UFO Owners, how about an update on your coach

[Don and Kim]

Just wondering how satisified UFO owners are? Are you happy with the performance, ride, reliability, etc. What gas mileage are you getting? I am considering a 08 Forest River 391.
Thanks, Don

[Lash]

Don:

My wife and I have a 2008 Holiday Rambler Vacationer XL on a UFO chassis. The floorplan is a 38PLT with the actual measured length in the neighborhood of 39 ft. We bought the coach new and have had it for about a year and use it for extended trips to California from Texas.

As of now, we have had no issues with the chassis with exception of the chassis battery went south about 6 months after we purchased it. Our over the road mileage is in the range of 6.8 to 7.4 depending on driving speed and terrain. We tow a 2007 Honda CRV which weighs about 3400 lbs. I have been very satisfied with the coach and chassis combination and do not regret the purchase. The brakes are super and the engine and transmission combination is great for a gas powered coach. Also the no noise factor in the front makes a significant difference in traveling.

I do have one complaint and you will most likely see it from others who own the UFO chassis. There have been a fair share of failures of the Fan Clutch Assembly (FCA) and Workhorse is aware of the problem and has openly stated in various rallys that it is due to a faulty part being supplied by their vendor. There have been rumors of a recall and some of their factory representatives have openly said there would be a replacement for all FCA's but to date this has not happened and personally I do not believe it is going to happen. Right now I am pursuing getting the correct part number for a replacement FCA so I can purchase and replace. I do not want to get caught 200 miles from nowhere and have it fail. To date though, I have not been successful in getting a correct part number.

Hope this info is helpful in your decision making process.

Regards

[CraigA]

Hello Don & Kim,

My wife and I have an 08' Georgetown 391. We really love it. Yes we have had a Fan Clutch failure, but we now have one of the newly designed fan clutches, so we are told.

Our coach has about 16,000 miles on we are presently vacationing in Victoria BC. We get on average 6.8 to 7.5 depending on terrain and how much pedal I put into it.

I strongly recommend that you replace the factory installed shocks with Koni FSD's. They will greatly improve the ride and handling of your coach especially the bouncing going thru dips.

As far as the Workhorse portion of the coach you will be very happy with the performance.

As far as the Forest River portion of the coach there are some issues, not major issues but annoying one's. I'm sure it is the same with any manufacture. Overall we are very happy with our coach and Forest River has taken care of all issues that have come up.

You are welcome to PM me and I can address anything you would like to know about.

Take care

[UFO Pilot]

We have the Winnebago Destination 39W. Other than the FCA issue I am very satisfied. Workhorse recently authorized replacement of the FCA with the new prototype and they also replaced the waterpump. Workhorse has been very easy to work with for warranty work. We leave tomorrow for a trip to Washington and Oregon and I hope to report an improvement in the mileage with the new FCA from the present 6.5 MPG.

If you buy the UFO, replace the factory shocks with Koni's as Craig said above. All UFO should come from the factory with the Koni's!

[-Gramps-]

I am still happy with mine, My issues have been with the house portion of the coach, slide problems mostly. I will making a repair again Monday myself but this time for good. My friend Gary (another 38plt owner) and I along with Donnie another member our our FMCA chapter fixed Gary's slideout perfectly (Lash, it can be done!) last week. I also had a condensor fan issue that with Workhorse's help I took care of. I get around 7 to 7.7 miles per gallon most of the time towing and our coach has a lot of stuff in it as well. Gary got 9.9 miles per gallon driving his empty coach with no tow home from the dealer in New York. I don't sweat the FCA, I can plainly hear it cutting on and off and it stays off most of the time. The handling is good, but a bit bouncy over expansion cracks but so much better than my first coach that I really haven't felt the need to replace shocks. The brakes still work good, too good sometimes. Oh, I have just over 8,000 miles on the coach.

[JonBrazel]

We've got a 2008 UFO Winnebago Adventurer Limited in our shop getting set up right now. He decided to upgrade the suspension and engine performance at the same time, so we have installed Koni's front and rear, working on a mount for a Safe-T-Plus steering control, UltraPower programming, Aero mufflers, custom making a Cold Air Intake and possibly retrofitting Banks Torquetubes to work as well. Will let you guys know what we end up with for Dyno numbers!

[Lash]

Gramps:

Glad you have come up with a slide solution that works.
Would like to know details sometime as I still have one cable which is fraying a little. Have not had the time to investigate and repair.

Do not want to hijack the thread so send me a PM sometime on solution.

Regards

[gresults]

Well pretty much approved for New 2009 Georgie Boy Cruisemaster, the only option it appears to be lacking is the thermopane windows, which here in Texas might be a option I might miss, for owners of the UFO/Cruisemaster has anyone had any issues with A/C keeping up with the space.

Also any pointers on what to look to be worried about, I know about the FCA issues, and noticed some post about slider issues shock recomendations.

Thanks Donald

[YngRvrs]

Hey all
Spoke with our Workhorse Rep and there is a recall on the Fan clutch in the pipeline. We will be receiving letters in the mail. If your coach is registired on workhorse.com you can check there too.

[gresults]

Thanks for the heads up, I actually still need to pick mine up put down a deposit to hold it until we can get to Florida to pic it up sometime next month.

[UFO Pilot]

I had the "new" FCA installed in June. Now on my first long trip since the replacement. The 1st tank of gas my mileage was under 6, it has always been about 6.5. Just filled up this morning and this time the MPG was 8.22! I have never gotten over 7 in the previous 12,000 miles. I can only hope and pray that it continues.