HDC Gone Riding wrote: Sorry , but if you think about it Equalizer means just that, it will take the load and transfer it equally through the hitch. So just bite the bullet and buy a super c like we did when we got to this same juncture. Or an A class that will have an even better tow rating.
Which rig did you end up with? I agree, I really like how the Kodiak looks, but after driving all these friggin' Super C's I have to say I don't have a favorite, plus they all feel less stable than the E450 I just drove. The Senecas are nice, but are heavy and over done for driving thru sagebrush and silt. The Four Winds don't have a very nice finish quality compared to the Jayco and there's the short wheelbase issue on the one floor plan we like. Gulf Stream has a so-so rep. Bigfoot doesn't offer a floor plan we can live with. Then there's the issue of price, the issue of gas vs. diesel, etc. I know people who love their little old class c motorhomes. They seem content and of course they've saved a big chunk of change over what we're looking at. I'm going to Big 5 and buying a tent!
Serpexc wrote: I have to say I don't have a favorite, plus they all feel less stable than the E450 I just drove.
Super-C's have a huge ground clearence which is a two edged sword. Yes you won't ever scrape your hitch exiting a screwed up gas station, but they are extremely top heavy. Just imagine making a quick maneuver to avoid a road hazard. That states "Out-Of-Control" in big letters. I can't imagine "engine braking" a Super-C down a curvy narrow scenic mountain by-way either. Very bad if you have a heart condition.
An E350 or E450 with upgraded heavy duty front & rear stabilizer bars will give the best one can under real life road conditions.
I'm telling you, if you don't "Need" a Super-C for towing something extra heavy, I wouldn't be looking at them.
* This post was
edited 12/19/07 02:27pm by ron.dittmer *
Bought new in June 2007, Phoenix Cruiser-2350
Fits inside our garage.
Dingy towing a red Toyota MR2 Spyder
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You might be forgetting durability. The Super C's are on commercial chassis--a class 7 truck with an RV body, with all the associated equipment: tough diesel engine, HD Allison transmission, huge brakes, real truck tires instead of 16's running right at their limits, anvil-tough chassis durability, often rear air-ride. These chassis, under commercial trucks, regularly go 15-20 years & hundreds of thousands of miles. I find a class 7 truck orders of magnitude easier to drive than a cutaway E-450.
Try both in a 35-40MPH crosswind...one will be vastly more buttoned-down, and it ISN'T the E-450.
As for the mountain...I'd rather be in a super C, with its big brakes, often engine brake or transmission retarder, and plenty of chassis capacity than an E-450 running right at the limit (as the vast majority do).
John
1984 Ford B-700 school bus conversion, Thomas body
A bunch of other vehicles
3 nutty cats (Maya, Vierna, Briza)
One lazy dog (Marmaduke)
One wife (Liz)
"A wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age"
-Jim Steinman
Serpexc wrote: I have to say I don't have a favorite, plus they all feel less stable than the E450 I just drove.
Super-C's have a huge ground clearence which is a two edged sword. Yes you won't ever scrape your hitch exiting a screwed up gas station, but they are extremely top heavy. Just imagine making a quick maneuver to avoid a road hazard. That states "Out-Of-Control" in big letters. I can't imagine "engine braking" a Super-C down a curvy narrow scenic mountain by-way either. Very bad if you have a heart condition.
An E350 or E450 with upgraded heavy duty front & rear stabilizer bars will give the best one can under real life road conditions.
I'm telling you, if you don't "Need" a Super-C for towing something extra heavy, I wouldn't be looking at them.
Good post. I'm having visions of a 30 or 31 foot E450 based class C with a Banks V-10 hop up kit. A friend was telling me he waved at his buddy with a new Endura or Seneca diesel as he gave him a fly by on the freeway. The Super c has the power but perhaps not the stability?
I think many of us owners think we have what we really don't have. When you see a C5500 cab/chassis sitting in a truck sales lot, and it looks just like your RV, forget it. The frame rails are lighter weight, there are fewer crossmembers, and we have lots of welds on the frame rails, which is a no-no in the truck industry. We have a 60,000# mininum tensile strength frame rail, not 80,000#. Our frame rails are .24 rather than .31, and yes, we are "top heavy" and unstable, most likely because we exceed the cener of gravity limits set by GM. We "think" we fall under the "truck" standards, but not really. The industry breaks all the rules because they are not selling trucks, but rather motorhomes, and our industry is NOT regulated (yet). In other words, these are NOT trucks... they just look like them.
We went with the Seneca 34ss. I didn't start out with one on my short list, but after tromping through a million different MH's I kept coming back to it for a lot of reasons. I probably still would not have bought one until I happened across a dealer who made me a good enough deal on one that it all of a sudden seemed possible. It is top heavy and drives like it, but after reading on this site about how others have dealt with the issue I decided it wasn't a deal killer for me. When I go somewhere in it I am not in a hurry, to me the drive is part of the adventure, so I just wave at 9c when he blows by me. Driving carefully has also kept my mileage between 10 and 11 mpg. I'm not towing a big trailer now, but have room to grow, probably will set up my jeep to tow also. My future plans include using it for stays for 2 to 3 months at a time during winter trips to AZ. We also have a truck camper, staying in it for a 3 week trip was tough, that convinced me that I needed more room. I drove the MH to Colorado and back over some interesting mountain roads and in some high winds. You can,t say enough about the exhaust brake, but will admit to some white knuckles in the wind, but still nothing too scary. Kind of funny that we are so worried about a safe driving MH to drive to a desert race and line up on a bomb run with a hundred or so other wild eyed idiots that can't wait to ride a dirt bike at speeds close to 90mph over terrain they can barely see. Go figure RRR
Serpexc wrote: I'm having visions of a 30 or 31 foot E450 based class C with a Banks V-10 hop up kit. A friend was telling me he waved at his buddy with a new Endura or Seneca diesel as he gave him a fly by on the freeway. The Super c has the power but perhaps not the stability?
I am not familiar with a Banks V10 Hop Up kit, but........
If you are planning to purchase a brand new Class-C (not a Super-C) be sure to get one built on a "2008 Ford Chassis" The new styling of the 2008 grill is debatable, but the following are improved, making it the smartest choice over all previous years & brands. It is surely worth spending more to get one. It addresses all the Class-C complaints you are reading here.
- bigger & stronger brakes all around
- improved handling
- improved suspension
- increase in weight carrying capability
We've owned a 2006 Gulf Stream Ultra Super-C (C5500 8.1L gas) for 15 months and have been very pleased with it. The only driving mod that we have done is to replace the stock shocks with Bilsteins.
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