A fast horse: chassis manufacturer Workhorse comes a long way in a short time

Diesel Progress North American Edition, Feb, 2004 by Dawn Geske

It often takes a company decades to fully establish itself as a major player in a competitive industry. Yet sometimes, when the business plan is right, success can come a great deal more quickly. Such appears to be the case with Workhorse Custom Chassis, Union City, Ind.

A subsidiary of Grand Vehicle Works Holdings, Highland Park, Ill., Workhorse manufactures chassis for both the commercial and RV markets. Its product line features both gasoline and diesel engine chassis with gross vehicle weights (gvw) ranging from 10,000 to 31,000 lb. Established in 1998, the company has already gained significant market share with its products, which include the P- , W- and the most recently introduced R-series chassis.

Tim Logsdon, director of commercial marketing at Workhorse, attributes much of the quick success to the company's focus on a single product. "All that we make are stripped chassis for the RV and commercial business," he said. "We don't have the distraction of a lot of other product ranges and other customer needs. We are just able to have the products and the support structure specifically tailored to our distributors and customers. It's almost that simple, a very focused product with a very focused approach."

Workhorse began its chassis line with the P-series it originally acquired from General Motors in 1999. Today, the P-series consists of 10,000 to 16,000 lb. gvw chassis models under the P30042 brand. The gasoline or diesel engine P30042 models are configured for commercial application in high density delivery vehicles or walk-in vehicles for maintenance or road surveyors. The other half of the P-series, designated the P30032, is rated 14,800 to 18,000 lb. and is used in Class C motorhomes. The W-series and the R-series are also motorhome chassis with gvw ranging from 20,700 to 22,000 lb. and 28,000 to 31,000 lb., respectively.

Driving the commercial P30042 chassis are General Motors (GM), General Engine Products or Cummins engines. The GM engine is a liquid-cooled, V8 gasoline engine with sequential central port fuel rejection rated 270 to 300 hp. The diesel options include a 6.51. naturally aspirated, liquid-cooled General Engine Products V8 diesel engine rated 160 hp at 3400 rpm. General Engine Products is the former AM General, original manufacturer of the military Humvee, which purchased the rights to GM's 6.5 L diesel. The other diesel engine option is a four-cylinder, turbocharged, liquid-cooled Cummins ISB4 engine models rated 145 to 170 hp at 2300 rpm.

Workhorse offers gasoline engines in the RV chassis P30032 and W-series models, equipping them with 8.1 L, liquid-cooled GM Vortec 8100 gasoline V8 engines rated 340 hp at 4200 rpm. The R-series RV chassis includes a diesel offering which features a liquid-cooled Cummins ISC engine rated 330 to 400 hp depending on front or rear placement. Cooling for the R-series is provided by a radiator that sits behind the engine, a belt driven variable speed hydraulic fan and a charge-air cooler mounted above the radiator. All other chassis models are cooled by a horizontally mounted aluminum-alloy cross-flow radiator and dual side-by-side fan.

The chassis incorporate rear-wheel drive system in which the transmission is mated to the engine. Transmission options include Allison 1000 series five-speed automatics or GM's New Venture Gear heavy-duty five-speed or automatic Hydra-matic 4LS0-E electronic four-speed, both with overdrive. GM's Hydra-matic 4L85E four-speed transmission is only available on the P30032 chassis models and the Allison 3000 MH five-speed automatic is only available on the R-series chassis.

All of Workhorse's chassis include variable ratio power steering and hydraulic four-wheel ABS brakes. The steering is driven from the steering gear to the front wheels and the front disc and rear drum brakes are driven directly off the master cylinder. Mounted off the transmission is a hand-applied Orscheln parking brake. The lower gvw rated chassis are equipped with axles by American Axle. Dana axles are installed on the heavier rated chassis. Michelin or Goodyear steel-belted radial highway tires are fitted to Alcoa aluminum wheels.

Workhorse manufactures its chassis at its 200,000 sq.ft. Union City facility and has the bodies for its delivery or walk-in style vehicles completed by Utilimaster Corp., Wakarusa, Ind., Morgan/Olsen Industries Inc., Tulare, Calif., or Union City Body Company, also a subsidiary of Grand Vehicle Works Holdings, Union City, Ill. The RV chassis are supplied to OEM customers such as Winnebago Industries, Fleet-wood Enterprise Inc., Rexhall Industries Inc. and Damon Corp.

Workhorse uses its dealer network to sell and service its chassis lines. Using the company's FasTrack Program, dealers are able to order and stock work-ready trucks from five spec-ready models. "Normally, in this business the customer will come in and specify a chassis and a body." said Longsdon. "With the FasTrack program, there is one invoice. We set up one warranty and you basically get an integrated truck that is road ready."