Re: ford vs. chevy
Currently have a new Forest River "GEORGETOWN" powered by the new 360 hp(3 valve) Ford V10. This engine has the "long shank" spark plugs. I've owned both the Chevy workhorse & vortec, one with the Banks Power Pack and one without.
Both were Class A's. I've also owned the old model Ford 460 and an early (05') 300hp Ford V10.
Both Chevy's had plenty of power. However the workhorse did not have the torque of the vortec when it came to mountain climbing with a dinghy in tow. Both were fuel hogs.
The Chevy w/powerpact had no problems breathing when in the mountains. The one w/o, choked. When climbing a grade with it, you had better plan on staying in the truck lane and forget about passing anyone. The Ford V10 had plenty of power and torque BUUUUTTTTTT........., it had one MAJOR problem, it liked to SPIT spark plugs. I did not know this was a big problem with the early v10 when I bought it. It had aluminum heads with the "short shank" spark plugs. When one of them blew out it was a major repair job. Ford will not cover this problem under warranty, because they believe it's a maintenance issue. I talked, threatened, cussed, wrote letters, kicked tires and even went the Ford Dealers had a spark plug repair kit. What a piece of junk........ 2000 miles down the road, WHAM!!!!! Newly installed plug (by ford dealer) came flying out, nearly through the right fender. Sooooooooooooo I tried their new and improved plug repair kit. After an all'niter under the hood, I had replaced, tightened and torqued to specs (theirs of course). Didn't last. Finally cost me $1200 for a new head to be installed. Sold that sucker 3 days later.
In 07' Ford redesigned the v10 with new heads and a little more HP. They are now building the v10 (both for Class A & Class C) with the "long shank" spark plug. For Class A's, the v10 is equipped with the 3 valve per cylinder heads. Man, what a difference. Put a Banks power system on it and it will pull the world around. p.s., a little better fuel mileage too, 20%+ if not overloaded.
Any how, both the chevy & ford have great engines, especially 07's to 010's. Stay away from 06' and earlier models.
Mac and Red
09' Georgetown 35', 2 slides, 08' Toyota Highlander Limited
Our "girls", Maggi, Molli and Quinn (soft coated wheaten terriers)