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Old 07-31-2015, 05:26 PM   #1
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Post FR3 exterior height

On their website and printed brochure, Forest River says the exterior height of the FR3 (all versions) is 12' 2").

I decided to double-check, prior to loading my GPS unit with warnings for low clearances.

I measured from the ground to the roof, at the back of the RV, on the centerline (the highest part of the radius roof). The tape measure said 11'2".

Then I measured the height of various items on the roof:
Ladder = 8"
TV Antenna = 11 1/2"
A/C Unit= 15"
Radio Antenna = 19"

So, according to my measurements and calculations, the minimum clearance required to avoid scraping the flexible radio antenna is 12'9", and the minimum clearance required to avoid destroying the A/C Unit is 12'4".
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Old 07-31-2015, 08:47 PM   #2
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Possible the factory did the measurement when they came with 13500 ac units? Not sure the 15000 or the 18000 ac's are taller.
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Old 07-31-2015, 10:25 PM   #3
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Good info, thanks for taking the time to check it out


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Old 08-01-2015, 12:38 PM   #4
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Good to know! Saves me a trip up top. Which GPS did you get? I've always had Garmins and was thinking of getting the 760 LMT for RV's.
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Old 08-01-2015, 02:54 PM   #5
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Post

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Originally Posted by Greg-Gabe View Post
Which GPS did you get? I've always had Garmins and was thinking of getting the 760 LMT for RV's.
We've just got an old Garmin Nuvi 265W (now with LMT). I started planning our first long trip on MyScenicDrives, and I was disappointed to discover that our Nuvi can't import entire trip routes from external sources. So I thought I was going to need to buy a better model. But then after thinking about it some more, I decided that our route was probably going to change too much "on the fly" as we spotted interesting things, and I doubt that loading the whole trip into the GPS in advance was actually a practical idea. I think I'll be fine with just programing the GPS with each day's destination & POIs.

Anyway, I did buy the database from LowClearances, and loaded that onto the Nuvi.
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Old 08-03-2015, 02:54 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by StephanFR3 View Post
Possible the factory did the measurement when they came with 13500 ac units? Not sure the 15000 or the 18000 ac's are taller.
I talked to the FR factory and the new Atwood AC units are a couple of inches lower than the older units. Production switched over to Atwood in the spring. The reason FR still lists the height at 12' 2" is that the early 2015 units were this height.

I have a 2016 that is 12' 0" tall (with Atwood 15k AC). The reason I know this is my garage door is 12' 0". I took an inch out of the center by taking out some trim to make it fit.

Having said this, the height can vary slightly unit-to-unit. I measured multiple 28 and 30ds on the dealer's lot that varied by as much as 2 inches (although it is difficult to get an exact measurement with a tape measure on not ideally level ground). Also, note the weight in the coach can affect the height. From Ford's data, approximately 1000 additional pounds on the back axle will lower the chassis by 1". If you put in a full tank of gas plus fill up the water tank you are getting close to this. Lastly, there is tire pressure. From reading the forums here, people run anywhere from 80 to 100 PSI. Dealers run whatever the technicians put in, if they even check it at all.
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Old 08-03-2015, 03:06 PM   #7
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Hmmm, that's interesting. You seem to be saying that the newer units should be a couple inches lower than the 12'2" spec. But we have a one-month-old 2016 with the newest Atwood A/C unit, and I measure ours as being a couple inches higher than the spec.

At the time of measuring, our gas tank was full, all other tanks were empty, and the tires were at 85 PSI.
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