Community Forums

MandG-Fun · 11-28-2012, 06:41 AM

Greetings Monacoers,

After a year of saving and researching we may have found a coach that fills all of our needs and fits our budget without any financing. Looking for any opinions or experience on a 2000 Dynasty 34 York. It has 1 slide and the 330 ISC engine. Being a 34 it meets our needs perfectly as we have lots of parks and campgrounds in the region that have size restrictions.

We will be towing a Jeep Wrangler so curious about power to make it over the 12,000' mountain passes in our area. Also curious about road manners since the wheelbase is somewhat short. Any other comments about known issues with the overall coach, engine, etc. that we should be aware of?

Thanks in advance for any advice

,
Glenn & Mary

JimM68 · 11-28-2012, 12:41 PM

Dynasty is a great coach.
We have a 360hp isc and pull a jeep with a 40', no problems.

walt2137 · 11-30-2012, 05:22 PM

We have a 2 slide 2000 40 ft dyn with the 350 ISC engine that has good power and handles good, I have no experience with the 34 ft coach.

Yukon Jack · 11-30-2012, 09:04 PM

Glenn,
Reference to the question about power and handling of a 2000 Monaco Dynasty 34' York you are considering to purchase. Hopefully I can offer some comments to assist in your evaluation of that nice RV. I owned a 1995 Monaco Dynasty, 34ft with the Cummins 300 hp engine and no slide with a wheelbase of 217" and pulled a 2001 GMC Jimmy and never had any power or engine performance issues.

The 330 ISC engine in the coach you are considering should provide you with all the power you will ever need to pull your Jeep Wrangler even in the grades you are suggesting. I have a good friend who has a 2001 Monaco Winsor with your 330 ISC engine and he has traveled many miles on flat lands and mountain grades and is very satisfied with its performance and has never had any problems.

The only potential concern I see with the 34' coach you are considering is that since it has the same shorter 217" wheelbase as my previous 1995 coach, you will likely feel some tracking issues especially when driving in cross wind or traveling on highways with tire worn grooves.

Relative to the Monaco Dynasty brand of RV, it is an upper end coach that is extremely well built, with many quality features relative to the chassis and coach, i can reassure you, that you will not be disappointed in this coach unless it has been neglected and not well maintained. This coach has the Monaco monocoque chassis which is all welded steel construction which provides an extremely durable and sturdy design and will last a lifetime.

I currently have a 2001 Monaco Dynasty 38 ft with a single slide and powered by a Cummins 350 ISC which has a 252" wheelbase, and I am extremely satisfied with this coach and as a result have no desire to purchase another coach, especially with all the complex EPA emission components implemented beginning in 2007. As a matter of information, after driving and comparing both RV's it is my opinion that there is definitely more stability in a longer wheelbase as compared to the shorter 217" wheelbase.

Hope this is of some help to you in you quest to purchase the RV of your dreams.
Good Luck and Happy RV'g

Jack

Papa_Jim · 11-30-2012, 09:32 PM

Our coach is 36' with 228" wheelbase, and it's not nice to drive. Wanders. I'm going to change the panhead bushings as per the thread regarding wandering Monaco coaches. I'm really hoping that will solve the problem.

Regarding your dream coach, I wouldn't consider buying it without driving it.

slickest1 · 11-30-2012, 10:19 PM

As far as power goes I don't think you will have any problems. Our 40' Imperial pulls our trailblazer just fine and it is probably heavier than your Jeep. Our coach is heavier as well. One thing I would check would be to see if that coach is on a 8 bag suspension RR8R, or 4 bag RR4R. The 4 bag suspensions had a trailing arm issue, and needed to be replaced. If you are concerned about the handling take it for a long test drive and try to get it on as many road surfaces as you can. Good luck.

Coma · 12-01-2012, 05:57 AM

Good stuff so far. Find out what the rear axle is rated at and what it actually weighs. The shorter coach should weigh less, but you don't mention Aqua-Hot, which is heavy. You may find your carrying capacity is limited by you axel rating rather than your GVWR.

MandG-Fun · 12-01-2012, 06:36 AM

Thank you for your detailed comments and the others as well. Once I got serious on this one with the owner I found that they made an error in the listing and it actually has the upgraded 350 engine. So I suppose you could classify this as a hot rod; 34' w/one slide and 1050 ft/lbs torque. I doubt that I'll even know that the Jeep is behind me.

The end of the story is that I had a qualified technician inspect the coach from stem to stern and it is absolutely perfect. The only thing that he could find wrong is; needs tires, a few loose ceramic tiles and a few interior light bulbs are out. Otherwise, it was maintained to the highest standards and looks brand new. So we bought it.

I did have some concerns about tracking due to the short wheelbase but it seems to drive really stable. I guess I'll find out how it does in high winds… but as a teen (a million years ago) I had a custom van that had a worn steering box and wandered all over the road. Drove it across the US numerous times so I have good muscle memory for controlling a wandering vehicle. Kind of fits my wandering personality I suppose.

To Jim's point, it has a 20K lb rear axle and yes it does have Aqua Hot. I plan to get over to a scale tomorrow or Monday to weigh it before beginning to load it up. But since it is the shortest version of the Dynasty model and only has one slide I suspect we will be OK for load carrying capacity.

Thanks again for the input… hope to catch y'all on the road some time.

Cheers,
Glenn

walt2137 · 12-01-2012, 07:45 AM

Glenn your 34 ft has the same carrying cap as my 40 ft Dyn which is 13,000 front axle and 20,000 rear ( I dont think your DW will be able to overload you). I will past a link to Monaco web site that has the old Brochures that you can download, you should have a build sheet in your coach info packet if not contact Monaco I think they will send you the build sheet.
On the panhead bushings from what I can see on our 2000 it looks like we dont have a problem or they are a different type than the older Monaco coaches but you might want to read Van's write up on the bushings anyway
Monaco Coach - brochures
Another good forum is Monacoers and they have a parts list for Monaco coaches that comes in handy
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Monacoers/messages

MandG-Fun · 12-01-2012, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walt2137

Glenn your 34 ft has the same carrying cap as my 40 ft Dyn which is 13,000 front axle and 20,000 rear ( I dont think your DW will be able to overload you). I will past a link to Monaco web site that has the old Brochures that you can download, you should have a build sheet in your coach info packet if not contact Monaco I think they will send you the build sheet.
On the panhead bushings from what I can see on our 2000 it looks like we dont have a problem or they are a different type than the older Monaco coaches but you might want to read Van's write up on the bushings anyway
Monaco Coach - brochures
Another good forum is Monacoers and they have a parts list for Monaco coaches that comes in handy
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Monacoers/messages

Great stuff... thanks. I am pretty technical (not on the engine and trans) so I plan to handle a lot of the standard maintenance and customization myself. I have seen a link on the Monaco website for the electrical schematics for newer coaches, I wonder if they have this available if I give them a call? Have you had any experience with the Navistar customer support for pre-Navistar product?

Dynasty_09 · 12-01-2012, 08:43 PM

Glenn,

give Navistar a call, they were very responsive in giving me infos on my used 09 Cayman coach. I requested a wiring diagram and they shipped me a CD within a couple of days. Really outstanding service!

Barrier2 · 12-14-2012, 07:39 AM

Hi Glenn, We have a 2001 36' Dynasty and LOVE it. Our reasons were similar to yours. The 36' was a deciding factor to enable us to make use of the length restricted campgrounds. We also like the fact that we can use the MH without opening the slide. Power is fine with the 350 engine due to the lighter weight of the shorter Coach.
Good Luck, that is a fine size Coach IMHO. Not to take anything away from those who like the longer models.
Robert

MandG-Fun · 12-15-2012, 05:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrier2

Hi Glenn, We have a 2001 36' Dynasty and LOVE it. Our reasons were similar to yours. The 36' was a deciding factor to enable us to make use of the length restricted campgrounds. We also like the fact that we can use the MH without opening the slide. Power is fine with the 350 engine due to the lighter weight of the shorter Coach.
Good Luck, that is a fine size Coach IMHO. Not to take anything away from those who like the longer models.
Robert

Thanks Robert...
We did end up buying the coach and after 2 weeks of ownership we love it. We just keep saying, if we could call the factory and order a pre-owned coach this is exactly what we would have built. The hard part now is being patient through the winter.
We actually have stayed in it twice doing familiarization and shake-down, got caught in snow on the Interstate, etc. Very comfy in every respect. If we had indoor storage to keep it warm and not have to winterize it we would just go camping on any nice weather winter weekends.