Any Major Problems With Older Monaco's

[deSanford]

What are the pros and cons of S series, and the ones with aluminum? deSanford

[Papa_Jim]

Originally Posted by deSanford

What are the pros and cons of S series, and the ones with aluminum? deSanford

My take on this goes something like this.

The semi-monocoque chassis is when all the framework of the walls and roof are welded together and welded solidly to the steel framework. This is supposed to be a sturdier, more durable chassis because there is less twisting due to the fact that the entire body is welded together as one piece. Apparently some semi-monocoque chassis are capable of being rolled on their side without much apparent damage.

The con of the semi-monocoque chassis is that it can be very heavy. With the increasing interests in slides, the weight increased to the point that it became difficult to manufacture a 40' coach without being overloaded on the back axle. So some manufacturers like Monaco started producing a lot of tag axle coaches.

The next solution was to manufacture the roof and walls with aluminum frames, bolting the aluminum wall frames to the steel chassis. This lowered the total weight, but the coach was no longer a semi-monocoque design.

My personal opinion on this. I believe on the older coaches without slides that there could be a significant difference between semi-monocoque chassis and non semi-monocoque chassis. Today, with the walls full of holes for huge body length slides, I don't know if any of that really matters anymore.

[sdennislee]

Check NHSTA recalls. My 09 was caught up in the brake and fuel pump recall, fortunately I missed the trailing arm recall.

I did a quick search, doesn't look like the Diplomat was included in the trailing arm recall.