Community Forums

midasman · 06-26-2018, 07:58 AM

We've DONE IT! Going to a new Entegra (Jayco) Esteem 30X E450 gas chassis with one full wall under slide gear drive. Leaving behind a 2016 Entegra Aspire 42DEQ diesel pusher. 45,000# vs 12,000#. 45' vs 32'. Wife will now be able to help me drive, and I should be better able to deal with minor problems myself. Getting a good set of earplugs. We will keep y'all posted on the plusses and minuses as we transition. But I just couldn't give up the full body paint...

Jake21 · 06-26-2018, 08:48 AM

Following this.

DRK98 · 06-26-2018, 09:22 AM

We currently have a 32’ Redhawk and have been toying with the idea of moving to an older diesel pusher. I’m interested in hearing your reasoning for moving to the class c and how that goes.

GoneToTheDog · 06-26-2018, 09:34 AM

Beautiful rig. Great workable floorplan. Bet you are going to love it.

midasman · 06-26-2018, 09:50 AM

Turned 80 this year. No problem driving the 40,000# coach but that time WILL come sooner or later. My wife will be willing and able to drive the smaller one @ 12,000 # (she's test-driven a few already ).
Simpler maintenance that I could do. Simpler assembly line chassis that should be more reliable. One third the investment. Should be easier to sell when that time comes. Will be MUCH more suitable for dry camping or small campgrounds. And time will tell if we have done the right thing.

midasman · 06-26-2018, 09:55 AM

The 25b was on our short list. We would have done fine in it. It might have been a harder resale without a slide, but WE didn't need it...it's one less thing to break!

Harvard · 06-26-2018, 10:38 AM

Just a heads up about the E450 handling on the highway.

If it has a tendency to wander then the caster has not been changed since delivery. Ford ships these cutaways with +3 to +4 degrees of caster which is OK for city delivery vans. It needs to be bumped up by +2 degrees to be in the range of +5 to +6 degrees for highway driving.

Your wife will be the first to notice if the caster has not been changed.

GoneToTheDog · 06-26-2018, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by midasman

The 25b was on our short list. We would have done fine in it. It might have been a harder resale without a slide, but WE didn't need it...it's one less thing to break!

That was my feeling also....and one of the motivating factors in our decision to buy the 25b. We are very happy with it, and it works perfectly well for our needs, even with no slideout.

avfordguy · 06-26-2018, 10:44 PM

Ok I will add something,went from a 39ft monaco dp with 330hp isc to a 32 ft fleetwood 31m w 2 slides, DW would not drive the monaco, will drive the class c ,currently doing upgrades in the 31m, monaco without a tag a c les are very ill handling, the 31m driive smooth, less f ighting the wheel and I can drive all day and not get beat tired,where the monsco would keep me busy.
I can get chassis parts anywhere for the E450 try that with a DP! Yah,welost the quiet deisel genset for boon docking, but the 4k onan does just fine i just have to add more sound deading materialp, I'll get there.
Would DWand me go ba c k to a DP maybe in the future, but right now the E450 works for us

TJFogelberg · 06-30-2018, 02:02 PM

DRK98, does your Redhawk have the folding bed? Maybe you should look at other Class C's?

We upgraded from a 27' to a 32'9" Class C with 3 small slides. We are mostly flatlanders so happy with driving and handling towing a Honda CRV. Don't tire even on 500 mile days.

Don't see an upside for us in a Class A (Gas or Diesel). The Ford E450 was low maintenance before and same now with a new one. We had 130K on the '99 and it ran great. Most of the problems were with the house as it aged.

DRK98 · 06-30-2018, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TJFogelberg

DRK98, does your Redhawk have the folding bed? Maybe you should look at other Class C's?

We upgraded from a 27' to a 32'9" Class C with 3 small slides. We are mostly flatlanders so happy with driving and handling towing a Honda CRV. Don't tire even on 500 mile days.

Don't see an upside for us in a Class A (Gas or Diesel). The Ford E450 was low maintenance before and same now with a new one. We had 130K on the '99 and it ran great. Most of the problems were with the house as it aged.

No, ours is 32' 6" with a full size queen (I replaced the short queen). We really like the floor plan we have because of the large living/kitchen area but our kids are getting older and would like bunk beds. The gas class Cs with bunk beds have really small living areas and with the extra slides the CCC gets really low.

We are also finding ourselves using the MH more for a mobile hotel and not quite as much state park camping. In the coming years we'd like to take more 1-2 week trips covering a lot of miles.

My initial thought was an older high end DP with two long couches for the kids to have their own beds since bunk bed DPs didn't really exist until recently.

After reading some of the "joys" of the DP maintenance I'm somewhat leaning towards a new (ish) 36-39' gas class a with bunks and a bath and half.

I do all of my own maintenance and repairs so I'm not afraid of working/upgrading an older DP but I don't want to get into a money pit.

Jthigh · 06-30-2018, 10:49 PM

Following. We may decide to downsize in the future.

Ron Dittmer · 07-10-2018, 04:52 PM

This is a mute point to the OP, but for others downsizing in their later years, a popular rig for older couples, with it's reduced size and ease of handling, is the Phoenix Cruiser 2552. It is offered with two different slide-out arrangements and also a no-slide out version. If you want to shave a foot off the length, they also offer Model 2551 with and without a slide out. With either choice, owners have less to worry about over-loading the tires as one would with a 30+ long rig. Being only 93" wide, they are easier to maneuver around too. Being 10 feet to the top of the a/c unit, no need to worry about low hanging branches because the taller rigs took care of them for you.

eldonc · 07-10-2018, 05:13 PM

Got our new class c Thor 24f alignment done today. Had it a month and it wandered on the interstate. It was at a -7/32 toe setting. Also had caster adjusted to rt.side +5 left +4.75. The toe is now +1/32 on each side or+ 1/16th total toe .Seem to make it go straight down the highway on my way home. I also have installed a safety plus steering stabilizer. I am going to install next sumosprings front and rear to help with wind. Over all we are pleased with this less than 25 feet little coach. Looks like towing it will get right at 9mpg. Today without my toad it ran 9.5mpg. It is a lot easier to get fuel and park than our class A we traded.