Workhorse Parts- hard to get

[John1]

My 2004 Itasta is great,56000 and no problems, drives great without anything done to the suspension. The 8.1 purrs like a kitten.
I do all my own maintenance.

I am 76 and I plan on keeping the motor home for about 5 more years.
What I am wondering is what parts are getting hard to get, I am thinking of buying parts that I might be needed to replace in the future and any suggesting on parts that I might need.
I know anything can go wrong, but what usually goes wrong with older workhorse chassis with 8.1?
Thanks for any suggestions.

[dsrtrider300]

Talk to Jon at Brazels in Centralia Wa. Very knowledgable on Workhorse and parts.

[cm2785]

I really wouldn’t worry there are still authorized dealers open and willing to drop ship from workhorse.

[yeloduster]

Originally Posted by cm2785

I really wouldn’t worry there are still authorized dealers open and willing to drop ship from workhorse.

Most replaceable parts for the Workhorse chassis' are the same as Chevy parts. I use the same year Chevy 3500 Silverado parts when I can't find a listing for Workhorse parts.

See this LINK. It provides part numbers for many replacement parts.

[DustyDriver]

Come clean, John. I see what you're up to. You want to buy up these parts now and corner the market for when the rest of us 8.1 owners eventually need them!

DD

[Mark_K5LXP]

Problem with the "most are the same as chevy parts" notion is there's still a lot of workhorse unique chassis parts that have no chevy equivalent. Or if there is, the chevy parts are so old/obsolete now you can't find any stock for those either. Many chevy P30 parts aren't the same and even those are getting scarce. This past winter I went down the road of replacing all my coolant hoses. I could not source the upper radiator hose. I ended up buying four of them that claimed to be the correct part/cross including Ultra RV's (by VIN). None were correct, I had to make one. Only Ultra RV's lower hose was correct, gates, napa, rock auto, all were wrong. When I worked on my front suspension a couple years ago the only place I could find tie rod boots was a vintage truck restoration site, and the ones I got were in their original 1990's OEM box. Try buying a P32 upper control arm, or a spindle. Go ahead and look at Ultra RV's site and see how many of the workhorse parts shown there are discontinued or out of stock. The ship has sailed on the Workhorse. No doubt you could probably refit other make/model chassis parts if you really were in a bind or really love the thing, but if I had it do over I'd be driving an F53. I really like the 8.1 vortec as a powerplant but that's not the only consideration when maintaining and repairing an RV. Maybe it was fortunate I did all the work I did while parts were only difficult to get and not impossible, and I'll get all the remaining life I can from my RV.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

[Fyrflie]

Originally Posted by Mark_K5LXP

This past winter I went down the road of replacing all my coolant hoses. I could not source the upper radiator hose. I ended up buying four of them that claimed to be the correct part/cross including Ultra RV's (by VIN). None were correct, I had to make one. Only Ultra RV's lower hose was correct, gates, napa, rock auto, all were wrong. NM

I remember your post about the incorrect coolant hoses and had me wondering how my installation was going to proceed.
After completing my maintenance, I found that the Gates, upper and lower hoses were a correct fit and the GM bypass hose was correct.
I did find that the Continental Upper Hose was incorrect.

:

[Isaac-1]

Mark, I ask myself the question of how much longer will I be able to maintain my 2002 P32 coach fairly often, with more and more parts becoming unavailable all the time, and how long will it be before one of these critical part breaks, thankfully so far most seem to ones like hoses, which one might be able to convert or have custom made, or they are very low failure rate items, that may likely be able to be sourced from junk yards for years. What worries me is what happens when it is a component that is prone to aging out, and it is no longer available, and all the ones in junkyards are also aged out / rotted..

[RickNC]

Originally Posted by John1

My 2004 Itasta is great,56000 and no problems, drives great without anything done to the suspension. The 8.1 purrs like a kitten.
I do all my own maintenance.

I am 76 and I plan on keeping the motor home for about 5 more years.
What I am wondering is what parts are getting hard to get, I am thinking of buying parts that I might be needed to replace in the future and any suggesting on parts that I might need.
I know anything can go wrong, but what usually goes wrong with older workhorse chassis with 8.1?
Thanks for any suggestions.

I have a 1995 P30 chassis and I’m amazed how many of the parts are still readily available.
Workhorse was just a widened and stretched chassis. Mostly got to watch for suspension pieces especially the front since they may been different that normal GM 3500/4500 series parts to handle the weight of a motorhome

[Goofyfoot]

Originally Posted by Mark_K5LXP

Problem with the "most are the same as chevy parts" notion is there's still a lot of workhorse unique chassis parts that have no chevy equivalent. Or if there is, the chevy parts are so old/obsolete now you can't find any stock for those either. Many chevy P30 parts aren't the same and even those are getting scarce. This past winter I went down the road of replacing all my coolant hoses. I could not source the upper radiator hose. I ended up buying four of them that claimed to be the correct part/cross including Ultra RV's (by VIN). None were correct, I had to make one. Only Ultra RV's lower hose was correct, gates, napa, rock auto, all were wrong. When I worked on my front suspension a couple years ago the only place I could find tie rod boots was a vintage truck restoration site, and the ones I got were in their original 1990's OEM box. Try buying a P32 upper control arm, or a spindle. Go ahead and look at Ultra RV's site and see how many of the workhorse parts shown there are discontinued or out of stock. The ship has sailed on the Workhorse. No doubt you could probably refit other make/model chassis parts if you really were in a bind or really love the thing, but if I had it do over I'd be driving an F53. I really like the 8.1 vortec as a powerplant but that's not the only consideration when maintaining and repairing an RV. Maybe it was fortunate I did all the work I did while parts were only difficult to get and not impossible, and I'll get all the remaining life I can from my RV.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

Yep, getting ready to cannibalize a Suburban hydro boost to fix mine. Litterally I'm going to break it in half and marrie the two boosters in the middle.

[K Charles]

OP has a W22 not a P30, radiator hoses can be found at rock auto or AutoZone I believe. Our '04 has over 100,000 and I have replaced stuff like AC compressor, serpentine belt and idler, brake caliper and brake hose, rear wheel bearing and seal. and an alternator all from the parts store near me at the time. The rear brake hose was odd and not in stock but we were in VT and one extra night in a nice place was no problem, NAPA got me the hose the next day.

[Mark_K5LXP]

I believe rock auto, auto zone, napa, advance all have the hoses too. I know, I bought them. But they're not a match. This is going with the GM part number right off the original hose, so no question about crossing to the wrong year or model. I will offer that the parts you mention I also sourced and replaced with no problem, along with some other maintenance and repair parts I've done over the last few years, so just depends on what you need. It's been reported in other posts about the difficulty in sourcing throttle position sensors. I know you can't get a spindle, or upper control arm. There are videos of the process of what it takes to refit the unobtanium hydroboost. If you're lucky all you ever need is off the shelf maintenance parts that are common to a number of vehicles but as these things age, the better the chance of something unique to the chassis failing, and you're off on an easter egg hunt. There's not enough of these things left around for a secondary supplier to fill in, so the longer this goes the harder these things will be to keep going.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

[Goofyfoot]

Looks like my frankenstein hydro boost works like a champ. Got a typical hydro boost for a suburban off Amazon and just replaced the section between the bracket that you cant get and the master cylinder. I could have probably rebuilt the booster as well with the pirate guy gasket kit but decided to do it this way. Taking the booster out sucked because you can't get to anything with a wrench.

How do mechanics do this day in and day out? I would shoot myself.