P32 or W20 workhorse

[keyman44]

We are ready to buy a class A gas motor home. Looking at years 2003 - 2005, 30' - 33' in length. I see that we could end up with an independent suspension P32 or a straight axel W20 chassis. I recently drove my buddy's 30' 2003 P32 and it drove pretty good. I drove it on a 4 lane highway with one hand. It didn't seem to be affected much by the wind or big trucks. I didn't have to make a lot of steering corrections to keep it in the lane. I can't find any W20 RV's around here to test drive. How will the W20 drive in comparison? I'm wondering if I will need to add on a bunch of aftermarket stuff to the W20 just to get it to drive decent. I know that the W20 will have a higher GVWR. I would like to hear from people who have experience driving both.

[Gale_Hawkins]

Bumpy how bumpy is your bumpy road?

The Chevy P series chassis does not have to be rebuild to be decent anymore that you have to rebuild a rubber roof MH with with fiberglass roofing materials for them to stay dry.

At year 18 our 1992 P30 MH chassis front coil springs sagged so the ride height was too low even with 100 PSI in the leaking air bags. For the same price as new OEM coils and new air bags installed we did loose the air bags for good and upgraded the chassis by going to the Henderson SS coil springs.

Some of us would not have ever had a MH experience had it not been for the P30 454 MH chassis and EPDM rubber roofs. Please do not post your opinion as a fact of life and confuse good people hoping to offer their family a MH experience the best way they can.

A MH with P37 in the VIN is not built on a potato chip truck chassis but one designed by GM for the MH industry. While they share a lot of parts they are not the same as under a potato chip truck of the same era.

If anyone buys a GM, Workhorse or Ford MH chassis and expect the ride of a diesel pusher chassis then that is another store.

[Bumpyroad]

OK, I understand now. If you completely rebuild a P=30/32 chassis you can make a decent one out of it.
bumpy

[C350amg]

Daveinet wrote:
those were shorter chassis. .

Triple E A3201 (33 feet), Fully loaded for a month, 5 passengers, water tanks full, gas tank full. Scaled weight front axle 2450kg (5400lb) back 5001kg (11020LB), total 16419 or 81 lb shy of being overweight 🙂

The big ticket on my rig was replacing all the front steering parts with supersteer (specially bellcranks). It also has a anti-sway system in the front and air bags in the back. Drives so nice

Agreed with max length and check for slide outs too (they add weight).

But then again if I had a choice I would have gone with a Ford, not because it's better because parts availibility is so much better and a solid front axle is simple.

[wolfe10]

Dave is correct.

I will state it a little differently:

Overloaded springs result in bottoming out and poor handling.

Too lightly loaded springs can result in harsh ride.

Proper design MATCHES spring/axle capacity with actual coach weights.

[Daveinet]

The answer turns out to be rather simple. The P30 series chassis can not handle anything longer than 30 feet. If you are less than 30 feet, it is not too bad, but before the W22 chassis came out, the industry had no choice but to way overload the P30 chassis. That is why you see so many complaints about it. In contrast, you see some here that state is wasn't too bad, but I would be willing to bet money, those were shorter chassis. As far as the W22 being stiff, while a good thing, Allegro discovered that unless the coach had slide outs, the W22 road very rough. Not enough weight for the suspension.

You need to be careful in the lengths you are looking at, as you are kind of in the dead zone of pushing the length for the P30, yet to light for the W22.

[rvten]

With our older P chassis. It was a pain to drive. Very tiring.
With the W chassis that all went away.

[C350amg]

Bumpyroad wrote:
a P-30/32 sucks, even if they slapped the workhouse name on it it still is a dog. a "new" and true Workhouse has to be an improvement. yes I owned 2 P-3xs and as soon as Ford came out with a real chassis in 1999 I bought a Ford.
I remember back in the early/mid 90s there were write ups in Motorhome etc. magazine on units that were so overloaded in the front that there couldn't be somebody in the passenger seat.
did I mention that a P-30/32 (or bread truck chassis) sucks?
bumpy

I think this is a matter of opinion, I would guess that newer chassis should be better thus there are improvement over the P30-32 platform. But one of the drivers is how well built/maintained the coach is and for me that is an important factor in the purchasing decision

Nevertheless my P30 drives so nice and it is a high mileage rig it all depends about maintenance and covering the known issues of the P30 platform.

I have posted all my experience and what I think needs to be changed on the P30 (all of which I changed).

P30 experience

[JayGee]

I am really happy with my 2005 P-32 with the 8.1 engine. So far I can say that mine does not suck. Maybe the older ones had more problems. The concern if I had one would be the yellow button parking brake. I have had no problem with it but some have.

If you go with the W series make sure the brake calipers have been reworked. They had some problems with those locking up.

[Bumpyroad]

a P-30/32 sucks, even if they slapped the workhouse name on it it still is a dog. a "new" and true Workhouse has to be an improvement. yes I owned 2 P-3xs and as soon as Ford came out with a real chassis in 1999 I bought a Ford.
I remember back in the early/mid 90s there were write ups in Motorhome etc. magazine on units that were so overloaded in the front that there couldn't be somebody in the passenger seat.
did I mention that a P-30/32 (or bread truck chassis) sucks?
bumpy

[glamisorbust]

I have a 1994 P30 georgie boy. It's a pretty good motorhome, rides just fine and we like it. It's no diesel pusher, but it does the job and it's paid for. The airbags inside the coil springs are a joke, and can be replaced with a spring all by itself without the airbag. Even with new bags, mine still go flat after about 2 days. I have checked for air leaks and can't find any, so I just keep airing them up when I need to. Airing them up makes it handle and ride a lot better than no airbags.

[Gale_Hawkins]

Heck both will be fine. It the chassis be one factor not THE factor. The condition/quality of the house in a 10 year old MH a major consideration too.

[keyman44]

wolfe10
You said that the w20 is a much more robust chassis. Please elaborate. What do you mean?

[keyman44]

rvten
You said that the W20 is a stiffer chassis. I take that to mean that you felt more to a thud, or a jolt from any unevenness in the road. How did the W20 steer going down the highway. Did you have to make more steering corrections to keep it in the lane? Was it affected more or less by the wind and the big trucks? I assume the P32 had a 4 speed. How much would I regret not having the 5 speed?





rvten

rvten

[wolfe10]

The VAST majority of owners prefer the W chassis to the old-design P chassis.

A much more robust chassis.

[rvten]

We had both.
The W20 comes with the Chevy Vortec 8.1 and an Allison 1000 trans.
The P 32 foes not.
The W20 is a stiffer chassis. No air bags inside coil springs up front to screw with.
Only thing I added to our W20 was a Steer Safe steering control. I also added Bilstein shocks up front at 40.000 miles. Everything else was stock.
Would like to have that engine and trans in this class C.