Newmar Essex Hard ride

[Newmar4374]

Hi,
We are new to the Forum and have never participated in any blogs or chats. Recently sold our 1994 American Eagle, a fine coach but beginning to show signs of age, low power, no slides. Purchase used 43' Essrx with 37,00o miles an runs great but the ride will break teeth. Everything rattles and shakes on even mild washboard roads. Lowered tire pressure to 95# with some improvement. Any ideas?
Thank you.

[Newmar4374]

Hi,
We are new to the Forum and have never participated in any blogs or chats. Recently sold our 1994 American Eagle, a fine coach but beginning to show signs of age, low power, no slides. Purchase used 43' Essrx with 37,00o miles an runs great but the ride will break teeth. Everything rattles and shakes on even mild washboard roads. Lowered tire pressure to 95# with some improvement. Any ideas?
Thank you.

[RV Wizard]

Newmar4374, welcome to iRV2.com. We are glad to have you join us here and look forward to reading of your adventures and experiences. I would recommend that you have a Spartan Freihtliner chassis shop check to be sure the air bags are good and that the pressure are properly regulated. You will want to load the coach with everything you normally would travel with. GOod luck and keep us posted.

[GaryKD]

Hi Newmar4374,
Welcome to iRV2 and were glad to have you in the Newmar family. In addition to what Mike mentioned, having the coach weighed is very important to understanding what can be done. Consider getting all four corners weighed. Once this is done, check the tire pressure. Compare it to what the tire manufacturer says the tires should have for the weight they are carrying. Too many carry the maximum PSI stamped on the side wall. If the weight does not call for this much air, it can make you feel like you have bowling balls for tires.

Once the tire pressure is correct, take the coach to a truck tire shop that can balance the tires with a spin balancing machine. Have them look over the tires for any out of round condition. Once the PSI is correct, tires balanced and you are sure they are round, you have eliminated tires as a cause of the rough ride.

Please let us know what you find,

[Lug_Nut]

Welcome to the forum. I agree that you should contact Spartan in Charlotte Michigan and arrange to take it there. They can get the issue fixed.

Peter

[Skip- Kerrville, TX]

Hi and welcome to iRV2, Newmar4374. We have had two Mountain Aire coaches in the past so I am pretty confident that you'll get the bugs worked out of your 'new Essex' and become a satisfied Newmar owner.

[bsavage]

I don't know Essex Coaches, but I will tell you that when we bought our first Beaver Coach (a 2001 Marquis), Tony brought it home from the dealer and when he arrived I asked him how it was... he said "bumpy". "Bumpy?", I asked, as this was a coach with air ride suspension and we had just spent a fortune on it, and expected a great ride. Well, we departed almost immediately on our first trip, and there was a shrieky, horrible alarm that we couldn't turn off. Long story long, we arrived at our destination (I had to change into a heavy duty bra, the ride was so bouncy...LOL!)... we leveled and were thankful for no more shreiking alarm and no more bouncing. When we left, we pulled up the jacks, and amazingly, the shrieking stopped!!! Not only that, the ride had miraculously become very, very nice! Somewhere along the way, that alarm came back, and we learned that even though the jacks were "all up", that apparently in transit something could jostle loose enough to set off that alarm, so we would manually push "all jacks up" even while traveling, and the alarm would stop. Bottom line, our air bags weren't right when we picked it up from the dealer, but after leveling and then un-leveling, it seemed to re-set the airbags. We never had the bumpy ride again. Do you have a tech support number to call at Newmar? Anyway, you might want to try dumping air and getting it back to "ride height"... it may re-set your airbags. Do please let us know what you find out. BTW, as I know nothing about Newmar, I am assuming, based on the first couple of responses, that you have air bags. If not, then this post is irrelevant

["007"]

Welcome Newmar4374 to the Newmar forum and irv2.
You have some good answers to your question especially tires and air bags get those taken care of than you will enjoy your coach all the more.
Enjoy the forum and do post often.

[Newmar4374]

Newmar4374 here,
Thank you for the suggestions and comments. We plan on taking the Essex into the dealer in San Diego for a complete inspection and ride adjustments. The coach rides fine on smooth roads so we suspect the problem is one of higher than required air bag pressure.
This coach was manufactured with Diamond Shield covering the front painted ares. The Diamond Shield is peeling like a case of bad sunburn. It appears to have bug splatters imbedded in the plastic material that will not polish out. The finish is dull and "spotty" while the original painted surfaces around the Diamond Shield are perfect, shiny and polish easily.

Diamond Shield says the warranty has expired. We are having Diamond Shield removed and will not install it again. Do you have any suggestions for a protectant material that will remain glossy and provide chip protection?
During the eight years we owned our Eagle we repainted the front end twice and it always looked great, polished easily and wore no bra or plastic.

Thanks again.

[Route 66]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">We are having Diamond Shield removed and will not install it again. Do you have any suggestions for a protectant material that will remain glossy and provide chip protection? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Most of us have had very good luck with Diamond Shield, but I have heard of a few problems.

Be advised that peeling off the Diamond Shield may remove some paint also. It adheres quite well in most cases.

[GHFenner]

During our 3 year warranty period on our Essex we discovered discoloration under the Diamond Shield. At first I thought it was insects imbedded. Turns out it was due to mold. It was replaced under warranty. At first Diamond Shield said it was because we lived in Florida. They changed their tune when we advised that we had moved from NC just several months prior to the discovery. Apparently the mold issue had been an ongoing problem that they said they had corrected.

Be careful when removing the Diamond Shield. When the factory rep did it he also took some paint with it. He assured me he would carefully repaint and I would be unable to tell where the problem had occurred. When I returned to the MH a week later, it was very visible. So they had to come back and redo the largest of the panels.

Good luck!

Gordon Fenner
Ormond by the Sea, FL
2003 Essex

[Route 66]

Gordon, welcome to iRV2.

Come back and contribute often.

I too have heard of mold under the Diamond Shield, but rarely.

["007"]

Welcome GHFenner to the Newmar forum and irv2.
Thanks for your helpful first post and joining in the discussion.
Enjoy all the forums on irv2 and do post often.

[George&Carol]

Welcome to IRV2 Gordon - we joined this wonderful group when we got the 07 Essex. Hopefully one day we will meet in person instead of always by email. On the subject of the diamond shield - We had the dealer buff out and wax our coach and there guy ruined the finish on the diamond shield. Like others on this post the diamond shield had to be removed and some repainting had to be done.