[Archived]

I am interested in hearing the opinions of a Prevost Conversion vs. a Truck/Tractor conversion such as a Showhauler, Powerhouse Conversion. We talk about safety and having such a large engine in front seems to me to be beneficial. Conversions are not as opulent as a Prevost conversion but I wanted to get a feel for those in the know. Michael

[Archived]

Michael,

I personally saw a Prevost that was involved in a head-on collision (geared towards the driver’s side). The coach was parked at the Goodlettsville Prevost, I saw it while in for service a year or so ago. You could tell the impact was severe but the driver’s and passenger area were unharmed.

Because of the accident, part of the front skin was removed, bumper removed, etc. There are steel cross members that are located under the windshield and Prevosts have REAL front and rear bumpers.

In this accident, once the car hit the coach, it spun around and pushed in two driver’s side bay doors. Of course the front impact damaged the driver’s bay but the occupants were safe and sound (from what I heard).

Safe travels,

Mark

PS. I forgot that I posted in March showing the wrecked Prevost. Just scroll up to see it.

[Dick]

If you are looking for something to absorb energy in a frontal impact it is going to be tough to beat a Class 8 truck. But there is a flip side to that advantage.

If you have passengers who will not be strapped into the front seat they will be sitting within a house structure that will offer little or no protection, particularly if the accident is a rollover. The Prevost chassis is a welded cage structure that remains intact in roll over accidents keeping the passngers within the structure as it rolls. In a conventional chassis such as a truck conversion or a conventional motor home the upper structure is bolted or screwed to the floor platform and that structure begins to depart the chassis even if the vehicle just sustains a hard side impact, to say nothing of what happens if it rolls.

[David]

We started our search looking for a truck conversion to pull the race trailer, live at the track, and then RV with. Looked for 40 to 45′. Looked at Renegade, Showhauler, S&S, and a handful of homespun conversions (one or two were done really nice). I actively belonged to a really good truck conversion forum for a number of years. I wanted a 42 to 45 foot Peterbilt 379 with a 600hp CAT and Allison trans really, really bad.

What is your background in RV’ing? What is your point of reference.

Intuitively, not being an engineer, if I ran head on into a 80,000# semi or dump truck or solid conctrete wall or down a 75′ embankment into a creek, I would probably want a truck conversion with the big engine in front of me … unless you showed me how the Class A truck frame folded up. Does the engine and trans break loose in a high impact head on? Does the cab always stay fastened to the frame?

BUT given any other kind of impact, I’ll take the welded steel frame of the Prevost all day long. In Dec 2012 a family from Minnesota was in an tragic accident with a large 42 to 45 foot truck conversion pulling a long bumper pull trailer. The article I found called it a box truck on a Freightliner chassis. I don’t know if it was a home brew deal or a conversion by one of the high or low volume converters. Five family members were killed. From the cab back, all that’s left is the deck, everything else was cleaned off. Google Jordan Minnesota family killed in Kansas truck accident.

There were some low volume truck converters who apparently each did a handful every year up to the financial crisis. Those trucks seemed to be in demand.

How are semi tractors built? The cab is bolted to the frame. How many bolts? How big are they? In a truck wreck does the cab separate from the chassis? All good questions to ask of the truck conversion salesman and then verify.

Beyond safety, we found even the new high dollar truck conversions to have very basic systems compared to any Prevost. If you understand the term “simple coach” … even the high dollar truck conversions seemed much more simple than a simple coach. And there is nothing wrong about a “simple (Prevost) coach”.

Many people appear to be happy their truck conversions and one might be a good fit for you. If you go down that route, make sure you clearly understand what you’re buying.

I did try try to find a Kingsley. It was my understanding they had a welded steel structure similar to a Prevost. But they were fairly pricey and sold quickly.

[Les]

A few accident pictures are posted on “this video could save your life” here on PC in the general discussion forum.

[Dick]

I know this is a old thread , but it touches on something I was thinking about over the past 3 days as we were driving from Fl to Ca in our Prevost . Now over the past 8 years Erika and I have averaged about 30k miles a year driving a 93WB and a 2000 LXI , both very competent Motor Homes for sure . But I have never driven a RV that made me feel as confident on the road as this Prevost does . The Prevost is the road warrier of any RV out there dollar for dollar and you can ask any Prevost owner out there and I’m sure you will get the same answer .

Now if your road miles are 5k or less then i say go for the newer warranted RV most dealers sell, cause these machines are meant to be driven like a Lamborghini, so why own one if you cant open her up 🙂