Fords?

[glenthompson]

I had a 99 F250 pickup with the V10. Only issue was a problem blowing out spark plugs due to not enough threads in the head. The engine was otherwise rock solid and would tow just about anything. They fixed the head issue on later models. The Ford was better than the Chevy 454 I had in my first RV. Having switched to diesel pushers I could never go back to a gasser.

[AndyAk]

I've had Class A's and pickups with 454's, 460's, 6.4 diesel, and now the V10.

The biggest adjustment to me in the beginning is, it's not real impressive. The 454 pulled better (and drank more gas), the 460 also. The 6.4 in a pickup will make you feel like a kid again.

The V10 will not. It is perfectly adequate - a term I normally use as an insult.
Add a 5,000 boat and tow up and down hills....it's still adequate. In fact, I've not found a situation that seems to bother it much. No, it never blows you away. No, it doesn't seem to get bothered much.
Being as where most people don't actually drive their RV's a LOT, this probably isn't so bad.

It's been very consistent, never sounded too stressed. Always did the job. Sometimes you had to wait a bit.

For an RV, it's not a bad choice, unless you plan to race people.

[Grandpa5x]

I had a 99 Bounder 35’ on the Ford f53 with 26k miles, first trip to FL the sway bar fell apart and couldn’t drive faster than 50 mph because of the swaying. Never got better than 4.9 mpg driving 60 mph across the flat state of FL. When we got back to TN I traded it for a 02 Mountain Aire on a Workhorse chassis with the 8.1L Chevy engine, more pulling power, 8-9 mpg at 62 mph. I’ll never have another ford chassis. They’re rough riding and all over the road unless you’re willing to spend a lot of money on after market parts, and I equate that with buying a $25,000 Harley Davidson and then spending another $5,000 to buy accessories so you can ride in comfort. The Workhorse chassis were made thru 2009.

[jamesham]

I have an old 1996 Gulf Stream 33ft Class C on the Chevy chassis and love it. It has served us well for 39,000 miles. The drive train is based on the Chevy Express 3500 one-ton van.

The Chevy (or Workhorse) is still available in smaller Class C motorhomes today, but engine size is much smaller. Had a Ford Travelmaster Class C before that and something was always wrong that needed fixing.

The current Ford V10 is the only choice in Class A gas. The Ford Transit is available in the much smaller Class C units. There are a few Dodge Promaster chassis in small C's and B's. Other than that, Mercedes Diesel is under everything else.

Originally Posted by wbputerwiz

So we have pretty much narrowed it down, again, lol to a Class A Gas except that my husband has never been a Ford fan. So this is hard for him,. lol What are your thoughts on the Ford engines?

[OldWrench]

Originally Posted by wbputerwiz

So we have pretty much narrowed it down, again, lol to a Class A Gas except that my husband has never been a Ford fan. So this is hard for him,. lol What are your thoughts on the Ford engines?

In another life I was a diesel mechanic. They will run millions of miles. Trouble free? No
The V10 gas used in many ford chassis is a proven engine that is used and abused in work trucks. Many of those get over 200K on the engine with no trouble.

So my question is are you planning on 200K on your RV or 2 million miles?

However, the chassis upgrades on the gas RV's are not the same as the chassis upgrades on a diesel pusher.
We bought a class A with a V10 Ford and I have worked on upgrading the factory chassis. Is it good. That is a subjective question because I drove heavy trucks most of my life and things have gotten better. I am happy with my class A and the Ford V10. I did add Five Star Tuning to the engine. Ask questions and I will try and help.

[DaddyNo1]

Always been a chevy since I grew up with my parents have the big tanks 1973 Pontiac Grandville with 454 and a 65 Chevy Impala with the 327. Even before I got into the RVs I got my first Chevy 2002 Suburban 5.3L Keep running til I sold it to my cousin and he's still running it. Eeh to the point I bought my first RV with the 8.1L Vortec V8 and ran like a champ gas engine pulling my suburban behind the RV both on a 2003 Storm 30ft and 2004 Itasca 35ft. Until I found out the dont have that engine on the larger gas so the only options is Ford V10. In fact I even bought my 2006 35ft National Seabreeze used with the V10 and 10k miles. I currently have 40k miles on it to this day. just changing the oil and lubing the chasis. Initially pulling my suburban but now I dolly tow a 2017 Honda Pilot. Either way I'm please with both. Doing my Vegas and San Fracisco runs no problems through the pass, passing all the truckers. Colorado still took care of business. I can honestly testify that both engines are worthy in the RV capacity. Its just that Ford is the only engine offered in the larger model gas coaches. So get on board and Enjoy the RV world.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by luvlabs

Rock solid. The V10 is pretty much bulletproof. And if you are looking for a new motorhome, the Ford chassis is your only choice for a gas powered coach.

Workhorse is once again in the MH chassis market, beginning I think in 2020.https://www.rvbusiness.com/blog/work...is-market.html
Also in 2020 Ford introduces their

new push-rod V8 engine

in their F250 through F750 chassis, and vans. It will replace the V10 and largest V8 Ford engines.

[TripleEEE]

^^^^ That Workhorse article was dated 5/20/2015..............

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by TripleEEE

^^^^ That Workhorse article was dated 5/20/2015..............

Ya, there hasn't been an update since that I know about, so I assume things are still on track.

[photobob]

I'm always amazed with all of the experts who have had bad experiences and paint a picture based on them. Chevy Vegas had bad powertrains and they went out of production fast.
Fact all manufacturers have design problems . I remember my Chevy 305 in the 70's that ate camshafts.
The Triton V10 is basically all that's available in gas class A RV's and they don't have many issues today. Its been around long enough and Ford has addressed the issues of early engines. No serious service is required before 80K. The same is true for the F-53 chassis. As long as you pay attention to the general maintenance schedule you shouldnt have problems. But there are always exceptions .
My concern is they put that engine in some really big rigs, then people overload the coach, and then they tow a heavy vehicle. Not only it is very sluggish it is a great strain on the powertrain.
30 -32 feet pulling a compact toad you will find it peppy enough to pass those 40+ DP'going up hill. I do it all the time.

[JpalmerCass]

With320 HP and at the top GVWR of 26,000 pounds an F53 has a better horsepower to weight ratio than many diesel coaches. It needs to run higher revs than a diesel but it will run.

My coach tracks and handles fine without any suspension or steering modifications (though it has factory Sumos). Perhaps the 228” wheelbase, longest at its size, short rear overhang and 24K chassis help, I don’t know. But it drives fine.

[NeilV]

I wanted a Workhorse but got "Stuck" with the Ford and found that it was a very good thing that I did. No Bosch/Workhorse brake debacles and if you load the coach and inflate the tires correctly there is absolutely no need for a lot of aftermarket doodad's, addon's, tinkering, etc unless the coach builder themselves cheated and used a smaller chassis then they should have or did a really bad job of distributing the weight.

Mine is a 2001 and has been from Florida to the Alcan and all through the Appalachian Mountains, White Mountains, Catskill Mountains, Thousand Islands on up through Ottawa Canada with no problems.

I did take care of the issue with the early air intake being too low before I took my first trip and follow the printed maintenance schedule in the owners manual for the F53 which on a motor home should be the Severe Duty Service Schedule.

Only major item in the past 14 years I have owned it was the cruise control fuse recall which was a free 5 minute service once they got the part in stock. It took longer to sign off the paperwork than to do the service.

I now have no problem recommending the F53 with the V10 however I might wait a year before buying a new one with the new larger V8 that they are currently rolling out.

Other Ford products are something else as I do not like their track record of taking things to court and dragging their feet at times when it comes to safety.

I would have serious doubts on buying anything GM orphaned off to someone else who then gave up on it and stopped producing.

[olddog1943]

Never had a Ford that I DID NOT have a problem with. Electrical and Engines are suspect at best! Caveat Emptor....

[MCR]

I was same way !
I thought the Chevy was the way to go untill We got the V10. The Ford is way quieter .
It a powerful smooth running motor.
You will have no worries !
Good luck!