Which chassis

[Mike Thomas]

I understand Newmar uses Spartan, Freightliner, and Roadmaster chassis. Can anyone provide any advantages/disadvantages between the three?

[Mike Thomas]

I understand Newmar uses Spartan, Freightliner, and Roadmaster chassis. Can anyone provide any advantages/disadvantages between the three?

[BCook57]

I'll let the true Newmar experts add to this, but I believe your understanding is wrong. Roadmaster is the brand name for the proprietary Monaco chassis used on Monaco and Holiday Rambler motor homes. Every Newmar I've seen is on a Spartan chassis, but perhaps they have/do build on Freightliner also.

Regarding your question about preference, when we bought our new Dutch Star last fall, we shopped all the brands. Liked Freightliner the least. Kind of a toss up between Spartan and Roadmaster. Final decision determined by manufacturer and floorplan.

Be sure and evaluate the new models with Comfort Drive. Mine doesn't have it, but the system gets great reviews here.

[Route 66]

Newmar now uses Spartan exclusively.

They did use both Freightliner and Spartan several years ago, and Spartan was always an upgrade from Freightliner.

Roadmaster is a proprietary chassis for Monaco only.

[RVDude]

On edit due to a senior moment... The following applies to Fleetwood's Liberty Chassis, not Monaco's Roadmaster..

As I understand it, Fleetwood/Liberty, though "proprietary" to Fleetwood, actually uses the complete Spartan rear assembly and front assembly. They get shipped a fully running Spartan chassis that is just some 15-20 feet long as the fronts and rears are bolted straight together. Fleetwood only builds the the interconnecting "rails" to lengthen the unit for the specific rig. It is these "rails" that Monaco is so proud of. So, for all practical purposes, Fleetwood/Liberty is really a Spartan since all the major guts are Spartan.

[Norm Payne]

This is the first time I have heard Roadmaster uses sections from Spartan. All Spartans have IFS and many Roadmasters have a solid front axle. Spartan uses one air bag per wheel position and Roadmaster uses two. All Newmars on Spartan have Comfort Drive.

If Roadmaster buys from Spartan they have to make MAJOR modifications to turn the chassis into a Roadmaster chassis. I once owned stock in both Spartan and Monaco and in their annual reports I never read where the two companies had a relationship.

[Route 66]

I believe that's Fleetwood not Monaco that does that.

[jmgkab]

That's the Liberty Chassis for Fleetwood's American Coach that uses Spartan...

[RVDude]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jmgkab:
That's the Liberty Chassis for Fleetwood's American Coach that uses Spartan... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

OOppsss... Senior moment.... You are right, it is the Fleetwood Liberty w/Spartan and IFS. Monaco/Roadmaster beam axle is the 10air bag all proprietary model if I am not mistaken???

[Ken Roberts]

FYI, in Dec., '06 we had a problem with our '04 DSDP Spartan chassis. Their tech. support sent us to a place that could not handle required repair; but, also charged us some $200 for "diagnostics". Spartan sent us to a 2nd shop that very quickly handled the repair and Spartan refunded our "diagnostic" charge without issue. All in all I was totally happy with their handling of the entire situation, Ken, '04 DSDP....

[Skipper 05MA]

Let's not forget the endless compliments towards Spartan's customer service. I'll put that first every time.