RV Catalytic Converter Scrap Price: Class A, B and C Values

An RV catalytic converter is worth roughly $40 to $826 each as scrap, and a big torpedo unit off an older gas motorhome is the best piece on the coach. As of 21 August 2026 RRCats listed torpedo converters at $110 to $1,166 each, and ScrapMonster graded them on 17 August 2026 from $70 for low grade up to $664 for high grade. Most Class A and Class C rigs carry two or three converters, so a full strip can run several hundred dollars to well over a thousand.

Why motorhomes pay better than cars

Three reasons, and all of them are about size.

• Big engines. A 6.8L V10 or an 8.1L Vortec needs a lot of substrate to meet emissions. More substrate means more coated surface and more metal.
• More than one converter. V engines commonly run a converter per bank, sometimes with a downstream unit as well. Two or three units per coach is normal.
• Torpedo bodies. The long capsule–shaped converters found under heavy–duty Ford chassis are the single most valuable common category on any published price sheet.

Against that, most RVs are gasoline vehicles, so they run three–way chemistry with rhodium in the mix. That is good news. Rhodium sits at $9,400 per ounce as of 20 August 2026, about five times platinum per gram.

Torpedo converter grades and current prices

Torpedo is the category that matters on Ford–chassis motorhomes. Buyers grade them, and the spread between grades is severe.

ScrapMonster also shows a 52–week high of $255 and a low of $105 on the regular torpedo grade. That is a wide band on one grade in one year. Sources do not agree on the ceiling either — $1,141 against $1,166 against a graded top of $826. Treat the top of any published range as the best unit anyone has ever seen in that category, not as your unit.

What is under each chassis

Ford E–450 and E–350 cutaway — most Class C coaches

The 6.8L V10 is the volume engine here, and these are the rigs most often targeted by thieves because the chassis is standardized and the frame sits high. Expect torpedo or large domestic bodies. Older published estimates put the main E–450 converter around $250–$600, but that figure dates to June 2022 when rhodium traded far above today. Use the current torpedo and domestic grades in the tables here instead.

Ford F–53 — gas Class A

Same V10 family under most gas Class A coaches. Same torpedo territory. Two units is common. Camper Smarts identified the F–53, E–350 and E–450 in June 2026 as the standardized platforms thieves know best, which tells you where the value is.

Chevrolet P30 and Workhorse P32 — older gas Class A

The 454 and later 8.1L Vortec coaches. These grade as GM bodies rather than torpedo, and GM grades pay less. Check for a pre–1996 rig with no converter at all before you plan the job.

Freightliner XC and XCS — diesel pushers

Different animal entirely. A diesel pusher carries diesel aftertreatment, not a three–way cat. Pre–2007 coaches may have no converter. Post–2007 rigs on Cummins ISB or ISL power carry a DOC and, after 2010, a DPF and SCR as well. Those are platinum–dominant with almost no rhodium, and they grade on a completely different sheet.

Class B vans

Sprinter and ProMaster conversions carry ordinary van converters, not oversized ones. A diesel Sprinter falls into the diesel cat category. These are the weakest scrap on the list.

Older motorhomes and the torpedo question

Coaches from the late 1980s through the 1990s are where torpedo bodies show up most. Two things to check before you get excited.

First, verify it is OEM. A March 2026 analysis by Xerodrive found aftermarket converters carry 90 to 95 percent less PGM than factory units. A torpedo–shaped replacement shell fitted by a muffler shop in 2004 is not a torpedo cat to a buyer. It is a $5 to $17 shell.

Second, some pre–1996 rigs never had a converter, or had one removed decades ago. Look for the stamped part number. No number, no premium grade.

Generator sets

This is the part of the coach people forget. Onan and Cummins Onan gensets on newer motorhomes carry small emissions catalysts to meet EPA requirements. Be realistic about them.

• Genset catalysts are small. Substrate volume is a fraction of a road converter.
• No mainstream price service publishes a genset converter grade. There is no public number to quote.
• Expect them to grade as small aftermarket or small domestic bodies at best.
• The generator itself is usually worth far more running than its catalyst is worth scrapped. A working RV genset has a real used market. Test it before you cut.

What the metal is actually worth

Xerodrive put a typical full OEM gasoline converter at 1.4 g platinum, 1.8 g palladium and 0.3 g rhodium, and light truck and SUV units at 2.0 to 4.0 g platinum. A large RV torpedo sits at the top of that band or above it. Contained metal on a good unit runs into the hundreds at spot, which is exactly why the graded prices look the way they do.

You will not be paid spot. Refining loss, assay and buyer margin all come off first. Spot math tells you whether an offer is fair, not what you will collect.

Scrap value against replacement cost

Worth knowing if you are the owner rather than the recycler. Camper Smarts reported in June 2026 that replacing an RV converter runs $2,000 to $6,000, with OEM parts at $2,500 to $4,500 and commercial labor at $150 to $200 per hour.

So a thief gets a few hundred dollars and the owner eats thousands. If you are parting out a coach yourself, that gap also means a clean OEM converter with a verifiable part number may be worth more sold as a used part to another RV owner than sold as scrap. Check that market before you cut.

Getting a real number at the yard

• Photograph the stamped serial and part number on every unit. Every grade in every table above is assigned from that number.
• Count your converters before you quote the job. Two or three per coach changes the total.
• Keep gas and diesel units separate. They are graded on completely different sheets.
• Do not cut the pipe short. Buyers want the full body and the mounting flanges intact.
• Get two quotes. RRCats put the national average converter at $101 each on 21 August 2026 while iScrap listed $75.93 each on 19 August 2026. Sources disagree by a third on the plain average.

Every price above is a published guideline from the date shown, not an offer. Metal prices move daily and no yard is obligated to honor any chart. Confirm before you cut.

Related scrap price guides

• 18 Wheeler Catalytic Converter Scrap Value: DPF, DOC and SCR
• Catalytic Converter Scrap Value by Serial Number: How Buyers Price Your Unit
• Ford Torpedo Catalytic Converter Scrap Price: Biscuit Count Guide
• Scrap Metal Prices 2026: Complete Rate Index by Material