[Archived]

Andy start looking at my list and pic which one you want to start with , air things first,and steering parts then motor stuff If you are going to drive it much if you are going to do more parking than driving do house stuff also , I know that coach and there are going to be things you are going to need soon!!!! With out even looking at it

[Archived]

Thanks Peter. We are planning on driving quite a bit once I retire in 18 months so this next year is our shake out year but will also start replacing the stuff in the Spring in the order you state. In general, I plan on prioritizing the preventative maintenance of components by safety, large (expensive) then anything that might leave us stranded. Part of this preventative maintenance would include the replacement of the components that seem to show end of life. Unfortunately, I don’t have the experience to make this judgement but with the input and support I am getting from this forum I can only improve. You mentioned pics, where are they located?

[Allan]

Andy I meant to say pick one from the list of stuff I have done above

[Deleted User]

Andy,

When I prioritize I try to consider the impact of a failure.

Brakes are important, and if a sevice or parking brake diaphragm fails you have an issue that cannot be ignored. You can do a roadside emergency repair to avoid a tow, but it will involve caging or disabling part of the braking system.

On the other hand a failed air bag is in some respects more serious. If an air bag fails catastophically you are going to lose aux system air and the coach will drop at the point of the failed air bag. But with some adjustment of the level low system you can stop the loss of air, and drive slowly to a safe place or maybe even somewhere the coah can be serviced. Again you can avoid a tow, or worse a ride on a trailer.

My point is we all have to expect stuff to fail, and then we need to have a plan for dealing with it. I consider bakes and air bags as so important I prefer to avoid any alternative plan and I want them to be reliable.

On the other hand, Norgren valves as they age will leak. That falls in the category of annoying, but not much more than that. Ditto with leaky push in air fittings.

But coolant hoses are not only cheap, their failure can shut you down so those like belts need to be high on the list.

It goes without saying that you can replace tires and batteries prematurely, or wait for a failure. A blowout is not only dangerous, the cost often exceeds the value of all the tires combined as a result of damage to the body or other components. Batteries also can be an issue because a failing battery in a set can mask its failure by exhibiting other problems that drive you nuts until you do isolate the problem.

The key to all of this is you. You have to decide your tolerance for dealing with issues as they occur, or getting proactive and trying to prevent them in the first place. Owning a large coach, RV or Prevost, is not for sissies.

[Michael]

Thanks for the input Jon. LOL – I’m going to have to remember your last statement next time someone complains about having problems with their RV. Do they make bumper stickers for that statement?

[Peter]

We can get that spray painted on the back of your bus using a high grade of Krylon if you prefer.

I am too lazy to look it up or redo my list but at one time I think I added up all the costs to ownership which included fuel, insurance, and MY replacement schedule for fluids, filters and parts. For discussion purposes I think it came to around $1.25 per mile based on my annual average miles.

Regardless, until a coach gets pretty old, all cost of ownership is still far less than the annual depreciation.

When you get down to an age where the annual depreciation is less than $10,000 then, and only then does the out of pocket cost of ownersip equal or exceed depreciation and my guess is that is on coaches that are in excess of 20 years old.

Now with fuel prices relatively low it makes good sense to stick what might have been fuel expense into zeroing out a coach so if and when fuel starts to climb again (it will) you don’t have to deal with the higher costs of deferred maintenance.