[David]

It’s exciting! Every time I use mine I’m reminded of that line from the movie Dirty Harry: Do you feel lucky, punk?

BTW, I have eliminated the two batteries on mine by wiring directly to the 24 volt circuit on my coach that contols the bay lamps.

[David]

Jimmie & Laurie…

Thanks so much for that … we really appreciate it and friends like you all.

Cheers, Diane

[David]

Hello Don

thank you i will check it out, it doesn’t sag it doesn’t go up at all in drive mode lol

[David]

Each owner is going to have many choices when it comes to the purchase and management of batteries. There are few absolutes. One of the most critical absolutes however is if a set is maintained properly the life of the batteries can be greatly extended. Sometimes good battery maintenance interferes with ease of use so again, it comes down to choices for owners.

If batteries of all types get recharged by the time the state of charge reaches or is greater than 50% the number of charging cycles increases significantly compared to batteries that get charged via autostart when the selected voltage is significantly lower than 50%.

The cost of batteries is always going to be a factor and whether an owner views the coach as a long term purchase or something to be flipped every several years is a factor.

Now that we have two viable options with significantly different costs and performance making a choice is now difficult. To further confuse that decision is a coach with 6 8D batteries, never or rarely used for dry camping could be used by the owner easily with 2 8D batteries. The only problem is a future buyer may make heavy use of batteries in dry camping so what works for the owner today may not add, but may reduce the future value of the coach.

With LiFePo4 batteries that are “drop in” we have entered a whole new world. Further confusing owners is the fact the Li batteries may easily replace existing batteries, but with fewer batteries required. An owner has to determine if the switch to Li is justified with greater life, more power available per cubic inch, or less weight, or perhaps a blend of all three.

We are not yet at the point where some battery changes are justified. I recently switched 4 8D AGM for four 8D equivalent Li. It would take at least ten years of AGM purchases to break even, and for the projected remainder of the 35 year life of my Li, I am money ahead. I will not even try to make sense of my choice other than to say if things go as planned I will never change another house battery, nor will the next owner, nor the one after him.

A Li switch can be competitive with AGM if the buyer only buys the equivalent useable amp hours, or if the number of batteries is reduced greatly because of less need for battery power. My point to all this rambling is to make battery purchase decisions based on all the different factors, including battery life, amount of useable power needed, how the batteries are maintained, and where the coach will be used.

Li is definitely going to be a greater factor in the future, but it should be used for the right reasons.

[David]

Bruce Coach is a company located in Salmon Arm British Columbia, still in Business, you can find them on the web,

[David]

have to admit I plagiarized from a Prevost oriented Facebook page.

[David]

In 6+ years of Prevost ownership plus going to a few Prevost rallies, going to three or four all Prevost shows, being at a very active major Prevost conversion maintenance and upgrade facility for regular routine maintenance on an annual basis, constantly monitoring the Prevost Community Forum for eight or more years (plus another Forum years ago), and three or four Prevost related Facebook pages … I’ve never seen, heard, or read of a Prevost owner saying:

I can’t wait to get rid of this g** d***, POS, poorly conceived, badly engineered, amateurly built, unreliable, difficult to fix, impossible to find parts for XYZ Prevost conversion so I can buy a 1-2-3 Prevost conversion or a stick n’ staples plastic coach.

When someone sells their Prevost and buys another Prevost or chooses to go off the rails … from my observations the decision appears to have nothing to do with this or that conversion being substandard.

I’ve been told and have read that an “Orphan Coach”, like a Vision, will tend to sell at a discount to a coach of which the converter is still in business. Which in my mind makes the orphan a good buy.

I suppose if you live within a few hours drive of the Liberty, Marathon, Millenium, Featherlite, etc. service facilities that owning one of those coaches would have an appeal.

We have a Liberty. We’re 90 or a 100 minutes from the Liberty factory in North Chicago, but Liberty doesn’t do extensive service there. On two occasions North Chicago has done a small amount of stainless steel repair work for me and once they had the coach to deal with grout cracking in the shower (they built the shower, they knew how they built it, I wanted them to fix it, the guy who did the original shower worked on it). Otherwise I stop annually at East Tennessee Luxury Coach on the way to Florida or if we’re in the area for issues or routine maintenance, take the coach to a seated coach operator (now sadly out of business) for oil changes and OTR A/C work, or Inland Power in Milwaukee for Detroit Diesel and Allison issues (which I haven’t had to yet).

Maybe what would help “dadej” in his or her quest would be someone with a Vision to summarize some of the components on a Vision, how they might differ from coaches of similar vintage, and what kind of issues a current or past Vision owner has had.

[David]

Excellent post Jim, glad it was something simple.

[David]

I also have jumbo tire covers and don’t use them anymore. I bought them for the ’08 Dynasty and they also fit the Liberty (black covers).

I ‘might’ put them on only if I were parked outside for a very long time, otherwise, I use 303 Aerospace Protectant to protect the tires.

Safe travels,

Mark

[David]

I plan to replace the 50DN voltage regulator per Marathon. Not sure it is the problem but was only a 100 dollars. Marathon gave me cryptic answers so I thought I would start there. I don’t think they like spending much time with a customer in answering questions who is not in the market for a new coach.

The unit I am changing out is attached.

My question is where is the main disconnect for the batteries. There is a small toggle switch next to the fuse bank in the engine compartment that turns off the chassis electrical. but it does not turn off the electric to the voltage regulator. I can’t locate a switch that will turn off the electrical to the regulator. If no switch should remove the battery wire first on the regulator first to eliminate any power to short out the regulator? Let me know thoughts.

Cal

[David]

Sounds to me to be a problem with either:

a) the unloader valves in the engine driven air compressor, or

b) air compressor governor, or

c) air dryer

Normal engine driven air compressor operating range is 90 to 120 psi, not 100 to 110.

[David]

Hi, I am new to this forum, I live in Southern California and am trying to find a pre 1995 Prevost bus. I have my eye on a few, 1988, 1990, 1991 etc that are in my price range. I am looking for any help regarding whether or not I will have trouble registering the Bus from another state in California. Thanks for any experience you have regarding this.

Mike

Searching for a 1988-1995 Prevost Bus

[David]

We can make fun and ridicule the owner and those that gave advice, but we have to recognize this is the very type of thing that can result in injury or death.

I hope all PC members understand how serious this matter is. First it shows people asking and incorrectly answering these questions need to be made to understand how dangerous this issue is, and why. Dick nailed it with his question and that is a part of the problem often ignored.

I can only hope the RV was not driven and that the loss of air pressure on the outer tire was all that caused the beads to become unseated.

If the coach was driven with a tire with little or no air pressure both tires experienced substantial flexing of the cords likely resulting in weakening or failure of the cords making it dangerous to even air up the tires. If those tires were driven and air up it is probable if they do not suffer a catastrophic “zipper” failure while being pressurized, it is likely they will fail as they are being driven.

If any tire is driven at 20% less pressure than required based on axle weight it needs to be inspected before it is returned to service. A qualified tire inspector will break the wheel and tire down, carefully examine the tire inside looking for evidence of heat damage and determine if it is safe to use. Some tires are damaged so severely the evidence can be seen in the sidewall without breaking the tire and wheel down.

The inner tire which shares the load with the outer tire was inflated for that load, but with a failed outer tire it now has to carry twice as much load so it has been driven severely under inflated so both tires require an inspection before being used.

Please folks, inflate your coach tires to the pressure required based on axle weights. If for some reason a tire was run at a lower pressure, if that pressure was 20% or more less than the required pressure do not re-inflate the tire and assume it is OK. In fact if it has been driven at that lower pressure, just airing the tire up can be so dangerous it can injure or kill you. If the low pressure tire was one of the duals on the drive axle treat both tires as potentially dangerous.

Be safe. And if you are aware someone like the subject of this thread is unaware of the dangers, try to help them understand how a bad decision can injure or kill them or their family members.

[David]

I would (and am) replace all the cruiseairs with rooftop air. I went with Mach 8 Colemans, they are the lowest profile..you can see why. I ran new wire to the panel for the AC’s, disconnected and capped the cruiseair wiring but left it in place. Not a hard project…just time consuming and HOT in Arizona right now. I had 3 basement airs and 2 roof airs, goal is 4 roof airs, 0 basement airs. Cruisair just cant cut it when its over 100 degrees in the AZ sun. Even when they dont shut off from high pressure, they dont move enough air. Bring your bus to my house…i got some tools…we can cut some squares……

[David]

I didn’t find a 40. It’s a 45 Marathon, 1998. Currently listed as sold on RVTrader, out of Ohio. I spotted it on Ebay a few weeks ago and jumped on it. My buddy Nick Audino from Superior coach went and looked her over for us. Like you know, it’s difficult to find the right combo of goodies vs a paint scheme or interior that is personally appealing. Would prefer OTR but we liked the design so much, we are forgoing that option. Hopefully it won’t bite us on the backside, particularly while touring through the South in July. I’m hearing good things about the Coleman 2 ton basement HVAC units so I’m hoping, if she falls short on cooling, that my be a viable option. One of the previous owners is a race car driver and I spoke with him at length about his many hours parked on hot tarmac in the summer and he never had an issue to note.

Anyhow, we put to fat deposit down so…off to Ohio in a week or two for a cross country adventure. Hopefully all the RV parks aren’t full. I see out here in Cali, the local KOA is bulging over.