What is the best/highest rated chassis for class A and why.

[Crasher]

Originally Posted by darstar

You can believe it or not , but facts DO count.. When a MFG puts limits on a chassis there Is a reason. There are all kinds of people and all kinds of MH out there . I have seen some scary sights, overloaded all over the road , too much hitch weight , unstable in crosswinds, it's a long list. Just why do you think they started putting tag axels under all the longer coaches? How about the fact for years the drive axel on 90 per cent of the MHs were carrying 24,000 lbs, 4,000 over legal in most states. When they started adding slides it got worse. Yes , ignore what I and others say, your right, but don't call us wrong !

I must have been part of the 10%. I'd like to know where you got your 90% figure from. I am anal when it comes to loading an axle and do not go over their ratings. I don't recall the exact numbers of our 03 on a Freightliner chassis, but the actual weight did not exceed the axle ratings. My 2011 on a Powerglide chassis had a 22,000# rear axle and weighed 20,300 except when I had our 9500# trailer with 1000# tongue weight. With the weight transfer, the rear weighed just at 22,000#. In all cases, they drove and handled great. You are correct in that it is very important to check the load and towing capacity of any motorhome "before" you buy it and do not exceed the design limits.

[darstar]

Originally Posted by Crasher

I must have been part of the 10%. I'd like to know where you got your 90% figure from. I am anal when it comes to loading an axle and do not go over their ratings. I don't recall the exact numbers of our 03 on a Freightliner chassis, but the actual weight did not exceed the axle ratings. My 2011 on a Powerglide chassis had a 22,000# rear axle and weighed 20,300 except when I had our 9500# trailer with 1000# tongue weight. With the weight transfer, the rear weighed just at 22,000#. In all cases, they drove and handled great. You are correct in that it is very important to check the load and towing capacity of any motorhome "before" you buy it and do not exceed the design limits.

You are proof of what I say. The max legal wt. on any axle used to be 18,000 , then it was razed to 20,000 Federal standards.( with four tires rated to Carry the max wt. ) I am not aware of any axle wt. changes. In fact , just try to get onto the Ohio Turnpike over wt. There is a scale at the toll both, they will kick you off, its happened to several friends, mostly for being over wt. on steer axle.Look up the numbers on their web site for current wts. Its been a while and , I think they allowed more than 20M on drive but not sure what it was. If you hit the scale with full brake that will make you go over on just about any medium to high end DP steer. I have had to back up and try again slower ! I can't say about Freightliner chassis. My self right now on my Monaco Signature , full fuel and water 24,000 on drive.Thats with no tag , 450 hp Cummins, no slides. 40' long. I have big rubber on the coach 305/24.5 all around. To me , I just feel like I am carrying around too much wt on the drive for tire wear , stress, and possible bearing capacity, depending on the MFG rating of the axle assy.At the time I addressed this with Monaco , they had no answer, cause they knew of the problem. I think I was at 22,000 all the time and the assy Was rated for that when I looked up the capacity recommendations.

As to your 1,000 hitch wt. that seems a bit much. Most MH MFGs recommend no more than 500 lbs. I had a special Featherlite trailer built, tri axle/ V nose and axles spaced futher apart than standard. I never got over 500 with that set up. I had a Monaco Windsor 1998 38' with 300 Cummins.( 8.3 ) a 5500 lb. Packard and a Mullins luggage trailer in the V.It was finally a perfict set up , except that axle wt.which caused faster tire wear, I had 2 blow outs over 4 years, always on the inside of coarse ! Steer was never a problem , but , I have heard that changes when you go to a 45' coach for sure. Newells and Prevos used to use a German tire special made to carry the extra wt. Not sure what they do today as this was 10-12 years ago.

Finally , I am sure a lot of advancement has been made in Fright-liner and others today, and I am sure alls well , but wts do not lie. I always weighted on the CAT scales at truck stops and our gravel pit near home before I started the trip.

[tagcat]

I have been following this post on chassis.We just bought a m/h(well put deposit on) pick it up in 2 weeks if things check out with cummins shop and the monaco pre buyers check we will drive it back.
This is the Monaco 40 pdq diplomat with a upgraded 400 hp cummins,it is on the road master RR8R series chassis.Any thoughts on this?
It has hydraulic jacks(i think 1 in front and 2 in rear)we will do some dry camping so as someone said i will make some 2X12 plates for jacks to sit on.
Another question is when we get the coach home we have a gravel area to side of house i would like to park short time so we can load with slides out,but it is on a slight grade.There is a very level place we can park 1/4 down the road we could use our trailer to move stuff.Need to take time to make thing's are distributed correct for weight.What do you think?
Thanks everyone.tagcat

[Crasher]

Originally Posted by darstar

You are proof of what I say. The max legal wt. on any axle used to be 18,000 , then it was razed to 20,000 Federal standards.( with four tires rated to Carry the max wt. ) I am not aware of any axle wt. changes. In fact , just try to get onto the Ohio Turnpike over wt. There is a scale at the toll both, they will kick you off, its happened to several friends, mostly for being over wt. on steer axle.Look up the numbers on their web site for current wts. Its been a while and , I think they allowed more than 20M on drive but not sure what it was. If you hit the scale with full brake that will make you go over on just about any medium to high end DP steer. I have had to back up and try again slower ! I can't say about Freightliner chassis. My self right now on my Monaco Signature , full fuel and water 24,000 on drive.Thats with no tag , 450 hp Cummins, no slides. 40' long. I have big rubber on the coach 305/24.5 all around. To me , I just feel like I am carrying around too much wt on the drive for tire wear , stress, and possible bearing capacity, depending on the MFG rating of the axle assy.At the time I addressed this with Monaco , they had no answer, cause they knew of the problem. I think I was at 22,000 all the time and the assy Was rated for that when I looked up the capacity recommendations.

As to your 1,000 hitch wt. that seems a bit much. Most MH MFGs recommend no more than 500 lbs. I had a special Featherlite trailer built, tri axle/ V nose and axles spaced futher apart than standard. I never got over 500 with that set up. I had a Monaco Windsor 1998 38' with 300 Cummins.( 8.3 ) a 5500 lb. Packard and a Mullins luggage trailer in the V.It was finally a perfict set up , except that axle wt.which caused faster tire wear, I had 2 blow outs over 4 years, always on the inside of coarse ! Steer was never a problem , but , I have heard that changes when you go to a 45' coach for sure. Newells and Prevos used to use a German tire special made to carry the extra wt. Not sure what they do today as this was 10-12 years ago.

Finally , I am sure a lot of advancement has been made in Fright-liner and others today, and I am sure alls well , but wts do not lie. I always weighted on the CAT scales at truck stops and our gravel pit near home before I started the trip.

Much of your info is out dated. I recently read that Ohio raised the axle weight limit to 22,000#, but did not apply to RVs (Guy was stopped at the scale for 23,3??#, but when he pointed out he was registered and insured as an RV, they let him go) Our 03 DP had a 10,000# hitch(1,000# dead weight). Our 2011 also did as well as our 2013 Bus. I just contacted Tiffin and will purchase a 15,000# hitch (1,500# dead weight) from them to replace the 10K one. You are correct that weights do not lie. When I am loaded with the trailer, I am close to 50,000# and every axle weight is below its rated capacity as are the tires. One has to be carefull how the weight is distributed by adjusting the tag suspension pressure to prevent the steer axle from being over loaded, but it's an easy task if the coach is set up right. Impossible if it isn't.

[Crasher]

Originally Posted by tagcat

I have been following this post on chassis.We just bought a m/h(well put deposit on) pick it up in 2 weeks if things check out with cummins shop and the monaco pre buyers check we will drive it back.
This is the Monaco 40 pdq diplomat with a upgraded 400 hp cummins,it is on the road master RR8R series chassis.Any thoughts on this?
It has hydraulic jacks(i think 1 in front and 2 in rear)we will do some dry camping so as someone said i will make some 2X12 plates for jacks to sit on.
Another question is when we get the coach home we have a gravel area to side of house i would like to park short time so we can load with slides out,but it is on a slight grade.There is a very level place we can park 1/4 down the road we could use our trailer to move stuff.Need to take time to make thing's are distributed correct for weight.What do you think?
Thanks everyone.tagcat

I can't give personal experience on the chassis, but I have not heard anything bad about it. 15 years ago, I had a MH with only one jack in the front, and I wasn't a fan of it. I found the four corner system to be much better. Being a 40' Diplomat, get some good axle weights with it. How much will you be able to put in it? On another post you talked about loading up a lot of heavy tools. Will there be enough room after you load up the necessary things for full timing or will you want to pull a trailer for the tools and a car? If so, what is the towing capacity and hitch rating? The only advise I could give is that you will be much happier full timing in a longer tag coach. It would give you more room inside and would handle any load you would want to put in it or trailer you might need to pull. We do not full time as I told you on the phone, but having had both, we will never go back to a non tag MH. The ride and handling of a tag coach is in a class above any single axle unit.

[Dr4Film]

Actually it is VERY old information.

A new bill was passed back in the summer of 2012, that's almost two years ago, that exempts RV's from the Federal Axle Weight Limits.

New Highway Bill Exempts RVs from Axle Regs | RV Business

RV News: August 2012

The maximum axle weight for RV's is 24,000 lb's on any one axle.

So if traveling through Ohio on their Turnpike or Thruway or wherever they have scales to weight commercial trucks, if they hassle you in a non-commercial RV, simply remind them of the 2012 Highway Bill that exempts RV's up to 24,000 lb's.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

[akeyzoo]

I went out of my way to consider Chassis as a deciding point as CCC and Towing Capacity were a big deal for me. It narrowed my choices and I have no regrets at all. I ended up with a Spartan Liberty chassis, and have found no issues with the chassis and love the service at Spartan. There are other great chassis' too!

That said, this is my very first motorhome. But I did some research to make sure I would have a high likelihood of satisfaction to avoid having to get my second motorhome too soon!

Oh, and my dad was a long time OTR driver and loved his kitty kats, so it meant something to me personally to have the CAT C9, a little something to remind me of him.

Chris

[Larry Young]

My vote goes to Country Coach Dyna Max chasis. These are built specifically for the individual coach. They are overbuilt, they procduced and extremly strong frame.

[CountryFit]

Originally Posted by Larry Young

My vote goes to Country Coach Dyna Max chasis. These are built specifically for the individual coach. They are overbuilt, they procduced and extremly strong frame.

i can prove it

[darstar]

Originally Posted by Crasher

Much of your info is out dated. I recently read that Ohio raised the axle weight limit to 22,000#, but did not apply to RVs (Guy was stopped at the scale for 23,3??#, but when he pointed out he was registered and insured as an RV, they let him go) Our 03 DP had a 10,000# hitch(1,000# dead weight). Our 2011 also did as well as our 2013 Bus. I just contacted Tiffin and will purchase a 15,000# hitch (1,500# dead weight) from them to replace the 10K one. You are correct that weights do not lie. When I am loaded with the trailer, I am close to 50,000# and every axle weight is below its rated capacity as are the tires. One has to be carefull how the weight is distributed by adjusting the tag suspension pressure to prevent the steer axle from being over loaded, but it's an easy task if the coach is set up right. Impossible if it isn't.

I maybe out of date as to what the Ohio Pike requires these days. Remumber was talking about steer wt, not drive when it comes to the Ohio Pike. Years ago , as late as 20000 and long before in my trucking days , I personally had times when I hit the scale at the toll both too hard and was told to back up and try again. My coach in later years was a Windsor , no pusher. and only 38' long, no slides.I never got kicked off like my friend did in his 47 foot Newell. The longer you go in coach size the more wt will transfer to the steer. before the days of pushers ( there are still lots out there without pusher axle ) there was also a greater consideration for trailer wt.I pushed for a pusher ax many times with Monaco. Too me , 24,000 on the drive all the time was too much ! You are right , with air ride the more air. thats put to the rear air bags the more wt. that will transfer from the drive axle.WE had several dump valves all along the rig and could play with overweight as we were being weighted. They finally caught on and made them illegal.( for that purpose anyway )....So , 500 lbs on the hitch was about right with out a pusher. easy double that with the tag.These MHs all had way too much overhang, too short of WB. I do know having a way to dump the pusher or tag is very helpful when turning and backing up. All the same for the truck trailers. tire wear was cut inhalf with a pusher .I have also heard of frain failures and the pusher coming detached !I can see this on a coach that does not have a rail chassis.

[darstar]

Originally Posted by akeyzoo

I went out of my way to consider Chassis as a deciding point as CCC and Towing Capacity were a big deal for me. It narrowed my choices and I have no regrets at all. I ended up with a Spartan Liberty chassis, and have found no issues with the chassis and love the service at Spartan. There are other great chassis' too!

That said, this is my very first motorhome. But I did some research to make sure I would have a high likelihood of satisfaction to avoid having to get my second motorhome too soon!

Oh, and my dad was a long time OTR driver and loved his kitty kats, so it meant something to me personally to have the CAT C9, a little something to remind me of him.

Chris

Cat had a lot of problems over the years when they decided to put their engines into over the road trucks , which a large coach is a compromise too.The 3208 v8 engine was a bad design right from the start.When they said it was a good firetruck engine I knew right a way it was not intended for over the road service. On the other end of the scale they came out with a big bullet proof engine that was adapted from a roadgrader. Fasting thing on wheels were the 1600 series, but heavy they were , and expensive.Too heavy where gross wt. hauls were problems.I had a 3406 in a 77 Pete, good runner, but parts and service were expensive, I went back to Cummins then Volvo.

[Crasher]

darstar, I also remember being able to change the tag pressure on the move.I built a couple of grain trucks from two Freightliner tractors and added a pusher axle to each. It was easy to dial in whatever was needed to get through the scale. They made that illegal long after we sold the farm. Too bad. :(

[akeyzoo]

Originally Posted by darstar

Cat had a lot of problems over the years when they decided to put their engines into over the road trucks , which a large coach is a compromise too.The 3208 v8 engine was a bad design right from the start.When they said it was a good firetruck engine I knew right a way it was not intended for over the road service. On the other end of the scale they came out with a big bullet proof engine that was adapted from a roadgrader. Fasting thing on wheels were the 1600 series, but heavy they were , and expensive.Too heavy where gross wt. hauls were problems.I had a 3406 in a 77 Pete, good runner, but parts and service were expensive, I went back to Cummins then Volvo.

My dad put well over a million miles on his 3406 and claimed it never left him stranded. I can only hope my 'lil C9 does the same.

[B Bob]

The very best chassis for a class A motorhome is likely a Prevost. But very expensive. According to all the information I have read purpose built chassis for motorhomes are the best. Meaning, Newell, Bluebird, Foretravel, Country Coach, Monaco, Beaver, Alpine, and Travel Supreme. But there is nothing wrong with the Spartan and Frieghtliner chassis either.

We have a Country Coach with a Dynomax semi monocoque 10 air bag chassis. The first time I drove it I thought it was the most stable coach on the freeway I had ever driven. So I bought it. I have driven about 10 other Country Coach motorhomes. They all drive excellently. When we were test driving a lot of coaches 4 1/2 years ago we were also very impressed with the Alpine ride and driving ability.