Which RV Chassis, E-450 or Transit Cutaway?

[Drew2000]

Looking at a smaller B+ or C RV for retirement in a year or so and thinking about going full-time. Question is, which cutaway chassis? The E450 is a proven (old) body on frame design with the reliable 6.8 V10. The Transit is a unibody with the Ecoboost 3.5. Neither will be MPG champs, with the E450 hard pressed to hit 10 mpg. Hopefully the Transit could muster 15 mpg. The E450 has a substantially higher GWVR than the Transit, also larger tires with better selection. The Transit has a newer and more roomy cockpit and better ride. (Not really interested in diesel or the Mercedes vans with their limited and high-cost dealer network.)

I can see myself driving on maintained fire or BLM roads to reach boondocking sites, obviously no off-roading, but some bumpy dirt and gravel stuff. I'm thinking the body on frame E450 with the crude but rugged twin I-beam front end will stand up better? Any thought and experiences appreciated.

https://www.phoenixusarv.com

Drew

 

[Danno]

How many miles will you drive per year?
Had about 200 diesel 3.2L cab and chassis DRW in my fleet. The highest mileage units at the time had about 80,000 miles. They got better fuel economy than my 3.0L diesel Sprinters. At that mileage, no real issues to report. Started very well in cold weather, down to 0F with no plug in needed for block heater.
Oil changes on the diesel were about $60, far cry from MB diesel.
Most annoying thing was the unique tire size and limited selection.

 

[bullwinkle]

Transit drivetrains are JUNK-you don't want one! I'm on my 2nd Transit 250, the rear axle is already getting loose at 13K miles. It was a constant issue on the first one I had, Ford couldn't keep it from loosening up.

 

[bullwinkle]

Also-a Transit RV will have a hard time getting 15 MPG, my high roof 250 might make 17-18 on a good day, but it has to be 55 MPH or below.

 

[DuckRyder]

E450... out of those 2.

Bullwinkle is right on both counts too... the rear ends are a bit of a known problem and I've never seen 16 out of the one I drive.

 

[dbias]

Originally Posted by bullwinkle
Transit drivetrains are JUNK-you don't want one! I'm on my 2nd Transit 250, the rear axle is already getting loose at 13K miles. It was a constant issue on the first one I had, Ford couldn't keep it from loosening up.


I can personally SECOND THIS!! DO NOT GET A TRANSIT. I have 2 as company vehicles and the rear end are junk. The company I subcontract under has dozens and they are all blowing up the rear ends. I know it's not RV material but fir what we do the chevy Express 2500 and 3500 are the gold standard in our line of work. I drive 1500 miles a week and my current Express has 289,000 miles on it, all original drivetrain.

 

[Danno]

Never had a drivetrain issue with the Transit 350 DRW (dual rear wheel) chassis, and they were all loaded to max GVW of 9,950 lbs everyday. Out to 80,000 miles at least.

Let's make sure we're talking same specs.

 

[DuckRyder]

Originally Posted by Danno
Never had a drivetrain issue with the Transit 350 DRW (dual rear wheel) chassis, and they were all loaded to max GVW of 9,950 lbs everyday. Out to 80,000 miles at least.

Let's make sure we're talking same specs.


What Axle is used in the DRW, the SRW use a 9.75 Sterling. At least one dealer has said they got some bad gears...

Still one should consider that not every Ford dealer is going to have the ability (or willingness) to service a RV anyway, so the limited MB dealer network is somewhat mitigated... Me if I was about to spend north of $150,000 it wouldn't be on a Transit based RV, (cough*AirstreamGrandTour*cough).

This is not to say Transit are all bad, they do drive pretty well...

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Friend of mine has a 2016 Transit 150 with the 3.7 and it has been quite good to him so far. Even towing a Jeep all around. And it gets 12 mpg towing a Jeep on a trailer, pretty good. It'll outrun my 5.4 in the hills.

But I don't think you can go wrong with an econoline. I'd take the MPG hit for the ladder frame and goofy twin i-beam front. The econoline won't let you down.

 

[andyd]

Ford is still using the twin I beam front end? Are they still nearly impossible to keep in alignment?

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted by dbias
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
Transit drivetrains are JUNK-you don't want one! I'm on my 2nd Transit 250, the rear axle is already getting loose at 13K miles. It was a constant issue on the first one I had, Ford couldn't keep it from loosening up.


I can personally SECOND THIS!! DO NOT GET A TRANSIT. I have 2 as company vehicles and the rear end are junk. The company I subcontract under has dozens and they are all blowing up the rear ends. I know it's not RV material but fir what we do the chevy Express 2500 and 3500 are the gold standard in our line of work. I drive 1500 miles a week and my current Express has 289,000 miles on it, all original drivetrain.



We liked the new Transit a lot for our biz fleet but our Factory Authorized Upfitter won't cut the unibody as required to install our equipment per Ford.


GM 3500 vans, whether GMC or Chevrolet, work perfectly and routinely run 200k miles loaded out at 9000+ pounds every day of work. Add to this 4500-5000 hours of stationary operation at 1500-1750 rpm and you can see why we use them.


I have only had one rear end fail in a 3500 service van here and it was an 06 with 203k on the clock. Just hard to feel badly when they treat you like that.


It really saddens me, I feel certain the Transit would have some nice driving dynamics.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted by andyd
Ford is still using the twin I beam front end? Are they still nearly impossible to keep in alignment?


On the econoline and 2wd superduty.

If the bushings wear, they are impossible to align. Plus camber changes heavily based on load. But they are probably more durable than any other truck independent suspension out there. But they have very few bushings in the front end.

 

[02SE]

I would ask your questions in the appropriate section, on this website: RV.Net

 

[Drew2000]

Thanks for all the feedback! The will definitely continue research and post to the RV forums, but folks on BITOG have a ton of knowledge too. A chassis cab running hard with a heavy vocational body (often by employees that aren't too gentle) probably is better test of durability than sightseeing retirees tootling along between state parks.

Wouldn't have a problem with a Chevy chassis, but Ford seems to dominate the RV portion of the industry. Have to cherry-pick in the RV market as many RV brands are made like crap. Okay for a couple of trips per year, but not full timing. Figure mileage would be 15-20k per year, The Transit sounds more hit and miss with reliability when you get close to 10k GVWR. It seems that all the Transit 150/250/350 have pretty much the same underpinnings except for spring rates.

The Mercedes are nice, but reading that since all the diesel emissions junk was added (like most of the new green diesels), they have some pretty costly issues.

 

[DoubleWasp]

If I were planning to go road warrior like you, I'd want the stone age proven tech, and not the newer and less proven. I prefer an overbuilt rig to one operating near limits. For me, it's E450. But that's just me.

Where road maintenance is concerned; there is likely no corner of the nation that does not have at least several venues for E450 RV parts and repair.

Can't go wrong with Chevy Express either. One of the last vehicles available new that is still a Just-The-Fluids-And-Drive-Forever ownership experiences.