-
Liberty – odd alternator config
Looking at a Liberty that seems to have an uncommon alternator configuration. If this once had a DN50, was the old tensioner removed? Does this look like an owner mod or was it possible that someone ordered it from Liberty like this?
Clint & Tammy Summers
2000 XL 45 Country Coach (rivets)
1977 FC31 Bluebird Wanderlodge (more rivets)
Vonore TN -
8 Replies
-
As much as I can remember Liberty has had two standard configurations on their coaches. A 24V Elegant Lady had a single 24V 50DN. The four house batteries were cabled in series and parallel so the house had 12 and 24V power available. The inverters were 24V inverters.
The Classic was a 12 volt house coach with a 24V 50DN to handle the chassis which needed 24V mostly because of the load or the OTR. The house was 12V and had an alternator of about 145 amps and instead of the 4 house batteries of the Elegant Lady used 3 8D batteries cabled in parallel. I believe the inverters were 12V.
I cannot say if the coach pictured originally came with a 50DN, but if it was set up as shown it is likely the coach did not have OTR.
-
Since this is supposedly a rare non-OTR Liberty it would make sense then there was never a 50DN, never a manual tensioner, and the odd bracket/pulley config pictured is probably as-built by Liberty.
That said, I’m still surprised Liberty didn’t use the 12v 50DN like Royale did in their configuration (and Bluebird). That would suggest that Liberty viewed the 12v 50DN as unnecessary in a non-OTR Classic Lady. As discussed in another thread, this aligns with the 50DN removal mod that many S60 Bluebird owners are doing these days.
-
Personally I wouldn’t touch that coach with a 20 foot pole.
Apart from a “non-standard” alternator set up it is a non OTR coach. I have not hesitated to make it known I want only a coach with OTR, and not an over the road set up that a converter has installed but the real deal.
My opposition is simple. Liberty uses Cruisairs and on the hottest days when you need A/C the most Cruisairs have a difficult time working properly when they have hot air radiating from the highway surfaces trying to cool the condenser.
There is not enough information to know if the coach was converted to a roof air coach, but if it was not it is going to be an uncomfortable ride on hot days.
-
It’s at Olympia, not a roof-air coach and marketed as a rare and simple Liberty. Same floor plan as your old 97.
I understand the non-OTR perspective and the Cruise Air concerns.
-
Love the OTR A/C. On trip home from FL in June, I saw 56 degrees on bathroom thermometer in mid 90 degree weather. Coach and dash blower fans on low.
Wife and dog both needed blankets. Was just right in driver’s seat with sun coming in.
-
Clint & Tammy – If that Liberty doesn’t have roof airs? don’t walk, RUN away from that deal.A couple of yrs ago I saw a non-OTR riveted Liberty being advertised here on PC by a Dallas dealer. I thought to myself “I pity the fool” that doesn’t know better than to buy a Prevost with CruiseAirs and no OTR ac.
-
I think we sniffed at this coach back in 2012 or 2013 when I recall a previous owner was FISBO’ing it.
As I understand it (Jeff or Frank might confirm or straighten out what I “think” is the deal on this coach) in about 1996 or 97 Buddy Gregg was the dealer for Liberty Coach (and probably one or two other converters) and Buddy wanted a Liberty at a lower price point than they had with an OTR/12 volt/Liberty Classic. So “they” came up with two, maybe three, non-OTR Liberty’s. I vaguely recall that a Cruise-Air might be able to run through the inverters so that running down the road a Cruise-Air would essentially run off the alternator on the big Detroit.
We passed on the coach based on a recommendation of a Prevost person who was advising me from time to time. We’d never owned an RV, let alone a Prevost, let alone a Liberty Coach. I did know we wanted OTR/bus air based on strong recommendation from a Liberty owner from the 1990’s. This coach did check all the other boxes for us except OTR/bus air. I really liked the wood grain Vitricor.
A word about our experience with OTR/bus air. When we need it, we love it. Its like riding in the car. Very easy to manage. No need to fire up the generator to run the A/C units. Maybe the new inverters can handle the loads of Cruise-Airs and/or roof airs, I don’t know.
Notice I said “when we need it”. Much to my surprise, we don’t run the OTR often as I thought we would. We live in Wisconsin, use the coach locally in the summer, then travel down south in the winter … Tennessee to Florida to Texas to Arizona or California and back to Wisconsin three years in a row. We don’t follow the LSU Tigers through the hot, sticky south. We don’t go to the scorching hot SW in the summer … yet.
Depending on how one is going to use their coach, this Liberty might be a reasonable fit for them. Anyone buying any coach should clearly understand what they are buying.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
We came across another mid/late 90’s vintage Liberty without OTR last year in LaBelle, FL. Talked to the owner briefly. He didn’t seem overly interested in the technical aspects but did say it would run a CruisAir unit while traveling without the generator. I don’t remember alternator setup but I think it was similar to this one pictured with no 50DN.
I asked what type inverters he had but I don’t think he knew.
Our 96 Marathon was also sold new at Buddy Gregg in TX.
Log in to reply.