First Purchase With Help Needed

[vapor3000]

[ATTACH]Attachment 104753

Attachment 104754[/ATTACH]I have owned 5 class A M/H's over the past 40 years. 4 were gassers and our present DSDP. We are currently retired and use our Newmar similar to the way you are planning.

I will share with you MY thoughts on buying one of these rigs:

1. I never buy new.
2. I never buy from a dealer.
3. I always buy from the original owner that does his own maint.
4. I always buy MH's with full body paint.
5. I always buy MH's that are stored inside when not on the road.
6. From now on, I will only buy diesel pushers.
7. From now on, I will only have 7.5KW Onan diesel generators.

We bought our 40' Newmar 4011 w/ISL 8.9 liter Cummins diesel w/Allison 3000 trans. It has the power, torque and hitch strength to tow any toad we want. It is amazing to see one of these DP's climb a 10% grade at 60mph and 1,800 rpm and not even shift down from 6th gear!!

We bought this 2004 rig for $80,000 with 30K miles on it. I can tell you that I drove several new and nearly new rigs similar to ours and it drives and handles just like the newer ones for $200 grand less money!!!

[Betr2Trvl]

Originally Posted by revrick3

Thanks to all of you for help, We wont fall into the big money pockets as we have a budget to live on now and after retirement. I am pretty mechanical minded yet I know I wont be able to do engine and trans. work myself nor alot of other things so maintenance and repair are a big concern. I did gas engine repair for years but know nothing about diesel. If I tow a car instead of golfcart, does that move me into the area of needing a diesel? If I go to a 38 or 40 ft. and tow do i need the diesel. If I go with a gas which engine and trans. should I be looking at to tow vehicle. Also which generator is going to be the quietest and most economical, gas, diesal or propane? Thanks for all the help.

I think you are getting your priorities a bit out of line. It's really not that hard to put all the pieces together once you get out and start looking at MHs that fit within your budget.

We spent last summer educating ourselves, started looking in Sept (thinking we wanted a 40'+ 5er) and ordered our new coach in Dec., taking delivery in March. It is our first RV, 6 trips, 5000 miles so far including a 30 day trip from early July- early Aug. 2 more trips over about 2 months still to come this year. We are planning a 3 month trip west next summer, with month long trips in the spring and fall as well.

We are Extremely happy with our choice, and yes, we spent more than we had planned but got exactly what we wanted. I had no desire to have anything more than a couple years old, nor was I interested in a 40'er (MH) at any price once we got started looking seriously.

Just about any Class A MH will pull 4000#s and not exceed any weight limits.

I still don't get the golf cart thing at campgrounds, it's beyond me. You can't take them on the road to go sightseeing or run errands either (unless you get the big gas powered street legal ones, and in most cases they are not suitable / safe for trips over a few miles locally).

The idea that a diesel MH rides better is genrealy irrelevant too vs. newer higher end gas MHs when you look at time / miles driven vs. the time you are actually using it. (Look at all the big DPs out there that are driven less than 5000 miles / year...... Let's see, drove it for 100 hours a year (50 hour trip south, sit 6 months, 50 how trip north and sit for 6 months). For some reason it keeps coming up, proably because if you look at older units it was more relevant.

Generator fuel should be about 352nd on the list of things to concern yourself with.

Just start looking, and it will all come togeter quickly, including new vs. used, gas vs. diesel (pretty much anything over 38' is going to be diesel, most under 35' gas), and look at units slightly outside your price comfort level too because you may come to the conclusin spending a bit more now you'll get something you really like to begin with and be happy with a lot longer which is going to save you a LOT of money in the long run vs. trading in time and time again, just because you bought something cheap that you really didn't like to begin with.

For budgeting, think 20% off the sticker on a new unit as a starting point. Add in $5000+ of stuff you will want / need; tow set up and outfitting th MH with all the household items you'll want to just keep on the coach.

Good luck!

[OLYLEN]

To the Gen, same fuel as the coach motor. Propane gens are ok but fueling can be a problem and the Gen uses lots of propane. You WILL need a towed if you are touring or out long enough to need any supplies like fresh food. To me exploring is half of the RVing experience
Any DP on a 10% grade and still at 60 mph in 6th gear I call BS.

LEN

[Roger G]

Franktr, we bought a Tiffin Open Road 36 LA. We loved the floor plan and I think that is criteria number 1 for any new purchase. First of all , a diesel pusher rides better due to its air bag suspension and it has more torque that a gas engine. That's a fact that can't be debated. That fact comes with a price though. You only notice the glaring difference when you are behind the wheel not when you are stopped in a RV park. When we were looking at DP in our price point, 5-7 yrs old, they looked outdated, old and not as well thought out as the newer gas coach. My wife is a commercial interior designer so a more modern design and especially no carpet was a big factor for us. We found a few DP in our price range that didn't look like they were decorated by grandma Moses but they invariably had carpet because 5-7 years ago everything had carpet. We only put 2500-4000 miles a year on it now so I will trade ride and power for floor plan , design, and live ability. When we finally retire, I may change my mind.

[revrick3]

Thanks to all of you for your advise, It is greatly appreciated. That is why I use forums for various things. Wisdom abounds. You have all let me to make several decisions, one is to pull a toad not golf cart. That is done now. Floor plan is an obvious need and we already have a list of items we like and don't like. We have been looking at dealers around our area for quite some time and that can also cause some confusion after looking at so many. One other question I have deals with AC. We are both hot natured people. Heat in winter isn't as big a deal as cool in summer. We normally keep house heat at about 60 in winter and cool temp about 68 in summer. Can we run both air units on coach while camping and for how long on batteries, will be have to run generator most of the time. If hooked to land power and 50 w. can we run units all the time. Keep giving me input guys, it is all helpful and I have been reading all I can.

[nothermark]

Think about it. I do not see full timing listed. How much room do two people and maybe a pet need? Where will you be traveling? What do you plan on doing when parked? We are looking at the same basic parameters and coming up 30-35 ft gas probably Newmar, maybe Tiffen based on local dealers. That gives us a unit we can tow anything up to ~5000 lbs with while getting into a lot of old tighter NE campgrounds that date back to the tenting days. Solid and comfortable with enough room for a couple of rainy days for the two of us and a small dog. Cost effective enough we are not pinched. YMMV.

[Newmar2856]

One thing we did when looking around was to start taking pictures of the units we liked so we could keep them straight in our minds. As you've noted they all start to look familiar and sometimes the details get mixed up. The pictures helped us keep it all sorted out.

To run your AC you'll need to be running you're generator or hooked to adequate power. Generally to run two AC's while plugged in you will need to be hooked up to 50amp.

Enjoy the hunt, it can be quite fun.

[revrick3]

Outstanding guys, this has given me more ways to narrow down choices. We have to have the cool, Both of us are very hot natured. Will focus on only 50 amp units. Also helps to know that you must run generator while driving to keep ac running. You guys are great.

Another question, as I am looking at both diesel and gas I notice so many different engines and trans. If a diesel which engine is most dependable the caterpillar or the cummins, also which transmission.

On the gas I see 8 cyl. and 10 cyl, both ford and chevy. Which works best on 35 ft and longer units to pull a toad.


We will not be full timers to start with, retire in about 5 yrs. then things will change. We plan on extended trip of several months. Probably not full time but at least 6-8 months a year. We enjoy our room though and we do have a small, 25 lb. dog. We don't want to be too crowded on our trips though, that is why we were looking at 35 and larger units.