Community Forums

crolfmilton · 06-24-2014, 09:16 PM

IRV is the best thing since sliced bread. I can't read enough!
Anyway, not new to RVing, but new to diesel motorhomes. So, I apologize now for my bazillion stupid questions.
A friend is purchasing our 2003 Fleetwood 32V on a workhorse W22 chassis. We purchased it new and it has served us well. Since I am a stickler for maintenance, I feel that my buddy is getting the deal of a lifetime. I digress.
A friend, who owns a large garage in our area sold me his 2000 Newmar Mountain Aire D on a Spartan chassis. My wife and I love this rig for a multitude of reasons.
Though I knew every screw and bolt on the workhorse, I am an absolute diesel novice. Any suggestions will be more than welcome.
We spend summers at our home in AK and winters at our home in NV with lots of RVing thrown in.
Thank you for having us!

SteveLevin · 06-24-2014, 10:22 PM

Welcome!

You'll love the ride quality, that's for sure. And the fact that you can have a conversation while powering up a hill since the engine's in back.

One characteristic to keep in mind is that since you will now have a trailing arm suspension, when you dump the air bags to park, the coach will actually shift forward a few inches (It's hard to write an explanation, but if you think about the geometry of it, you'll understand) so if you are on leveling blocks make sure you account for that shift of the front tires (the rears will be locked in place, of course).

Steve

crolfmilton · 06-24-2014, 10:27 PM

Interesting. Now I will have to look at that, tomorrow. My curiosity is peeked :-)

Ramets · 06-26-2014, 04:25 AM

Since it's on the Spartan chassis be sure to check out the ball joint boots. If they're the original I'll almost guarantee they'll be rotted out. It's a problem Spartan had early on.

crolfmilton · 06-28-2014, 07:50 PM

Steve, saw it inch forward and had to laugh. Had you not told me about this, I would have driven myself crazy about that forward creep :-)
Since I like to wrench, I will be crawling underneath, soon. However, I have trepidations about crawling under this chassis and how to get under there safely (being a pancake is not on my bucket list) versus the workhorse. Instructions, advice, etc. Pleeeeeease

KIX · 06-28-2014, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crolfmilton

............
Since I like to wrench, I will be crawling underneath, soon. However, I have trepidations about crawling under this chassis and how to get under there safely (being a pancake is not on my bucket list) versus the workhorse. Instructions, advice, etc. Pleeeeeease

To get under ours I "sandwiched" together 3" x 10" boards. The bottom one is about 5' long and the top one is about 3' long. The end result is I can raise the coach about 6" and it is still on it's own wheels. I just back up onto the "ramps". A little heavy to move around but well worth it to me for servicing.

"007" · 06-28-2014, 08:05 PM

Here are a couple of links you should read if your going to work under coach.
Jacks are only to stabilize the coach never lift rear wheels off ground.
Jack stands will help also in case jack system retracts.

mymyst · 07-02-2014, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveLevin

Welcome!

You'll love the ride quality, that's for sure. And the fact that you can have a conversation while powering up a hill since the engine's in back.

One characteristic to keep in mind is that since you will now have a trailing arm suspension, when you dump the air bags to park, the coach will actually shift forward a few inches (It's hard to write an explanation, but if you think about the geometry of it, you'll understand) so if you are on leveling blocks make sure you account for that shift of the front tires (the rears will be locked in place, of course).

Steve

I have a 2014 entegra on a spartan chassis and the "creep" when retracting jacks scared the bejesus out of DW and myself the first time we had it on an overnight. I have repeatedly asked many folks (including the entegra CS folks) what the heck was going on. They all told me it was normal, but it SURE didn't seem normal to me. Last bus on a Freightliner chassis never had this issue. It has gotten better since I learned to pump up the airbags before retracting the jack, still bucks and jumps and sounds like it is breaking up concrete, but not as bad. Finally, with that one statement about the trailing arm suspension, I understand what is going on. For that, I thank you.
I also learned to be sure you remove any wheel chicks you may have in place before retracting the jacks; coach jumped forward and actually crushed a plastic wheel chock under the front wheel that I had forgotten to move before hand!

Never ceases to amaze me all the different crap you have to figure out/learn coach to coach that never comes up in the PDI at delivery!