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Milom · 07-08-2018, 11:40 PM

Well, I am pleased to report that I did not experience any of the horror stories I've been reading about on these forums regarding the F53 chassis. Requiring 5 star tune, chf Wandering and such. Sumo springs, koni shocks trac bars sway bars safety steer etc... The only Quirk I noticed on our windy twisty 800 mile round trip. Was climbing a grade with cruise control set to 60mph. it wants to immediately downshift 2 gears and rev to 4800 rpm. a little scary when your not expecting it to do that. The dogs hated it to!LOL. So I Just took it off cruise when approaching steep grades and all shifting seemed normal. The coach was loaded to the max. I suspect we were near the 26,000 lbs threshold Plus toad. It handled very well with minimal roll and passing trucks didn't bother us much. Also, my previous coach was a 2014 Coachmen Concord 300 dsf with the 2 valve v10. pulling the toad It was barely getting 6.4 mpg. the coachman weighed in at least 10,000 lbs lighter than the Canyon star. but the Newmar on this trip averaged 8.5 mpg. So am I exception to the rule? or Many F53 owners don't know how to handle their beasts or what to expect of them. Balancing loads and correct tire pressure will go a long way to improving the ride. I have been reading about these issues Since we got the coach in April. And was getting quite concerned. But now are very happy with the Newmar!

FLJOE · 07-09-2018, 05:25 AM

Glad you thought it handled good. My experience with our past 2014 37' MH on the F53 chassis wasn't the same. Have you crawled under it to make sure the previous owner didn't make some modifications you just are not aware of? Maybe your suspension already has the CHF and some other mods.

Milom · 07-09-2018, 10:34 AM

I had it inspected before purchase and the technician confirmed that everything underneath looked factory stock. If all the other owners concerns are valid, makes you wonder why the manufacturers don't apply some fixes at their level. Why wouldn't Ford engineers tune their ecm's the 5 star tune way if its so much better?

FLJOE · 07-09-2018, 07:27 PM

I can't speak to a 5-Star tune, or why Ford doesn't play around with that. I have felt the need to mess with the performance of the V-10 in my gas MH. For me it was all about the F-53 suspension and the fact it handled like an overloaded bread truck.

As far as the handling, I certainly hope you continue to enjoy driving it as you get more miles on in different conditions. I just know there were travel days with 20 to 25 mph winds that were not fun.