Trip Report - NW Florida to AZ and Back

[Mahlon]

I thought I would share some of my recent trip experiences / commments in this forum.

The coach: Newmar Scottsdale 3670 on Workhorse W22 chassis (20500 lbs, loaded, wet)

The trip: northwestern Florida to Phoenix via I-10, then north to various points stopping in Flagstaff, then back home via Amarillo, D/FW, and Montgomery AL then various roads south to get home.

- On that extremely rough stretch of non-Interstate 10 running through Louisiana an uncrimped barrel connector fell out onto the driver's side floor from under the dash. Coincidentally (or not) the ABS light came on at about the same time.

- The a/c compressor pulley bearing died at 13000 mi in Gallup, NM. Required a 150 mi tow to Big West Truck Sales & Service in Albuquerque. Arrived there at the end of their workday, so we spent the night in the coach, in their parking lot, hooked up to their shore power. After 5 hrs of a/c work the next day, we were off again. I swear that the dash air works better now than it did before, so I believe that there was air in the system before the bearing failed. They also flashed the instrument cluster (didn't fix the gas gauge) and tried to find the cause of the ABS light, but their system couldn't read the data from the chassis computer. All in all, I am VERY happy with the service I received from them.

- After this, driving back across Louisiana and Mississippi on I-20 (mostly flat) I achieved a measured 8 mpg at 70 mph / 2400 rpm. Not too shabby for 10 1/2 tons!

- I still believe that I have two problems with the gas gauge: one mechanical (I can see the needle sticking) and one electrical (where the needle stays at the bottom of the scale and won't budge for love nor money). So I'll have to get under the beast to look for a bad wire connection, bad ground, or something like that. I'd rather do that than drive it 100 miles round trip to my nearest Newmar dealer.

- Found out that I need to do DriVer's suspension mods to get a co-driver. As a result, I drove the entire trip. Circa 4500 miles in roughly 12 days.

- Saw the aux a/c condenser installed on a Damon. Now that I see that it's simply a bolt-on onto the front of the radiator (replacing the stock condenser/fans) I want one BAD.

- The chassis had NO trouble in the mountains whatsoever. I am very glad that I held out for the Workhorse chassis.

[Mahlon]

I thought I would share some of my recent trip experiences / commments in this forum.

The coach: Newmar Scottsdale 3670 on Workhorse W22 chassis (20500 lbs, loaded, wet)

The trip: northwestern Florida to Phoenix via I-10, then north to various points stopping in Flagstaff, then back home via Amarillo, D/FW, and Montgomery AL then various roads south to get home.

- On that extremely rough stretch of non-Interstate 10 running through Louisiana an uncrimped barrel connector fell out onto the driver's side floor from under the dash. Coincidentally (or not) the ABS light came on at about the same time.

- The a/c compressor pulley bearing died at 13000 mi in Gallup, NM. Required a 150 mi tow to Big West Truck Sales & Service in Albuquerque. Arrived there at the end of their workday, so we spent the night in the coach, in their parking lot, hooked up to their shore power. After 5 hrs of a/c work the next day, we were off again. I swear that the dash air works better now than it did before, so I believe that there was air in the system before the bearing failed. They also flashed the instrument cluster (didn't fix the gas gauge) and tried to find the cause of the ABS light, but their system couldn't read the data from the chassis computer. All in all, I am VERY happy with the service I received from them.

- After this, driving back across Louisiana and Mississippi on I-20 (mostly flat) I achieved a measured 8 mpg at 70 mph / 2400 rpm. Not too shabby for 10 1/2 tons!

- I still believe that I have two problems with the gas gauge: one mechanical (I can see the needle sticking) and one electrical (where the needle stays at the bottom of the scale and won't budge for love nor money). So I'll have to get under the beast to look for a bad wire connection, bad ground, or something like that. I'd rather do that than drive it 100 miles round trip to my nearest Newmar dealer.

- Found out that I need to do DriVer's suspension mods to get a co-driver. As a result, I drove the entire trip. Circa 4500 miles in roughly 12 days.

- Saw the aux a/c condenser installed on a Damon. Now that I see that it's simply a bolt-on onto the front of the radiator (replacing the stock condenser/fans) I want one BAD.

- The chassis had NO trouble in the mountains whatsoever. I am very glad that I held out for the Workhorse chassis.