Community Forums

Wingding · 11-27-2007, 08:18 AM

Greetings all,
Just wondering besides WRV{Alpine Coach}Foretravel and Newell ... are there any other Diesel RV Manufacturer's out there that make their own Chassis ?

Most contract a Chassis Manufacturer and build from there. But I am sure that I must be missing a few.

Wingding · 11-27-2007, 08:18 AM

Greetings all,
Just wondering besides WRV{Alpine Coach}Foretravel and Newell ... are there any other Diesel RV Manufacturer's out there that make their own Chassis ?

Most contract a Chassis Manufacturer and build from there. But I am sure that I must be missing a few.

JoeT · 11-27-2007, 09:56 AM

I believe Monaco makes their own chassis. The Roadmaster, I think. Tiffin now makes their own Powerglide chassis, available on certain models.

Wingding · 11-27-2007, 10:11 AM

Thanks Joe T.. Thats a surprise to me, on Monaco.Im going to have to check them out.On Tiffin, somewhere along the line they went to bigger class A style coach's. I must admit 40'Quad slide 350 CAT is a serious Class A coach....where have I been hibernating????
Does that coach have it own Tiffin made chassis???

JoeT · 11-27-2007, 11:08 AM

It's only available on the 40' Allegro Bus and has a 425HP Cummins.
The 40' Phaeton used to have the 350HP CAT. It now has a 360HP Cummins on a Freightliner Chassis. The 42' Phaeton is available with either a Freightliner or Spartan Chassis and a 360HP Cummins.

Cruzer · 11-27-2007, 11:30 AM

The 42' and 43' Allegro Bus should have the Powerglide by January 1st. The Phaeton is slated to follow sometime next year. On the Bus you get your choice of Powerglide, Freightliner, or Spartan.

Jimmy Jam · 12-06-2007, 01:47 PM

Country Coach builds their own chassis--Dynomax

Jim Scoggins · 12-18-2007, 09:42 AM

Bluebird

Bob (WA0MQE) · 12-18-2007, 02:25 PM

Wingding... Monaco hasn't always made their own chassis, but they purchased Safari a few years back who was one of the first motorhome manufacturers who built their own chassis'. Early on Safari either bought or partnered with one of the original commercial bus chassis manufacturers who built bus chassis' clear back in the 40's.

This is one of the main reason's Monaco wanted Safari. There was a big article about it in Motorhome magazine back when it all happened.

TXiceman · 12-18-2007, 04:28 PM

Foretravel in Nacogdoches, Texas

Explore America · 12-21-2007, 06:02 PM

American Coach builds their own Liberty Chassis. Uses Spartan front and rear drive components. Best ride quality of any dp chassis I've driven. Also, the quietest. Handling and driveability about the same as other Spartan chassis.

Route 66 · 12-22-2007, 02:54 AM

According to the American Coach website, the American Coach Liberty Chassis is built by Spartan for American Coach.

Spartan does not manufacture drive components, such as axles, brakes, suspension, and steering components.

LIBERTY CHASSIS

Gary RVRoamer · 12-22-2007, 11:57 AM

Dirk,
Perhaps it is just semantics, but American Coach does indeed do the final chassis build on the Liberty, utilizing modular "components" (subassemblies) from Spartan. Spartan basically builds the front end and the rear end and AC adds the middle (frame rails, storage bay structure, etc) and connects them all together. I suspect Explore America was referring to those modules when he said "components".

Explore America · 12-23-2007, 08:09 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Route 66:
According to the American Coach website, the American Coach Liberty Chassis is built by Spartan for American Coach.

Spartan does not manufacture drive components, such as axles, brakes, suspension, and steering components.

LIBERTY CHASSIS </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
RV Roamer is correct. Perhaps I should have used the term sub-assembles instead of components. Spartan does not build the Liberty Chassis for American Coach, or for the Fleetwood Revolution for that matter. Imagine taking a stock chassis and removing the frame rails, attaching the front and rear drive sub-assembles together. That's what Fleetwood receives from Spartan. Fleetwood then attaches the separate Spartan front and rear drive sub-assembles to their steel bridge frame foundation, forming a unibody type structure which Fleetwood calls the Liberty Chassis. As I recall in testing, the Liberty Chassis exhibited ~1/100 of the flex of a stock dp chassis. Should anyone have specific chassis questions, PM me and I'll be happy to provide the contact info. for two excellent American Coach factory reps.

Another advantage of the Liberty Chassis is that it can be serviced by any Spartan dealer. You're not tied to a proprietary dealer network as with some custom built chassis.

I've driven both single and tag axles, straight rail and IFS chassis', from Freightliner, Spartan, Roadmaster (4 and 8 bag), Liberty, and Workhorse(+UFO). IMO, the Liberty had the best ride quality, translating the least of the "road" into the cabin. Roadmaster (8+ bag) is close, with a firmer ride overall but with a tighter, slightly better handling characteristic.

I currently don't own an American Coach, but after test driving both an '08 American Tradition and '07 Fleetwood Revolution, the Liberty Chassis would be my top choice!