Gerald
Forum Replies Created
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I’ve got a 1991 converted XL Mirage with the 8V92TA and 5 speed Allison and like it. It was in the price range that I paid cash and never looked back. Bought mine with 50,000 miles on it and so far so good after 6 going on 7 years. Just look at replacing goodies as you go along unless it’s been updated.
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I don’t know of any converter that is selling coaches in the price range HJ has indicated he has budgeted.
If an owner wants money up front I would be afraid. I guess that is the real question HJ asked.
Someone advertising a coach for sale should be willing to allow an inspection prior to asking for a down payment.I cannot understand why money needs to change hands for that inspection to happen. If the excuse is the money will hold it so nobody else can buy it I call BS on that. In HJ’s price range almost all coaches that are going to be sold are going to be cash purchases. Lenders are not lining up to loan money on older coaches so the risk someone will come along and snatch a coach out from underneath another buyer is slim.
Potential buyers will learn good coaches with a fair price will not last long, and they may lose a potential purchase because they could not put together a trip to inspect a distant coach fast enough. I am sure that happens but not enough to make me want to send someone I don’t know a check in the hopes I get it back if the coach is not for me.
As a buyer gets educated in what is out there in the market and they know what to look for they will be able to move very fast to close a deal so maybe it is better to risk losing a potential purchase and to risk losing a down payment.
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The Pres makes a good point, as usual. On our first January trip to ETLC the late Peter Campbell was helping Jeff and the Eagle Scouts work on coaches. I mentioned to him that the coach seemed to wander and I thought maybe the steering box needed to be tighted up. He said, “NO! NO! NO! Don’t touch the steering box. Take the coach to Prevost and get a three axle alignment.” To make a somewhat long story that I’ve chronicled elsewhere short … he was 100% right. The tech had new tie rods laid out before he drive the coach into the bay to set it up for the alignment. Told me most of the time they need replacing when someone comes in for an allignment. Sure enough, there was play in the tie rods. They got replaced first. During the alignment he discovered that the drive axle was WAY out of spec. The coach drove like a dream after that … no more wandering from shoulder to should as I chased it with the wheel. Price was $650 or $675. I stood by the coach during the entire process and it is a lengthy deliberate process.
My experience has been with only lead acid chassis batteries. When I had a chassis battery go bad after five months, I replaced only that battery. I’ve read that if the batteries are older and one fails, that all the batteries should be replaced. Where the cut of is, I don’t know. If I have a chassis battery fail at four years, I’m replacing all the batteries.
Tom might have some insight into how to deal with the premature failure of an AGM coach battery a year or two or three before the often expected life of five years.
H.J. … can you share your home base with us? That will help us put our comments, advice, counsel, guesses, estimates, and outright fabrications in better context for you.
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We mostly use four apps: Allstays (about $10 one time cost for the app); Good Sam Camping (free app for anyone but if you pay to join Good Sam some campgrounds give a discount); Passport America (low-cost annual membership fee that gets you a discount only at participating locations, each of which have their own restrictions); and RV Parky, a free app that’s actually pretty good. Probably the first one I start with to scout out campgrounds is the RV Parky. Info on Corps of Engineers campgrounds is on-line, but no apps except for specific places where they have facilities. But, RV Parky has a filter where you can search only for Corps camping.
Linda
P.S. Tom, I’ve done some browsing on the PC map and found some that have bad links. Should these be reported to you?
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I don’t disagree. I was curious of the differences.
We are on a pit as well because our trailer is only 6″ off the ground. We have taken our full covers off of all of the axles and switched to the kind that can be popped off for easier checking.
Our coolant lines for in transit heat and the hot water heater would be overlooked at most shops as well because they are not normal on OTR tractors.A simple oil change service is about the same, but a thorough inspection of the bus is a much more complicated affair that will be best completed by someone familiar with its components.
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Fixing to do the same on my old coach. Have the original system (Intech) and sent it in a few years ago for repair (quit) and now won’t hold verticle, keeps tumbling. Wack a knob on front and quits tumbling for a while, then starts again. Called them and they said new ones won’t fit into custom housing but cables will hook up and work with new color moniters. Have to replace back camera also. What kind do you have? Wonder about the wireless but cabling is in place and who knows where.
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Good post Tim, I need to pay them a visit myself.
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Google says:
(865) 521-9112
RV’s for Less, LLC
14 years in business
8035 Rutledge Pike
Knoxville, TN 37924
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Mike, when you order all the compression components, parts, pieces, and dodads to build your air system inventory, make sure you include some socks too. You’ll never know when they will come in handy, especially with an other coach.
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Bernie,
I have a Gould’s waterpump by A.O. Smith. I think it’s original to the coach and still runs great. I also have a back-up pump, just in case of failure.
It looks like it would be an easy replacement; however, since A.O. Smith sold their waterpump business, so I’m thinking I would have to go somewhere else to get the exact replacement from Goulds to avoid re-plumbing in the water bay.
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For $160k, you can get a brand-new high-end gas coach or a really cheap (in every sense of the word) diesel coach. For a high-end production coach (Country Coach, Foretravel, Newmar), you would be looking at a 10-15 year old unit, but you will be able to get slides. $160k will probably not get you slides in a Prevost, but you will get the best-built coach, period. For me, the parts and service access for a Prevost is lightyears ahead of what you coud expect in a production coach.
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As an experiment, I let the batteries discharge about 20’%, then l turn off all of the DC loads in the coach. i then start the generator and test the voltage coming off the terminals of the inverters, Xantrax, freedom 2500. After testing, I turn off the generator and plug it into shore power and again test the voltage at the terminal post. Again, there is no DC load. The voltages are different.
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I hope when Corey has to make the demonstration phone call he brings with him a good book to take up the time he is going to spend trying to accomplish his objective.
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Prevost in their service manual calls for brake chamber replacement every year or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.
Until my current coach my practice was to replace them every 5 years. I have now extended that to every 10 years and I want everyone to know that is my decision and it is based on a sense that since the construction of the parking brake side of the chambers has changed to eliminate the diaphragm and instead use a piston with an O ring a failure will likely not be sudden as in a torn diaphragm.
As in all cases a pre-trip brake inspection will be the best early indication of a problem if you opt to not change brake chambers to a schedule.
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You can’t trust any of that bunch, I got a text from my spy yesterday telling me he and Peter were in my bus drinking beer and having fun with my window blind remote.