Entegra plant tour March 2013

[voltdoc]

Originally Posted by hdgoldie

Congratulations on joining the family! I am sooooo jealous of the pantry but I still love my Aspire!

Well we are jealous that you already have your coach and are having fun! I'm sure there will be more changes in the future that we all wish we had!

Glad to hear you love your RBQ, we hope we will love ours too!

Rob & Linda

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by voltdoc

Ran into a couple on the Newmar tour who were bemoaning the use of Michelin 305's on their Newmar Mountain Aire - apparently this is a relatively odd size and is hard to find in stock or in another brand. We did see that size tire on several of the Newmar's.

Only two manufacturers list a 305/70, Michelin and Continental. When I went the buy the 305's I found that only Michelin was actually shipping them. They were out of stock so I had to wait a few weeks to get them. When they arrived they were only a few weeks old according to the sidewall date.
According to the press release from Michelin the 305/70's were made to have the same carrying capacity as the 295/80's and were specifically designed to car transport trucks that were loaded to capacity but needed a smaller diam tire than the 295's.
Yes, most tire shops will not have them in stock. I needed then to replace the 2975/70's so I could use the full capacity of the 14,600# axle that Newmar had Spartan install to replace our original 12,000# axle.

[The Driver]

Last I looked, the 305s had only the same load capacity as the 295s, not more as you would expect.

[voltdoc]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

Only two manufacturers list a 305/70, Michelin and Continental. When I went the buy the 305's I found that only Michelin was actually shipping them. They were out of stock so I had to wait a few weeks to get them. When they arrived they were only a few weeks old according to the sidewall date.
According to the press release from Michelin the 305/70's were made to have the same carrying capacity as the 295/80's and were specifically designed to car transport trucks that were loaded to capacity but needed a smaller diam tire than the 295's.
Yes, most tire shops will not have them in stock. I needed then to replace the 2975/70's so I could use the full capacity of the 14,600# axle that Newmar had Spartan install to replace our original 12,000# axle.

Wow, good info, thanks! So the issue for you with your Dutch Star was the height of the tire? Is that a wheel well clearance issue or ?? Even though the capacity is the same as a 295/80, can the 305's run with lower pressure? Just curious.

I'm pretty sure the tag axle Ventana and Dutch Star we looked at during the tour had 305's - the spec sheets over at Freightliner for the 2013 Ventena Tag show 305's all around and for the 2013 Dutch Star show 305's all around on the 256" WB and 315's all around on the 276" WB.

Guess if you really needed a 305 quick Newmar and/or Freightliner in Gaffney might have some hanging around

[goldenlover]

Thanks again for the recent tour pictures. I do have a question though......do you need to make arrangements/reservations for the tours? We have been to Middlebury several times (love the area & have friends there) and plan on being there this summer (June/July timeframe) to look at both Entegra & Newmar. We are previous TS 5th wheel owners so we can only hope the workmanship is as good with Jayco as it was with TS. It appears it is based on all the comments here in the Entegra forum. Loved the pictures of the snow......been there done that too. Rise N Roll is AWESOME as is Essenhaus.....love the pies there. There is also an EXCELLENT Amish furniture factory/store outside Shipshewana that we used when we replaced recliners in our 5th wheel. Would highly recommend them if anyone ever needs modifications or furniture.

[voltdoc]

Originally Posted by goldenlover

Thanks again for the recent tour pictures. I do have a question though......do you need to make arrangements/reservations for the tours? We have been to Middlebury several times (love the area & have friends there) and plan on being there this summer (June/July timeframe) to look at both Entegra & Newmar. We are previous TS 5th wheel owners so we can only hope the workmanship is as good with Jayco as it was with TS. It appears it is based on all the comments here in the Entegra forum. Loved the pictures of the snow......been there done that too. Rise N Roll is AWESOME as is Essenhaus.....love the pies there. There is also an EXCELLENT Amish furniture factory/store outside Shipshewana that we used when we replaced recliners in our 5th wheel. Would highly recommend them if anyone ever needs modifications or furniture.

Yes, as far as I know the Entegra tour is by appointment only. I think there is a tour at a different Jayco plant that may be at a scheduled time but you still need to make an appointment. For our Entegra plant tour we were put in touch with Heather Wirth to make the arrangements (poor Heather, we changed our appointment several times due to the assorted snow storms). Contact her via phone 800 945 4787 Option 2, 3, 2 or email Heather_Wirth at jayco.com

Newmar's tour is at 10am daily and then twice a day starting in April I think. Their plant is about 30-40 minutes from Middlebury.

Thanks for the other area info, we will probably be back so that's good to know! We also heard about an RV museum in the area that is a fun place to visit.