[Cody]

Hi Art,

I’ve talked with them and even stopped there for some service a yr or 2 ago. I was told that there werent any real schematics for our coaches. I had hoped after finding a junction box hidden behind wall panel in the curbside closet with the washer. Lucky for me because there were burnt paddle connectors and warm wires in it, no indication for relays either!!!

Jonathan Fine

97 Royale # 201

[Cody]

Don I agree I change my brake cans every 5 years but some don’t agree , which is ok but not me , I change them at 5 years

[Cody]

Ernie

Try Chad at Platinum Coach in Dallas as he maintains several Prevosts in my area and recent did electronics upgrades to my friend’s newly acquired – 2000 Liberty H???…

[Cody]

We do not have an H, we have an XII. When we were looking at busses, the 3 A/C’s on a Royale bothered me. If one failed, in my mind, the 2 remaining AC’s would not keep the bus cool in Texas heat.. We have 4 A/Cs. We run 3 most of the time when sitting in Texas in the heat. When traveling and running Genny, I may crank the 4th A/C to excersie it.

Just my thoughts.

[Cody]

Cody, you might also check on alowability of XLs. I was told by a knowledgeable member that Harthside had stated no XL would be allowed in their facilities. Why? Can’t answer that question. Until you have clearification in writing, you are unlikely to get too many10 year old shiny zeroed out PC coaches there.

wishing you the best of luck with your endeavor.

[Cody]

Andre – I’m still going to get you a copy of the liberty manual I have. My copier was requiring a repair last week.

Mike

[Cody]

apparently I’m third in this race – lol

[Cody]

I went and checked the green bulbs and they look good. I am wondering if it’s a fuse. Cause it’s odd it’s all the Liberty added ones not lit up.

[Cody]

Jon wrote: why some people won’t consider a used Prevost in the price range of a new conventional RV.

I have wondered the very same thing. When I’ve been on the other RV forums I have seen posts from people who have bought two or three or four brand new “conventional RV’s” over the years. The depreciation they have experienced must be stunning.

With the price of a “new convenional RV” (as Jon refers to them) now apparently just moving over $1 million dollars, I would think that spending $600,000 to $700,000 on a clean, reasonably maintained, preowned Prevost and then spending $50,000 to $100,000 to redo the interior and another $50,000 with Jeff Rowe to really, really zero it out would make make much more economic sense in the long run.

I’ve read stories about owners of “new convenional RV’s” who spend three to six month with the dealer and/or back to factory to get issues taken care of. Is this par for the course with a “new convenional RV”? Or are these relatively isolated situations that are not indicative of how things work with “new convenional RV’s”? I hope its probably “not indicative” … especially for the sake of the owners and their familes.

So why then does it appear RVs are reluctant to look at a preowned Prevost vs dropping what used to be extremely high six figures and now seven figures on a “new convenional RV”?

While I was exposed to Prevosts in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s by a close friend, went on race trips with him in his Liberty Prevost, attended the Liberty Daytona 500 rallys at Bulow Campground near Flagler Beach as his guest, met the entire Konigseder family and Bill Dohety, and went through the Liberty factory in North Chicago with him two or three times … when we started looking for a motorhome a Prevost was not on any short list. I expected that given what I wanted to spend on a “motorhome” of any type would leave my with a much older Prevost than we would be happy with (no offense to anyone with an older Prevost). I was concerned that a really older Prevost would have maintenance issues I didn’t want to deal with and of course while I owned it … it would get older.

But then I started to notice Prevosts for sale in the vintages I would consider (before I understood when the engine switch to S-60 took place, or when IFS became available, or when 45′ became available, etc.) that were in my arbitrary price range.

I thought, “Huh. Maybe a Prevost is attainable.”

I figured there probably was a website for Prevost owners and first found POG. Paid my money, signed up, and started to learn. Then we went to a race at Road America and paddocked two or three cars over was George Prentice with his Country Coach XLV. I’d met George a few years before that through racing, but didn’t know he was a Prevost owner. He helped educate me. He also pointed me to the PC Forum which is where I really increased my knowledge about Prevosts. Then we went to Jamie’s first All Prevost Show in Tampa which really convinced us that (1) we wanted a Prevost and (2) there would very good coaches available in our price range.

So we bought a coach. Did we spend more money that I originally expected to? A little. Did the zero out cost more than I expected? Yes, but pretty much what Jeff Rowe prepared me for. Have we had some unexpected expenses? Yes. Some self-inflicted, some things just got old on our 1999 coach (OTR compressor, refrigerator, water heater, etc.). Have we had trips cancelled because of “coach problems”? Yes, two short ones (five month old battery with dead cell and the Vanner Equalizer Monitor “burned up”).

Are we happy with our coach and our experience? Of course we are.

When I read about the issues that RVers are having with their “new[er] convenional RV’s” and compare those to what we’ve had with our now 18 year old Prevost … I am very happy (actually “giddy”) with the decision that we made.

So back to Jon’s original question: “why some people won’t consider a used Prevost in the price range of a new conventional RV?”

I think that ignorance plays a significant role in this. The development of the two Prevost dedicated web sites and forum plus the growing number of Prevost orientated Facebook pages are making great strides in lifting the veil on what buying, owning, maintaining, and enjoying a Prevost is all about. I think too many non-Prevost owners think a Prevost is too expensive to buy and too expensive to own and operate … neither of which is true if all factors are taken into account over the long term period of ownership and compared to a “conventional RV”.

I think a Prevost motorhome is superior to “new [or pre-owned] conventional RV” for a number of reasons:

1. The Prevost chassis. Built to last a million miles, bullet proof, its systems are tried and true. After seated coaches and entertainer coaches, motorhomes are a small percentage of chassis built … so motorhomes ride on the coat tails of seated and entertainer coaches as far as engineering and R&D. The same holds true for the Prevost owned service centers scattered across the country.

2. I’ve come to the conclusion from reading what very knowledgeable and experienced people have posted, pretty much all the Prevost converters did from very good to outstanding jobs doing their conversions.

3. I’ve also come to the conclusion from reading what very knowledgeable and experienced people have posted, most of the shops specializing in Prevost motorcoach repair, maintenance, and refurbishing are very competent, have knowledge and skilled technicians, and treat their customers fairly.

Put that all together …. I really wonder “why some people won’t consider a used Prevost in the price range of a new [or late model] conventional RV?”

This topic would make a really good thread all on its own.

[Cody]

There are two or three in water bay that need to be open a certain amount and closed a certain amount to heat with the webasto the ones in the back also have to be open, but I don’t know if you have two valves in water bay or three

[Cody]

On the XL’s you can turn on your 24V engine battery switch in the rear engine compartment leaving the 12V off. Then using the rear start spin the engine until you see oil pressure on the mechanical OPG in back. Then switch on the 12V, and start normally. I do this on my coach if it has set for over 30 days.

[Cody]

It does heat from those. But very slow recovery.

[Cody]

It could be a issue with the bearings….

[Cody]

I have aluminum inner rims but I’m not up to polishing. They all have to broken down for new stems.

any stem recommendations?

[Cody]

We have been using our phone hotspot service to connect to the internet when traveling in the coach for several years now. Works great, is simple, no other devices and plans. Both Iphones and Android phones support personal hotspots. Up to 5 devices can connect to the Internet at the same time.

The only tweak we do on our notebooks is to identify the wireless connection to the phone as a metered connection to avoid Windows from downloading updates in the background.

Gerald