First Post...Buying a Diesel Pusher...OK Here Goes!

[big willie]

Originally Posted by kb0zke

Lowering airbags to gain clearance is a common happening. There can be some adverse consequences IF one is not careful. On some coaches it is possible to dump all of the air and have the coach resting on the tires. That's fine when parked, but not so good when moving. Dumping the air so that there is only an inch clearance between the tires and the coach while going very slowly can work.

The trick is whether your air system allows you to do this. I can dump my air so that I'm down on the tires, but as soon as I put the coach in gear it immediately goes to travel height.

The only airbag Ive run across I couldn't put a dump valve on was my mother in law.

[pasdad1]

Originally Posted by kb0zke

The trick is whether your air system allows you to do this. I can dump my air so that I'm down on the tires, but as soon as I put the coach in gear it immediately goes to travel height.

I have heard some say that on their coach simply pressing and releasing the dump switch does like you say ....however keeping the dump switch depressed continuously keeps the system from airing up until you release the switch. Can anybody confirm this works on their coach ?

[FIRE UP]

What do the semi's use that make all that noise?

Well, first off, "all that noise" was a product of yesteryear. In that, the mufflers on way older diesel powered trucks was almost, nothing but a straight through pipe, in many cases.

A muffler, especially on a diesel truck and or diesel motor home, will MUFFLE ANYTHING that passes through it. And that means whether the engine is accelerating or, decelerating. The noise exiting from the tail pipe will not be any louder when the setting on a "compression" brake is at stage three than it will at stage one or, at full acceleration. The stages represent how many cylinders are being utilized for the braking at a particular stage setting. Stage one utilizes the least amount of cylinders, stage two, a mid range of them and, stage three, the most that can be tied into the braking system.

The sound emanating from the muffler is the same, only with stage one, it's less volume but, with stage three, it's more volume of compressed air, not louder. While in my career with the FD, I was involved with noise abatement processing and tests in various neighborhoods of our city. We would accelerate through a test section with our trucks and, then turn around and build up speed prior to the test area then, hit the switch for the Jake brake in various stages. The sound meters stated the same output for both operations.

And you can use the term "Jake Brake" for compression brakes. Jacobs MFG. does have a stake in Exhaust brakes too but, for years and years, the term Jake Brake is and has been, the term used for a compression brake only. If one chooses to use "Exhaust brake" or, "Compression Brake", that's fine too. Our coach, which has the C-7 330HP CAT, with the Freightliner "Revolution" chassis, is listed as having a Jacobs Exhaust Brake.

Many see that and think because the term "Jacobs" is used, it has a compression brake because of the association of terms.
Scott

[go49ers]

Originally Posted by B Dubya

Hey all. My wife and I are on our second MH, a 2001 HR Vacationer. We've had it since new and have taken very good care of it. It's been a flawless ride for us, but there's always what's over the next bump in the road.

We've long said someday we're gonna get a DP. We fell in love with the Horizon years ago, and long yearned for that coach. Well, I'm turning 60, she's turning 39 (yet again!), and we think the time is near. We plan on doing this summer in the HR. I have a few collectible cars I've had a long time, and seldom drive anymore, so I will sell them. By Sept we hope to get the Vacationer up for sale. If all goes as planned, we should have 75-80K for our DP. We're willing to take out a loan of 20k or so.

I'm thinking a 2005-2008 34' to 36' Revolution or Meridian or Journey, or...... We looked at a 2002 Horizon, very clean, but I want as new as possible systems and electronics. I want the Freightliner Chassis, and I THINK I want the CAT 330 or 350. Yup, we do a lot of climbing up and down I-5 pulling our SXS toy in a 16' cargo trailer.

Don't want to start a Ford Chevy battle, but I can't see why I would want a Cummins 300 HP with an Allison 5 speed, when I can get a CAT 330 with an Allison 6 speed. For this reason we've kind of dismissed the Journey, but not certain that's necessarily the right move....and this is my quandary. We think the Itasca would be the best MH we can afford, based on the research I've done. Any thoughts and additional information would be highly appreciated. Thanx in advance.

Brian and his 39 year old!!!

you need a 400hp or else you will regret it--

[go49ers]

Originally Posted by B Dubya

Thanx Guys. Going back to Mike W's comment....I'm hoping ur talking about the 300HP. Are you saying a 330 CAT would also be limited HP? It has almost 900 ft lbs of torque. Ya see, this is why I don't understand stuff. And KB, I don't consider what I'm looking at to be high end. High dollar for us, but high end? My Vacationer goes up the 6% grades all day at about 44mph at about 1800 RPM B4 the danger zone. But it's only 44mph, and I'm tired of trucks pulling a double passing me!!

my 400hp catc9 goes up everything at 60 mph--great engine in a country coach--definitely an upgrade from my gas coach holiday brambler-

[B Dubya]

So I sent Freightliner an email this morning.....


A question has been posed on our RV forum about Freightliner Chassis, and
I'm hoping you can answer it. In the very near future I will be purchasing my
first ever 2004-2007 Diesel Pusher Motorhome. Regardless of the
manufacturer, I insist on having the freightliner chassis, however 12' height is the
absolute maximum I can have in my RV parking area. I was told by a salesman I can 'dump' the airbags to save me 3-4 inches in height so I can back it into my
covered area. When I stated this on the forum, members said they can
indeed dump the airbags, but when they start up the motorhome, they pump right
back up. Other members say the former is the truth, just don't drive very far
as it's tough on the U-joints. Could you please clear this up for me? Can I
dump the air bags so I can back into my covered parking area?


And the answer.......

Dear Customer,
The way they are designed from Freightliner is that as soon as you start
the unit the bags will fill up again. We do not recommend driving the unit
with no air in the suspension.

Sincerely,
Glenn Hoops
FCCC Representative


So this really affects my MH shopping, and actually it's a little depressing!

[Wild Bill Ed]

There has been a lot of great info from all writing. There are some limitations in most of them and some in this one. A 12 foot height limit does restrict you to a given generation of coaches namely early likely 2005 and earlier. Typically and not a blanket statement the greater the horsepower, the greater the torque the greater the price.


One coach that has not been mentioned at all here is Safari. They have been really great coaches and the fall height wise under your height requirement just a little. 2002 and earlier to 1999 were relatively light weight as well max GVW for the Zanzibar was 29,000 lbs powered by a 300 or a 330 CAT and an Allison world 3000 6 speed and 2 overdrives often over looked in descriptions. I own a 2001 with a CAT 330 in it and it has not been underpowered. That statement needs to be qualified. It has always been respectable, slower if fully loaded and pulling a trailer w/ a car in it. Loaded lightly and a Porsche on a 2 wheel trailer id rolled right out and 8 miles to the gallon. If one expects to pull the Grapevine at 60 one needs a C12 that was in the Safari Panthers 1999-2002 and a GVW of 31,000 lbs. If you are loaded to the gills expecting to out run the truckers dream on. There have been few coaches built intended to be hot rods, the Safari Panther was one of the very few. Most of them have big power to move lots of amenities at acceptable speeds with barely acceptable fuel mileage.


Monaco bought Safari because it had manufacturing advantages that they did not have. It had it's own chassis plant and was not buying someone else's. It had it's own wiring, loom production and it manufactured it's own cabinetry. Look carefully at the cabinetry much of it is not great. The vintage you are looking at is transitional, going from pretty good to less so unless spending bigger bucks. Safari was one of the first to have an all aluminum composite sidewall with full body paint. For what one of these coaches can be had for today you can do many upgrades with the additional money left over. Any of these early 2000/2004 coaches will need lots of upgrades as times have changed and the expectations are greater, tastes have changed. Take your time as there are many choices. [moderator edit] B

[B Dubya]

Thanx Bill. We're gonna buy as new and as modern as we can afford. Didn't even see one in person, but we really liked the Vectra layout and looks and standard features. Oh well, life goes on. We first fell in love with the Horizon many years ago. But, we also like the Meridian 36G. It's a quality MH with a little higher price, but still affordable, and 11'8" exterior height. Harder to find for sale, but since we're not in a hurry, we can probably find one. Just hope we don't have to drive to Arizona, which seems to be where they're ALL located!

[TQ60]

Look for a county coach in that size as they are great but hard to find as folks keep them.

The storage height limitation is difficult but air ride can drop down.

If you can find an air leveled coach you may be able to control ride height to park.

Others can dump from inside but system will just fill back if engine is running.

[jimmyt]

You did not say what state you are from.Some state require a special license for a dp.

[B Dubya]

I'm in Kali. I'm not aware of any state requiring special licensing because you drive a DP. All I'm aware of is special consideration based on the length of the vehicle. Certainly not out here. Yet!!

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by jimmyt

You did not say what state you are from.Some state require a special license for a dp.

Actually it's for length or weight, not just being a DP. We live in WA so no special drivers license required for our 69,000# GVWR 45' DP
Some Canadian provinces require an air brake endorsement but I don't personally know of any in the US.
Some states (CA for one) restrict any RV's over 40' to some routes only.

[daledrob]

Originally Posted by B Dubya

So I sent Freightliner an email this morning.....


A question has been posed on our RV forum about Freightliner Chassis, and
I'm hoping you can answer it. In the very near future I will be purchasing my
first ever 2004-2007 Diesel Pusher Motorhome. Regardless of the
manufacturer, I insist on having the freightliner chassis, however 12' height is the
absolute maximum I can have in my RV parking area. I was told by a salesman I can 'dump' the airbags to save me 3-4 inches in height so I can back it into my
covered area. When I stated this on the forum, members said they can
indeed dump the airbags, but when they start up the motorhome, they pump right
back up. Other members say the former is the truth, just don't drive very far
as it's tough on the U-joints. Could you please clear this up for me? Can I
dump the air bags so I can back into my covered parking area?


And the answer.......

Dear Customer,
The way they are designed from Freightliner is that as soon as you start
the unit the bags will fill up again. We do not recommend driving the unit
with no air in the suspension.

Sincerely,
Glenn Hoops
FCCC Representative


So this really affects my MH shopping, and actually it's a little depressing!

On my 2000 national 37 footer tradewinds the dump valve is independent of the ignition system, so I may have no air in the bags, and when I start the motor in the morning, the air bags do not charge. I can release the brakes and pull forward as with leaving a parking structure and then charge the air bags. If you were to drive any distance without filling the air bags, it would be as if you were driving on the axle stops.
You would not get very far (what's wrong with this picture) and you would know that you are driving on the stops one damn rough ride.

[WILDEBILL308]

There was some discussion earlier about brake systems. Hear is some more info on the different systems.
1) Let me Youtube that for you

http://www.jacobsvehiclesystems.com/technology/exhaust-brakes/
3) The transmission brake is another type. This is a good video showing how a automatic transmission works.http://youtubesob.com/download/video/Allison-Transmission-How-It-Works/v4AJ2BvUMG4
Bill