Small ‘C’. Chev or Godzilla

[FireGuard]

I’m in the market for a small class c, preferably a Forest River 23-24’ models.
I plan to put in a lot of miles and flat tow a vehicle so power and mpg are important as well as solid reliability.
I’ve had the V10 and was happy.
I would like the new Ford 7.3 but can get better deals on the Chevy 6.0 which I believe is a solid motor and probably better mpg.
I believe both come with. 6 speed trans.
What are your thoughts good and bad?
Thanks

[Tom_Anderson]

We have a 2021 Sunseeker 2440 with the 7.3, and it's been fantastic. I've also owned a couple of V-10 powered rigs in the past and, while I think the V-10 is a very good engine, the 7.3 has been significantly better in every way. The power difference is much more noticeable than the numbers on paper would imply (especially when towing), and it's quite a bit quieter than the V-10 as well. We've done nothing to the suspension, and it drives great.

[atreis]

Very happy with my Chevy 6.0. Thor offered this model on either E-350 or Chevy 4500. I found and drove both (really had to hunt and go out of my way to do that). The Chevy drove hands-down better. Much more controllable and comfortable ride. Also, the E-350 was pretty low on OCCC, where mine has over 3K lbs.

[GottaRunGottaCa]

GottaRunGottaCamp wrote:

wowens79 wrote:
This experience is not in a Class C, but I towed with a 2002 6.0, and now have a 2022 7.3. Towing was pulling a 8000lb TT
The 6.0 is an incredibly reliable engine, I drove it from new in 2002, for 20 years and 3 weeks and 268,000 miles, and it still ran great. All internals were still original when I sold it. The thing with the 6.0 is it makes all of its power at higher RPMs, it really likes to be over 3000 rpms, and on hills it was normal for it to spin over 4000rpms. It didn't bother it, and no issues overheating or anything. It was just designed to run at those rpms.
The 7.3 is a different beast, loads more power, and it makes power at much lower rpms. It has over 400ftlb of torque at 1500rpms. Hills that the 6.0 struggled to hold speed at 4000rpms, the 7.3 accelerates at 2500rpm.

I do have the 10spd in my truck, so it is easy to find the perfect gear, but on flat interstate it pulls in 10th at 1800 rpms. The 6.0 only had a 4spd, but it pulled mainly in 3rd at 3000rpms, and would either lose speed or drop to 2nd on some hills.
The 6.0 we called Ol' Faithful, it was a great engine, but has no where near the power of the 7.3.

I think you mean 6.8L V10, I had the 2001 for 21 years and sold it last year with 219,000 miles and say the same as you, great engine and never had any work done on it.

I stand corrected, GM 6.0 was also a good engine 🙂

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Our previous Class C had the E-450 V-10. Tons of power; but the "hotfoot" problem was real; and the motor always sounded "revv'd" We got 8.5 mpg

Our new C has the 7.3 beast motor. Much lower RPMs and power; and FAST. Got 9.1 mpg towing our Wrangler JLU. No hotfoot. Our son has the same motor in an F-450 and easily pulls a 38' 4-horse trailer with living quarters; his experience, plus Ed's preference for Ford products and the overall "handsomeness" of the E350, more or less made us choose Ford over the Chevy.

[Grit_dog]

^Doesn’t matter who had what for 21 years….lol. Not exactly relevant since the OP is looking at new Cs. But the trips down memory lane are always fun.
And unless the new Chevy Cs are still on 2021 chassis then the Chevy has the 6.6 if it’s the big V8. Starting last year 2022 models.
Both the bow ties and blue ovals are stuck with 6 speeds but the bow tie is 401/464? and the blue oval is a detuned 7.3 making less power and torque than the Chevy. about 40hp/40tq less.
Apples to apples the GM should have a little more snort.

[bobndot]

I think he had a 02 1500 Silverado with a 6.0. GM .

[GottaRunGottaCa]

wowens79 wrote:
This experience is not in a Class C, but I towed with a 2002 6.0, and now have a 2022 7.3. Towing was pulling a 8000lb TT
The 6.0 is an incredibly reliable engine, I drove it from new in 2002, for 20 years and 3 weeks and 268,000 miles, and it still ran great. All internals were still original when I sold it. The thing with the 6.0 is it makes all of its power at higher RPMs, it really likes to be over 3000 rpms, and on hills it was normal for it to spin over 4000rpms. It didn't bother it, and no issues overheating or anything. It was just designed to run at those rpms.
The 7.3 is a different beast, loads more power, and it makes power at much lower rpms. It has over 400ftlb of torque at 1500rpms. Hills that the 6.0 struggled to hold speed at 4000rpms, the 7.3 accelerates at 2500rpm.

I do have the 10spd in my truck, so it is easy to find the perfect gear, but on flat interstate it pulls in 10th at 1800 rpms. The 6.0 only had a 4spd, but it pulled mainly in 3rd at 3000rpms, and would either lose speed or drop to 2nd on some hills.
The 6.0 we called Ol' Faithful, it was a great engine, but has no where near the power of the 7.3.

I think you mean 6.8L V10, I had the 2001 for 21 years and sold it last year with 219,000 miles and say the same as you, great engine and never had any work done on it.

[wowens79]

This experience is not in a Class C, but I towed with a 2002 6.0, and now have a 2022 7.3. Towing was pulling a 8000lb TT
The 6.0 is an incredibly reliable engine, I drove it from new in 2002, for 20 years and 3 weeks and 268,000 miles, and it still ran great. All internals were still original when I sold it. The thing with the 6.0 is it makes all of its power at higher RPMs, it really likes to be over 3000 rpms, and on hills it was normal for it to spin over 4000rpms. It didn't bother it, and no issues overheating or anything. It was just designed to run at those rpms.
The 7.3 is a different beast, loads more power, and it makes power at much lower rpms. It has over 400ftlb of torque at 1500rpms. Hills that the 6.0 struggled to hold speed at 4000rpms, the 7.3 accelerates at 2500rpm.

I do have the 10spd in my truck, so it is easy to find the perfect gear, but on flat interstate it pulls in 10th at 1800 rpms. The 6.0 only had a 4spd, but it pulled mainly in 3rd at 3000rpms, and would either lose speed or drop to 2nd on some hills.
The 6.0 we called Ol' Faithful, it was a great engine, but has no where near the power of the 7.3.

[Chum_lee]

At this point I would wait. See the, . . . IMO, worthless discussion in "Tow Vehicles" at this newsgroup.

Then look at: youtube "Issues with the Ford 7.3 liter V-8"

IMO, it's too early to tell exactly what Fords issues are with this new engine, but, . . . . . IMO, you should wait to buy one until they (Ford) figure it out.

Chum lee

[bobndot]

I have a 2018 24’ class c on a v10 Ford E450. I spent $4k to make it drive better.
I would go GM if I had to do this again. My previous TC had a 6.0 with a 4 spd and it hauled 10,700# plus a 3,000 trailer with no problems east of the Mississippi.

[Grit_dog]

You’re correct. All the future plumber trucks, furniture deliverymobiles and RVs still have the 6 speed.
I believe all the bread trucks / destined to be roach coaches 30 years from now do as well.

[FireGuard]

I’m pretty sure you get the 6 speed trans with the 7.3 in the commercial or RV chassis.
With the extra load I don’t think you would ever be in the upper gears anyway.

[ronharmless]

I thought the 7.3 came with the 10 speed transmission? If so, that would be a hard combination to pass up.

[Kenneth_Sons]

We have a Forest River 2501TSF on a Ford E-450 chassis. Our experiences are as follows:

Power, it's very apparent that the Ford 7.3 is much more powerful than the Chevy. Also, power will increase substantially at about 7500 miles.

Center consul heat, we haven't noticed this issue; possibly as the 7.3 engine is much narrower than the previous 6.8 V10.

Alignment, all of the new RV's need alignment as when Forest River adds 9000# to the chassis, the partial cab alignment changes. Forest River doesn't state this but they will pay up to $300 for an alignment. We had the tools and $35 for one camber/caster bushing, so we did it ourselves. Have them set it for zero toe-in/toe-out, otherwise the steering will feel vague.

Gas mileage, we have an average of 9.8 mpg over the last 4000 miles driving around 67 mph, without towing.

Leg Room, the Chevy is better. Also, some people don't like the Ford driver's seat. For me both are ok.

Other: U-Haul and RTD prefer Ford chassis so maybe they are more reliable. We purchased from RV Wholesalers vs Camping World manly for price, and we pleasantly surprised by how well their warranty service worked vs Camping World. Also add the Forest River Bilstein Shocks, Helwig rear sway bar package, it's well worth it.