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.

[mbacfp30]

I run a ScanGuage II to monitor everything. Might want to wait until you are out of warranty...tuners can void your warranty. The repair got done and they billed Ford $2,600. Had to remove transmission, etc. The lower pan (cannot see upper pan) looks nice with plenty of Silicon...no more leaks and truck runs great as usual. One of the potential week points on the F550 is the turbo...so not sure a tune will be in my future (at least until I am out of warranty).

[thethrillofspee]

Bite the bullet as I would love to know your thoughts. I'm also tempted.

[Sites]

Been a while since I posted.

The family and I just took the 33sw on a 2600 mile road trip with no issues. Even with the upgraded 3trax system I had installed 2 years ago, I still don't look forward to running the slide in an out. But no problems whatsoever on the trip. Ran it out and back in probably 12 times and once managed to smash a DVD case between the slide and the exterior wall after the kids dropped it behind the driver seat while we were driving and didn't tell me. The crunching sounds when running the slide out when we stopped made my heart skip a beat. Heh. But I ran it back in and out again with no problems.

Thinking of going to the dark side: https://www.dp-tuner.com/ford-powerstroke/ford-powerstroke-6-7l-1/tuning-1/infinity-mini-dx-touchscreen-6-7l.html

Been exchanging emails with them and I might bite the bullet. They suggested going with just the 35hp Heavy Tow tune due to the weight of the coach. But it adds another 75tq and firms up the trans shifts. In addition to the tune, it provides a lot of useful real time data using all the existing factory sensors, such as EGT and such. I've had a couple DP Tuners for previous 7.3's and even with the conservative tunes the trucks would just drive so much better than stock. If I do bite the bullet, I'll report back 🙂

[mbacfp30]

Hope everyone is well. I just took the truck in for a small oil leak. Turns out it is leaking from the upper oil pan...so it is a rather big job. Good news it is covered under warranty. Just wanted to share.

[marshallspoe]

Hello Folks!

My wife and I bought a 2016 Four Winds 33SW and we have had a few issues under warranty. The house batteries from Thor were crappy so I had the dealer replace them. The new batteries run the inverter much better. The clevis pin fell out of the electric step this year so I had that replaced. The large MCD shades over the booth dinette fell down while traveling - scared us both to death. Turns out they are only hanging by two small L-brackets. I had the dealer install 4 under warranty and leaned later that there is a tech bulletin out regarding that.

Not one problem with the full wall slide. My slide has the Triple Trak system. Found a leak at the back of the water heater the second time out and located a loose connection. We tightened it down and no problems to date.

Today I discovered the rear air conditioner will not run. The fan will not run from the rear thermostat either, so I suspect that is the problem. Any others had that issue?

It tows a vehicle up the mountains with no problem out in the Pacific Northwest. All in all we love it.

[RobbieH]

You should not have to run the pump when connected to shore water. There is nothing for you to do to switch from tank to shore, there is an automatic sensor in the pump which detects when there is no pressure and automatically kicks on the pump, so whether the pump is on or not should make no difference.

As far as filling goes, I never had that problem. Maybe turn down the pressure?

[seal13il]

well.... after using her a few times (and nearly 5k miles since we got her), few observations/questions... when I try to fill up the water tank it keeps spitting the water out and literally half the water ends up on the floor wasted vs the actual tank:(, 2nd issue, when connected to city water I still need to run the water pump..... am I missing something? oh, also, how do I get the outside TV to run on the cable hookup?

[kszach]

Wife and I just purchased a 2014 33SW. Plan is to drive out to Maine at the end of the month. This past weekend was a shakedown test, 3 nights at a local State Park. We've used it 1 night here and there since we purchased it a couple months ago. This trip was also trial run using my Ram 1500 as a Toad. Pulling went fine. We sprung a couple leaks while camping... fresh water leak, drain line for the hot water started leaking at the 90deg fitting under the floor.. had to cut an access hole from the bottom to put a Sharkbite fitting on it. Looked like a bad install of the crimp fitting in that it was not fully on the PEX tubing. We also had a drip from the bathroom sink... once I uncovered the fitting in that pipe (looked like very little glue used on the joint) I put more ABS glue on it and no more leaks. I was a bit surprised that these leaks showed up now after this many years, previous owners put 30k on it. I added a selection of Sharkbite fittings and ABS cleaner and glue to my tool kit.

[RobbieH]

Glad you found it and it wasn't serious!!!

[seal13il]

well.... problem solved... a
looks like an item hit one of the wires in the control box in the storage compartment where the brain is (next to the generator) and the connector got loose .....

[seal13il]

I believe once plugged in it is working off shore power....

[mbacfp30]

I had that happen 1 time before. But it went out the second time i pushed the extend slide switch. I thought it was because I didn't have the battery on use position even thought I was plugged in. Question, does the slide run off the bathere when plugged into shore power?

[RobbieH]

Emergency brake set? It won't slide out unless it is.

Never mind. Well, it must be. Jacks won't go down either if it isn't set.

[seal13il]

well....got home, got her parked so we can clean her, raised the jacks, connected to our power, pushed the "extend" slide switch and....nada:( no response....any ideas?

[dnhill]

Update from last year. I had had a problem with the cab over coming loose again. It had been looked at by the factory and in the local repair shop for over six month when it again came loose and was making significant noise and I could not drive in the rain due to the gap between the roof of the pick-up cab and the motorhome cap. After calling the factory, they said that since I had this problem during my warranty, if I would bring it again to the factory, they would fix it.

I took it last month and had an additional few items that were a continuing problem:
1. Fuel fill was slow ("fixed" on three previous occasions).
2. Mud flap eaten by the tires (also" fixed" on three previous occasions).
3. ladder broken - new problem.
4. no heat out of the vent in the bathroom (also fixed on one prior occasion).

I expected the repairs to take several days, but they were fixed in one day. The man at the shop showed me the repairs and they looked great.

The cab over problem did not reappear during the 1200 miles back to Texas, So I hope it is a permanent fix. I was told there was inadequate fixation (screws) in place from the original build and subsequent repairs.

I am happy the factory was able to fix the problems. I would have preferred not to have to have had two trips to the factory for some of the repairs. It would be great to live close to the factory for them to take care of all of the repairs instead of trying to depend on dealers that seem much more interested in sales than repairs.