Thor Super C (Chateau/Four Winds) improvements and mods

[Sites]

Hey folks,

I purchased a 2014 Thor Chateau 33SW last August and right from the start I experienced the new RV owner blues. In short, after driving back to San Diego from where I flew out to purchase it in Texas, it spent its first 3 weeks in the shop with about a dozen issues, ranging from minor to major.

That said, aside from all of the issues, now that I've resolved most of them either through warranty or just fixing it myself after the local Thor service dealer either did a half-assed job fixing a problem, or just flat out didn't fix it after it sat in their shop for weeks, I like this motorhome. I wanted something fairly nice and that could reasonably tow 10k+ LBS, since I have a desert prerunner truck and several motorcycles to trailer out with the family. Dynamax's were nice, but out of the $$$ range I was willing to invest on a first MH. I also looked as used medium duty chassis Super C's (older Show Haulers, etc.) but anything close to $100k was too dated looking and generally VERY used. So I saw the F550 chassis based Thor 33SW and bit the bullet.

After owning it for about 7 months now, my impression is that Thor came up with a great layout and mated it to a good chassis, but as a result of both production line quality assurance issues and the general feeling that everything beneath the surface was designed to speed up build time, there are many improvements that can be made by owners to make this coach better. And frankly, should have been done at the factory before shipping off to the dealer! 🙂

The reason I'm starting this thread is because I've noticed a few other Thor Super C owners on here and other forums, that have all mentioned having similar issues (house water pump leaks, front fuel tank filling issues, front hydro jacks too low from the factory, poor house battery capacity, etc.) I've also noticed a few very cool modifications and improvements by others on here as well, such as relocating the house batteries to one of the storage compartments and switching to a bank of four 6v batts. I figured it would be useful to try and centralize the communication of issues encountered, how to resolve them and suggestions to improve the coach.

I've done a few already and will post one of them shortly. Hopefully other Thor Super C (33SW, 35sk, 35sg, Etc) will chime in as well.

[cfendya]

I've done it before but have not left it. No idea if it's bad or not but I don't feel comfortable with it so I usually lower, back up, and then drive onto leveling blocks. If it will level with tires off the ground, pretty easy to determine how many blocks you need to drive on. After I'm on leveling blocks I no longer have problems with the tires coming off the ground.

[RobbieH]

I have had it lift the front tires over a foot off the ground.

[mbacfp30]

When you all level your coach using auto level...have you been at such a slope that your front tires were off the ground? Lippert made it sound like that should not happen...but if it can level as far as 3.5 degrees front to back...wouldn't the front wheels be off the ground? Only reason I am asking is lippert also thinks my zero level could be off...so who knows?

[mbacfp30]

Thanks for update. I am scheduled for Friday for a new shop Thor recommends to look at leveling jack leak/low voltage error. I called and they agreed to replace all orange hydraulic lines for black ones...which are supposed to be better as per new shops recommendations. Will keep all posted on problems/solutions.

[Sites]

Re: my 3 track slide retrofit...

Shop called this morning. Schwintek figured out the mistake and are sending the correct replacement parts. Estimated shipping time; 10 business days. Glad I'm not stranded somewhere in BFE.

[cfendya]

RobbieH is correct, it's just because the frame was lengthened from factory by MORryde. The Ford tech saw where the other shop added in shims in attempt to correct things and where definitely better, the noise still occurs. We paid too much money to listen to it and even if I could live with it, whenever we go to resell it'd be a huge problem.

Our biggest problem right now is the lack of shops that will work on this thing. I live in Denver too so it's not like a small city. My last conversation with MORryde a week or so ago they actually asked me if I wanted to bring it into Indiana to have it fixed. She was half way joking but that's not occurring on my time/dime!

[mbacfp30]

Oh ok...did not know MORyde did so much mod. What a mess...hope you get it fixed soon.

[RobbieH]

It sounds like the 33SW does not have the frame or driveshaft modified, so Ford fixes the problem. The 35xx does, and therefore it's MORyde's problem. That's what I'm reading. Mine was fixed by Ford because it was Ford's unmodified frame and driveshaft.

[mbacfp30]

Sorry for the typos...my phone makes it difficult. What did thor say?

[mbacfp30]

So ford did make it right and since it was modified ford can deny and say sorry? Is Thor willing to step in and make is right with ford...since the modification had nothing to do with that problem and RobbieH has said? Seems like Thor should use its purchasing power muscle with ford and have them make it right.

[mbacfp30]

So sad you have to do all this back and forth. Please keep us posted...stick with it...you will enjoy the ride.

[RobbieH]

My prediction was correct, probably an angle issue. 🙂

[cfendya]

Ford looked at our noise again today. I actually took one of their tech's out for a ride and he said it's definitely not turbo related but driveline. When we got back to the shop, he climbed underneath the coach and said the angle looked off.

As previously mentioned, our Ford dealer is refusing to work on it because of chassis modifications.

Back to dealing with Thor/MORryde....

[mbacfp30]

Great update on available. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Although I have not towed yet, I went through all the same possibilities before purchasing the rig...best deal in this price range for sure worts and all.

[RobbieH]

So what we learned during our visit to the Southwest RV show yesterday.

There's likely nothing else out there that meets our needs. Keep in mind, my goal is to have something that will tow my 4200 lb. rock crawler (highly modified Jeep), or whatever else we decide to take with us.We also have a Jeep Cherokee we take with us on some trips, and it's 14' long. The reason we selected the 33SW is because of the tow capacity, my rock crawler cannot be flat towed, so you have to add the weight of a 2,000 lb plus trailer to the towed weight.

So, since we had so many issues with the 33SW, we thought we might look at going the toy hauler route. Sure, there are tons of toy haulers out there, but how many will handle a vehicle that's 92" wide, 8' tall, and 4200 lbs? Almost none. But recently, a few have started to appear.

Example: Crossroads has an Elevation model called the Grand Prix. It has a 16' garage, and will accommodate our rigs. They are really roomy inside, more roomy than the 33SW by a long shot. But, they are expensive, sale price (not MSRP) is around $100k, so I'd likely lose money on a trade. The other problem, I downgraded my truck when I bought my RV as I did not feel I needed the tow capacity I did before having the RV, so now I only have a 2003 Chevy 2500 Duramax, which has a max tow rating of around 12,000 lbs. The empty trailer is almost 14,000 lbs, then you add the rock crawler and we are over 18,000 lbs. So, I'd also be shopping for a new truck.

We are most likely just going to keep what we have, continue to fix the minor problems as they appear (I have more broken drawer guide mounts to deal with this week), and depend on the extended warranty for any major failures.