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Ride comfort

suprz
Explorer
Explorer
Until my wife and I can retire, the long distance trips we want to take are going to have to involve alot of driving to get to our destinations. 8 hrs or more driving per day. What can we do to make the ford chassis more comfortable, and less of a tiring affair?
Proud father of a US Marine
30 REPLIES 30

ron_dittmer
Explorer II
Explorer II
Dakzuki wrote:
ron.dittmer wrote:
Calisdad wrote:
I find noise very tiring. We put that waffle material between every dish and pot or pan we have. Also bungee any door that can rattle.
Yes, here too. We place a paper towel in between certain pans. For our dishes, we switched to Corelle initially because they stack so small & tight for space sake, but we learned that since they stack tightly, they don't rattle.

We also line all drawers and cabinet bottoms with the foam-like shelf liner as shown.

I added chair leg bottom felt pads on the rooftop antenna so it would not tap-tap-tap on the roof. I eventually took apart our TV and added numerous pads inside it so the RV shielding sheet metal inside would not resonate. A few other touches inside and our rig runs fairly rattle-free, quite satisfactory. It did take some determination to get it good after the obvious noise makers got addressed.


Ron,

Get some strips of that thin rubbery shelf liner stuff and put it between the pots and the lids. It will stop that potential rattle.
But then we have no paper towels handy.... ๐Ÿ™‚ Yep, some squares of that shelf liner material would do well too.

One rattle we learned to resolve easily is the stove grates. We drop a silicone trivet bridging across the two grates, then place the stove covers. All quite then there too. The pot holder/trivet is always handy when you need it, whether cooking or afterward and ready to travel.

This is what we use, bought from Walmart.

ron_dittmer
Explorer II
Explorer II
pnichols wrote:
Ron,

Is that chair from Paul's Seating a recliner? If so, is it a zero clearance recliner such that it moves forward as you recline so it's back doesn't have to move up against the wall behind it? Paul's Seating website doesn't seem to provide much info on their chairs.

I seem to recall a photo you posted once of your wife reclining in that chair.

Does the chair mount on the stock base that came in your PC? The base supporting our barrel chair swivels and slides for/aft for great flexibility and we'd like to keep that capability but a have a recliner instead of the barrel chair.


Yes it is a recliner but conventional, not zero clearance. The pedestal base swivels and slides so the seat can be adjusted away from the wall to recline. I reused the pedestal, off with the barrel, on with the recliner, taking all of about 20 minutes to swap seats. I like to slide the captain seat close to the dinette and recline & use the dinette bench as an ottoman. That also works good for TV watching, but here my wife demonstrates "The Ideal Position".


It sounds like you have the same barrel chair pedestal as us. Just be sure to supply the seat manufacture the distance between the 4 mounting studs. They are threaded rods that stick downward from the frame of the seat. They slip into holes in the pedestal and you reuse the 4 nuts to complete the mount. The seat belt is mounted to the pedestal, not the seat, so you do nothing at all with it.

oldusedbear
Explorer
Explorer
My Coachhouse 23 F450E road like a truck (surprise?) I ripped the rear leaf spring suspension out of it and installed a Reyco Granning true air suspension. Big improvement. Lot of work for an old man - - not real cheap but much better ride than it was.
The reason for spelling is so that all of the words don't look the same.

Dakzuki
Explorer
Explorer
ron.dittmer wrote:
Calisdad wrote:
I find noise very tiring. We put that waffle material between every dish and pot or pan we have. Also bungee any door that can rattle.
Yes, here too. We place a paper towel in between certain pans. For our dishes, we switched to Corelle initially because they stack so small & tight for space sake, but we learned that since they stack tightly, they don't rattle.

We also line all drawers and cabinet bottoms with the foam-like shelf liner as shown.

I added chair leg bottom felt pads on the rooftop antenna so it would not tap-tap-tap on the roof. I eventually took apart our TV and added numerous pads inside it so the RV shielding sheet metal inside would not resonate. A few other touches inside and our rig runs fairly rattle-free, quite satisfactory. It did take some determination to get it good after the obvious noise makers got addressed.


Ron,

Get some strips of that thin rubbery shelf liner stuff and put it between the pots and the lids. It will stop that potential rattle.
2011 Itasca Navion 24J
2000 Chev Tracker Toad

Dakzuki
Explorer
Explorer
suprz wrote:
Until my wife and I can retire, the long distance trips we want to take are going to have to involve alot of driving to get to our destinations. 8 hrs or more driving per day. What can we do to make the ford chassis more comfortable, and less of a tiring affair?


Seats, seats, and seats. Some vehicles I am fatigued at 3 hours and some I can drive a full tank without stopping. Remember, cushy doesn't always mean comfortable. Support in the right places is king. Adjustability is also a big plus.

The lateral stability in my Sprinter RV is better than my previous E350 based RV. I suspect when Ford gets around to a heavy duty Transit cutaway folks will see similar improvements in stability. The E series front suspension is prone to bump steer so when it rocks you get a steering input whether you like it or not. That causes the driver to have to make an input to correct for it. You can read on the forums all the read on this forum all the methods used to tame E series vans. It can be done.
2011 Itasca Navion 24J
2000 Chev Tracker Toad

Rolin
Explorer
Explorer
Hi Suprz,
When buying an RV most people do not take a looooong test drive. I know we didn't. So often you get stuck with what it is. Some MH vendor units (on Ford Chassis) seem to drive better than others...luck of the draw? There are things you can do to make them handle better but some are ok with just making sure the alignment is correct. We were very lucky. Purchased a used Winnebago B+ and it handles fine for a large vehicle. No improvements required.

We typically drive long days. Stop every 2+ hours for a break. But (my opinion) you will be tired after 10 to 12 hours behind the wheel. I have driven ours 700+ miles and I was really tired at the end of the day. Left at 4:00am and stopped for the night at 7:00pm. It was a long day and its a large vehicle...lots of things to pay attention to when you are on the road.

However, I love to drive our motorhome. Just a cool way to travel. Never get to spend as much time as I would like traveling that way. So if you have to drive long days in a motorhome....that is (to me) a neat part of the vacation. i.e. its not just the destination, but also about the journey getting there. Have lots of fun along the way ;-).

pnichols
Explorer II
Explorer II
Ron,

Is that chair from Paul's Seating a recliner? Is so, is it a zero clearance recliner such that it moves forward as you recline so it's back doesn't have to move up against the wall behind it? Paul's Seating website doesn't seem to provide much info on their chairs.

I seem to recall a photo you posted once of your wife reclining in that chair.

Does the chair mount on the stock base that came in your PC? The base supporting our barrel chair swivels and slides for/aft for great flexibility and we'd like to keep that capability but a have a recliner instead of the barrel chair.
2005 E450 Itasca 24V Class C

ron_dittmer
Explorer II
Explorer II
Hank85713 wrote:
We do not like the seats that came with it, right now the wife is having some back pains from our trip. I am going to look for seats out of an F2-350 to replace these seats. No real support, the big claim to fame is that they turn around for additional seating!

Again to me biggest thing is to improve the seat. As to a chebby, I drive school buses and last year drove a 3500 cutaway. Same problem with the seat as I have with these fancy ones. Room is marginally better IMO. Just have to find what you like and go from there. I will be looking for some electric seats, saw some in a Jayco Melbourne and then the other day in another Jayco. Good side bolsters and fully electric. Granted you will adjust 1 or 2 times but to get it right!


Phoenix USA gets it's seats from Paul's Seating Inc. HERE. We ordered a 3rd matching captain seat "Lexus" to replace a barrel seat inside the rig. They are offered with and without manually adjustable lumbar support. You can order none, one, or both armrests as your rig requires. I recall the armrests and lumbar were all very cheap so we got it all for our third seat. Total including delivery to the house was $400 about 5 years ago. They can make them to any color swatch you give them to work from. There are two rail dimensions, I think maybe 8" for a pedestal and 11" for the front swivel and power seat bases, for direct bolt-down replacement onto your existing bases.

The seat in the picture is the one we ordered 3 years after we bought our rig. It is identical to the seats up front. People on the Phoenix Cruiser forum thought our older Lexus seats were hard on their back though the seats were not equipped with adjustable lumbar. People like the later seats Phoenix installs for their back troubles, I think the Excursion. If ordering, be sure to get the adjustable lumbar. I want to say each armrest was $10 and lumbar feature was $15, but don't quote me on it.

Hank85713
Explorer
Explorer
We purchased a 2012 winnebago aspect. Overall its pretty fair. We do not like the seats that came with it, right now the wife is having some back pains from our trip. I am going to look for seats out of an F2-350 to replace these seats. No real support, the big claim to fame is that they turn around for additional seating!

Cross winds are a handful (this is a B+ so somewhat more aerodynamic than a standard c), tired yesterday and today from the head/crosswinds from colorado to AZ. There was an article sometime back about light front ends and wandering but I have not been able to find. It did get a little better when I went to 70psi in the airbags. Will change front stabilizer to a HD one when we get home.

On average we drive 8-10 hrs to get to where we want to be which is somewhere around 4-500 miles. Use Cruise to help. Agin to me biggest thing is to improve the seat. As to a chebby, I drive school buses and last year drove a 3500 cutaway. Same problem with the seat as I have with these fancy ones. Room is marginally better IMO. Just have to find what you like and go from there. I will be looking for some electric seats, saw some in a Jayco Melbourne and then the other day in another Jayco. Good side bolsters and fully electric. Granted you will adjust 1 or 2 times but to get it right!

ron_dittmer
Explorer II
Explorer II
Calisdad wrote:
I find noise very tiring. We put that waffle material between every dish and pot or pan we have. Also bungee any door that can rattle.
Yes, here too. We place a paper towel in between certain pans. For our dishes, we switched to Corelle initially because they stack so small & tight for space sake, but we learned that since they stack tightly, they don't rattle.

We also line all drawers and cabinet bottoms with the foam-like shelf liner as shown.

I even lined the individual flatware compartments.


I added chair leg bottom felt pads on the rooftop antenna so it would not tap-tap-tap on the roof. I eventually took apart our TV and added numerous pads inside it so the RV shielding sheet metal inside would not resonate. A few other touches inside and our rig runs fairly rattle-free, quite satisfactory. It did take some determination to get it good after the obvious noise makers got addressed.

Desert_Captain
Explorer III
Explorer III
j-d wrote:
Wife and I were talking about this again yesterday. We just do NOT find our Ford uncomfortable. I've done most of the mods Ron.D describes above. Changed only front shocks so far and don't have a S-T-P stabilizer. Tire pressure, Alignment, Sway Bars were the biggest improvements. The track bar helps when towing our Frontier.

And it really seems to matter by the specific coach, how the handling works out. Two very similar Phoenix Cruisers right here in this thread. One seems to drive great. The other needed a bunch of mods to tame it. Or is it at least partly, Owner Perception...?


I agree. Sometimes people tend to forget it is a 1 ton truck (or larger), weighing upwards of 10 to 12,000#+. it is not going to drive and ride like your Lexus. Our 2011 chassis E-350 24' C drives and rides just fine. There is absolutely nothing that needs improving. In winds up to 35 mph it is still one hand steering(anything above 35 I get the hell off the road). I can not understand why so many people spend up to $100,000 (or more), on a new Class C and then "need" to fix the steering and suspension. :h

Don't folks actually test drive a coach before buying? :S If my test drive revealed any handling/ride problems they would be fixed before any money changed hands or I would run, not walk down the road.

If your tires are properly inflated for the load they carry and the suspension system is not worn out your C should ride and drive just fine. When my OEM shocks etc., wear out (waaaay down the road), I will replace with the best performance aftermarkets I can find but reengineering the whole rig just is not in my future.

As always.... Opinions and YMMV.

:C

Calisdad
Explorer
Explorer
My RV is on the E450 as well.
I've: added a rear Helwig sway bar.
Bilsteins all around.
Keep the steering damper new.
Watch tire pressure (to the pound).
Added insulation to the doghouse.

I find noise very tiring. We put that waffle material between every dish and pot or pan we have. Also bungee any door that can rattle.
Change drivers every 2 hours and catch a nap when you're not driving. It makes a big difference when you arrive and are not beat from the trip.

j-d
Explorer II
Explorer II
Wife and I were talking about this again yesterday. We just do NOT find our Ford uncomfortable. I've done most of the mods Ron.D describes above. Changed only front shocks so far and don't have a S-T-P stabilizer. Tire pressure, Alignment, Sway Bars were the biggest improvements. The track bar helps when towing our Frontier.

And it really seems to matter by the specific coach, how the handling works out. Two very similar Phoenix Cruisers right here in this thread. One seems to drive great. The other needed a bunch of mods to tame it. Or is it at least partly, Owner Perception...?
If God's Your Co-Pilot Move Over, jd
2003 Jayco Escapade 31A on 2002 Ford E450 V10 4R100 218" WB

hotbyte
Explorer
Explorer
Put her on cruise control and go to back for a nap or turkey sandwich ๐Ÿ™‚

I've not driven ours more than a 4 or 5 hours straight but it is no more tiring than driving a car. As already mentioned, the quality of the road has a major effect on the bumping and noise. It might take you a while to locate and quieten all rattles and noises. To me, the biggest issue is when something in cabinets starts making an irritating rattle. Wife will go to back, locate it and quieten it down by rearranging stuff, putting dish towels between dishes/pots/pans, etc.
2018 Minnie Winnie 24M