Help info for purchase of La Palma

[BEBOP]

My friends are about to purchase a 38 foot La Palma Gas rig Workhorse I suppose and have many concerns and I may not have all the answer they need. I have never owned a Monaco of my many class A's. I do have a workhorse that has just sit in storage for 1 1/2 years waiting for all the brakes to be replaced under the recall.
I am asking all you knowledgeable folks to write your concerns about a non RV'er buying their first rig and relate the answer to the 36 foot La Palma they are considering that was built in 2004, is gas, with two slideouts, and has 26,000 miles on it. they are also offered a so called bumper to bumper extended warranty for another 5500.00 for 5 years.
What are your thoughts? I have just sent them the URL so they can come here and read your replies. They have a small deposit on a unit to hold it until Saturday Jan 15th to decide on it. I think the price is about 55K.
thanks for all your imputs for Ron and Jackie.
Bebop Bill

[bdpreece]

If this is on the RR4R chassis make sure they are aware of the trailing arm issue. Replacing the trailing arms is not a big problem but it is a safety issue and also an expensive one.

[MonacoMama]

This is a Workhorse chassis so they need to make sure the brake recall has been done before they sign.

[hardy1000]

Ditto on the brake recall.

[BEBOP]

OOPS Subject should say 36
thanks you friends. Anybody else have any cautions to look out for. I have advised them of the two mentioned above. thanks for those.
Is this a good solid well made RV like my Rexhall?
or
Did they cut corners for costs on it. We are also interested in just plain opinions. Don't worry about hurting anybodies feelings.
thanks in advance.
Bill

[JDT]

We owned an 03 36' HR Vacationer on the W22 Workhorse chassis for two years. Bought it new in 03 and sold it in 05 to get our current coach. The Vacationer is the corporate twin of the LaPalma. Ours was a 2 slide with the bath and a half floor plan (rear full bath). It was a great floor plan and we had very few problems with the house part.

We sold it too soon to know about the brake problems so can't comment on that. While we liked the house part it was not fun to drive. The 8.1 GM had enough power but it was a bear to steer as it tended to wander causing constant corrections. Long drives were very tiring. We finally had the shocks replaced with some heavier duty ones, which helped some and then added a Blue Ox TruCenter ( a steering damper) which helped some more. It drove well enough that we were able to sell it quickly when we found the Ambassador.

Not sure if Monaco continued this with the 04's but ours had a 10" splice in the frame. Evidently, the chassis was not quite long enough for a 36' coach so Monaco cut it half and welded an extension to lengthen it. I don't know if it would ever cause any problems but I didn't like the idea.

I would suggest giving the coach an extensive driving test to include some highway time. Let a few trucks pass and see how it affects it. Too much push is not fun.

Again, parked it was great, driving not so much.

[BEBOP]

thanks to all, I have passed your posts in this thread on to my friends.
Bill

[Arch Hoagland]

I own a 2004 Monaco LaPalma 36 foot model 36DBD WITH THE GM 8.1 gas engine and the Allison 1000 transmission.
We bought it new in December of 2004 and have put 50,000 miles on it traveling all around the U.S.. We have RV'd in all lower 48 states.
We like our LaPalma and if it was, for example, stolen I would go and find another 2004 to replace it.
Our brakes worked just fine with no problems.
The problems I've had are:

The Actia instrument panel has been replaced twice on mine. Unreadable LCD screen. It now resets every once in a while I'm driving. I just ignore it.

My exhaust headers had to be replaced at about 25,000 miles.

Engine Air condition compressor and clutch had to be replaced.

Right rear wheel seal went bad. Repaired.

Sharpe microwave would only run 59 seconds. Repaired.

I've had other minor things go wrong but that is going to happen in any motorhome. Overall I'm satisfied.
I pull a 4,020 pound toad and do just fine in mountains,etc. This rig rides very nice and is quite stable when trucks pass.
I keep track of every gallon of fuel I put in and averaged 7.1mpg over 50,000 miles.
I would NOT buy an extended warranty.
I'd buy it at 55k. I paid $115,000 for mine when new.
If you have any more questions just ask away or send me a private message.