most hills without breaking a sweat. Once you got to level running, the double over-drive will still give you decent fuel mileage with a 65 mph cruise at 2000 rpms.
You can talk about HP to weight ratio all you want but without the proper overall gear ratio, it is a useless bit of information.

[lanerd]

Gjac wrote:

lanerd wrote:
When we got our first MH, we were looking at different make/models of 36' gassers and like you was very disappointed in the noise of the engine at anything over 3000 rpms. It was suggested to me to try out a 36' dp, so we did. Wow, what a difference. We could carry on a normal conversation at any time and any speed. There really is just no comparison.

Ron

This was my thinking several years ago also. I bought this MH 10 years ago when I retired to see if this hobby was for me and learn about MH's and just thought the logical transition was to a slightly bigger DP because my wife would never want to full time. Thinking and people change. 10 years and 80k miles later she is now less likely to part time. I like the shorter lighter MH's not only for camping but for power. The DP MH's I tested did not perform as well as these short gas MH's which is another thing that I would have a hard time getting used to. My friend has a 36 ft 2012 Tiffin Phaeton and he could not keep up with my old 454 on hills on our trip to Branson Mo. I think a 340 or 360 HP gas MH that weights 15k lbs will always have better performance than 330-360 MH that is closer to 30k lbs.

It's all about weight to power ratio. My first mh was only about 80 lbs per hp and it went up the hills quite rapidly. Our newer mh is closer to 100 lbs per hp and yes, it does seem to be a little slower on the steeper grades. However, I still get to the top and if it is a couple of minutes later...no big deal...right? At least I go up in relatively quiet vehicle (at least, inside) and in a much smoother and much more comfortable surrounding.

To each his own, of course. Good luck in whatever you decide and if you come by Newport in your travels, be sure to stop and say Hi. I always have a cold beer for my friends here on rv.net.

Ron

[mike_brez]

Specs
Nada

[Gjac]

mike brez wrote:
I liked these little Allegro Red DP. Even come with a 350 cummins.
Red in Titusville

That is a nice looking MH with some nice features. The ad did't say how much it weighs. The main advantage to me is larger water tanks, more storage and a better ride over the Ford chassis.

[ferndaleflyer]

I drove my friends V-10 back from SC last fall and that thing made more engine noise than anything I had ever been in before.....He claims its because the engine has to rev more.....I have had gassers before but nothing that sounded like that thing.

[timmac]

Gjac wrote:
Last week I test drove a 2009 National MH and a 2013 Tiffen MH both on the Ford chassis and 32 ft long. Both had plenty of power (13 sec from 40-60 mph). I am in Fla so I could not test them on any hills or rough roads but the ride seemed smooth and the handling seemed ok. The only issue that I had was the eng noise when accelerating. The salesman said it is only noisy for a short time but having driven an old 454 where the max torque is 1800 rpm's this was hard for me to get used to. On my current MH I added another layer of insulation and hear very little eng noise, I hear more exhaust noise due to the headers when accelerating. My question is for those that have the Ford Chassis does adding another layer of insulation under the dog house reduce the eng noise much? Most of this noise seemed to come from the dash area up front and not from the dog house.

Absolutely does make it more quiet, I sound proof my doghouse and under the floors on driver/passenger seat and my noise level was cut in half if not more, 08 Bounder with Ford chassis, just don't know why RV manufactures just add sound proof at factory and charge a $100 more to make up the cost.

[mike_brez]

Executive wrote:
You'll appreciate all that noise if your MIL is riding shotgun...:W:W...Dennis

That ain't never gonna happen.

[Gjac]

lanerd wrote:
When we got our first MH, we were looking at different make/models of 36' gassers and like you was very disappointed in the noise of the engine at anything over 3000 rpms. It was suggested to me to try out a 36' dp, so we did. Wow, what a difference. We could carry on a normal conversation at any time and any speed. There really is just no comparison.

Ron

This was my thinking several years ago also. I bought this MH 10 years ago when I retired to see if this hobby was for me and learn about MH's and just thought the logical transition was to a slightly bigger DP because my wife would never want to full time. Thinking and people change. 10 years and 80k miles later she is now less likely to part time. I like the shorter lighter MH's not only for camping but for power. The DP MH's I tested did not perform as well as these short gas MH's which is another thing that I would have a hard time getting used to. My friend has a 36 ft 2012 Tiffin Phaeton and he could not keep up with my old 454 on hills on our trip to Branson Mo. I think a 340 or 360 HP gas MH that weights 15k lbs will always have better performance than 330-360 MH that is closer to 30k lbs.

[LVJ58]

Our 2000 is fairly quiet cruising around 60mph, however when fan clutch engages, it does gets a bit noisy.

[rgatijnet1]

Gjac wrote:
Thanks Ron for your informative post. There are not a lot of options if you want a shorter gas MH. I have not seen any Workhorse chassis to test drive, not sure what year they stopped making them. I have the salesman at La Mesa checking his other stores for one but my suspicion is there are a lot fewer of them compared to the Ford.

I remember seeing a 2012 Monaco coach that had the 8.1L Vortec engine/Workhorse chassis/Allison trans. This was probably built on a 2011 chassis.
A lot depends on what type of coach you are looking for. Some were almost exclusively Workhorse chassis and some were split 50-50. With the Monaco Trek line of coaches, which were all less than 32 feet, they only used the Ford chassis for two years. So few people bought the Ford, even tho they were $3000 cheaper than the WH, that Monaco dropped the Ford chassis completely.
I think common sense will tell you that any engine today will serve your purposes and that all front engine coaches will be louder than most rear engine coaches. With a weekends labor, and a few bucks for insulation, you can get the noise down to a minimum. One of the DP's that I had was so noisy from wind noise by the door that it was louder than the current front engine gas coach. The big problem was that the wind noise was there all of the time whereas the engine noise was only there during a high rev situation.

[Executive45]

You'll appreciate all that noise if your MIL is riding shotgun...:W:W...Dennis

[lanerd]

When we got our first MH, we were looking at different make/models of 36' gassers and like you was very disappointed in the noise of the engine at anything over 3000 rpms. It was suggested to me to try out a 36' dp, so we did. Wow, what a difference. We could carry on a normal conversation at any time and any speed. There really is just no comparison.

Ron

[sch911]

Pretty hard to compare a 454 V8 with a modern Ford Triton V10 with overhead cams. The V10 is designed for high rev operation so they do make some noise just like the're supposed to. You gotta just let them rev...