Seneca Rear Axle

[jacks88]

Drove a Seneca HJ for the first time yesterday. All in all, very pleased. Was a bit surprised by the sluggishness from a stop. Wasn't towing anything. Now I'm curious, what rear axle is on the 2015 Seneca HJ Freightliner chasis? I'd like to tow a vehicle that will likely add 5,000 lbs to the combined weight, but . . .

[rgolding]

I don't know the gear ratio, but the Seneca Freightliner is a truck and acts like a truck. Many times our accelerator is to the floor, when leaving a stop light or climbing a hill. That is with towing a 4000 lb. vehicle or not. Automatic dump trucks and road trucks act the same. A big standard transmission with a transfer case may give you the feeling of more power, but you are not going to accelerate any faster. Its just how they work. The Seneca Freightliner can "legally" tow up to 10,000 lbs. Some other units can tow up to 40,000 lbs. They will accelerate about the same. And thank GOD, they all have good brakes.

[Mnwelsh]

I had the same first impression when I test drove the Seneca. We purchased it and are very pleased with the power now that I'm used to it.

[mikew968]

I tow a 7000 to 8000 lbs trailer with no issues. The GCWR is 33,000 while the as delivered weight is around 21,xxx. They drive like a truck not an suv or car. Slow but steady...keep it rolling.

[Mr.Oz]

I was told by Freightliner the Seneca has a 5.38 ratio rear diff.

[Mr.Oz]

Originally Posted by jacks88

Drove a Seneca HJ for the first time yesterday. All in all, very pleased. Was a bit surprised by the sluggishness from a stop. Wasn't towing anything. Now I'm curious, what rear axle is on the 2015 Seneca HJ Freightliner chasis? I'd like to tow a vehicle that will likely add 5,000 lbs to the combined weight, but . . .

If you floor it and it upshifts a couple times, then the turbo makes boost I think it accelerates very well for a RV. Keeps right up with car traffic and out accelerates most every Semi.

[WaltW]

The Seneca moves way better than my prior class A with same engine and trans. Higher power to weight ratio is evident.

[SloPoke]

I had the same experience when we test drove our 36FK. found out that I had the Overdrive switch set to ON. When I switch to OD off - the transmission has a much different shifting pattern (similar to "Performance" or "Economy") and once we completed the test drive with the OD-Off... I was sold right then.

We just came back from our Memorial Weekend trip - and went over the Scales to see what we weighed, as Fully Loaded as we took everything ... 8400-Front Axle 16,300-Rear Axle and 4460 on the Trailer Dual Axles. Total overall length was 68-feet and 29,200 Lbs.

I am very happy to say that it pulled up the hills very nicely, and downhill was worry free with the Exhaust Brake.