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Living with An RV – The Chevrolet P-30 & P-12 Chassis

When I was a kid, much of my time was spent singing. I had a low alto voice so the music teachers were always putting me in with the boys to fill out the voices on the low notes. Most of the boys would rather play baseball, so we were always short on willing male voices. I never thought of myself as a girl. I thought of myself as a person.

I expected life to allow me to rise to the level of my abilities. There were no glass ceilings at home. My Dad treated me as a person. He did not care what I did for a living, and told me so. He told me he only expected me to be the best at whatever that choice would be.

Other girls worried about dates. I worried about how to pay for my next pack of guitar strings, or if my band would be able to learn the next song fast enough. When I grew up and found my place in life, I knew travel would be a important goal.

My family is a group of worker bees. They never look up or take vacations. They don't feel they are missing anything. They are content. The women in my family never travel unless someone out of state gets married or dies. The women bees of my family turn into butterflies after their husbands die. With money to call their own, and their families grown, these widows are like the woman in the country song. They just want to see if there is life out there. These are the kind of women you meet at the KOA. They have a grandchild, daughter, or retired brother traveling with them. Sometimes another girlfriend is traveling along, whoever is with them -- they are having a ball. They will tell you they loved their husbands very much, but will never marry again. They do not want to lose their freedom.

I know and love the women who travel this country. My Mom is one. The information you learn here will help get you on the road in a safe RV. Once there, we will work together to keep you on track with repair and maintenance tips. We won't abandon the RV owner with less than a safe RV. We understand how hard it is to know which RV is a lemon, and which is a keeper. I have a official lemon myself. Guess what? Now that I know what I am doing we get along just fine. It's not easy. I want your road to run a whole lot more smoothly than mine did. That's why I am writing this column.

Today we are going to discuss the P-30 chassis, and its replacement called the P-12.

The P-12 is an I-beam front axle chassis. I-beam means the axle is in the shape of a I. The Gross Vehicle Weight Rating on this chassis is 21,000 pounds. This rating will be listed as GVWR on any sales material obtained from the dealer. This is one of the most important pieces of information to understand. This indicates how much weight the RV can carry. If you exceed this limit, you are begging for failure.

The chassis is like the foundation of your house. A good foundation does not mean you will have a perfect home, but a bad foundation will guarantee problems forever. The P-12 will give RV owners of homes 34' or less a good foundation. That is provided the GVWR does not exceed 21,000 pounds. Do not buy a longer unit with this chassis, or go heavier. When purchasing a unit beyond this size, the chassis will be modified. That means the frame has been cut and welded to make it longer. Do you really want a welded frame on your new home? This could be even more important when purchasing a used RV. How long will the welds hold?

To purchase a unit big enough to be modified (over 34"), the cost runs well over $60,000. That means a debt to a bank for twelve to fifteen years. Do you think this kind of modification will last that long? If the frame is modified the brakes will need to be changed too. I don't want to guess what's beyond that brake pedal when I'm going down a steep grade. The steering will be modified too. Funny how the word modified rarely means improved.

Remember Clint O. (from Around the Next Bend: Owners Talk About Their RV Purchases)? He owned a Fleetwood Pace Arrow Vision on the P-30 chassis. His unit was 36' long. Now you know this is way too long for the P-30 because it is too long for the new heavy duty P-12. Clint had a unit with a slide out. A slide out is an extended room that slides in or out of the frame. When camping it provides more living space. When on the road, it tucks in. The slide out requires a strong frame. Remember it hangs out the side with people sitting on the furniture in the slide when camping. Clint's slide would make a jackhammer noise when in use. His slide out was in the front. When Fleetwood finally replaced the defective parts, those parts were the drive shaft (a modified part on a 36' unit), the roof, and a frame upgrade. The frame upgrade is easy to understand with knowledge of the limits of the chassis.

If you buy a unit that fits the frame, the RV experience can be fun.

Ford has also come out with a new heavy-duty chassis. While the focus of this article is on the P-30 Chevrolet chassis, the same problems apply to any chassis if the weight and length limits are overlooked.

The next installment of the RV Clinic will explain the wheelbase.

If you have any questions, or problems you want addressed here, please visit the forums and start a thread