2018 vegas ruv 24.1 truth facts questions and answers

[vegasruv24.1]

I have watched these little coaches since they started building them,. In the beginning, they built these on the E350 chassis... the problem with them was the E350 chassis has a 4'' narrow rear end and only a ccwr of 18500 lbs.. the coach weighs 10,500lbs and with the E350 @ 12500 GVWR kinda limits the towing capacity ...now they come on the E450 chassis, with a Gcwr of 22,000 lbs, they also come now with an 8000lb hitch..so heres what that does for you...After totally loading the coach with everything we took in our alpine,.. it was off to the scales..everything full ready to hit the road..steer axel was 4480 lbs.. and the drive axel came in at 6920 lbs, for a total load weight of only 11400 lbs, the chassis is at 14,500 GVWR.... leaves 3100lbs that it will still carry..also, that leaves you 10,700 lbs total..yeah, the hitch is only 8000lbs, but easy to upgrade to 10k.. and pulling 10k you still will be under weight by 700 lbs.... pretty good huh....

[vegasruv24.1]

so now, the power...it's powered by the proven for years triton V-10... with the tow/haul 6 speed trans...Ford has come a long way with this power train,.. un like the early years, the new motor is very quiet, the 6 speed gets you to travel speed quick and quiet... runs like a mouse in slippers...they also improved on the air intake and cooling fan..the ac blows ice cold, and a cool feature is the compressor cut of switch that allows you to cut the compressor when on steep grades and still recirculate the in side cool air... the fuel tank is 55 gals.. enough for a full day of travel, easy 400 miles..not towing, driving freeway speed, you can net 9mpg......but if you slow down to 55mph,.. there are claims of over 10mpg..

[vegasruv24.1]

now for the wrong.... ford puts the little 225-75-16 tires, on a 16x6" rims... way too small...and what that does is makes 4th gear un useable for highway travel... puts the rpms around 4000 @ 55 mph..the motor is at full torque @ 3200 rpms,.. and at 3200 rpms... shes quiet and powerful.. the other problem is the trans... the trans is really a 4 speed with over drive... the they added a 5th gear under drive... so there is no way to hold the trans in 5th, so what happens is it will down shift to forth by the computer... with the little tires... shes wound tighter than a fiddle string...

[vegasruv24.1]

ford ops to go to the f550 for the c class, and with the f53 chassis, they only build class A's...for the rv market, the E350 and 450 dominates the class C market in power, GVWR, and GCWR...Mercedes, and the ford transit battle for the top spot in the low power, low GVWR class...which works fine if you don't wanna tow anything.I think they have a tow rating after loading the coach of only about 2500lbs... but even at that ..they are way under powered..

[vegasruv24.1]

So what I did was go to the 235-85-16's... they are 2.5"s taller which drops the rpm about 500, so that gets you right in the sweet spot of about 3200 rpms @ 55-60 mph, and also lets you put the gear selector in 4TH gear and stop the gear hunting... I also changed out the rims to moto metals , black...the first mod was to pull all the easter egg vinyl stripes off, who the hell thought that up should be hung by their thumbs... they will never last and ruin the gel coat...once the havasu heat gets to them they fade and crack, so the sooner you pull them off the better..I like the plain look...it's cool,.. but cool is not for every body, next best would be to have them painted on... but heat will also cause them to crack..so best would be to have them sprayed in gel coat and keep the rv out of dirrect sun lite when not in use,...most have figured out the lot rot deal and it explains why most everybody wants rv garage homes..rv's and boats need to be garaged to keep the like new look!!

[vegasruv24.1]

So on to the sweet deal with this coach... I though this over for years..yeah the alpine was total luxury, and made a nice size cabin when you got there.., but... I don't stay in one place, and when we get there, I wanna be out side,we have 2 rzr 1000's and spend the day light time out riding or sitting around camp. .and same for the eve's, it's having drinks and telling stories around the camp fire...if I'm gonna stay in side the whole time,... I'll just stay home... so here's the deal I came up with,... I spend 8 or so hours driving,... so what I want is power and comfort,, the next thing I do in a coach is sleep, ...so in the bed 6hrs 3min.., 3 min,.. is for sex..this coach you can do 5 of the 6 S's... can't smoke in the coach.. So the next best thing I want is a huge bed.. we sleep on a King size at home, and this coach has an over sized king bed.. 95 wide x 75 long... or if you are taller you have 95''s long bed..I put a cooling foam mattress , and the truth is it is more comfortable than the bed at home, the coach has ducted AC.. with 4 vents in the bedroom...nice.. they also put 3 tv's one up front, one out side, and one in the bedroom

[tigwelder]

so what is your point?

[vegasruv24.1]

So here's what usually kills the deal for us on smaller coaches...towing....most of the gas coaches are just grossly under powered, and have no tow capacity … not the deal here...comes with a tow rating hitch of 8000lbs...

so now the truth in the pudding,... I hooked the 22' enclosed trailer up, triple axel.. 2 fold down sofa beds, bbq, fire wood, extra fuel,2 rzr 1000's, tools and such....ready for a week at the dunes..I did put a sping bar hitch,... but,.. I measures the coach height before adding the trailer.. and with the trailer on , and no spring bars,, it only lowered the rear 3/8"... and with the bars, put it right at the stock height.. so now the truth... back out to the scales..It would be foolish to say you didn't know the 22'r was back there and a real stretch of the truth... but people do say stuff like that,... not the case here.. but at the same time I can honestly say she handled the weight just fine,.. the ride was very smooth, un effected by passing or getting passed by big trucks.. on some what flat ground she stayed at 1800-1900 rpms in 6th gear on CC.. wisper quiet,.. it was hot and muggy on the trip out to the scales.. and now and then the engine fan would come on... ran the dash AC out and back,, pulled on the scales..heres the facts,,

the total gross weight was 19,260 lbs.. the chassis is 22,000 , that leaves me with under by 2740lbs.... sweet!!!
the steer axel was at 4280 and the drive axel was at7920... The trailer @7060...pretty close to right on in my thought.. no idea of what the mpg is gonna be with the towed weight.. but long as I can get there with all my stuff... Pretty cool..

[vegasruv24.1]

I haven't done it yet, but I always go with the 5 star tune for a few reasons, one they re calibrate the tire size, as is my speedo is off by about 6 mph at 60 mph, and yes they get the shift points right... I have noticed before a power increase,.. pulls the hills in a higher gear, and shifts a lot less... and for the cost vs what it does, I never do the banks anymore..

[vegasruv24.1]

Key specifications - Ford 25'-6" Class A Gas Motorhomes
Year

2018

Brand

Vegas

Fuel Type

Gasoline

Chassis

Ford® E-450

Ford Engine

6.8L Triton® V10 with 305HP & 420 lb. ft. Torque

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR)

14,500

Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR)

22,000

Wheelbase

188"

Exterior Length (w/o ladder)

25'-6"

Exterior Height (w/AC)

11'-0"

Exterior Width (w/o mirrors)

94

Interior Height

82"

Awning Size

17'

Fuel Capacity

55

LPG

40.9

Fresh Water

42

Black Water

30

Gray Water

40

Water Heater

Tankless

Furnace

30,000 BTU

Exterior Storage

63.5 cu. ft.

Trailer Hitch Rating

8,000

Sleeping Capacity

5

Seat Belt Position

5

[vegasruv24.1]

gotta figure the pics deal out...

[safari]

Originally Posted by vegasruv24.1

gotta figure the pics deal out...

thank you for the story & facts

[vegasruv24.1]

here she is..

[vegasruv24.1]

Originally Posted by safari

thank you for the story & facts

You're welcome... though some would like to know.. while getting fuel and weighing the coach... got a lot of inquirers... most were.."What is this?" lol

[Summerwind]

Originally Posted by vegasruv24.1

You're welcome... though some would like to know.. while getting fuel and weighing the coach... got a lot of inquirers... most were.."What is this?" lol

Do you sell ice cream Mister?
hahahah

All kiddin aside very nice write up

[vegasruv24.1]

Originally Posted by Summerwind

Do you sell ice cream Mister?
hahahah

All kiddin aside very nice write up

Candy...

[vegasruv24.1]

ready for an adventure

[vegasruv24.1]

another issue with the 24.1 ruv… closet space, they only put a small closet.. couple jackets and it's full...my wife takes enough clothes for a month to go for 2 days... so what I did was put a closet pole, (actually it's a wire closet shelf turned up side down) in the outside storage box on the right rear.. now there is a place for winter jackets, board shorts and such... doubles the space for hanging clothes...

[Muggs]

Congrats on nice rig.

We have a 2016 24.1. Tows 5500 lb open racecar trailer easily. On average, we see no more than .5 MPG hit with extra weight. At scale we are around 18,500 GCVW. Our Vegas is heavier than average due to spares, tools, etc in back compartments. First time I weighed was heavy on front axle so I moved heavier items back. I was also high on tongue weight.

I am able to get in to tight places without issue. Merging and accelerating with trailer is also no issue. Seems like it shifts 3 times before 25-25 MPH. Keeping up with traffic is no issue.

At 18,500 lbs, we got one our best overall MPG per tank average of 10.7 MPG drafting a big DP on I-95. Worst was below 9 on kamikazee run. Unit will cruise at 80 but wife does not like the noise.

Good luck with you machine. Keep tongue weight in mind, hitch has 500 lb rated max tongue even though is 8000 drawbar. It has something to do with framerail extensions. I have had my double axle open trailer at 350/400 without issue on highway and it does not sway or try to steer Vegas.

With the taller tires, lower RPM do you notice any pinging from motor? I will usually top up with premium as mine will sound like it rattles a bit under certain outside temp/load conditions.

[vegasruv24.1]

the sofa bed.....not too comfortable..but it works and gives sleeping for a couple...they put the TV in a nice spot,... but...seating needs to be better...old people like to put their feet up..I have tackled this before.. and here's what happens..if you buy from a home furniture store, by the time you put the new recliner in... it's too high because of the raised floor on the slide out....damn near have to rebuild the whole sofa..and setting on it's like a barber chair..most of the stuff from rv furniture stores is way over priced IMO.. and kinda cheezy.. But I would appreciate any input on this deal... I found a sofa that if I remove the center section,it will leave me with A 66" double recliner..that'll work... but it only comes in black.. so my next step is to put black cover over the sofa that's in there, I'm thinking it's gonna look like socks on a rooster..our coach is a 2018 with the coffee and cream look décor.. again..input on this is appreciated ..