Road trip performance report

[Marbles5]

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The Family and I left Arizona on March 1, we have been on the road and traveled all the way to Disney World in Orlando Florida. We have made 17 stops at various different camping grounds. we are in a 2014 30DS. I have followed this board since we bought the coach almost 2 years ago and we currently have now 10,000 miles on it. This was our first experience telling and we are Dolly towing eight 4800 pound Toyota Highlander. we put a steer assist on the front end and that is all. we have had no major problems only minor tweaks and small fixes that I could handle myself including upgrading the shower head, tightening down various screws. I have kept the pace slow and comfortable at 60 mph and let the traffic and big truck passed me by all day long. This has been a fantastic trip and we still have a week to go I will update you when we are done.

[Ninemmsig]

Go Hawks!!

[wayne and sherry]

Nice report


Jenny (FR3/30DS)

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by Marbles5

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The Family and I left Arizona on March 1, we have been on the road and traveled all the way to Disney World in Orlando Florida. We have made 17 stops at various different camping grounds. we are in a 2014 30DS. I have followed this board since we bought the coach almost 2 years ago and we currently have now 10,000 miles on it. This was our first experience telling and we are Dolly towing eight 4800 pound Toyota Highlander. we put a steer assist on the front end and that is all. we have had no major problems only minor tweaks and small fixes that I could handle myself including upgrading the shower head, tightening down various screws. I have kept the pace slow and comfortable at 60 mph and let the traffic and big truck passed me by all day long. This has been a fantastic trip and we still have a week to go I will update you when we are done.

That's good to hear and read, and I like that Map...

[FR3-25DSOwner]

I just finished a 3700 mile trip in my 2015 25DS FR3 pulling a Chev HHR which traversed Washington, Oregon, California and Arizona. The major freeways I used in California (I-5, I-10, I-680, US99, US101) were the worst paved roads I have ever encountered. I was seriously concerned it would beat my FR3 to death. The DVD drive on my Apple MacBook Pro did not survive the California roads. I will NOT be visiting California again on those roads. Roads in the other states are like glass compared to Califonia. The other thing I found was that NO ONE drives anywhere near the posted speed limit. I was driving near the speed limit (my mistake) and was passed the entire time by trucks, police cars, cars, RVs, cars with trailers. The FR3 did well, considering the punishing vibration it underwent. The only issue was one of the vent (with Fantastic fan installed) open/close knob screws fell out and the knob fell off. All other systems survived intact. I was pretty pleased with the performance of the FR3 and and did not bother to check mileage.

[Marbles5]

Today we went from Lafayette to San Antonio and discovered that we have been averaging 7.78 mpg which I was pretty happy with considering that we have been dolly towing at max capacity. I guess going 60 pays off. The coach is running like a champ and yesterday in Mississippi we saw another FR3 pass us the opposite direction.

[wayne and sherry]

Can't wait till our 1st road trip with JeNNY. But I'm concerned about the MPG's. Our 98 Fleetwood Flair with the 454 towing a jeep on a trailer got us 9.8 MPG. I sure hope for at least 8mpg from JeNNY. What's the best speed to run at for mpg with the 30DS?


Jenny (FR3/30DS)

[Marbles5]

Wow I am surprised, I figured the 454 would barley get 8 mpg going downhill in a windstorm in a 98 Chevy half ton let alone towing behind a motorhome! I found the best speed to run at is 58-62 mph and turn your "tow Haul" Button on and off depending on weather you are going up or down hills. Let traffic pass you by as we did for the last 5200 miles

[wayne and sherry]

Rodger that. Yea that 454 in my last motorhome was impressive. I almost didn't buy that Flair 5 yrs ago cuz of the 454. But it only had 18,000mi on it at the time and 25,000 on it at trade for JeNNY. The 98 Flair only lasted less than 3 weeks at the dealership and it was sold. We kept it tip top! The only mod to the 454 was a cold air intake..., and I used 5W30 Mobil 1 synthetic oil.


JeNNY (FR3/30DS)

[TLAK]

Just back from a short over nighter in the new RV. We really like it. No problems at all, not even a loose screw. I used every device except the AC (it was too cold out), but did run it with the heat pump. The only scare was when the wind caught the door and the closer popped out of it's socket, it's apparently designed to do this so nothing breaks and you just push the rod back in.

We drove through a 25 MPH crosswind with gusts to 30. It was pushed around some but not nearly as much as the Class C that I traded in. The Ford power steering is much lighter and doesn't transfer much road feel, which takes some getting used to but the ride is better by far.

After reading all the horror stories about problems with the FR3 on the web I had some trepidation about plunking down the money for this unit and was on pins and needles. I watched like a hawk expecting things to go wrong but everything worked just as expected and we are very happy with it.

[wayne and sherry]

TLAK can you explain how to work the heat pump in the AC unit? My FR3 is a 2015 30DS and to work the AC and others there is a small remote control. It's like a touch pad on the wall. I've herd others talk of a heat pump in the AC Unit but I'm not understand.
Thank You.


JeNNY (2015 FR3 / 30DS)
2000 Jeep TJ Moab Rock Crawler
2013 Jeep JK

[TLAK]

The manual for the thermostat is in the Atwood Air Conditioner book, buried on page 12.

I set it to ON, mode = HEAT, fan = AUTO and left the furnace button OFF. It doesn't blow real hot air like a furnace, just warm air through the AC ducts. I raised the temperature a couple degrees and it ran continuously for about 5 minutes and the temperature went up to the new setting. The temperature outside was about 50 and it had no problem keeping the RV at 72, it cycled on and off every couple minutes. Overnight, the temperature got into the lower 40's and I pressed the furnace button = ON, it works like a traditional RV furnace. The heat pump probably would have kept up but I wanted to test the furnace.

I used the remote control to see if it worked, which it did. The only use for it that I can think of would be to for the passenger to adjust the unit without unbelting when you're driving, it's probably pretty handy.

[wayne and sherry]

Farout TLAK!! Thank you. I'll try it out.


JeNNY (2015 FR3 / 30DS)
2000 Jeep TJ Moab Rock Crawler
2013 Jeep JK

[wayne and sherry]

Hmmm the furnace seems to run not the AC unit..?


JeNNY (2015 FR3 / 30DS)
2000 Jeep TJ Moab Rock Crawler
2013 Jeep JK

[wayne and sherry]

The furnace came one and blew cold air, the gas is off, and after a few minutes the furnace turned off. It's been about 30 minutes now and the AC unit never turned on.??


JeNNY (2015 FR3 / 30DS)
2000 Jeep TJ Moab Rock Crawler
2013 Jeep JK

[wayne and sherry]

JeNNY (2015 FR3 / 30DS)
2000 Jeep TJ Moab Rock Crawler
2013 Jeep JK

[wayne and sherry]

Maybe it's to cold for the heat pump to work, it's 37 degrees out side.


JeNNY (2015 FR3 / 30DS)
2000 Jeep TJ Moab Rock Crawler
2013 Jeep JK

[TLAK]

Interesting, I know the furnace didn't run when I tried mine, I even went outside and noted the exhaust was cold. It was still pretty warm out when I tried mine, perhaps the furnace kicks in when the temperature difference is greater? It was 50's outside and probably mid 60's inside when I turned it on so it only had to raise the temp a few degrees.

[wayne and sherry]

JeNNY (2015 FR3 / 30DS)
2000 Jeep TJ Moab Rock Crawler
2013 Jeep JK

[drivmsafe]

Keep in mind that if the ambient temperature outside is colder than what I see you have the thermostat set at, the AC will not come on due to it being colder than the 65 degrees inside the coach.