I decided to clear this up as well as I could by talking to

• Iten Chevrolet, the oldest Chevy RV dealer/service outlet in Minneapolis
• Workhorse Chassis, the company which bought the Chevrolet P chassis
• "Driver" from IRV@.com one of the largest RV website on the net and really dedicated to Chevy/Workhorse products.

The following is aggreed upon by all I have contacted.

The P-30 chassis was exclusively a Chevy designation until Workhorse took over the chassis on 11-22-1999. They widened the stance by 13.25 inches from 69 1/2 inches and named it the P-32, however they continued the P-30 to fill contracts with Chevrolet until May 2000 in a 12,500 lb configuration (commercial vans). The seventh digit on the vin number will be a 1 or 2 if you have a 1999 P-30 chassis on a Barth and you don't..

As of July 2005 the P chassis was finally retired for good and these IFS widetrack chassis are not the W-16 and W-18 Workhorse chassis.

Nah. You ain't never gonna clear it up. My 84 manual mentions a P32, way before the wide track came out.

http://barthmobile.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/363108706...261029061#9261029061

Half way down this thread: http://barthmobile.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/933108706...981061361#7981061361 is further discussion.

I have absorbed enough information to still be confused.

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Bowers:
I decided to clear this up as well as I could

ROTFLMAO

Remember this thread Dave. I tried to get to the bottom of this.

quote:

Originally posted by jakeofmi on March 2:
I would like to settle this issue, once and for all. The Chevrolet Motorhome Chassis is a P32 model, not a P30 model...This chassis is not a modified bread truck chassis as described...

quote:

Originally posted by Bill N.Y. on March 2:
I have been told on many occasion when ordering parts from a Chevy/GM dealer that the P32 was a modified bread truck chassis and that the frame rails between the two were the same. I have been told that the P32 front end could be put into any P30.

... and by my own admission (I) know very little about the "actual" difference between the two P30 & P32 chassis are.

... GM did a very poor job with the dealership sales, service & parts. Putting out a manual that says P30 doesn't help.

I would love you to give me a schooling on the real differences and tell me how I can better educate your "sales, parts & service departments" in the future. This is a real concern ... I want to know.

And then on March 9th I accused jakeofmi of working with the aliens and we never heard about this again.





I still want to know. It appears that there are a lot of parts that are interchangeable between the two chassis... The Bell Crank arm for one.

What is the real deal?

Kind of reminds me of a Tootsie Roll Pop commercial. The wise owl's answer was... "The world may never know"

Bill

quote:

Originally posted by Bill N.Y.:


Kind of reminds me of a Tootsie Roll Pop commercial. The wise owl's answer was... "The world may never know"

Bill

Or, from the X Files....the Truth is out there.

.

Anyone know where?

.

From my "Chevrolet Motor home Chassis Service Guide" (the so-called orange book) copyright 1993 by the Chevrolet Division, I quote: "The P-series motor home chassis is an engine and frame unit which includes the driving controls as shown in Figure 1-2. The P-series (P30 is the size and class used for motor homes) is available in five wheelbase lengths." - end quote.

Figure 1-2 shows a bare forward control chassis with straight frame rails, and i.f.s.

The seventh digit in the P-30 VIN indicates the body type. A number 2 indicates forward control (probably the bread trucks), a number 7 indicates a motor home. The other numbers ( 0-9) indicate body types that would never apply to a Class A motor home.

I have found no reference to "P-32" anywhere in this 1993 manual.

This lends support to Dave's info. that the P-32 designation came into use with the wider stance Workhorse chassis in 1999.

On the other hand, Bill H's manual suggests that if you've got a P-32, it must be old, or new, but not middle-aged like my 1990. Or maybe all those Chevy tech. writers were just as confused as we seem to be.

Check your VIN number for that seventh digit. Maybe that will increase the confusion for some.

quote:

Originally posted by jakeofmi 3/2/06:
I would like to settle this issue, once and for all. The Chevrolet Motorhome Chassis is a P32 model, not a P30 model. This chassis was designed as a motorhome chassis, not a forward control chassis. This motorhome chassis had different rear springs, fuel tank, frame, front suspension and brake system than the forward control chassis.

I think a lot of the confusion is attrbutable to the Truck Salesmen in Chevrolet dealerships and their lack of understanding of the motorhome chassis, since very few of them ever really sold them. Many times when I had occasion to be in a Chevrolet dealership, the salesmen and even the Dealer would refer to them as a P30 chassis, and I would have to correct them.

I apologize for barking out, but at the current time there are only two of us engineers left of the original Design Group from 1970. I take a great deal of pride in having a chassis that I helped design that is still running and being resold 35 years later.

Jake Jacobson

So there you have it. This should have ended it, or so Jake thought.

ROTFLMAO

Bill NY

You all knew that I had to comment on this post.
One more timme!! P300/350 is for the model
series of the chassis. The P300 is for Chevrolet
and the P350 is for GMC. The model numbers are
P30832, P31132, P31432 and P31832 for the Motor
Home chassis; and P30842, P31042, P31442 and
P31842 for the Forward Control chassis. There
really is no such thing as a P30 chassis. It is either a P32 or a P42 chassis. P30 stands
for the Model Series, just as G30 is the Model
Series for the Full Size Vans. There is G31305
Chevy Van, a G31306 Sport Van and a G31303 RV
Cutaway Van. The last two digits in the model
number designate the type of chassis.

I am sending Dave a photocopy of the P-Truck
Series Identification Chart and the Frame Service Part Numbers to post, since I don't
have scanning capability. The list of Frames
shows that there different Frames for each P32
and P42 model.

Any more questions?

Jake Jacobson

quote:

Originally posted by jakeofmi:
You all knew that I had to comment on this post.

Oh yeah, we knew!


Could you break down what these numbers mean. P30832, P31132, P31432 and P31832 for the Motor Home chassis.

So if someone says P30 they really mean a P32. Because there's no such thing as a P30.

If someone is talking about a bread truck it really is a P42.

So... Does that about sum it up?

Bill

So then, P30 designates the chassis series, and P32 is the Motor Home chassis?

Can it be that simple?

quote:

Originally posted by bill h:
So then, P30 designates the chassis series, and P32 is the Motor Home chassis?

I think if I read this right the P300 is the model series for Chevy and the P350 is the GMC model series...

The last two numbers denote the chassis 32 or 42. 32 being RV and 42 being a bread truck or P32 and P42.



Bill

quote:

Originally posted by jakeofmi 5/15/05:
I am retired GM Engineer, and we established the P32 chassis designation, in 1971, to seperate the Motor Home Chassis from the P30 Forward Control Chassis, which was currently in production. These chassis can not be used interchangeably, and we didn't want the Body Builders to try to do this. The MotorHome Chassis has certain equipment that is not available on the FC chassis: such as dash A/C,larger fuel tanks, and a tuned supension with very large stabilizer bars.

So what can we make of your post from May 15, 2005? Every time we think we got this nailed down confusion steps in and messes it up. I wish it was that simple. So what is a P37 then?

Please take a few more minutes and explain it to my slower brain functions. I'm just a mek-a-nik so spell it out for me in greater detail.

Bill NY

Not that it makes much difference but my service
manual a 1974 makes reference on component part replacement for hydraulic brake booster to the P30 (32) Models Looks like they must have had a 32 way back then.

Ralph Glover
1976 27 Barth

BILL NY, Ralph, et all:

I spoke incorrectly in my post of 5/15/05, I
refered to the "P30 Forward Control Chassis",
when I should have said "P42 FC chassis". Also,
the very first P32 MH chaasis were built in the
Janesville Plant on Dec. 23, 1970. I remember
the date distinctly, because my wife has NEVER
FORGIVEN my boss at that time for keeping me
working until Christmas eve, which was her
birthday. Also, Ralph, the first MH chassis had a hydraulic brake booster. I have included the
entire 1983 Motor Home Specification section
from my 1983 Truck Data Book in my mailing to Dave.

Jake Jacobson

I earlier quoted from my orange book which purports to be an official Chevrolet Motor division publication. My quote ended on the note that the MH chassis is available in five wheelbase lengths. Referring to wheelbase lengths, the manual continues,
"These are:
Model number Wheelbase length
(inches)
CP 3112 137
CP 31432 - 52 158.5
CP 31832 - 52 178
CP 31932 - 52 190**
CP 32032 - 52 208*
*Start-up production 1988 model year
**Start-up production 1991 model year"

The list froom my manual shows 5 model numbers, Jake's list shows 4. Two of the numbers are similar but not identical on both lists, the rest differ.

I would never presume to challenge the authority of anyone with wider and more direct experience than I, so considering the numbers in the table quoted above, & the statement in my manual, "(P30 is the series and size class used for motor homes)" I must conclude that, a) the Chevy tech writers that produced the manual didn't know what they were talking about, b) The left & right hands in the Chevy/GMC empire didn't communicate very well, or c) I have a spurious and counterfeit manual.

From long experience in bureaucracies, I think b) is the most likely conclusion.