Question for Class C owners

[chiefward]

Got a question for Class C owners. Does your class c drive and ride like a 20 year old U-Haul truck? I've only test driven one and it beat me to death and i was driving on the interstate. I currently have a 5th wheel, pulled with a F250 superduty and rides fairly smoothly on the interstate. I know it's a truck on secondary roads. Am considering going to a Class C or a Class A.

[pnichols]

What ron.dittmer posted above is right on the money!

We intentionally looked for and finally bought a smaller Class C (24 feet) that was built on a Ford chassis that the motorhome's weight did not actually require - the E450 chassis instead of the E350 chassis. This was based on the concept of "if you want something to be the most reliable and/or to last as long as possible - buy a heavy duty version of it but use it in a light duty way".

We intended on taking our small Class C off highway so wanted a rugged as possible chassis under it. The handling was great right from the start due to the E450's stock stiff springs, stock front steering stabilizer, stiff shocks, and stock front and rear sway bars. A few years after owning it I finally had the alignment checked by a commercial truck shop and they added shims in the front suspension (... probably to improve caster in accordance with it's loaded weight at the time).

The only ride/handling issue with it was - as ron.dittmer mentioned - a harsh ride in the rear (on sharp road anomalies such as cracks and potholes) -> but not too bad because we always tended to travel heavy in the rear due to staying on the top half of the large fuel tank and with a full as possible fresh water tank (ride in the front was fine). I felt that those stiff stock shocks in the rear were only adding to the harsh pounding in the rear from the springs.

To reduce the stock stiff shocks' contribution to the harsh ride in the rear we replaced the rear shocks with Koni's special Frequency Selective Damping (FSD) shocks. These shocks self-adjust so that they are soft on (high frequency) highway cracks and potholes, but are stiff on slower (low frequency) occuring motions such as on roadway curves and pushing from passing trucks. These shocks nicely improved the E450's harsh rear ride on our small Class C.

[justcuz]

Having owned a Ford chassis Class C and now a Chevrolet chassis Class C, I agree that the ride and handling is much better on the GM.

Both of my motorhomes were the same size and I really noticed the difference.

The only thing that I did was to install a set of 6 Michelin tires and get a wheel alignment, otherwise the suspension is completely stock.

[chiefward]

Thanks for all the advice. All the information y'all provided is quite helpful.

[ron_dittmer]

Hi chiefward,

Everyone is offering great insight, and here is mine.

Any class C motorhome is going to have a rough ride when these two conditions exist.

1) Tire pressure is too much for the actual load on them. Fronts versus rears are treated independently.
2) The max load rating of the chassis far exceeds the actual load on it.

You mentioned a U-Haul box truck. Load the box truck to it's load capacity and the ride smooths out. The same applies here.

My rig is built on a 2007 E350 chassis rated at 11,500 pounds. The actual weight of my rig when on trips with people, gear, food, full fuel and water tanks, etc, etc, is at it's sweet spot of around 11,000 pounds. That leaves roughly 500 pounds of margin.

That along with proper tire pressure, our ride is very comfortable. The ride is not as soft as our family sedan, but is quite acceptable. It also mentally helped to improve our road trip experience when addressing all the little rattles around the house.

So.......

If you have a rig built on an E450 chassis with a 14,500 pound rating, but the actual weight is like mine at 11,000 pounds, you have 3500 pounds of weight margin. That extra margin does not seem to be massive, but it will knock your teeth loose, not to mention the damage being done to the house and contents. That is partially the reason for water getting inside motor homes. The caulked seam work and general construction can't handle the constant abuse. That is why some people like myself stress considering a better quality constructed rig. That would be the better question......how to identify "better" of which I have a very long winded reply for that question.

[IB853347201]

I would have to agree. Generally Class C's, especially those on the Ford E chassis, drive and ride like a UHaul. Moving up to a quality MH chassis Class A makes a huge difference.

[MDKMDK]

chiefward wrote:
Got a question for Class C owners. Does your class c drive and ride like a 20 year old U-Haul truck? I've only test driven one and it beat me to death and i was driving on the interstate. I currently have a 5th wheel, pulled with a F250 superduty and rides fairly smoothly on the interstate. I know it's a truck on secondary roads. Am considering going to a Class C or a Class A.

Guess your answer is,"it depends".

[Ed_Gee]

Our Winnebago Fuse class C rides and drives like a comfortable new Ford pickup.....which it is related to, being on the Ford Transit cutaway Chassis.

[camperdave]

I'm rolling at about 12,500 pounds (14,050 gvwr) with 60psi front 70psi rear and it feels fine to me. My car is smoother, but I can drive it all day long no problem.

[bobndot]

My 2018 24 ft Ford E450 rear rides hard empty because of the 4000# payload. As you load it for a trip the ride gets better the more weight you carry .
All loaded for a trip with full water (50 gals) I sit about 12,500 with a 14,500 gvwr. I do not run my E tires at 80#, 70# works better for me.
I also added new shocks with Koni FSD in the rear and Bils in the front.
Either I'm getting used to it or its not bad, but I like driving it now.
My 1500 max tow pack Silverado hitched to a 6k TT rode smoother but you cant compare the two vehicles for ride quality.
My 350 SRW GM with a 4000# truck camper rode more like my class c .

Why not rent a class c in the size you would like and see how you like it ?

[Desert_Captain]

Our 2012 E-350 24' Nexus {54,000 miles} rides and handles just fine. The only thing I have done was to replace the original shocks at 33K miles with heavy duty Bilsteins which made an incredible difference {Huge improvement}.

I barely feel passing tracks and an am comfortable driving in 35 mph winds. What works for me and I guarantee will work for anyone else is to properly inflate your tires for the load they are supporting. IGNORE the max pressure on the sidewalls and IGNORE any preprinted stickers found in the coach. They might, just maybe, be right but it is not likely.

Get your rig weighed, inflate per the tire manufacturers load/inflation tables and if you still have issues look to get an alignment with the proper {likely increased} caster. Nothing further should be needed, just replace anything that wears out {like shocks} with quality gear engineered for the job you are asking them to perform.

As always... Opinions and YMMV?

:C

[MDKMDK]

chiefward wrote:
Got a question for Class C owners. Does your class c drive and ride like a 20 year old U-Haul truck? Am considering going to a Class C or a Class A.

No, it rides like a 1 year old Sprinter, which it is. It rides well on smooth roads and rougher on rougher ones. I keep the tires harder for fuel economy, over softer for ride comfort, and the trade off isn't that bad.
We find it less grueling than the 2016 Sunstar was, on the F53 rack. The Roadtrek was pretty good on just about any but the worst roads.
If I drove all 3, at the same speeds, on the same roads, the Sunstar would have been the worst by far, with the Roadtrek just edging out the Navion for ride comfort.

[Steeljag]

As stated in the other posts check the tire pressure and air ride system if equipped ! Besides checking those two things , I’ve done nothing ( upgrades) to our C in the first 20 months. I can drink my coffee and cruise down the Interstates with no issues !

It is a big truck, and after eight hours of driving I’m ready to call it a day, but I consider it a comfortable vehicle for what it is !

[DrewE]

Mine handles like a comfortable U-Haul; it's a truck, but it doesn't beat one up generally speaking and is not especially exhausting to drive. If the road is rough enough, of course, you do get bounced around...in most any vehicle, to a greater or lesser extent.

Gas class A's don't have a vastly better ride; the Ford F53 chassis they use is generally similar in many respects to the E series van chassis (or the Chevy van chassis). Diesel pusher class A's with air suspension do have a significantly smoother ride...and cost significantly more, of course.

[Plturne]

We have a 24’ Class C built on a Ford E350 chassis. Not long after purchase we had the sway bars, shocks and steering stabilizer upgraded along with a really thorough alignment. Drove 40% better. Tire pressure is critical especially fronts. A pleasure to drive now.