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.

[RobbieH]

This equipment is under the bed. You can do it with the slide in, but there's more room to move around with it out.

I know that first picture shows them pointing up, which would imply that they cannot fall out. BUT, they are NOT pointing up from the factory. That was after I found them and pulled them up. They just lay on the floor and eventually WILL fall out.

There are three relays under there. I did not spend any time figuring out what the other two go to, but there are three systems that will potentially fail due to this problem, not just the water pump.

[mbacfp30]

Thanks for sharing. Did you get access from under the motorhome? Or is it accessible from the bedroom with the slide out? Will have to take a peak. Haven't dry camped yet...so pump has no issues yet. Thanks for sharing your insights.

[RobbieH]

They just slap them together, speed is the goal.

Understand these types of issues are not exclusive to Thor.

[seal13il]

dang, the more I hear and see the more cold feet I'm getting regarding the thor products ..... happy you got it solved Robbie

[RobbieH]

Hello all,

I had a situation recently where my water pump quit working. At first it was intermittent, then it completely died. Well, it was on my list of things to upgrade to a quieter water pump anyway, so I ordered the one I wanted. When I got under the bed to do the work, I found I did not have 12v to the pump. Did some digging and thinking, and it hit me that I had a problem with the relay. So, I dug out the horrible wiring work that Thor did at the factory, and started pulling out the relays that were stuck under the 110v wiring, smashed against the water tank. I noticed that the relay sockets were not tied to anything, and the relays were plugged in with no retainer. And yes, when I got down to the socket for the water pump relay, there was no relay. It had fallen out. So I pulled them all up and zip tied all the relays to the sockets so that this will not happen again. Here are a couple of pictures showing where I found these in my Four Winds 33SW, and a cheesy picture of a zip tied relay.

[seal13il]

Thanks Robbie,

ours is 3.5 yo LOL , so hoping to keep it for a long time I guess LOL, the more I read....the more I'm having 2nd thoughts about this whole RV thing LOL....scarry...

[RobbieH]

seal13il wrote:

RobbieH wrote:
I didn't want bunk beds or the big entertainment center. You can get the entertainment center in the 33 also. I would rather have the overhead bunk, it gets used on over half our trips.

We wanted bunks for the little ones:)

My little one just turned 18. So she was 15 when we got it. She likes the big queen size overhead. We also go to a lot of music festivals, and have another couple that travels with us. They have plenty of room up there. TV is not big on our list of activities when we travel.

I did notice the newest models have a 40" up there. i would like to see how they did that. The 32" ours came with is slowly dying, and is horrible. If I can get a 40" up there, it makes more sense to buy one of those when the time comes.

Another thing, check EVERYTHING. Most everything in the RV is put together with one or two screws where there should be 2 or 4. Many corners cut to safe a few seconds here and there.

My water pump died recently. Just ordered the 4009 from Amazon along with a strainer and a silencer kit.

[RobbieH]

Sites wrote:
After the stock water pump kept leaking under the bed, I ended up upgrading to the Shurflo Revolution that you linked. I also relocated it to the very rear lower, driver-side storage compartment. Some pumps are quieter than others, but the real improvement in reducing overall noise was getting out out of the living area. I mounted it using some rubber bushings and you can hardly hear it. Plus, if it ever leaks again, it will be in the exterior (waterproof) storage compartment. The biggest problem with our stock pump was that it was right against the water tank and the winterizing pipe would literally beat it like a drum when it cycled on and off.

I was able to use parts from Home Depot (hose, fittings, etc) and it took just a few hours. I would highly recommend it. Let me know if you would like me to post any pics.

My pump has failed. I had the pump model you used in my Wish List on Amazon, but for some reason it's not there anymore. Can you please post the part you used, and whatever else you used (I have the strainer in the cart still) so I can upgrade this thing and be done with it?

I looked all through this thread and could not find the part numbers or the pictures.

[mbacfp30]

That is the trim level available for the cab of the ford f550 truck. XL was what they used (correct me if I'm wrong)...now they come with XLT trim.

[seal13il]

mbacfp30 wrote:
The new ones are built off the XLT model instead of XLs...looks super nice. Still don't mind the bucket truck feel.

what are XL or XLT?

[seal13il]

RobbieH wrote:
I didn't want bunk beds or the big entertainment center. You can get the entertainment center in the 33 also. I would rather have the overhead bunk, it gets used on over half our trips.

We wanted bunks for the little ones:)

[mbacfp30]

The new ones are built off the XLT model instead of XLs...looks super nice. Still don't mind the bucket truck feel.

[RobbieH]

I didn't want bunk beds or the big entertainment center. You can get the entertainment center in the 33 also. I would rather have the overhead bunk, it gets used on over half our trips.

[mbacfp30]

Let us know what you end up doing. They are great units overall...especially when you get them dialed in (as with all RVs). Good luck.

[seal13il]

Like I mentioned RobbieH, its all new to me....I'm like a sponge LOL been reading all 47 (now 48) pages here since last night lol