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08-29-2016, 08:46 PM
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#1
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Forest City, FL
Posts: 782
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Freightliner vs Spartan option
About to be putting in an order on a new Dutch Star this week and curious on anyone's thoughts (pros or cons) on the Freightliner vs Spartan chassis option. Our current Tiffin has a Freightliner chassis but I had no option at the time when purchasing it, so just seeing if I should be looking at Spartan now?
Thanks as always & this forum has been such a great help in the last 2 weeks while we've been contemplating looking at & ordering a new coach!
-Brian
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08-29-2016, 08:54 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Anywhere, USA
Posts: 309
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Had a Spartan under our Allegro Bus, now have a Freightliner under our D/S. We also have multiple recalls with the Freightliner, in the 8 years of owning the Spartan never had one. My next coach will have a Spartan.
__________________
2015 Dutch Starr 4018
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland
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08-29-2016, 08:57 PM
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#3
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Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 40
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Spartan!
They make a custom chassis for your motor coach.
__________________
FCO
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08-29-2016, 08:57 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Memphis, TN ,,,, USA
Posts: 822
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I love our FLCC, plus there is a shop in every town,,,
__________________
Stefan & Nicole
The Pups -Eros and Yara
2015 Newmar DS 4369
BlueOx Aladdin Toads: '19 Tahoe, '22 JLU, '17 JKU, IRV3 Brake System
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08-29-2016, 10:48 PM
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#5
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Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 2
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FL
My new 2017 4326 is under construction on a Freightliner as I write. I did FL after calling several dealers and most said the FL rides better and more service centers.
One dealer was a Spartan service center and orders all Spartan's. I have several FL dealers in my area and that was the other reason for my choice.
My son has a 2016 DSDP and noticed the Spartan only has a two line digital display vs. FL with three lines.
If you have both FL and SPT service in your area, good luck with your decision.
LOL
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08-30-2016, 07:45 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 280
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Can anyone confirm that because the Spartan steerable tag locks out at a much higher speed you get rear end sway on the road because of this?
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08-30-2016, 07:51 AM
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#7
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Vail, Arizona
Posts: 2,057
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Quote:
Originally Posted by garybtt
Had a Spartan under our Allegro Bus, now have a Freightliner under our D/S. We also have multiple recalls with the Freightliner, in the 8 years of owning the Spartan never had one. My next coach will have a Spartan.
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Just playing devil's advocate here. Could it be that Freightliner is pro-active while Spartan may be waiting for something to break? Were the FL recalls for something you were actively having a problem with?
__________________
Bill & Chris Bélanger (KI1Z)
'04 Georgetown XL > '17 4018 DSDP FL > '18 DSDP 4327 K2> ‘21 LA 4551 K3
2018 JL Wrangler Rubicon 2 Door
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08-30-2016, 08:30 AM
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#8
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 280
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Reading through the Entegra board there have been several Spartan recalls, and lots of radiator failures.
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08-30-2016, 08:39 AM
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#9
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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 2,515
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Has anybody had an opportunity to ride in both a DS Spartan and Freightliner or are planning to?
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08-30-2016, 09:15 AM
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#10
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Fulltime/ SE Minnesota
Posts: 3,116
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I think most would agree that either one is a good chassis. I give the edge to Spartan.
__________________
08 Foretravel Nimbus 40 ft tag axle / 1000 watts of solar
2019 Ram 1500 Big Horn Hemi 4x4
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08-30-2016, 12:35 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 4,505
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As a 20 year owner of Newmar motor homes and over 200,000 miles of driving a Spartan chassis I would suggest a Spartan chassis and here are the reasons.
1 Spartan chassis offers disc brakes on the drive axle as standard equipment, no up charge.
2 Spartan chassis are made with American steel, with 3/8 frame rails and cross members
3 Spartan chassis has 1580 lbs. more caring capacity on the 43' and 1400 lbs. on the 40'
4 Spartan chassis has 55 degree wheel cut vs. 52 degree for FL
5 The average Spartan chassis resale value is 2 to 4 thousand dollars more according NADA
6 Spartan has almost 270 great service centers across the US and Canada that specialize in motor home maintenance, not trucks
7 Spartan is American owned
8 Spartan chassis offer easy side panel access to coach service center for quick maintenance
9 Spartan's award winning Customer and Product Support Teams are available 24/7.
Spartan is the chassis for Newmar coaches like the King Aire.
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08-30-2016, 01:31 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club Mid Atlantic Campers Ford Super Duty Owner Coastal Campers
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Sterling, VA
Posts: 1,120
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I have seen a couple pictures now of DSDP built on Spartan for 2017 and it doesn't appear to have the same "service center" that the 45 ' coaches are built with, but I'm not a mechanic so I could be wrong.
What I do know is by specs it appears to have a high capacity tag axle and for me the all-wheel disc brakes is a definite safety feature that I like a lot.
Bill
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08-30-2016, 02:07 PM
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#13
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Fulltime/ SE Minnesota
Posts: 3,116
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Could not agree more Tom, and why I give Spartan the edge.
__________________
08 Foretravel Nimbus 40 ft tag axle / 1000 watts of solar
2019 Ram 1500 Big Horn Hemi 4x4
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08-30-2016, 05:11 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Forest City, FL
Posts: 782
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Thanks everyone that's why this forum is so valuable. One thing though I heard FL chassis now has wheel cut of 60 vs 55 for Spartan. Is this significant & worth giving edge to FL over Spartan?
-Brian
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