Ride handling of TC's vs Class C's or B plus

And now a word from someone who actually does this stuff..
Bell-Tech and Western Chassis are the two companies that make the good truck-drop parts.
They make dropped spindles for the front that don’t affect the ride or function at all, all the nice custom trucks use them.
For the rear they make custom shackle kits that also don’t affect the ride or function. In fact that’s how Chevy used to do the rear, the 4WD and 2WD had the same rear suspension, on different shackle hangers to make the ride height match the front.
If you want a lot of drop, they make C-notch sections for the rear frame to clear the axle.
On the older trucks you can go about 4” down before you need to install the C-notch plate.
If you want to go cooler, I mean lower, you’ll also need to swap to lower front springs - or just airbag it. There’s kits for that too.

I lowered my old 2WD Chevy crew cab dually with the Western Suspension kit years ago.
It rode and drove great, looked cool, and it still carried my camper and towed my trailer.

You’re gonna have a lot more luck finding partsbto drop a 2WD Chevy than anything else.
I haven’t checked what’s out for the new ones but I’m sure there are parts.

Here is another idea I used to lower my car

As far as I am concern - TC is the best lowering thing for pickups.
So effective, that some owners have to lift it back with attachments.

HadEnough wrote:
As a side note, why doesn't anyone drop their pickup like a lowrider and then put the TC on?

I'd love if mine could have come like that. Much better handling that way.

X2
Unless it came like that from the factory,
I wouldnt trust anyone to lower the truck and stil ride good.

Plus the cost of lowering is couple thousand last time I looked

Or a non-slide camper like a Bigfoot or Northern Lite.
For cross country trips especially Alaskan ones, a camper up on a 4 wheel drive diesel pickup has a whole lot of advantages over a Class C.

GeoBoy wrote:

jimh425 wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Even a moderate size C with a slide will have more room inside than the biggest TC.

Just wondering have you been in a Mammoth or Cascade triple slide? The Class Cs that I’ve been have the length, but the floor plans leave a lot to be desired with respect to usable room.

If you have seen those Host Models, please post a link to the floor plan of the Class C, you are thinking about.

We really wanted a Host, they are very nice, but you have to open a slide to use the bathroom and miss that first step coming out of the Host Mammoth and it’s a long way down to the ground, ouch!

^This was my biggest turnoff with the big TC's I seen (not my wifes, she still wants one and I'm not getting a friggin dually for 2 weeks a year in the camper)!
They're like a Chinese jigsaw puzzle that is essentially useless until you get a slide or 2 out. We're not destination campers, we're not anything in particular I spose. Camper might be a month long trip X country, 7 days to Alaska run, weekend at...wherever, or a month of me living in it at work.
Mostly it's about the convenience of having quick access to the cold beer, snacks and chitter, which is where a B or C shines.
And that kids is why every RV is a compromise.....

jimh425 wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Even a moderate size C with a slide will have more room inside than the biggest TC.

Just wondering have you been in a Mammoth or Cascade triple slide? The Class Cs that I’ve been have the length, but the floor plans leave a lot to be desired with respect to usable room.

If you have seen those Host Models, please post a link to the floor plan of the Class C, you are thinking about.

Wandered through a couple of them, yeah. Try not to, because the wife reeeeeealy likes them, lol!
I don't know floor plans from floor polish, but I doo know that a 25-26' C (mid size) with a slide or 2 has way more floor space than the big double/triple slide TC's.
The rest is personal preference.
I wouldn't own a C anyway unless maybe it was a 4wd diesel SuperC toy hauler!

I had a smallish Class C Forrest River Solera for 4 years. We loved it for the most part. Driving it at highway speed was another story. It drove fine, but it was quite noisy with all that open space to amplify every sound. It didn't handle wind very well and would lean with any appreciable wind. Also in the heat, the front windshield was quite a heat source. Hard to overcome with curtains and the one AC.

We opted to go TC and so far we are quite happy. Truck is quiet at speed. Wind does not affect us. Handling is fantastic in comparison. Biggest change for us is the safety. No worry about cabinets or dishes crashing into us during extreme deceleration. Brakes on the new rig are a vast improvement.

Space wise, we have a little less, and the floor is not all on one level. A small price to pay for a better 4 season camper on a safer platform.

Gjac wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:
Main advantage of moving from average ClassA to TC is that you are leaving "death trap" with 0 roll-over ratings to DOT certified truck cabin.
Moving the engine from passenger space into front is good part too.
Ride and handling depends on the truck.
I drove Fords of last 20+ years and new truck sure is big improvements over it older brothers. Still TC put on top of the truck will have COG higher than CLassA, so it will loose in comparison on sharp turns.

So if I understand your post the Class A if it rolls over is a death trap because it will collapse whereas a truck is rated to withstand a roll over without collapsing. But a TC is more app to roll over on sharp turns because of it higher COG. Is that right?

That would be short conclusion if you assume roll-over happens only due to driver error.
Long one is that most of Class A has no resistance to anything. People are getting killed in them, when driving under the tree with sticking branches. Any fire leaves only metal parts standing.
Generally RV are driven slower, so we don't hear about such accidents often, but I've been to RV junk yards and that is very sad picture.
Add mechanical designs, where most motorhomes have high gearing and it happen to me in Class C that I just could not make it to steep campground site.

Also with the camper not integral to the chassis like a C or B plus is there a danger of the camper or truck bed getting damaged on rough roads or hitting pot holes?

I think it is the other way around..I have gone from a C to a TC a couple times..This last time I had a 21 ft Class C with really good ground clearance and lots of room..About the same length as a pickup without anything in the bed like a TC..

I went back to a TC because of height(13ft vs 10ft) and the C attached to the frame just gets twisted and twerked on the back roads that about every trip was cracking a seam here or there...It was getting to hard to stay ahead of the leak game using it on rough roads.

That said,out of all the RV's I have owned, and it's been a bunch in all categories,my 24'Class C Beaver was by far the best..Short enough to get most places and the ground clearance of a modern pickup and the floor plan that suits us best..

As for the ride,I don't see much difference,both will sway some in a corner and bumps are just tough on anything,pulling or attached..