Questions about Axis and Vegas RV's

[IDguy]

Oh, and I’ve had at least four RVs with slides, three with two each. My only issue was minor: a broken shear pin on my smallest slide on a pickup camper. I easily fixed it myself.

And I use my RVs a lot!

I am religious about leveling before sliding and sliding before unleveling. Hydraulic jacks are most important to make this easy, but I only found that out with my current unit.

[Vbates]

After our kitchen slide motor went put the tech told us to never stop when extending or retracting the slide. He said it can damage the particular motor we have in our slide. We had quite a few repairs to our coach, the problems we had was getting them repaired properly. I'd suggest buying a used rig, that way at least most of the bugs have been worked out and getting a qualified inspector to check out the coach if you get serious on one. We own a 2015 Thor Vegas 24.1. We still love the coach because of the ease in driving. Make sure your check out the stocks and tires, we replaced all ours and drive is better than it was brand new. We do not tow, if we stop for a few days someplace we rent a car from Enterprise since they will pick you up at your park space and deliver you back when you drop off the car. Hope this helps a bit in your decision. Good Luck.

[Strait331]

Originally Posted by Lucysdad

I am recently retired, new to RV's, and trying to decide which direction to go in. So far I have focused on class C's, but these 2 small Thor class A's have caught my eye. I would like to hear about experiences from real owners, specifically in the 24-25' class. We plan to travel in it, not live in it, and probably not tow, at least not often. I hear from many that Thor build quality is quite bad, but that seems to be a common problem with most RV's. And are slides as much of a problem as I have been reading? It seems that some have a lot of problems with the slides, is that something that can be remedied by some preventive maintenance? And the bedroom slide does not seem to prevent a problem while travelling, but does the front slide get in the way when it is not open? Any constructive answers will be appreciated.

Thanks

Lucysdad

We have a Vegas 24.5 and yes we had Mfg defects such as the heater vent missing and blowing hot air into our cabinets, Bunk pads missing, things coming loose. With all that we still love the unit, specially the manuevering inside while on the road. All defects listed above are being fixed by warranty we hope (in the shop now). My greatest regret is not having a slide in the bedroom. No place to dress and my wife has to crawl over top of me to get to "her side" of the bed. We will be using a tow car as we plan to spend summers out west for awhile from Florida.

[Edki45]

Originally Posted by axis earl

Sorry to be honest but I will be. The Axis handled terribly right off the dealer lot. Then again, so did the S.O.B. we bought that is on the 22k GVW F-53 chassis. On both, it required a severe investment of after market suspension parts to make them ride the way I needed them to. One thing I did not like about the Axis was the leaking front side windows. The only way to identify the source of the leak was to pay almost $2000 to remove them. Seems that the joint where the front cap meets the side wall was not sealed properly. Then there are the infamous Command Electronics leaky tail lights.... If you are good at the DIY aspect of RV ownership, you might be happy with an Axis. We had the 24.1 which was 25.5 feet in length.

Please tell me what you did about it sitting too low in the front. Neither Thor or Ford will do anything about it. Mine is sitting 3 in lower than Ford's Factory spec. Their answer is you have a house sitting on it is the reason that it is sitting too low. I have all of the specs from Ford that says it is supposed to be sitting 26in from the top frame to the ground front and rear with the Factory specified amount of weight. Mine is a lot less than that specification. Of course, this also throws the front end extremely out of line. I couldn't find anybody to align it in the North Central Texas area but since I've been a suspension and Alignment mechanic most of my life I corrected the toe which was out 3/32 of an inch. I set it at 1/8 of an inch in.
I have repaired several hundred of these but either Thor or Ford should have to do what is right.
Then I called Thor Motor Coach support about the way it handled and they said well maybe you are not used to driving a motorhome. I had already told them that I have been aligning and driving Class A Motorhomes and everything else that are legal on American Streets for over 45 years including my own five other motorhomes. I finally wound up resetting my toe from 3/32 of an inch out to 1/8 of an inch in. Haven't driven it since but I'm positive it will help keep me between the white lines on my trip to Arkansas next week. With installing Caster sleeves and raising the front end 3 in I am 99% positive it would make it almost perfect. And drive like the proverbial soccer moms van that they claim it drives like.

[ducksface]

I'm very confused.
Is it 3 inches lower or have you raised it? You say both.
You did front end work all you life and looked for someone else to do it when you did all your previous yourself.
What raises it 3 inches that isn't new arms custom built or spring spacers?
Did you raise the rear to match?
You did that much work and didn't test drive it?

[Edki45]

I am very sorry but you have now have confused me. My motorhome that is supposed to be 26 in high to the top of the frame on both ends is 23 in on the front and 26 on the rear. I am wanting to know what other people have done about this. I know how to do it but I would like for Ford or Thor to take responsibility for their actions or lack of thereof. All I have done is to set the toe in which doesn't require any parts like the rest of the job that needs to be done.

[Edki45]

With installing Caster sleeves and raising the front end 3 in I am 99% positive it Would make it almost perfect.

[Edki45]

When I get back from Arkansas and get the white out of my knuckles I'm sure I will be repairing it myself with no help from Thor or Ford. I was just asking if anyone else had gotten any help from the accused. I am very sorry if I confused you.

[Edki45]

I'm sorry, ducksface, I did not emphasize properly the word "Would".
So far I have only reset the toe in and spent 5 days looking for someone that would align it and give me a printout to give to Thor and Ford.
Two of those days were spent in a heavy truck shop yard waiting for them to align it. The mechanic did not know what to do with 16in wheels and bent his boss's very expensive Hunter laser alignment machine. I don't think his boss was a happy camper.
Since then, I have found that most shops that can will not because they do not like to work on motorhomes. They only work on 18-wheelers. The other shops can't get a 27' motorhome in their bay.
The company I worked for for many years was Fort Worth Champion Spring in downtown Fort Worth. I was the shop foreman and did all the alignments. They closed their doors 2 years ago so nobody else does it in this area. At least not that I can find. I've been looking in Fort Worth and Dallas for 5 days. Oh,
Please don't recommend Ray's Champion Spring as he had stolen the name from Fort Worth Champion Spring and I have heard horrible words from their unfortunate customers.

[axis earl]

Originally Posted by Edki45

Please tell me what you did about it sitting too low in the front. Neither Thor or Ford will do anything about it. Mine is sitting 3 in lower than Ford's Factory spec. Their answer is you have a house sitting on it is the reason that it is sitting too low. I have all of the specs from Ford that says it is supposed to be sitting 26in from the top frame to the ground front and rear with the Factory specified amount of weight. Mine is a lot less than that specification. Of course, this also throws the front end extremely out of line. I couldn't find anybody to align it in the North Central Texas area but since I've been a suspension and Alignment mechanic most of my life I corrected the toe which was out 3/32 of an inch. I set it at 1/8 of an inch in.
I have repaired several hundred of these but either Thor or Ford should have to do what is right.
Then I called Thor Motor Coach support about the way it handled and they said well maybe you are not used to driving a motorhome. I had already told them that I have been aligning and driving Class A Motorhomes and everything else that are legal on American Streets for over 45 years including my own five other motorhomes. I finally wound up resetting my toe from 3/32 of an inch out to 1/8 of an inch in. Haven't driven it since but I'm positive it will help keep me between the white lines on my trip to Arkansas next week. With installing Caster sleeves and raising the front end 3 in I am 99% positive it would make it almost perfect. And drive like the proverbial soccer moms van that they claim it drives like.

The stripped E450 chassis we had on our 2016 24.1 handled to my liking after it was aligned and weighed. I remember that we had Sumo Springs added to the front. Saf-T-Plus steering also made it much more relaxing to drive. Answering you directly now, I had the alignment work done by Redlands Truck and RV. We had a scraping problem on our driveway so we actually had some spacers added to the rear end to slightly give the rear more clearance. This is opposite to what you want to achieve but it still handled much better. One of the differences with this thing Thor calls a "RUV" is that it is lower to the ground which is not always a good thing for clearing driveways or laying out your sewer line. So, your specific issue of the lower front end was never addressed. Sorry.

Now then, on our SOB on the F-53 chassis, they found that the front end of the chassis was not level to begin with and was sitting lower on the right front end and they installed a spacer to correct it....

[ducksface]

I put a straight axle and leaf springs under my 24.1 front end.
Handles like a dream and no to little sway when passed or passing anything at any speed.
Pictures are somewhere in my signature thread.

When I went to deevers spring shop in Santa Ana California, I wanted very specific springs with very specific qualities. they measured, they countered, I conceded,. I came back in two weeks and they installed 7 leaf military Wraps on a 2dr 2001 blazer. They only have 400lbs of spring to them and about 14 inches of travel. Five inches of lift, underslung as they should be, not some stupid overaxle lift with lift blocks.
Same if I had wanted new coils in front. I'd say, they say, I'd have new springs.

You know how it works. Tell them the z height you're looking for, the spring rate you're looking for and have springs made. You know it's surpringly inexpensive.

I'll take a guess at 100,000 axis Vegas being made to date.
None have been scrapped due to handling issues.
Everyone has overcame or adapted.

I know you're frustrated. I'll accept that from a druggist or a book keeper.
You're the expert. Tell them what you want and make the spring shop make it to spec.
The thor/Ford z height thing is not going to ever get you raised three inches, Ford is not going to change spring rate and hangars for you and you're not getting the three inches with a toe job. I don't think there's three inches of droop in the entire suspension.

Design a working suspension and watch 100 or so vegas/axis people buy your kit.
You have an opportunity no one else has:
Fix the geometry the right way using your background, make some money by selling the kits.

The attached pictures are proof on both vehicles I've written of.
The top pic is the blazer spring pack
The bottom is the 24.1 spring pack.
(I don't know SQUAT{HA!} about springs and z Height and toe and caster. If I did this, imagine what you can do)