Community Forums

dons2346 · 04-05-2011, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by P7rancher

Smitty77
We agree with what you said

. We asked for four corner weights and were told CC was not doing that in 2000............

That is straight BS.

Herbie801 · 04-06-2011, 09:21 AM

Possibly the owner/dealer didn't keep the four wheel print out and that is why they said CC wasn't doing it. To my knowledge, they have given a 4-wheel print out on EVERY coach they have sold for the last 15 years.

Secondly Country Coach calculates the carrying capacity and prints a sheet which is stuck to an interior wall in the Coach. (Sometimes by the driver's seat, other times in the head cabinets, or on the back wall by the circuit breakers. Just have the seller take a good picture of that sticker and send it to you before you take the time and money to drive to inspect the coach. Figure you will add about 1,500 lbs per person to the weight if you're conservative. So a minimum CCC for two should be about 3,000 lbs. Regardless of what you have been told by someone trying to sell you something else, Country Coach has never had a CCC problem of which I am aware.

Finally, the Independent front suspension for the Allure, Intrigue, Magna, and Affinity came at about year 2000. (give or take depending on when the coach was in production) Although I have spoken to owners who don't have the IFS and they have no complaints of the ride of their coaches. The main advantage to the IFS was a sharper wheel cut on tight corners.

In my humble opinion, tire inflation and quality shock absorbers will have a greater impact on ride and safety than fixed, or independent suspension.

B Bob · 04-06-2011, 03:45 PM

I looked it up and there were 3 models of 36' magna in 2000. The largest carry capacity is 6,800 and the smallest 3,800. Foretravel had four models of 36' with carry cap of 4,000 - 5,700. Looks pretty similar to me. We have 8,600 lbs carry cap in our 2002.

Looks to me like CC and Foretravel about the same for 2,000. On our coach we do have tires on the front that can go up to 130 lbs. cold. We don't put in that much. If you are really concerned about the capacity you might make sure your tires are all under six years old and just inflate them up to the max air. Very likely you do not need to do that.

My experience is that neither CC or FT sold coaches that could not be driven safely. You should keep in mind that some of this stuff is lawyer driven. There is usually a good cushion of safety around these ratings.

TechWriter · 04-06-2011, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by P7rancher

Been looking a lot at motor homes, maybe too much. Can you give me a description of the dynomax chassis? Does this chassis use air bag leveling or leveling jacks? Any comparisons to the Foretravel chassis?

1988 though 2005 Foretravel chassis can suffer from something called "bulkhead separation" or the chassis rusting apart.

Foretravel folks tend to poo poo the issue saying it's something that can be fixed in a driveway. Others, like myself, said no no to the brand because of this.

P7rancher · 04-09-2011, 08:51 AM

Anyone know if the Jake brake on the Magna can be set to be more aggressive, such as going down to 3ed instead of 4th when on the Jake brake is set on high? I would assume this is an Allison adjustment but maybe a Cat/Allison adjustment.

laj · 04-09-2011, 09:00 AM

The allison won`t let the engine over rev. If you are going down hill say at 1700 rpm in 4th, the allison/ ecm won`t let the engine over rev by going to 3rd. The only way to get it to do that is by slowing your road speed, so that you don`t exceed your maximum, allowed engine rpm.

Yes, you can take it to allison and have some things changed,
but it still, and you don`t want to over rev that engine, gets very expensive quickly if you do
hope this helps

laj · 04-09-2011, 09:07 AM

something else:
If the jake seems weak, depending on how long its been
i would first take the coach to a cat dealer and have the rack run.
That can make a big difference, and if it is out to far, and let run that way, could cost you at a minimum a head.

P7rancher · 04-09-2011, 09:43 PM

laj, is the rack the valves? They are going to do a valve adjustment as the coach has 37,000 miles and Cat told them it was time.

Also, was told by a CC service manager today that they often reprogram the Jake to go to 3ed instead of 4th in the high setting for better performance in mountain driving. This also makes the 1st and 2ed setting somewhat more aggressive.

THOUGHTS????

Thanks for your help!
Steve

laj · 04-09-2011, 09:46 PM

the rack includes valves, injectors/nozzles, and jake spools

B Bob · 04-10-2011, 09:31 PM

Going down the grapevine going north on I 5 last year I wanted more engine braking so I used the service brakes to slow the coach down until it went into third gear. Then it worked like a charm. Just as a comment though, if you use manual inputs to lower the gear selection be sure to remember to go back to drive when the hill is over. Last year after going down a road from Lassen to lower elevations I set the trans for 4th. 15 minutes later I could not figure out whey the coach would not go as fast as I wanted it to. I went to the rev limit in 4th and just sat there. Until I noticed it and put it back into 6th.

Billieg · 04-20-2011, 11:01 AM

Here is a great resource for RV's. The listing is for CC.

Used Country Coach for Sale | Used RVs & Motor Homes for Sale | RVs.Oodle.com

P7rancher · 04-25-2011, 08:27 PM

I will post this here rather than start another new post as all of you have been very helpful with my other questions.

We have purchased a 36 ft. Magna 2000 model and will pick it up in Oregon in June. While at Premier RV in Oregon we will have several upgrades done to the coach.

I need help figuring out the best way to go to flat screens on the TVs as the original TVs are in the coach. We do not want to get involved in extensive and expensive cabinet rework to go to a large screen TV. We are not big TV watchers and feel like a 26 to 30 inch in the front and an even smaller unit in the rear would suit our needs.

Any of you upgraded TVs in a Magna and what kind of brackets did you use? Did you have to rework the wood face plate that surrounds the TV or simply take it off and let a somewhat larger TV stick out a little on the front and sides?

Thanks for your help and looking forward to our "new to us" CC.

Steve

dons2346 · 04-25-2011, 09:10 PM

Well, by going to Premier, you are not going to get out cheap. They are rather expensive, there are other places in Junction City that do the same work at less cost.

deandec · 04-25-2011, 11:09 PM

My Magna has a slightly different CRT setup for the front tv since you likely have a driver side slide out.

For now, I have installed a 26" Vizio LED/LCD by building a 2x4 brace for a swivel and extending mount from Monoprice.com. The TV sits in front of the cavity and walnut surround.

That has allowed me to install a Direct TV DVR in the cavity with a RF remote so the . The TV Covers the bottom 16 inches of the cavity. I kept the walnut surround and use it to stretch some black solar screen material to hide the 2" top gap of the cavity.

So far my materials cost is about $30 except for the RF remote, DVR, and the TV.

If you use Oodle.com to search for appropriate vintage Magnas that are for sale, you may find some alternative approaches in those rigs. I did.