Our first motorhome question.

[David658]

We just recently purchased a 2016 Forest River Georgetown 335DS from Lazy Days in Tampa Fla. It was a used coach with only 3,000 miles. We love our coach however we were very disappointed driving back home to North Georgia. On a smooth road it glides along fine and couldn't ask for a better ride but when you get in bumpy road conditions the ride is horrible. It almost reminds me of the ride on a city bus or a trolley. With this being our first motorhome I just wasn't sure if this is normal in a Class A or not. We have previously owned travel trailers and a 5th wheel. Surely the shocks aren't bad already. Wondering if we have made a mistake.

[eadeal55]

on a smooth road, my Bounder rides like it is on rails. Get on a bumpy road, full or light load, tires at 100 psi, and it will bounce DW off the toilet in a heartbeat.

[LVJ58]

You might try installing Koni FSD shocks and see if that helps any, and as others suggested check air pressure in tires. On your coach pressure should be around 80psi.

Good luck and let us know if and when you get any ride improvement.

[dezolen]

Yes you said it the best Mile High.

[Mile_High]

So there you have it 🙂

DP owners saying their ride is better than a gas coach (oh I mean motorhome), and gas motorhome owners defending their ride because of all the $$$ they saved.

In the end - did you have fun when you got there and did you have fun getting there? Other than aircraft or hover boat, you aren't going to tame these crummy highways.

[dezolen]

Love the way certain DP owners will tell you theirs ride so smoothly no matter what but only if you have a tag axle and side rad if the truth be known.( so I read between the lines) A newer gas powered coach will ride fine if you have proper tire pressures and your belongings loaded. When we drove our new gasser empty it did ride a little rough on rough roads. Once I learned how to drive it, loaded it and adjusted tire pressure it was fine. Noise is not an issue either other than the odd time we drive steep inclines. Normally the only thing we hear is wind noise but what would one expect with a billboard running down the road.
ps: some day I might have a DP but so far in the 4 years of ownership we could not be happier and still have lots of $$$ which we did not tie up in a more depreciating asset.

[JoeH]

Good ideas above- it'll never handle like a car or pickup on rough roads. The late model F53's are pretty good compared to the earlier ones like the one I had.
Get it 4 corner weighed. Lazy Days can do it, but I doubt you want to drive all the way back to Tampa. Once weighed, consult the the tire manufactures tire chart to see what the recommended pressure is. Unless you are at weight capacity, the pressure will probably be less than what is on the placard that is in the coach. I don't know what shocks were used in your year chassis, but on our prior F53, the factory shocks were terrible. I replaced them with Monroe's and the ride improved significantly. Others have gone to Koni's
After awhile, you will get more accustomed to the harsh ride that is pretty much normal on our less than great road system. Good luck and have fun with your new "toy"

[dubdub07]

I can certainly understand the uneasy feeling of buying a new MH and things being not what you expect. I have had that feeling, even with my pusher. I will say that giving things time and listening to "good" advice (buy a DP is not constructive) tweaking things as you go will help as time goes by. I wish you all the best and I bet you get it figured out. I love the ride in my DP, but there were certainly some things I had to tweak to get there. Good luck, and don't fret too much!!

Bill

[tropical36]

univmd wrote:

msmith1199 wrote:

David658 wrote:
We just recently purchased a 2016 Forest River Georgetown 335DS from Lazy Days in Tampa Fla. It was a used coach with only 3,000 miles. We love our coach however we were very disappointed driving back home to North Georgia. On a smooth road it glides along fine and couldn't ask for a better ride but when you get in bumpy road conditions the ride is horrible. It almost reminds me of the ride on a city bus or a trolley. With this being our first motorhome I just wasn't sure if this is normal in a Class A or not. We have previously owned travel trailers and a 5th wheel. Surely the shocks aren't bad already. Wondering if we have made a mistake.

I went from a gas Class A to a DP with airbags and although the ride got better, when the road is bad you get a bad ride. And roads all over are getting bad. Sounds like what you are describing is normal to me. There are ways to improve it, but you're still going to feel it on bad roads. Even the $ 2 million dollar coaches are going to feel it, although they are a lot better. Even in your own post you meantion it feels like a City Bus. Most City Busses are million dollar plus rigs with the best of suspension systems, yet still have a rough ride on a bad road.

True. Our coach rides like a city bus. Diesel pusher with no tag axle. A Prevost rides like a Greyhound bus, same chassis.

I wasn't aware that a Prevost had a chassis and more like having a uni-body type construction.

[doxiemom11]

Empty - you will get a much rougher ride that it will be once you get your stuff loaded and have some weight in the rig. We noticed a huge difference between empty on the ride home and loaded heading out our first time.

[univmd]

msmith1199 wrote:

David658 wrote:
We just recently purchased a 2016 Forest River Georgetown 335DS from Lazy Days in Tampa Fla. It was a used coach with only 3,000 miles. We love our coach however we were very disappointed driving back home to North Georgia. On a smooth road it glides along fine and couldn't ask for a better ride but when you get in bumpy road conditions the ride is horrible. It almost reminds me of the ride on a city bus or a trolley. With this being our first motorhome I just wasn't sure if this is normal in a Class A or not. We have previously owned travel trailers and a 5th wheel. Surely the shocks aren't bad already. Wondering if we have made a mistake.

I went from a gas Class A to a DP with airbags and although the ride got better, when the road is bad you get a bad ride. And roads all over are getting bad. Sounds like what you are describing is normal to me. There are ways to improve it, but you're still going to feel it on bad roads. Even the $ 2 million dollar coaches are going to feel it, although they are a lot better. Even in your own post you meantion it feels like a City Bus. Most City Busses are million dollar plus rigs with the best of suspension systems, yet still have a rough ride on a bad road.

True. Our coach rides like a city bus. Diesel pusher with no tag axle. A Prevost rides like a Greyhound bus, same chassis.

[DryCreek]

strudeau wrote:


By definition, a Class A Gas Motorhome is not a Coach. A Coach is defined as follows:

Motor Coach
A vehicle that is built upon a commercial truck or bus chassis. Not just a motorhome, these are the higher end of mobile living. These include conversion buses.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the F-53 is a commercial truck chassis. Just like the Workhorse, they could be underneath your favorite big brown delivery truck.

[strudeau]

I often wonder how RV Dealers/Salesstaff portray the features of their products when dealing with first time buyers.

By definition, a Class A Gas Motorhome is not a Coach. A Coach is defined as follows:

Motor Coach
A vehicle that is built upon a commercial truck or bus chassis. Not just a motorhome, these are the higher end of mobile living. These include conversion buses.

A Diesel pusher is night and day different, in both ride and handling. As previous posters have said, get a DP if you want a smoother ride, if not, work to add some of the other handling packages available for Gas Motorhomes. I hope you get your concerns worked out.

As a side note, RV.Net really should have two categories for posting on this site. One for DP and one for Gas powered Motorhomes. I can imagine there is much confusion for newbies seeking advise, and hoping to apply a posted "fix" for their gas motorhome, that may only be applicable to a DP.

[tropical36]

David658 wrote:
We just recently purchased a 2016 Forest River Georgetown 335DS from Lazy Days in Tampa Fla. It was a used coach with only 3,000 miles. We love our coach however we were very disappointed driving back home to North Georgia. On a smooth road it glides along fine and couldn't ask for a better ride but when you get in bumpy road conditions the ride is horrible. It almost reminds me of the ride on a city bus or a trolley. With this being our first motorhome I just wasn't sure if this is normal in a Class A or not. We have previously owned travel trailers and a 5th wheel. Surely the shocks aren't bad already. Wondering if we have made a mistake.

You can only expect so much from a solid I beam front axle with leaf springs.
First get it loaded for the road.
Then get it weighed and check the tire pressures, adding 10 - 15psi for a cushion above the inflation chart specs.
There's not a whole lot you can do after that, except for sticking to smooth surfaces, whenever possible.
I have no complaints with our present air ride, but then had none with our old P30 IFS chassis either. Never did know why this chassis took so much flak, as there was never another that came as close to riding in a DP. A little on the light side, maybe, but most were never overloaded and changing out the front coils for Henderson's cured the air bag woe.
As for buying another coach, as has been suggested, it's a little late for that, without taking a real beating. When we buy, it's never new or even close, so as we can get as much quality for our dollars, as possible. Again, to each his own and am glad for new buyers that create some great bargains for the rest of us.

[wilanddij]

Trade for a DP is easy to say.
A 2016 coach on a gas chassis most likely is a Ford F53. There's lots of experience and help at the F53 Forum at this link iRV2 F53. Might want to check it out.

[msmith1199]

David658 wrote:
We just recently purchased a 2016 Forest River Georgetown 335DS from Lazy Days in Tampa Fla. It was a used coach with only 3,000 miles. We love our coach however we were very disappointed driving back home to North Georgia. On a smooth road it glides along fine and couldn't ask for a better ride but when you get in bumpy road conditions the ride is horrible. It almost reminds me of the ride on a city bus or a trolley. With this being our first motorhome I just wasn't sure if this is normal in a Class A or not. We have previously owned travel trailers and a 5th wheel. Surely the shocks aren't bad already. Wondering if we have made a mistake.

I went from a gas Class A to a DP with airbags and although the ride got better, when the road is bad you get a bad ride. And roads all over are getting bad. Sounds like what you are describing is normal to me. There are ways to improve it, but you're still going to feel it on bad roads. Even the $ 2 million dollar coaches are going to feel it, although they are a lot better. Even in your own post you meantion it feels like a City Bus. Most City Busses are million dollar plus rigs with the best of suspension systems, yet still have a rough ride on a bad road.