JDLEE1979
Salt Lake City, Utah
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I've been considering upgrading from my travel trailer to a motorhome. I'm just tired of hooking up, unhooking, leveling hooking up unhooking, and I often tow doubles with a jet ski or ATV behind my trailer so multiply that. I really like the Super C's, now I know I'm not going to be going serious offroading in the thing but I drove a C5500 truck with a flat bed on it and just pulling off the road with a sloped shoulder the rear tires were spinning on the pavement trying to pull the cab back up, the truck model had 4 wheel drive so that fixed the situation. Im sure the weight of the Coach would give considerable more traction over just a flat bed. So the question is are these strictly a KOA/Camperworld kind of cruiser or can you get off road with them a little, whats your experience been with adverse weather conditions or wet/muddy roads?
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MAJESTYPOINTERS
MONROE, MI.
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Joined: 04/08/2008
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My experiance with my class A has been to be real carefull. When we first got ours we whent down to a CG in Ohio. It had been raining the week before and when we got to the camp ground we could tell the ground was wet. The camp sights were higher than the road and the roads were wet but there was no standing water. It looked like everything had run off ok. When we pulled up into the sight as soon as the rear tires hit the wet slope of grass the tires just spun and would not push the Rv any higher into the sight.
I gave up right then and still almost could not back out because my front tires had sunk about an inch into the wet grass. Another camper with his class A had the not so smart idea to get a run at it. He made it into the sight but when it came time to leave a tow truck needed to be called.
He was centered right on top of the hump and did not have enough traction to go either way in the wet grass.
My conclusion is that RV's are flat landers and not to leave the pavement unless absolutly nessary and then to be extreamly carefull.
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Rollincool
Always Rollin
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Joined: 08/10/2007
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You're not going 4 wheeling with one, that's for sure. If you get into something soft, more than likely it will sink like a brick.
They are built on a truck chassis. All the heavy trucks I drove in the past would sink if you drove into soft ground. So if it's heavy, and not a 4x4, and you're planning on taking one over-sand, forget it.
People have the misconseption that if it's heavy, you get more traction. Not true. The weight will work against you.
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symbasden
WI
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Joined: 07/29/2003
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Yep you the only time you want to dig is in snow because you need to get to the pavement in snow. Any other time and you want to float. That said if you have decent off road skills I don't see why you couldn't take one onto a dirt road, but you would want it to be a road, not truely off road.
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JDLEE1979
Salt Lake City, Utah
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hmm, hard to decide on the upgrade or not, theres benefits and drawbacks both with each. Thinking back to everwhere I've been in the past I can't really think of anywhere that I don't think I would be able to get a motorhome, provided there isn't any precipitation. If its bad weather then I could see a lot of problems. Have any of you ever ran chains? Just thinking worse case if you needed them to get out of somewhere if the weather turned.
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Rollincool
Always Rollin
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Well, theres always these.
Or, these.
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Pigkisser
West Texas
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I have a Seneca on an '07 C5500 chassis. I live on a ranch, with my home being 4 miles off the nearest paved road. The ranch road is constructed of dirt and rock and is somewhat hilly with one low water crossing point. The road is by no means a high speed graded road. So far, as long as it is dry, I have not had any problems driving to the house from the highway. I do drive at a max speed of 25mph to protect the tires and undercarriage. One of my considerations in buying the Seneca was the fact that it was on a truck chassis and my belief was that it would be more suitable for ranch road travel. One problem that most MH's have is the typical long rear overhang, which can cause severe problems when traveling off established paved roads. So, if you plan to travel on moderate graded dirt roads during good weather, I think the C5500 would be a better choice than a Class A type chassis.
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gtsully
Rochester NY
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I have a 07 Seneca 36FS, as stated the only real downfall in the rear overhang. I snowmobile and use the coach year round. If there is a solid base not too deep in the mud or snow it will find it and keep you going. Chains would help but clearance is an issue, I looked mine wouldnt clear chains safely. Depending on your budget you can have a motorhome built on a 4x4 c5500 and up chasis. I think Pony Xpress and others do it.
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JDLEE1979
Salt Lake City, Utah
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I don't know why thy don't build any of these super C's on one of there 4X4 chasis. The lots around here are full of flat beds or just chasi trucks with 4 wheel drive. Maybe it has to do with the load rating.
Thanks for the info. Really the only one I'm woried about is some family property we frequent about 4 miles of off road the last 1/4 being the only part that is a little tippy and if raining could be hard to make it up the hill
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SoCalDesertRider
SanDiego, CA, USA
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Joined: 12/14/2003
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Put some good traction tires on it and locking differential in the rear axle and you will be able to take it down most dirt roads that a large vehicle can fit on and get into and out of most camping sites without 4wd or a tow truck. The problem with motorhomes is they usually run highway tires with an open differential in the axle. Those two things together make for very poor traction in any situation except dry pavement.
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