Ford E 350 motorhome owners please help!

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carver4591

Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2017
Posts
11
Hello, I was all set to buy a Coachmen Freelander 22QB and have heard that the Ford 350 chassis may be too light to do the job Vs. the Chevy 4500. I've heard that they are both adequate for the job but would love someone that owns one the chime in. Thanks
 
If you are worried about the e350 for towing capacity then I believe most of them are rated at 3500 lb towing.  Otherwise they do the same thing.  Of course you did not specify the engine, so hard to answer.
 
I will be hanging a 300 lb motorcycle on the hitch receiver with two adults and lots of gear in addition to considering the tanks being full. It's a 2017 24 foot coachmen with a E350 V 10 engine. From all that I've heard from you folks it sounds adequate.
 
I've adequately towed a 3,250 lb 2014 Chevy Captiva with my 5.4 L V8 E350 based 24 foot class C RV.  Yes, it slows down on big hills but it gets the job done.  So if you have the Ford V10 and are towing a bike at around 2,000-2,500 lbs I personally see no issues.
 
In this case he will not be "towing" anything, he will be carrying the motorcycle on a hitch based carrier. The difference is that all the weight (300 lbs + the carrier) will be borne on the RV hitch itself and the RV frame extension (if any) and not just the almost negligible tongue weight of a car hitch while towing 4 wheels down.

Just be sure that the hitch and RV frame attachment can take that kind of vertical or tongue weight. What is stamped on the hitch itself is not necessarily the vertical weight the RV rear end was designed to handle but this information should be available in your RV documentation. Most C class coach hitches will vary from 3000lbs (300 lbs vertical weight) to 5000lbs (500 lbs) for towing. As far as the engine/transmission is concerned, there is not likely any problem.

Adequate for the job??, That will depend specifically on the coach manufacturer and the make and model of the coach, as any frame extension and the hitch were both added by them. Any hitch rated close to a 300 lbs hitch vertical weight will be questionable and you might be better off using a trailer. Some have modified the rear end and use two hitches to carry that 'platform' for the bike.
 
Why not use a trailer and free up some of that 300+ lbs of weight to use toward  the people and gear you want to carry? Plus it seems it would be easier to load/unload a 300# motorcycle on a trailer than a hitch mounted carrier and safer.
 
where you will into trouble with the e350, and hanging all that weight on the rear is the front is over sprung, and the rear is under.... the fix would be to add a leaf to the rear... most of the difference from the E350 to the e450 is the rear springs... and the e450 has a more heavy duty 4'' wider axel...with the weight on the rear the front wheels will slide on panic stop and take twice as far to stop...
 
carver4591 said:
I will be hanging a 300 lb motorcycle on the hitch receiver with two adults and lots of gear in addition to considering the tanks being full. It's a 2017 24 foot coachmen with a E350 V 10 engine. From all that I've heard from you folks it sounds adequate.
Adding a huge lift weighing 200 pounds or more and then hanging 300 pounds of motorcycle on the lift is going overload the rear axle, and take so much weight off the front axle you probably will have handling problems. 

Put the motorcycle on a trailer and tow it.
 
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