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Pressure Pro & Valve Extensions
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Tim,
As a prospective Prevost owner, would you be willing to share with us how much you have spent on your coach after you purchased it? -
Yes I bought bags of 50 caps. I’m on my second now. My coach takes 8, I have 5 cars at 4 each, I used them on my dump truck which took six, and my equipment trailer which took four, plus I have given a number away.
They can be bought individually also.
A Pressure Pro sensor will not screw on the end of the caps because they are not threaded. What looks like threads on the caps are just serrations to hold clamp-on tire chucks.
Even if a Pressure Pro would thread on the caps it would completely defeat the purpose of the caps because their value is in providing a second seal in addition to the Schrader valve. A Pressure Pro sensor needs to open the Schrader valve in order to function. and that means I would go back to relying on a single seal.
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Davy,
Yes, that’s what I use, but pay attention to the end of the extension where the Pressure Pro sensor screws on, it has to have the protrusion in order to depress the dill valve. The one pictured is the correct one. I covered that in the video also.
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Per, what you are asking is akin to asking how high is up.
Every Prevost owner spends money on his coach. The largest single expense on an annual basis is one rarely discussed and it is depreciation. The more expensive the coach the greater that expense. If you were to buy a new coach it could be as high as $1,000 per day for as long as two or three years.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you bought a 20 year old coach it could be in the $10,000 per year range.
Then there is the cost to maintain the coach. Here are my anticipated expenses per year based on 12,000 miles per year.
Tires will run around $1,000 per year, air bags $200 per year, brake chambers $150 per year, Norgren valves $100 per year, batteries $500 per year, oil changes and lube $300 per year, fluids, hoses, belts, filters, $300. slide seals, $500 per year, unplanned repairs $2,000 per year (probably high).
To the above add 20 hours of labor which amortises the actual labor over the planned life of the service or component, such as 5 hours for a full coach service which includes oil, lube, filters, inspection etc. or the labor to replace air bags at 1 hour per year based on 10 year life.
But nobody limits what they spend to maintenance. Owners change the TVs, replace floors or reupholster the sofa. Owners modify their coaches by all sorts of ways ranging from adding wine coolers to changing awnings. Certain coaches have unusual expenses such as replacing a faulty charge air cooler or doing needed skin repairs and the associated paint work. Some coaches need little in terms of unplanned expenses.
Do your own work and the costs to own a coach drop significantly. Be anal about taking care of the coach and the costs go up. But keep in mind that any coach with a diesel engine and air brakes and suspension are going to have almost the same costs associated with ownership.
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Per,
We have spent around $28K so far. That’s actually less than I budgeted and, since we bought the coach at a price lower than I initially budgeted, all is good. I know I’ll have future expenses as described by Jon; however, I’ve done a lot of upfront replacement for maintenance with that money as we tried to zero everything out, including new air bags, shocks, brake chambers, norgren valves, dryers, tires, and chassis batts. The only expense in the next 2-3 years will be new lifeline batts since mine are three years old. Of course, I’ve believe I’ll have to replace the R-14 and maybe R-12 valves but I think that’s done with a few hundred bucks.
As Jon described, we have budgeted around $12k for annual maintenance/repair items. Maybe it’s too high or too low, but we’ll see. Jeff is very budget conscious and told me what he would do over the course of the next year or so, whether it was with him or another service facility. I simply did it all at one time.
My wife and I are happy we’re where at on the bus and look forward to years of enjoyment, despite the mechanical upkeep.
We love how the bus drives, handles and “purs” down the road …
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Jon,
Didn’t think about putting on the cars too. I’ll need almost a whole bag! LOL!
Thanks for the link.
Mark
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Great topic ,
With the way I use my coach , sometimes I can do the work myself and sometimes a shop but here it goes
I figure for every mile driven it cost me about 68 cents a mile for every mile driven . So for 12,000 miles a year it cost about $ 81600 a year -
That’s a cracking price as well. As much as $8 FOR FOUR on Amazon. Worth someone buying box of fifty and sharing at the next no-rally.
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BTW,
As much as I express a concern about Pressure Pro and the sensor lacking a secondary seal I am likely going to have a full set for the bus and the three vehicles I have set up for towing when I replace the bus tires.
Right now I won’t roll the bus out of the garage without a pretty comprehensive pre-trip inspection which includes paying a lot of attention to tires. What I cannot do right now is detect a pressure loss while driving, such as might happen with a nail in the tire picked up while driving. So I have weighed the benefits of my douple seal caps, with the tire pressure reporting of the Pressure Pro and am now leaning towards the PP.
I still have to deal with fitting sensors to the 365 valve stems, and I have to get a valve stem oriented correctly for the outer drive tires. I am even considering valve stem extensions if I can figure how to prevent flexing and loosening, and extension wear. Once the issues I am concerned with are solved I will be good to go.
If Pressure Pro would come out with an internal sensor such as the type that use a band around the inside of the wheel I will be all over it.
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Jon,
Dorman products makes a TPMS strap that fits up to 24″ wheel. Do you think that would work, there part # 974-040. All you would need is a universal TPMS monitoring system.
Bob
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Just found a system by TST Truck that has a internal system for Heavy Truck and Rv’s. Part # TST-507 Internal. Has anyone tried this system i wonder and is it reliable. http://www.tsttruck.com is the link.
Bob
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Jon and Tim, I appreciate the relies.
Jon, we are not concerned about the depreciation costs. Our next coach will be our last coach, so whatever we get out of it when we sell it is gravy. The annual costs you mention is well within what we plan on, and actually less than what we spent on our coach. My biggest concern is the electrics and electronics–yesterday we spent $4,600 on a new ECU for our 4060 Allison–which BTW was the same transmission used in the 2000 Prevost XLII. Our budget would limit us to a 2003 or older, and age and electronics don’t go together well.
Tim,
Sounds like you are happy with your coach, and that is what coounts. I’m sure you will get all the kinks worked out, and will have many happy miles on it. -
i had the TST internal sensors installed. Never could get more than 3 of the tires to show on the display. Would not recommend it. When I purchased new tires this summer the TST system went in the trash.
Question was raised about expenses. I am very anal on maintenance and try to keep the coach in close to new condition. I do no work on the coach myself. If you fit that profile it is a very expensive hobby costing me 30-50k per year. Still it is much less expensive than the depreciation on a new coach. If budget is a prime concern I would think one would be much better off financially in a late model plastic coach.
We bought our coach new and I know it inside out. We still like the floor plan and it works great for us. It maybe expensive to keep up but it is worth it to us.
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Dave,
I’ll be primarily on the road 9-10 months a year so I will not have a garage or facility to do much of the work. Other than upgrading some of our “wants”, 30k-50k sounds high for annual expenses. I think annual maintenance is much lower based on the prices and intervals I’ve read about doing, but you do have to have a contingent budget to allow for the new cruiseair, webasto.
Heck, a new engine runs 30k and after being on this forum for nine months, I’ve only seen one engine which required a rebuild. According to American Fleet Inc., they don’t start recommending a rebuilt on a Series 60 until 800,000 miles.
Why are your maintenance numbers so high?
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My numbers are after the coach was zeroed out up to new standards, just wear items no fuel in that number ,
Even if the number was one dollar a mile it would still be not that much!!!!!!!!
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