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]

Bummer man. Good luck, and post lots of pictures and information when you do it. What was the final straw? Mine are still going great.

[Sites]

Hey folks,

Looks like it's time to finally uograde my two group 29 interstate 12v batteries to something better suited for an RV. I'm trying to figure out how/where I can mount 4 Trojan 105's and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for any off the shelf options or DIY fabrication ideas?

Right now, I'm thinking I'll mount them in the forward most passenger-side storage compartment. Now I just need to figure out how to secure them there.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[RobbieH]

I will get some pictures of my mud flap fix up asap.

[Yosemitebobr]

Just checked mine and they are only bolted

[mbacfp30]

Just completed my oil change and radiator flush...did not notice it...will go out and check.

[Sites]

Something I forgot to post about when I had my Rv in for the generator oil change/check up just before we headed out on our 2600 mile road trip last summer...

I took it to a local shop here in SD that works almost exclusively on RV generators. After the service, they called me over to my coach to tell me about something odd they noticed. Apparently the lower support brackets that support/hold the generator in place under the RV were not only bolted in place (as is typical) but they said that it looked like Thor then welded them in place. Which means that if the generator ever needed to be removed from the chassis for major service, it is impossible without cutting out the welded brackets.

They said that it was the first time they had ever seen a manufacturer do something that boneheaded with a generator install. They believe that Thor probably installs the generator on the truck frame before dropping the living quarters onto the chassis. Or perhaps some jackass on the assembly line decided to hit the brackets with a few welds for some reason.

Anyone else's have this mistake?

[dnhill]

Hello to the group:
I purchased a 2015 35SK in June 2014. I have had many of the issues that have been pointed out above:
Major issues only (minor problems are too many to list)

1. Fuel Fill - fixed? twice at the dealership and once at Thor in IN. It now is working well. The first fix used plastic zip ties that broke and the problem restarted.

2. Leveling Jacks - had hydrolic hose leak that sprayed onto the exhaust - that was pretty exciting. Fixed at dealership.

3. Mud Flaps - fixed twice at dealership and still have been eaten up by tires. No resolution so far.

4. Battery capacity - we dry camp at least two weeks a year in the national forrest and the coach batteries would keep the refrigerator running until about 2-3 AM when the low battery warning alarm would sound. Fixed by having the factory install 4 6 volt golf cart batteries in one of the storage compartments. This fix was great. The refrigerator can run all night and the voltage never goes below 12.4 V.

5. Leveling Jacks - also had problem with the jacks retracting and had low voltage warning. It is very important to know where the breaker is in the battery box compartment. It had flipped and it does not look like any breaker that I have ever seen. I was very lucky that I had cell service and was able to contact the dealer and was told how to reset the breaker.

6. Front Cap Rattle. Has loud sound overhead whenever going over a bump or dip in the road. I had the factory reps look at it and they said they adjusted something, but the sound never went away and got worse. The factory approved repair again at the dealership (past warranty but since it was "fixed" under warranty, they have covered it. Turns out the entire front cap is loose and will be a somewhat major repair to get it fixed. Taking it in tomorrow for them to start on it. Coincidentally, I parked next to another motorhome while coming back to Texas from a trip to Disney that was also a 35SK. He had the same front cap problem repaired.
7. Leveling Jack Error Message - many times starting up the coach, I would get an error message on the panel. It would say to press enter to clear message. Then things would be great until shutdown and on restart the message would reappear. So the fix for the problem is to make sure the parking brake is always depressed prior to starting the coach. It is an "undocumented feature" according to the company that makes the leveling system.

8. Generator Bracket - the bracket holding on the exhaust pipe by the drivers door came loose and the exhaust pipe swung out to the side of the coach. Luckily were were on an interstate and had someone drive up beside us to let us know. It we had been on a two lane road, oncoming traffic could have been hit by the pipe. I used a coat hanger and wired it back up to get us home.

Having experienced all of these issues, I really like the coach and its capabilities.

I do wish the speakers on each side of the outside TV could play sound from the TV. It just plays from the sound system in the bedroom.

Duane

[mbacfp30]

Thanks for the update.

[Sites]

Well, the mobile tire repair guy just finished up. After speaking with him about the situation, I ended up keeping the HSR tires on the rear and will be returning the HDR's I just purchased to the shop. He basically said that the only difference between the HSR and HDR tires are the tread depth. Their construction is identical. He suggested that since there was such little wear on them, I should just buy a new HSR tire to replace the one that was losing air (which he found a screw lodged in). Otherwise, I would be spending a lot of money on new tires I really don't need.

Since he was out here, I had him check all of the valve stem cores on all the rims, because I've always had problems keeping consistent pressure in the tires for more than a few weeks at a time before needing to add air. He pulled the rear driver side wheels off and both of the inner valve stem cores were leaking, even after tightening them with the core tool. So I just had him replace them all around.

[Sites]

I found some locally for $330 each.

[mbacfp30]

I believe all HSRs on mine as well. Thanks for sharing that...had no idea whatsoever. Will keep an eye out for rear tire wear. Thanks.

[RobbieH]

Sure enough. All HSRs on mine. Curious, what did the new tires cost each?

[Sites]

Found another surprise with the coach this week.

Not sure if I should blame Thor or Ford, but I had to replace one of my rear tires so I picked up a new oem Continential 225/70r19.5 HDR. For those of you that down know, the stock tires and front and rear-specific. The HDR goes on the "drive" axle and the HSR goes on the "steering" axle. Looking at the specs between the two, the main difference seems to be the tread depth; the HDR has significantly more tread depth.

Abyhow, after picking up the tire from the warehouse, when I brought it home I noticed that the tread depth was significantly more than the rear tires currently on my coach, which I initially attributed to mine just being worn. Though with only 6500 miles on my rv, that seemed excessive. Upon further inspection, I realized that my rear has HSR (steering axle) tires on it from the factory. Did ford send a chassis our with "steering axle" tires at all 4 corners, or did Thor do something at their factory. I have no clue. Either way, the difference in tread depth between my existing rear tires and the new HDR tire was significant. So I opted to just purchased 3 more of the HDR tires to replace the others. Today I have a mobile guy here in SD coming out In about 20 mins to swap the rears. Yet another unexpected expense with this thing 🙂

On the brighter side, I will have several practically new HSR spare tires to swap in once my current front tires need to be replaced. Heh.

Anyone else's coach running HSR's on the rear from the factory?

[RobbieH]

Sites wrote:
Oh, and after our maiden trip with the new 3 track slide system, it seemed to work flawlessly. No weird pops or creaks, and no abnormal gear wear on the new tracks. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed!

Mine still creaks and pops, but no failures.

[RobbieH]

Thank you, moving that to the outside is a good idea. I'll do that too. I won't need pictures, a good friend of mine is a master plumber (owns his own business) and I'm sure he can help me out. With any luck, I'll be able to get him to bring his truck for parts. 🙂

That's the TV I'm talking about, the over bunk TV, I called it the living room TV. I have the bar, I just need to build the mount to hang it from the bottom of the TV. I have it all figured out how to mount it, I just need to get out to the garage and build it. Welding is one of my hobbies, so making it won't be a big challenge. Currently I lay it in the pocket when the TV is put away, and put it on the bed facing toward the living area when the TV is out. It makes a HUGE difference. I'll have to take a universal remote out there at some point to make it all easy, too.