LD compared to a Born Free December 05, 2010, 02:04:58 pm Yahoo Message Number: 118868Kathryn, Elizabeth & I took delivery of a new Bornfree in 2004 and kept it until 2009. It was a 26' rear bath with the Ford diesel chasis and included several options we chose when ordering the coach. In addition to the factors listed in the previous responses that I also concur fully with, additionally, it was not well insulated for cold weather. We were in Yellowstone in a June snowstorm that closed the park for a day. It was cold in the coach with the furnace running constantly. The airbag rear suspension never functioned well hitting very hard on bumps. This caused some of the interior cabinets to break apart. The overall construction and interior finish was very good and they did fix the cabinets. We always had good service at the factory. After selling it in the summer of 2009, we decided to consider the LD. After looking at other LD owner's coaches at a SE get-to-gather, we went to the LD factory and ordered a 2010 RB with many of the same options we had in the Born Free. The total price was about $30,000 less than what we paid for the Born Free in 2004! We took delivery of the new LD in April,2010 and since then have taken 5 different trips traveling nearly 14,000 miles so far (we are currently in a snow shower at a campground in Lenoir City, TN). Our LD is the 6th new motorhome (4-class C's & 2-diesel pushers) I have had since 1982 and without doubt, the best built, most comfortable, convenient to use, motorhome we have owned. Usually it always took about the first year of ownership of a new coach to work out all the bugs, but this is not the case with the LD. There have been NO problems with the coach so far. We have had a few minor problems with components (microwave, TV, AC, generator) in the LD. These problems have been quickly resolved with each manufacturer. Buying the LD was the best decision we have ever made In our years of motorhome ownership. Hopes this helps in your decision, Mike
Re: LD compared to a Born Free Reply #1 – December 05, 2010, 10:55:29 pm Yahoo Message Number: 118870MikeDo you think the difference
Re: LD compared to a Born Free Reply #2 – December 06, 2010, 12:30:59 am Yahoo Message Number: 118871QuoteThanks for your information. Always looking to improve things. Shocks will be my next most likely change. Maybe Koni's to replace the Ford ones?Eddie Eddie, I'm currently running Koni's on my E-350 diesel van. They are a quality shock but not sure I would buy them again. They are adjustable; but need to be removed from the van to make adjustments…I have made adjustments several times and finally got them to a point that I am happy with. Problem is; after all that fiddling they don't seem to be any better than the Bilstein's I took off. On the other hand I run Koni's on my Class A Bluebird and love them. Maybe my van isn't heavy enough to take full advantage of the Koni's…I just think for the money the Bilstein is hard to beat and it's the upgrade shock that Lazy Daze offers, so it must work well in that configuration.Robert BrittonHollister, California
Re: LD compared to a Born Free Reply #3 – December 06, 2010, 09:26:33 am Yahoo Message Number: 118873Eddie, The '04 Born Free Ford E450 chassis had a non-Ford airbag rear suspension that was installed by Born Free. Left & right bags were independently manually inflated via an onboard air pump system allowing different adjustments from 20-lbs(min) to 80-lbs(max). The bottoming out occurred no matter where in this range the bags were inflated. The rear tires were always inflated to 80-lbs.Our '10 LD has the standard Ford rear suspension with the optional Bilstein shocks. I run 80-lbs in the rear and 70-lbs in the front. The ride & handling is excellent! We have the gas V-10 engine that seems to have as much power as the diesel we had in the Born Free. We pull the same Honda CRV with both coaches. I am very happy with the V-10 performance even though the mileage is a little lower than the diesel. The gas fuel cost is still lower than the diesel.The Born Free had the optional Ford 6.0L diesel which has been a repair nightmare for Ford since they introduced it. The main problem with that engine is with the head bolts that were not strong enough to hold the cylinder compression without stretching and causing the head gaskets to blow out and warping the intake manifold. Repair cost in the $4K range. The Ford fix was to lower the power output via the onboard computer. That was done to our engine and I could tell the difference in performance. Otherwise, I had no other problems with that engine. The engine noise was never a problem while driving. The other thing that annoyed me about the Ford diesel option was the filling of the 55-gal. fuel tank. The fuel foam would stop the tank filling at about the 45-gal. mark. I would have to dribble the next 10- gals. to actually fill the tank if I wanted to spend the extra 10- minutes at the pump. The Onan generator had to run off the propane tank which limited propane use for heating/cooking & refrigerator. Since we do a lot of dry camping we had to carefully watch the propane level. The Born Free had a 35-gal. freshwater tank compared to the 55- gal. tank in in our LD. I see now that Born Free doesn't offer the 26' rear bath that we had in '04. Their RB floor plan was very similar to the LD floor plan. The LD has a lot more inside openness as the upper sides of the coach are vertical than rounded as in the Born Free. In addition, the large LD windows add to the interior openness we enjoy. I think as you can probably tell, we are really pleased with out new Lazy Daze! Mike
Re: LD compared to a Born Free Reply #4 – December 06, 2010, 10:28:09 am Yahoo Message Number: 118874Hi Mike, glad you're enjoying your new coach. Not sure I understand the airbag deal on your Born Free. Are you saying that they removed the leaf springs and replaced them with airbags? I always thought the airbags were supplemental to the leaf springs to assist with load carrying duties.Robert BrittonHollister, California
Re: LD compared to a Born Free Reply #5 – December 06, 2010, 11:58:11 am Yahoo Message Number: 118875On my Toyota V6 Motorhome the airbags are factory and it has leaf springs. NOTE: lots of comments are made about making sure your airbags are at a certa
Re: LD compared to a Born Free Reply #6 – December 06, 2010, 12:52:41 pm Yahoo Message Number: 118881Robert, I don't totally recall the exact bag/spring configuration, but I think the original springs were totally replaced with a 1/2 spring tied to a floating arm/airbag setup. The full leaf springs were not there. Mike
Re: LD compared to a Born Free Reply #7 – December 06, 2010, 01:18:14 pm Yahoo Message Number: 118883"I think the original springs were totally replaced with a 1/2 spring tied to a floating arm/airbag setup. The full leaf springs were not there."Mike The Born Frees I have looked at still had the stock leaf springs, with added Firestone-type air bags on the rear axle. The air bags are added to handle the weight of the fiberglass coach. BF may offer a different, optional rear suspension but I have never seen one in person. The same suspension modifications are often seen on Class-Cs built on a E350 chassis. RV builders many times will 'increase' the chassis GVW by adding air bags. This is a 'band-aid' approach that allows the builder to use a cheaper, lighter chassis. It isn't the right way to do it, the reason why you do not see air bags installed by LD. I have seen many older, 22' G-30 LDs that have after-market air bags installed on the rear and occasionally in the front.Larry
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