Easy to drive Short, Class A, do they exist?

[Rolling Ragu]

Interesting thought. I do the same, sit way back in the truck but tight to the wheel in the motorhome.

[powercat_ras]

Originally Posted by F53Challenge

Hi folks, Hoping to gain from your experience. I have a 2011 Itasca 26P that is just too tiring to drive. Constantly sawing on the steering wheel to stay centered in my lane. Anyone have a coach ~ 30' or less that drives nice? Mine has a bunch of aftermarket suspension items, has been to numerous alignment shops. I rule in the campground with the tight turning radius. My wife and I like the layout and it meets our needs once parked. The view out the front when driving is the best. I have been told my wheel base (158") and weight distribution (front is too light compared to rear) are the contributing issues. Any insight is appreciated.

I have a 29' 6" length Winnebago Vista 27N on the Ford F53 178" Wheelbase 18,000 lbs. GVWR chassis with 19.5" Wheels and Goodyear G670 tires. Yes, Class As as factory shipped can be tiring to drive compared to a car or pickup truck. But you are driving a huge 12' tall rectangular box down the road built with almost no streamlining.

But, some driving techniques and hardware mods help:

I have listed them in the order IMHO they improve ...

- Proper wheel alignment

- Drive slower, amazing how much the handling deteriorates with a 10 MPH change in driving speed. In particular in windy conditions.

- Proper tire pressure , IMHO 5% more than recommended by the RV maker on their recommended tire pressure sticker. Tire Pressure Monitoring System so you can maintain the proper tire pressure without much work. Many RVers over-inflate to the max tire pressure listed on the tire sidewall for the tire to handle it's maximum possible weight and this really messes up RV handling. The manufacturer recommended pressure is based on the fully loaded weight of the actual RV on it's tires.

- Cheap Handling Fix (CHF) or for more $$$ completely replace sway bars with stiffer ones.

- Safe-T-Steer Steering Stablizer

- RV not over weight, make sure you are not overloading your RV with stuff exceeding the maximum front and rear axle weights.

- Rear Track Bar

- Airtabs , Airtabs US Web Site devices that help air flow into the dead space behind the back wall of your RV. . In particular, for some reason having them reduces the tendency of RV to move due to truck wash

[crb478]

Originally Posted by F53Challenge

Hi folks, Hoping to gain from your experience. I have a 2011 Itasca 26P that is just too tiring to drive. Constantly sawing on the steering wheel to stay centered in my lane. Anyone have a coach ~ 30' or less that drives nice? Mine has a bunch of aftermarket suspension items, has been to numerous alignment shops. I rule in the campground with the tight turning radius. My wife and I like the layout and it meets our needs once parked. The view out the front when driving is the best. I have been told my wheel base (158") and weight distribution (front is too light compared to rear) are the contributing issues. Any insight is appreciated.

Have you tried adding weight to the front? If you are happy with everything else. Maybe a front trailer hitch with a cooler, or just plain weight like tractor weights. My coach is 34 feet, but is a DP that is under the 50 % ratio. Even so it drives pretty well until you get to really bad roads. I will soon be adding new shocks and airbags to see how much that helps. Then air valves and finally weight to the front, but I doubt I need to go that far. On good roads mine drives really well, just get in the slow lane and cruise, just a little push from passing tractor trailers or Buses. You can feel them and counter steer slightly. Hoping the new shocks and airbags make it even better. I am also not ruling out the airtabs mentioned earlier.

[mike brez]

Not sure this will make any sence but look farther down the road and point the coach don't drive it.

[Wbonsell]

Our previous coach was a 34’ on 19” rims. Our current coach is almost 36 but in 22.5 rims. The handling difference is day and night!

If there is an under 30’ on 22.5 wheels, that would be my choice.

[AITG]

All good advice so far. I travel with a full water tank and can tell the difference in ride.
I also leave the steering wheel all the way up. It seems to be more controllable that way. In September we ran about 175 miles with wind gusts over 30 mph. I had to pay attention but I never felt like I wanted to stop. When we got to our destination there was no electricity for nearly a day and things were cancelled left and right.

[F53Challenge]

I'm a 16k gvwr and I believe yours may be an 18k. also your wheel base is just a bit longer. looks like a nice floor plan. thank you for the input.

[F53Challenge]

Originally Posted by AITG

You are right about the rear overhang being a problem. We have a Newmar 2702. The only "handling modification" is a front end alignment. In two years we have put 17,000 miles on it and we're very satisfied with the handling.
Any Class A gas chassis is going to have some body roll and sitting higher than a Class C is going to accentuate that. But ours tracks straight and requires very little steering correction.

I'm a 16k gvwr and I believe yours may be an 18k. also your wheel base is just a bit longer. looks like a nice floor plan. thank you for the input.

[F53Challenge]

Originally Posted by Ludmilla

Yes, your shorter wheel base relative to the length of the coach causes the problems you are describing. When looking for another coach, divide the wheel base by the overall length. You want a result as big as possible. .5 or better is what you want to look for. Get as high as you can.

I do not understand why the manufacturer's make coaches with those long overhangs. They cause all sorts of issues including handling and hitting bottom.

Agreed. I previously had a winnebago c class product. loved it. this one I'm going to have to take a loss.

[YC1]

How much free play is there in the steering. That is, does it seem to drift one way and then you have to input steering pressure?

Our Monaco/HR ramblers using certain steering boxes can be absolute white knuckle drivers.

[nothermark]

They put a long overhand on to transfer weight off of the front axle and to save money on the chassis they buy.

[F53Challenge]

Originally Posted by l1v3fr33ord1

Hmm... I think the wheelbase-to-length ratio "theory" is a bit suspect. Many gas coaches hover around 0.5; some handle well, and some poorly. The OP's coach comes in at 0.49.

I would like to know what improvements have been made to the coach, and what the values from the last alignment were, especially for caster. Also, has the coach had a weigh, either by axle or wheel ("four-corner")?

6 new Michelin tires, Koni Shocks, 3 different alignment shops, front and rear track bars, chf, additional rear sway bar, air tabs, kelderman air ride suspension, independently inflated air bags @ each corner, front leaf springs have urethane bushings. TRW Steering box, universal to steering shaft, king pins all reviewed and determined to be good along with rest of front end steering and suspension components. Had a Safety Steer, removed it as something else to try. Steering wheel does want to return to center. Last alignment: camber .5, Caster 5.0, Toe 1/16.

Certified Scale, Front 5,420 rear 10,800 at the time of weighing shy 20 gallons fresh water, shy 20 gallons of fuel, fridge empty, not loaded to go on the road. gvwr is 16k.


Thanks for your interest.

[Ljwt330]

My first MH was a 26' Itasca Reyo, same as Winnebago Via, built on a Sprinter chassis with Mercedes diesel. Drove virtually like a car--straight and true with no steering wheel corrections needed. Those class A types may be too small for your needs as they are basically a class C with the front sheet metal replaced by molded fiberglass to create the class A look and feel. Regardless, it was a pleasure to drive.


Oh yeah, 15-18 mpg!

[Betr2Trvl]

A few thoughts.....

You won’t get 22.5” wheels until you get to the 22k/26k Ford chassis, and even with that one, it is available on 19” and optional 22.5” being up to the coach builder to decide on what they want to use. The 24k/30k and 26k/30k are on 22.5” wheels which also have slightly larger tires than the 22.5” equipped 22k/26k. So given that, a shorter coach would probably never need to be on a 22k or larger chsssis and hence, not have the option of the larger tire/wheel sizes.

Wheelbase to lentgth ratios.

Not a lot of gas coaches I’ve happend to check out are better than 53 or 54%. Off the top of my head, some of the better / best ones I’ve looked into happen to be a Tiffins, and include:
Tiffin 31SA 57%, 32SA 55%, 34TGA (nla) 58%.
Going back to another recent thread, a Coachman Miramar was mentioned and I decided to check them out and found they actually tout their 54% “longer” wheelbase ratio as being a selling point, which is better than most at least.....

The long rear overhang creates a couple effects.

The big “sail area” that extends so far behind the rear axle creates more of a leverage effect with push / pull airflow impacts by passing big rigs. I’ll say that we have virtually no impact from passing trucks in our 31SA (which my wife also drives).

Weight distribution has also been noted. But it’s more than just how much weight you have on a axle, and being within axle weigh ratings, but where it is located can have a big impact.

You want as much weight as you can between the axles to start with. And, you want to have weight front biased.

If you have a lot of your rear weight all the way in the back of a long overhang (even within axle ratings) it can create a pendulum effect exaggerating porpoising (up / down over road undulations) and back and forth sway. And as already noted, too much rear weight leverage may also create a light front end (and associated squirrelly steering characteristics) if you don’t balance your weight f/r to begin with.

Regards