2022 Thor Vegas 24.1 Front Driver Side Tire over weight

[Tn Johnny]

So I took my Vegas 24.1 to the scales the other day. Empty, no humans or luggage, my Vegas front axle weighed 4560 lbs. My Thor Vegas GVWR front axle is 4950 lbs.

That leaves me with 390 lbs to play with, however, the scale did not weigh the wheels separately, only the axles; so my guess is the Driver Side front wheel, with the slide out on that side, is way over weight once you add two adults, pets, and some luggage.

My biggest concern is the E rated tires are full timed maxed out; and are only designed for short durations of loaded trips from the store to home, not 24 hours a day, 7 days a week loaded to the max.

So a lot of $$$ suspension upgrades later, the vegas drives better but not perfect and I'm not worried about blowouts anymore because I upgraded to long haul 19.5 wheels and tires. I'm sure an axle or something could break but that is way less likely than a blow out 70 mph on a hot day.

My opinion of each upgrade:

Alignment front Caster set at 5.6 (Significant steering wheel staying center)
SumoSprings front and rear (A little less side to side lean)
Roadmaster Sway Bars front and rear (A little less side to side lean)
Bilstein front and rear shocks (A little more control on the spring)
SuperSteer Rear track bar (Significant difference in rear wagging)
Safe T Plus stabilizer (I guess it helped a little with center steering)
19.5" Michelin 19.5 225 90 (Very stiff and definitely not worried about blowouts now. I would highly advice upgrading to a 19.5 tire as they should come standard)

[happy]

Excellent report Tn Johnny!
The blue pattern outside color scheme is really sharp!

[Tn Johnny]

Originally Posted by happy

Excellent report Tn Johnny!
The blue pattern outside color scheme is really sharp!

Thanks. I like the blue too.

[DavidEM]

I don’t think that the slide and it’s couch is all that heavy. The kitchen on the other side might be heavier.

David

[Scubawise]

Originally Posted by Tn Johnny

So I took my Vegas 24.1 to the scales the other day. Empty, no humans or luggage, my Vegas front axle weighed 4560 lbs. My Thor Vegas GVWR front axle is 4950 lbs.

That leaves me with 390 lbs to play with, however, the scale did not weigh the wheels separately, only the axles; so my guess is the Driver Side front wheel, with the slide out on that side, is way over weight once you add two adults, pets, and some luggage.

My biggest concern is the E rated tires are full timed maxed out; and are only designed for short durations of loaded trips from the store to home, not 24 hours a day, 7 days a week loaded to the max.

So a lot of $$$ suspension upgrades later, the vegas drives better but not perfect and I'm not worried about blowouts anymore because I upgraded to long haul 19.5 wheels and tires. I'm sure an axle or something could break but that is way less likely than a blow out 70 mph on a hot day.

My opinion of each upgrade:

Alignment front Caster set at 5.6 (Significant steering wheel staying center)
SumoSprings front and rear (A little less side to side lean)
Roadmaster Sway Bars front and rear (A little less side to side lean)
Bilstein front and rear shocks (A little more control on the spring)
SuperSteer Rear track bar (Significant difference in rear wagging)
Safe T Plus stabilizer (I guess it helped a little with center steering)
19.5" Michelin 19.5 225 90 (Very stiff and definitely not worried about blowouts now. I would highly advice upgrading to a 19.5 tire as they should come standard)

Wow. Glad your upgrades are making you feel better.
Enjoy your MH.
Travel and see the USA.
Lora and I no suspension upgrades.
Traveled on the road 4 and 7 months straight to over 23 states. Original tires. 25,000 miles.
Zero drive issues.
Lived in windy Montana etc.
Drove through ice snow hail rain.
Pulled loaded 8 x 12 u hauls.

[Tn Johnny]

Originally Posted by Scubawise

Wow. Glad your upgrades are making you feel better.
Enjoy your MH.
Travel and see the USA.
Lora and I no suspension upgrades.
Traveled on the road 4 and 7 months straight to over 23 states. Original tires. 25,000 miles.
Zero drive issues.
Lived in windy Montana etc.
Drove through ice snow hail rain.
Pulled loaded 8 x 12 u hauls.

Good to hear. You know, I traveled to Montana back in June. Travling north to Glacier Park we could barely hold the vegas on the road at 50 mph because of cross winds. The vehicle was absolutely terrible in winds before the upgrades.

Before upgrades, In good weather, 50 to 60 felt ok, 60 to 70 got a little lose, and 70 above it was all over the place ; and if the winds were strong, life and liability insurance was a must have. Not that we don't have but you get my point.

Now 70 to 75 feels safe not perfect but safe. I want to ride with the traffic not be the guy holding it up.

[Tn Johnny]

Originally Posted by DavidEM

I don’t think that the slide and it’s couch is all that heavy. The kitchen on the other side might be heavier.

David

Not so sure. I have purchased many truck campers. They are very light unless you add slides. In some instances, the slides add as much as 1000 pounds. And these slides are half the size of the vegas slide. That's is why we stop buying truck campers because the ones with slides were just too heavy

[Muggs]

I have a 2016 24.1. From new no real handling issues iver 80 MPH. Did add roadmaster damper as oem lacked muscle.

I tow a 5200 open trailer with drag car and parts tools in back bin. Front axle no issues. Tire wear great though originals replaced at 35,000 due to age/very slight cracking. Went with Nexxen CT-8 commercial rib type. Load cap over 3200/tire. Ride a little smoother than MS2.

[Bill Johnson]

Originally Posted by Tn Johnny

So I took my Vegas 24.1 to the scales the other day. Empty, no humans or luggage, my Vegas front axle weighed 4560 lbs. My Thor Vegas GVWR front axle is 4950 lbs.

That leaves me with 390 lbs to play with, however, the scale did not weigh the wheels separately, only the axles; so my guess is the Driver Side front wheel, with the slide out on that side, is way over weight once you add two adults, pets, and some luggage.

My biggest concern is the E rated tires are full timed maxed out; and are only designed for short durations of loaded trips from the store to home, not 24 hours a day, 7 days a week loaded to the max.

So a lot of $$$ suspension upgrades later, the vegas drives better but not perfect and I'm not worried about blowouts anymore because I upgraded to long haul 19.5 wheels and tires. I'm sure an axle or something could break but that is way less likely than a blow out 70 mph on a hot day.

My opinion of each upgrade:

Alignment front Caster set at 5.6 (Significant steering wheel staying center)
SumoSprings front and rear (A little less side to side lean)
Roadmaster Sway Bars front and rear (A little less side to side lean)
Bilstein front and rear shocks (A little more control on the spring)
SuperSteer Rear track bar (Significant difference in rear wagging)
Safe T Plus stabilizer (I guess it helped a little with center steering)
19.5" Michelin 19.5 225 90 (Very stiff and definitely not worried about blowouts now. I would highly advice upgrading to a 19.5 tire as they should come standard)

Google, FORD E-SERIES LAWSUIT FILED OVER ALLEGEDLY INCORRECT WEIGHT RATINGS https://fordauthority.com/2022/08/fo...eight-ratings/

[Tn Johnny]

Originally Posted by Muggs

I have a 2016 24.1. From new no real handling issues iver 80 MPH. Did add roadmaster damper as oem lacked muscle.

I tow a 5200 open trailer with drag car and parts tools in back bin. Front axle no issues. Tire wear great though originals replaced at 35,000 due to age/very slight cracking. Went with Nexxen CT-8 commercial rib type. Load cap over 3200/tire. Ride a little smoother than MS2.

One of three things is going on here:
1. Your speedometer is broken.
2. Your everyday get around vehicle is a 1978 F100 Ford truck because that's the only thing that could drive worse than a vegas 24.1
3. You are affiliated with Thor and you are a damage control employee.

All joking aside, that's great, I don't know, maybe 2016 has a better frame. All I know, before the upgrades, driving 80 with 5k behind the 2022 vegas 24.1 would have been a miserable experience. Now at 75 and flat towing my 5k jeep, its one hand on the steering wheel and relaxed.

[Scubawise]

Same here 75 to 80 about 90% of time.
No issues. Have e bikes and other items on hitch.
Tested u haul at 75 no issues.
Original tires 25k miles
Love the vegas drive.
No mods

[Tn Johnny]

Originally Posted by Scubawise

Same here 75 to 80 about 90% of time.
No issues. Have e bikes and other items on hitch.
Tested u haul at 75 no issues.
Original tires 25k miles
Love the vegas drive.
No mods

There is one big difference between vegas 24.1 and 25.6 which is the chassis.

24.1 is a e350 and the 25.6 is a e450. Also the longer slide shifts the weight to rear off the front axle on the 25.6. Not apples to apples.

[Muggs]

Originally Posted by Tn Johnny

One of three things is going on here:
1. Your speedometer is broken.
2. Your everyday get around vehicle is a 1978 F100 Ford truck because that's the only thing that could drive worse than a vegas 24.1
3. You are affiliated with Thor and you are a damage control employee.

All joking aside, that's great, I don't know, maybe 2016 has a better frame. All I know, before the upgrades, driving 80 with 5k behind the 2022 vegas 24.1 would have been a miserable experience. Now at 75 and flat towing my 5k jeep, its one hand on the steering wheel and relaxed.

LOL! Speedometer def works, wind noise issue at that speed though. Engine not working hard.

An exception I had not thought of is mine is e450, not e350 chassis. Not supposed to be huge diff.

Cross wind is tough with anything tall. I guess just got used to it, same with trucks passing. I go to opposite side of lane when overtaken.

Interesting note, 24.1 tracks better with dual axle car trailer behind. Put wife in 24.1 for he to get feel with no trailer. Next day she drove to track with trailer and said it seems more steady with trailer.

I have considered sway bars but 6 years later, still no urgency. The spring loaded roadmaster damper helped a lot. With oem wife said from her perspective it seemed to not be as stable on way to track as on way home. After sitting a couple weeks maybe damper nedded cycling? When I pulled, it took quite a few movements bafore any resistance occured.

I have driven u hauls a lot of miles on same chassis, it handles better than any of them.

Tire wear is indicator of issues. My fronts wear fine, no cupping or scalloping. Only replaced due to age, on buddies trailer now.

[Tn Johnny]

Originally Posted by Muggs

LOL! Speedometer def works, wind noise issue at that speed though. Engine not working hard.

An exception I had not thought of is mine is e450, not e350 chassis. Not supposed to be huge diff.

Cross wind is tough with anything tall. I guess just got used to it, same with trucks passing. I go to opposite side of lane when overtaken.

Interesting note, 24.1 tracks better with dual axle car trailer behind. Put wife in 24.1 for he to get feel with no trailer. Next day she drove to track with trailer and said it seems more steady with trailer.

I have considered sway bars but 6 years later, still no urgency. The spring loaded roadmaster damper helped a lot. With oem wife said from her perspective it seemed to not be as stable on way to track as on way home. After sitting a couple weeks maybe damper nedded cycling? When I pulled, it took quite a few movements bafore any resistance occured.

I have driven u hauls a lot of miles on same chassis, it handles better than any of them.

Tire wear is indicator of issues. My fronts wear fine, no cupping or scalloping. Only replaced due to age, on buddies trailer now.

Thats crazy, 24.1 is an e450. Didn't know they made any of those. Anyhow, yea the gross weight is like another 2000 because of heavyier axles and higher spring rates. That explains alot.

[Muggs]

In 2016 they were made on both chassis. Looked at 2 and this one got nod because the yellow sticker had 3199 OCC. The e350 chassis one was 1300 or so.

The other final contender was an f53 based Sunstar. It had less OCC as well.

I did a lot of homework to understand gvwr, gcvw and safe towing capacity. Ended up with good combo which gets used almost every weekend for either racing or travelling. Is also spare room where we put teenagers at night.

One of best investments I ever made.

[Tn Johnny]

Originally Posted by Muggs

In 2016 they were made on both chassis. Looked at 2 and this one got nod because the yellow sticker had 3199 OCC. The e350 chassis one was 1300 or so.

The other final contender was an f53 based Sunstar. It had less OCC as well.

I did a lot of homework to understand gvwr, gcvw and safe towing capacity. Ended up with good combo which gets used almost every weekend for either racing or travelling. Is also spare room where we put teenagers at night.

One of best investments I ever made.

That's great Muggs, sounds like you made a great investment in your family.

[sportcoupe]

Originally Posted by Tn Johnny

So I took my Vegas 24.1 to the scales the other day. Empty, no humans or luggage, my Vegas front axle weighed 4560 lbs. My Thor Vegas GVWR front axle is 4950 lbs.

My biggest concern is the E rated tires are full timed maxed out; and are only designed for short durations of loaded trips from the store to home, not 24 hours a day, 7 days a week loaded to the max.

Many tens of thousands of E350's on the road with front axle near GVWR with no problems.

E rated tire on 2022 E350 is load rated 2680 lb each. 5360 lb total for front axle. More than enough safety margin.

[Lt Keefer]

I think the speeds some posters drive is a bigger safety issue than the weight on a motor home's front axle.

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by Lt Keefer

I think the speeds some posters drive is a bigger safety issue than the weight on a motor home's front axle.

[Tn Johnny]

Originally Posted by Lt Keefer

I think the speeds some posters drive is a bigger safety issue than the weight on a motor home's front axle.

I agree but driving 65 in a 75 speed zone Is as dangerous as doing 80 in a 75. Also at 100k plus, the dang trucks should be able to ride safely at posted speed limits.