Community Forums

zmotorsports · 03-03-2015, 01:51 PM

So just out of curiosity, does the television sit between the pilot and co-pilot seats next to the dash? I haven't been in this era of American coach so sorry for my ignorance.

Our 1991 Beaver Contessa had a 20" television that swung up and out of a cabinet right under the dash between the pilot/co-pilot seats. The cabinet had doors that opened and then the TV swung up and out to reside on top of the cabinet when parked, which allowed the cabinet doors to be closed with the TV in the viewing position.

I am just curious if that is similar to how the American coaches are?

Mike.

stkt · 03-03-2015, 02:26 PM

Hi Mike,
The TV does sit in the middle between the pilot and co pilot chairs. it is housed in a cabinet that rises from the floor with a motorized lift.

zmotorsports · 03-03-2015, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stkt

Hi Mike,
The TV does sit in the middle between the pilot and co pilot chairs. it is housed in a cabinet that rises from the floor with a motorized lift.

Great thanks. Sounds similar then to our 91 Beaver then, with the exception that ours was manual, not motorized.

Mike.

GlennLever · 03-03-2015, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zmotorsports

Great thanks. Sounds similar then to our 91 Beaver then, with the exception that ours was manual, not motorized.

Mike.

The motorized lift is a great feature.

stkt · 03-03-2015, 03:27 PM

We had run those Goodyear 265/75s, I think they were G159s, since we had the coach. In hindsight we should have switched sooner than we did. Those Goodyear tires would not wear evenly. We had the coach aligned by two different shops, the one the factory used and again at a Cummins Coach care facility. Nothing seemed to work.

With this remodel, we wanted to upgrade to larger tires. Back in 1999 American Coach had a problem with overweight coaches (didn't everyone?) and some blowouts prompted them to do a recall and install larger tires. It was a big deal at the American Coach rally in Virginia Beach that year. We were included in the recall, but not because we needed it. Since our coach was only 36 ft., we were well within our weight limits on either axle. Never mind that, the factory said they had to enlarge the front wheel wells to accommodate a larger tire. Jump forward 14 years and that turned out to be a blessing. We upgraded to the Michelin 275/80s and what a difference. The ride is smoother and so far, the uneven wear appears to be less. Without that wheel well modification years ago, these tires would have been too tight.

The factory adjusted the speedo to reflect the larger diameter and the coach looks better because the wheel openings are fuller. We'll monitor the wear patterns this year.

zmotorsports · 03-03-2015, 04:04 PM

Which Michelin tire did you go with?

I ask because I too recently (like 2 weeks ago) rid myself of those Goodyear POS G670 tires, which I think were the replacement for the G159 tires, and installed new Michelin XZA2 Energy tires in a 295/80R22.5 on both the drive axle and steer axle. I have only driven about 15 miles on it so far but enough to tell a big difference. I am excited to take her on her first long distance trip in the near future with the new shoes on her. I also did some tweaking to the drive axle alignmnet so that should help. Put her dead on the money according to the alignment.

Mike.

stkt · 03-03-2015, 04:30 PM

Mike, enjoyed looking over some of your posts. Great site.
We went with the XZEs. It was a suggestion from Zurcher Tire in Decatur. We've bought all our MH tires from them. They've been steering folks away from Goodyears in recent years in favor of the Michelins. I hope you have good luck with your new tires. I'm headed out this weekend (weather permitting) on what will turn out to be 2-3000 miles so hopefully I can get more experience. One thing is for sure - the air pressure requirement is less. If I run 95 psi on all four sides I'm way within the margin. Much softer ride.

zmotorsports · 03-03-2015, 06:08 PM

The XZE is what we run on our OTR trucks at work and that is what I was going to run but they weren't available in the 295/80 size. Upon recommendation from my tire guy he suggested the XZA2 Energy as they have been putting a lot of them on various coaches lately and have had good feedback.

I too should have a good test run next week so I hope to be very impressed.

Mike.

stkt · 03-03-2015, 06:22 PM

Thanks GlennLever! Deciding on what to do with the front tv was a real problem. With such limited space the options are limited. Although the picture is small by todays standards, its just enough for us. Keeping the tv within its original enclosure also retains that original floorplan layout, which we wanted to keep. To mount the tv we cut a 2x and ran it across the rear of the cabinet interior "box", then screwed a square plywood piece to that brace. That's how the tv is mounted.

stkt · 03-04-2015, 01:22 PM

The conversion to LED throughout the coach interior and exterior (except the marker lights on top which were replaced with the remodel) started easy enough. M4LED was helpful in selecting the interior and exterior lights. Shouldn't be too hard, or so I thought.

This should have been an hour or so, but it turned into several days. Each of the halogen round fixtures had to be modified. I soldered leads to the LEDs and fed them through the fixture housing to the power plug. The LEDs sit in the fixture, they are not "fastened", but it works well. We opted for the warm white - the natural or cool white bulbs were too harsh for us.

The fluorescent fixtures needed some simple rewiring; there were 5 fixtures to complete. We opted for the LED bulbs instead of using strips.

Then came the valances. The ultimate pain. The "rope" lighting in all 5 valances had bad bulbs, so all 5 had to come down. The valances are held together with long Phillips screws, one set for the outer and one set for the inner. After the first one I found out that I could undo the outer and with a little finesse get the stapled rope light out. Once out, installing the led strip lighting was easy. Finding those screw holes again to get the valances back up was another story. The valance lighting was certainly the most frustrating. It is definitely brighter.

On the exterior, the side marker lights, all the tail lights, license plate light, and luggage lights were replaced with LEDs, and they are definitely brighter.

On the interior, all the lights were replaced with LEDs except the two large fluorescent lights in the galley area.

zmotorsports · 03-04-2015, 01:27 PM

Looks great. Those are the exact same tail lights and turn signals that our 1991 Beaver had. I like them much better than the modified GM tail lights our Dynasty has. They seem to have more "character".

Mike.

zmotorsports · 03-04-2015, 01:28 PM

I am jealous of your being able to store/park your coach indoors. Our baby has to sit outside in the elements.

Mike.

stkt · 03-04-2015, 03:09 PM

Thanks Mike. The rear lights are from Germany, and considering the vintage, are probably next to impossible to replace NOS. The good news - if I get rear ended they are too high for most vehicles!

stkt · 03-04-2015, 03:25 PM

The blower motors on the large furnace started the "bad bearing scream" from time to time, less so on the smaller furnace. Watched a video on youtube and the replacement job wasn't bad at all. Ordered the replacement motors from PPL parts in Houston.