96 Dynasty...anything in particular to look for when buying?

[sc3283]

I have a verbal transaction completed for a 96 Dynasty. I will be going to pay and give the final look over prior to paying this weekend. Any particular things besides the "normal" things I should be looking for?

36'
300hp 8.3. Allison 6, air bags, inverter, solar panels and the rest of the normal goodies

thank you!

[USAFFlyer]

Hello,
I'm new to the board but I've had 2 Dynasty's, a 93 and currently a 96. Here's my 2 cents; 1.) Look inside for water stains especially on the walls or ceiling, there could be a leak. 2.) Check the front air bags, they have a bad habit of rubbing on the mud flaps. Each one will cost $400 to replace. 3.) Look at fiberglass from underneath the coach, does it look like it's been patched? It might have been in a wreck. 4.) Check the generator hours, 100 hours per 10,000 miles is average. 5.) Was the valve lash adjustment done on schedule? it needs to be done every 2 years, or 40,000 miles if I recall correctly. That's all I can think of without any food on my stomach. - Tom

[jimkate]

Check the age of the tires. If more than 5 or 6 years old, new ones are needed before you drive the coach home. How long it has been sitting can be an issue for oil seals. If it's been sitting unused for a long time, any of the oil seals could start to leak soon. Check the condition and the age of the batteries. Does the inverter/charger work?

Try to find how the coach has been maintained. Again, if it has been sitting long, it will be due for all the oils and all the filters, the coolant etc., changed. Don't forget about the air dryer dessicant filter. That's supposed to be changed every two years.

Get up on the roof and look carefully at it. Check for cracks in the fiberglass, cracks in the caulking. Find out when the caulking was last done. It should be checked at least annually, recaulked every year or two. Look inside at the ceiling, check for water stains. Ignore the black stains that run side to side on the ceiling, that's diesel soot that gets up into the ceiling at the very back of the coach above the engine bay.

Outside. Look very carefully at the side wall right at the top where it's joined to the roof. There's a strip fastened along the join of the two. Look at that wall just below the strip from every possible angle, and see if the wall bubbles or bulges anywhere. If it does, that's the sign that the strip has not been kept caulked properly, water has leaked in and caused the fiberglass sheet to pull away from the wall frame. That's called delamination. A little bit can be considered fairly normal, and not particularly harmful as long as the joiner strip is kept sealed.

Check the walls inside the coach beneath the windows. See if there's any bulging or separation of the wall paper from the wood wall sheet. If so, that indicates that the window has been leaking, and probably needs to be recaulked outside at the very least, or completely removed and reset with new caulking. It could also indicate that the top wall to roof joiner strip has been leaking and letting water down into the wall.

Try to find out if the shocks have been recently changed. The Monro shocks that many of that vintage of Monaco had were junk. Some of the Dynasty coaches of that era were built with Bilstein shocks, and in those years the Bilstein shocks were extremely rough riding. The new Bilstein or Koni shocks are just fine.

Take it for a drive. It should handle and ride well. If it wanders and rides the road ruts, the king pins could be dry and rusted from sitting. If the steering feels loose, or the coach pulls to one side, the alignment could be bad.

The bottom line here is that the age of the coach, or the mileage of the coach, or the hours of use it has had, are all irrelevant. The only thing that matters is how well it has been maintained and looked after.

I've seen fairly new coaches that were total wrecks from lack of care and maintenance, and 25 year old coaches that looked better than the day they left the factory.

It really helps to have a very coach knowledgeable person along with you to help look it over.

[sc3283]

Thank you kind sirs!

being a mechanic all my life, building hot rods, muscle cars, drag cars etc....valve adjustment is a must and will be done once getting it home. I don't care if I have a receipt showing done 100 miles ago...I will redo it to be sure it is correct.
It will be gone thru with my fine tooth comb and have ALL fluids, filters(oil, air, dryer, hydro etc), coolant flushed, brgs repacked, air lines, lp lines and hydro checked, belts and hoses, air dumps, brake adjustments, ride height checked etc etc...All the replaceable maint. items will be replaced..that way I know what I have and can start my own maint. routine.

Not much mechanical is over my head...the inverter, solar panels, EMS systems all will require some education...The concepts I understand, but knowing what does what and to what and when to what, is an unknown at this time for me.

Monroe should have been put out of business decades ago based on my experience with them. Roof caulk is no issue as all caulk be addressed with eternabond. I know of the delam situation....I have traveled good distances to look at several no delam coaches only to have delam the 1st thing I have seen when looking at the exterior. Tire age I know of already