2002 Endeavor, any problems

[mikron]

Looking at a 2002 HR Endeavor 3 slides on a Roadmaster chassis. Asking $50,000.00 sits on 6 new tires and is very clean. What should I know good or bad about this rig. Has a Cummings 300 engine.

[tquarles]

Wow. What an open ended question.

First, what size/floor plan?
Second, double check - they typically came with cummins 330's, not 300's.
(I've got a 34', the smallest they made, and it came standard with a 330, and mine
was early production - 11/2001).

Watch carrying capacity. With my 34, I've only got one pass-thru bay, but I've got the cargo carrying capacity to throw 7000 lbs in there. I think the 40 footer had 3 pass-thru bays, but only 1000 lbs of cargo carrying capacity after you filled the tanks.


Good: handles great, tons of power if you have the 330 and one of the shorter sizes,
less so if you have a larger rig. With my 34', I actually get BETTER fuel mileage pulling my toad(10+) than not (of course that is probably mostly because I'm better at keeping down to 55 with the toad).

Bad: TV mount for the front overhead TV is NOT ADEQUATE. If it is still the factory TV, get it removed and either re-anchored or replace with something else properly anchored - ours fell out of the overhead while my wife was driving solo down an I-5 on ramp at 50+ MPH. Broke the cabinet, killed her laptop on the dashboard (GPS), ripped the dash covering, and just missed one of the dogs sleeping on the floor. HR said it was our problem, no interest in fixing the defective mount.

Bad: generator (diesel) is REALLY EXPENSIVE to service. Holiday Rambler recommends 2 procedures for pulling the generator - one involves breaking and re-fiberglassing part of the front cap, the other involves cutting and welding aluminum, otherwise it takes about 4 hours EACH for removal and replacement w/2 guys, a forklift, and 2 winches. Generator is placed such that removal is necessary for such maintenance as replacing belts or sensors. I'm lucky that I haven't had to do either since the day before the warranty on the generator expired. Cummins/onan had over 12 hours labor on a job that required 1/2 hour once it was out of the rig on the forklift.

Bad: dash radio - worst I've had in any vehicle I've ever owned. So complicated you can't tune it while driving, and can't see the display - requires a co-pilot to operate the radio or have to pull over, weak reception with lots of static.

Caution: Watch the adjustments of the hold-open cylinders of the doors under the slides - even better, never operate the slides with one of the doors open or expect paint damage.

This model was involved in the radiator recall in early '03, so that SHOULD have been replaced - problem with a batch of radiators that had leakage between transmission cooler lines and radiator coolant... If caught and replaced BEFORE leakage, no problems, otherwise, possible long term transmission issues - get service records!

As typical with rear radiator rigs, radiator and fan are vulnerable to debris - I lost a blade from the fan about 5 years ago - either to road debris or to the A/C belt exiting after it's failure at about the same time.

Good:Mostly easy for DIY maintenance - I do oil/filter/fuel filters/generator air/oil/fuel every year as well as drive-line lube, and I've done air filter and air dryer much less frequently (about 5 years each).

At this age, you'll probably need to pull the sealant from the roof (around each penetration and between the aluminum roof and the fiberglass front and rear caps) and replace it - I just did mine last year - was finally too dried out to flex any more and started to leak over the front door.

I've owned mine since new and not interested in trading it in - like it too much now that the kinks are out of it, even with the increasing maintenance as it gets older. (like I'll need all new tires later this year).

[mikron]

38', 330 correct. Thanks for the info, do you have the roadmaster chasis and is there anything bad for that chassis. I saw one for sale on the internet and they said it had 8 bags and 8 shocks on the 38'.

[tquarles]

Yes, all the '02 endeavor diesels had the 8 air bag roadmaster RR8R chassis.
(they also made a gas 34' on a ?ford? chassis)

This is NOT the roadmaster 4 bag chassis that had the trailing arm problems.
Only chassis related problem I've had is a sloppy assembly job at the factory resulted in really bad alignment requiring grinding the rear axle carrier off the frame and re-mounting it with the drivers side moved back about an inch. Symptom was inner dual tires bald at 17k miles. After the full alignment, I've got 50k miles on the tires and more than half the tread left, but they're dying of old age. HR did finally step up and pay for it after finding out how far it had to be moved - i.e. it was not an alignment adjustment(not warranty), but a factory assembly defect(warranty).

[mikron]

Could the 38' coach have the 4 bag chassis. The dealer and the owner have no info on this.

[tquarles]

I don't think so. Everything I've ever seen said the endeavors all came on the rr8r chassis. The next model down (the knight on the monaco side) came with the rr4r.

Although they seem to have lost all the 2002 holiday rambler brochures, you can look at the monaco brochures for the 2002 diplomat - the endeavour, diplomat, and beaver santiam were all identical except for trim/fabrics/paint and rolled off the same line.

Of course, rolling under and looking at the underside is the final test here.