[Bob]

I just had the home service guy come right to the coach. On mine they snap into a bracket; can’t recall exactly how they come out.

I actually had a lot of trouble with mine (multiple string failures) and replaced them all with manual which have held up well. I also find them more convenient than looking for the remote. (JON: You may want to add electric shades to your list of ‘who needs it’)

I also upgraded to shades in the stateroom which can go up from the bottom or down from the top. Privacy and light!

[Bob]

Might be a good time for you to learn a little about your tires. Do a little research on internet about date codes (how old your tires are). Also tire matching. Don’t be a victim of a salesman. Ask questions. A honest tire guy will answer your questions. If you tires are original to coach; no matter how good they look they are done at 13 years. Last 4 numbers = week and yr of mfg. Ask ??? Bob

[Bob]

A customer of ours, Heartland Automotive Equipment sells those lifts.

His name is Alan Heier. 785-542-5252

[Bob]

Here’s an answer that is not an answer.

Go to this link http://prevostparts.volvo.com/technicalpublications/en/pub.asp

You will find the information you are seeking is not there. But…..if you play around and enter incorrect information such as the model year for a newer coach you will get some good information. For example, except for major redesigns such as going from an XL to an XLII Prevost makes incremental changes so while you may not be able to get what you need for a 1990 coach which was likely a 40 footer powered by a 2 stroke engine, you might get information for a later model with a 2 stroke engine, or you may have to use information for a coach with a Series 60.

The important thing to recognize is you might have to compare the information that is available to your coach. Some information will be valid, but some may supercede what you have. The basic information is likely to be accurate enough for your purposes.

The information you can harvest from the link above will be far better than nothing.

Don’t forget, you can always ask questions here. Sometimes we may actually provide a correct answer. (Almost just kidding about that.)

[Bob]

Really nice looking remodel job, Jim

[Bob]

I still cannot tune radio stations on my M-B because their system is so complex I have to read the owners manual each time I want a different station.

Karl on the other hand has never owned a VCR that is always flashing 12:00, but he can find and play “Yes We Have No Bananas” on his phone. (If you are under 65 you have no clue that “Yes We Have No Bananas” is a song only found on 78 RPM records).

But I know how to lube my coach. I am going to teach Karl and he is going to explain “Pandora” to me.

[Bob]

Glen,

Eliminating the leans is not something done in one visit anywhere. Depending on which suspension is giving you the grief, there are two or three valves to consider, two or three air bags, multiple fittings and no one way to insure whatever repairs were made actually resolved the issue.

For anyone to spend a day with a coach and proclaim it leak free, especially if part of the day involved changing out parts, is risky and probably misleading. There are multiple methods for leak detection and with most repairs the only one I have ever seen used by “professionals” is soapy water, and I stated somewhere else there is no way soapy water will show all leaks, ESPECIALLY AIR BAG LEAKS.

Since the leans are caused by air leaks I know of only two sure fire ways to find or eliminate those leaks The first is to use a device such as Hector’s Texas Bubbler defined in the articles section. It doesn’t have to be the only way employed because using that device is very detailed and time consuming. But it will find every leak. You just need patience. You can use quicker methods to find or rule out leaks using soapy water, a stethoscope, and ultrasonic leak detector or even your ears, but if you have used all of those methods and the coach still leans you will either have to use the Texas Bubbler or the alternative.

The alternative is to quit chasing leaks and just use new parts. Before anyone considers me crazy for saying that, take a hard look at the number of hours mechanics spend to find leaks. I can almost bet at $100 per hour or so, plus the cost of diesel fuel for return trips, you would almost be money ahead to just replace the Norgren valves and the air bags.

That is one of my reasons for my 10 year plan regarding valves and air bags. Twice I have sorted out coaches with the leans and twice the number of hours spent chasing air leaks if figured at $100 per hour I would have been better off to just replace all the parts so that is what I do. Lots of good parts are thrown out, but except for an occasional fitting leak (rare) the leans are not part of my ownership experience.

Just keep in mind if you intend to get beneath your coach, especially if you are working on the suspension make absolutely certain the chassis is well supported.

[Bob]

Don’t forget about the ‘override switch’ on the dash which gives you a limited override on any shutdown.

[Bob]

Lonestarace…….There is not a lot of special expertise or knowledge required to buy a Prevost conversion, and the process is actually fairly simple if you know what you want and you know yourself.

You may already have the answers to a lot of your questions at your fingertips. The two biggest questions and answers have to be yours alone to answer. How much are you prepared to spend (purchase price plus any needed repairs or upgrades), and do you intend to be a long term owner or are you planning to trade within a relatively short time? Those two questions and their answers will lead to the best answers to your posted questions.

If you have a specific budget it narrows the focus. To use extremes as an example if you expect your budget to be at the low end but will not settle for anything but a Series 60, you are likely to focus on very early Series 60 coaches, most likely not in the best condition, converted by a company that might be out of business. If your budget is towards the high side for the model year range you cited you will have the entire range of rivet coaches available to you and you can focus on the best of the best. With all of the various internet listings of Prevost conversions for sale, including this site, ebay, the various RV listings, etc an evening on the computer will enable you to learn the price range for the model years you stated. Further study of coaches listed on the internet will help you understand the price range of specific conversions.

Then you have to decide if you are apt to trade soon, and if the answer is yes you can expect to look for the absolute best bargains because you want to minimize the impact of depreciation. If you tend to keep your coach for a long time you still face depreciation, but it becomes less important than getting as much as you want in a coach with less compromise.

If there is a book for coach prices I don’t know of one. The market is so small and NOBODY knows what any coach is really worth except the buyer and seller that no accurate price summary exists. The pricing is determined by so many different factors it always boils down to what a seller will accept and what a buyer will spend. There are some predictable factors that influence price. A coach in good condition with complete service records and a history of routine service will bring more than a coach that has issues and no provable service history. Some conversions are always going to cost more than some others because the converter is supporting the coach or the coach was very well equipped or both.

For financing start here http://www.newcoast.com/ Mike Lynch can answer all of your questions.

For the model years you are suggesting the engine is likely to be the 12.7 liter. Probably 470 HP. Some might be 14 up to 515 HP. I have had a 475HP 8V92, a 470 HP Series 60 and now a 515 14 Series 60 and I can tell you there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference in their preformance. I can say if you want the absolute most fuel efficient look for the lightest coach with the 12.7 engine which puts it around a 96 to a 98. Mileage will run around 7 to 8 MPG.

If you are looking for a wood interior not just a laminate with wood grain, you have limited yourself to a Royale. If you insist on a coach with the Prevost over the road air you are almost required to buy a Liberty.

There will be a lot of controversy over this comment, but if you are looking for the absolute best set up for air conditioning in the southwest don’t even consider a coach without the Prevost Over the Road Air. That system has well in excess of 80,000 BTU of cooling capacity. To equal that you would need a coach with 5 or 6 roof or Cruiseair units. Anticipate the response from folks who will tell you their converter installed “over the road” system does just fine. You will have to sort out what you think is best.

For heat in below freezing conditions coaches have Aquahot or Webasto heat to supplement the Prevost heat used when driving. Both Websto and Aquahot use a Webasto diesel fired burner, with BTU ranging from 40,000 to 80,000 depending on the conversion. Usually coaches have electric toe space heater(s) to take the chill off, but not to cope with single digit OAT’s.

All of the model designations you listed are just designations for the different Prevost chassis. In simple terms an XL series has the stainless skins. the XL is a 40 foot, the XLV is a 45 foot, both with rivetted skins. The XLII has bonded skins, and began with chassis model year 2000, usually titled as a 2001. The H3 series has composite skins and started as a 40 / 41 foot coach and later a 45.

I think the Prevost web site has information on the wheelbases, but the turn radius is affected by more than just the wheelbase. A 40 foot coach with a solid axle is going to have a turn radius similar to a 45 foot coach with IFS. I have had them all and can say the turn radius has zero influence on what coach I would want.

After you have answered the two questions I cited above the third thing you have to do is determine your wants and needs. As an example if I were to define my perfect coach it would have OTR, a private toilet (as opposed to an open plan), both of those being absolute needs, followed by a CruiseAirs, dinette, long range fuel, closet carousel, and stacked W/D. By creating your list you can elminate a lot of coaches and as you hone in on those that meet your needs you become very astute.

[Bob]

I have not done it, but I seem to remember a thread over on POG about them. Maybe check that source if nobody here has done it??

[Bob]

I knew I was going to get heat for that as soon as I posted it! I am well aware that the wheel bearings are lubricated with multi-vis geat oil however, we pulled the bearings, soaked them in solvent, blew them dry. Lithium grease is one of the few lubricants that mix with everything, including 85W-100 and it may well have been like putting on suspenders after notching in ones belt, however it may take a few miles for the gear lube from the pumpkin to make it to the bearings, especially since we removed, cleaned and inspected same…that’s enough in my book for some unpleasant results.

Regarding freezing, guess the airplane is coming out. We usually freeze seals and bearing races with airplanes….the wheels are magnesium usually and do not tolerate the typical heavy equipment handling. We used a micrometer on the seal before and after it’s visit to the deep freeze and we go the seal down between 4 and 5 thousanths which was pleanty to allow easy installation. Regarding improper installation, don’t see how that is possible unless one drives the seal home with a socket or something that would cause damage to the seal itself.

As to how we knew how much oil to add, the coach had just come out of service and we had a drain container under the axle the entire time. We replaced that amount with fresh plus a couple of tablespoons that had dripped on the inner wheel. We heated the oil so it would flow better and gave it a compressed air chaser. A titch more than a pint, which in the grand scheme of things probably means the oil level was fine.

[Bob]

Hey Bob, Thanks,good to hear from you! OK, been out working on the coach today. Nothing on the Prevost drawings match my system. ie: it shows the governor hose from the res. port goes to the wet tank. Mine goes from the wet tank (Green Line) to a filter then a junction block and splits to serve the governor, engine stop and fast idle cylinders. After making sure my hoses were clear with shop air I took the filter apart and crud was in it not to mention the filter looked like someone had just wrapped twine around the metal baffle to make a filter rather than replace it. This may explain the compressor stopping to pump air @ 50 psi if it is not getting pressure back from the wet tank. So far the lines I’ve checked seem to be OK. A little nasty but clear. Gonna drop the wet tank and clean it out next. Yes, I did some experimenting with shop air and it did fill the system including the suspension. Was running the motor to see if it would unclog whatever is blocking the lines but it never did. As soon as I shut the engine down I heard air blowoff between the Tag and Drive axle. After being under it today I found a valve in between the Drive axle brake cannister and the primary tank (feeds both Drive axle brakes, also another just like it that did the same for the tag brakes) it had a round rubber disc at the bottom that looked like air had blown off the road dirt that had accumalated over the years. The other one for the tag axle seemed to be alright because the road dirt was still on it. After the wet tank cleaning I will check it to see if it has malfunctioned. The primary tank seems to be OK, drained it today and a mist of water came out which seemed to be normal. I will keep you all posted on the outcome of this adventure! Any thoughts or advice is greatly appreciated!

[Bob]

Glen,

As our coaches age they lean. At that point an owner needs to make a decision regarding piecemeal repairs or “refreshing” the underside with new air bags and valves.

There was a time about 15 years or so ago when an owner who brought a bus in with the leans that the techs would spend hours and sometime days squirting soapy water to find leaks. YOU CANNOT FIND A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF LEAKS ON AIR BAGS USING SOAPY WATER BECAUSE A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF THE LEAKS ON AGING AIR BAGS ARE BENEATH THE “PISTON” AND THEREFORE CANNOT BE SEEN.

I “shouted” the above because at $100 plus per hour squirting soapy water you can pay for repairs without even attempting to find the leak.

My philosophy is when I know my valves and air bags are 10 years old, I throw them away and replace them. I don’t care if they are good or bad. They will be bad in a short period of time anyway and then I have to waste time chasing leaks and spend more labor doing that than just replacing the affected parts.

Shop around for repair prices. The differences between competent shops can be staggering.

[Bob]

Tank inside lower door left front under drivers window. drain it. If you don’t get anything out of it make sure drain is open (not plugged by rust or crud). Blue air lines are your suspension system.

[Bob]

My Webasto would do exactly like yours. Run through the initial cycle, attempt to light and then shut off.

Turns out I had lost prime in the long fuel line from the tank and the built in fuel pump was not able to reprime quickly enough for the control logic. I simply hooked up an electric fuel pump ($50 NAPA) to reprime the line from the tank. Once primed I removed the electric pump and the internal pump was able to keep prime from there.