Looking at New Aire

[nelsonrl]

My wife and I are going to look at a New Aire this week. I understand it is 12' 4" tall, but the sales guy is telling us you can dump air and get it lower to get through a 12' garage door (I think our real measurement is 11' 11") Can the New Air really get that low? I don't want to drive 2 hours and waste the salesman's time and ours if it will not fit in our garage.

Thanks.

[FLJOE]

I wouldn't want to cut it that close, nor would I be a big fan of moving my coach without my suspension aired up.

We were parked next to a couple at the factory last week. They were in a New Aire and really liked it. He said the only downside was the 360hp motor was extremely underpowered. He gave his empty weight and it was almost the exact same as mine.

[Ann n Gene]

Originally Posted by FLJOE

I wouldn't want to cut it that close, nor would I be a big fan of moving my coach without my suspension aired up.

We were parked next to a couple at the factory last week. They were in a New Aire and really liked it. He said the only downside was the 360hp motor was extremely underpowered. He gave his empty weight and it was almost the exact same as mine.

Love our New Aire and one of the reasons we traded our 19 for a 20 3543 was the bigger engine but I strongly disagree that the 33ft model is underpowered. Granted it will not be the first one up the mountain( we spend a lot of time in the west) but we found it to be very adequate and passed a lot of trucks and motorhomes in the Rockies. All JMHO

[Ann n Gene]

Actually I would not cut it close on height either. You can drop it some and get buy and probably could pick up 4 inches. But the New Aire rides lie to the ground to start with and coaches don’t play with wheelwells ywell when they are aired down. Straight level in and back out might work but I think that cuts it too close for my comfort. All jmho

[Ernie.]

The salesperson's lips were moving, you know what that means...

[Newaire1]

Moving a New Aire with the air dumped requires the wheels not be turned. Otherwise no problem at all.
My New Aire on a 2019 chassis is at 12’ 3” on air.
Newmar advertises the coach will fit under a 12’ door.
For long term storage I guarantee it will fit because you can drop tire pressure to make up the inch as a last resort. Regardless your so close that I would have the dealer put a string cross wise on a taller door frame at the 11’11” mark and try to get under it.

[Stealth01]

Originally Posted by nelsonrl

My wife and I are going to look at a New Aire this week. I understand it is 12' 4" tall, but the sales guy is telling us you can dump air and get it lower to get through a 12' garage door (I think our real measurement is 11' 11") Can the New Air really get that low? I don't want to drive 2 hours and waste the salesman's time and ours if it will not fit in our garage.

Thanks.

We faced the same issue when we purchased our Essex, replacing a Beaver... The Beaver was ~12’ 4” versus the Essex’s 13’ Plus! I considered the air dump approach but then “common sense” kicked in! You didn’t mention several important points of your current garage. What is the ceiling height and construction. We had our garage door opening raised and a “Dual Track” garage door installed installed. They were able to give me 13’ 9” opening with a 14’ ceiling!!

[nelsonrl]

Originally Posted by Stealth01

We faced the same issue when we purchased our Essex, replacing a Beaver... The Beaver was ~12’ 4” versus the Essex’s 13’ Plus! I considered the air dump approach but then “common sense” kicked in! You didn’t mention several important points of your current garage. What is the ceiling height and construction. We had our garage door opening raised and a “Dual Track” garage door installed installed. They were able to give me 13’ 9” opening with a 14’ ceiling!!

Not possible to raise the garage door. It is a hip roof and brick construction.

[Mr.Mark]

Nelsonrl, it is ALWAYS possible to fix your door situation. It just costs money.

Depending on the design of your house/garage, you could raise the door into a dormer type addition giving you the height needed for a taller door. It could be done very attractively and probably be in the $8K-$12K dollar range. My brother had a similar issue of wanting to extend his garage but decided to buy a motorhome under 38 ft. Extending his garage 10 feet was estimated at $20K.

Good luck,
Mark

[BaldDaddy]

While I have yet to try to move the coach completely drained of air, I should point out that there are various antennae that stick up past the height of the awning rails. I just installed two Fantastic Ultra-Breeze fan covers and they are taller as well by an inch or two. Cutting it pretty close even if their 11'11" is accurate.

[99phantoms]

Someone educate me... how do you run the motor & drive the coach w/ the air bags empty of air?

I know how to dump the bags w/ the Equalizer leveling system, but doesn't it retract the jacks & air back up when you select "D" on the transmission?

[bydnar]

The salesman says it will do "whatever". Have him prove it by driving it to your garage and drive it in. If it does what you say, you'll buy it. If not, thank sir have a nice day, we'll get something else! That would also be a nice extended drive for your experience.

[Knoxious]

We dump the air bags on our 2019 DS to give us a little extra head room every time we pull in our out of our shop no probelms at all.
We even steer and the front tires don't rub.

You do have a limited amout of time though after you dump to get in the garage because the air bags will start to fill back up.

[winniman]

One boo boo and you will cost yourself more than having the door raised. As long as you have enough ceiling height inside, there is always a way to eliminate the header over the door. A dormer is the perfect solution, just raise the header up into the rafter space.