Cat or Cummins Looking to Buy a 2006 -2009 DP

[Kimmy-Joe]

Hello fellow RV'rs .My wife and I are looking for a USED 2006-2010 DP. CLEAN 1. FORETRAVEL #2 NEWMAR #3 AMERICAN EAGLE. Open to Suggestion. My question is this.My Father in Law and Cousin work for FOLEY MACHINARY. They said after 2003 The Chinese started Stamping the CAT BLOCKS. They are Problematic . From Cracked Blocks to Particulate Filters , to Head Gaskets.You name it. They went from One Shift , to Two Shifts. One -Two Road Trucks to 10 Road Trucks for Maintenance and Repairs. They are doing Double Shifts and Saturdays are Mandatory . That is CAT Engines. I spoke to an RV Salesman.Thought he was an AVID RV Person. Well he turned out to be a person that did or does RV and now Finds Friends and Sells them on Consignment. So what I thought was good honest advice seems to be more of a Salesman pitch to sell whatever comes his way. Also asks for you to rate his performance ? I would like to knw From OWNERS of all The DP's . What are your Honest Opinions.What would you NOT BUY AGAIN EVER. What YOU WOULD BUY. This is a One Time Shot for us.We Love our Gas Coach. Though we want to Full Time for a while. Or extensive Travel. So we are Looking for a Good Used Coach.Clean with Maintenace Reords if available.Some do not need them. Thank You for any Input.My In Laws Said ' Stay away from Cat. They are Garbage. We are bothe Cancer Survivors.I was given 2 months to live and a 20% chance to beat my cancer. Stage 4+ Metastesized Cancer. Spread from my Colon to 3 Liver tumors, Three (3) Lungs and Resections ,Sacrum , just all over. My wife had to have Two Bi-Latteral Mascetomies.We need a Break. So we can not afford to buy a Head Ache or Money Pit and we can not afford a Prevost. Thank You in Advance for all your Help. God Bless and Live Life Everyday like it is your Last.I was 40 when my Cancer came. My Brother passed at 44 from Pancreatic Cancer. Cancer not only stole part of my soul , because I was in Great Shape, ate healthy,worked out, walked 5-7 miles a day. Worked Hard. It is non discrimative. Dance Like No One is watching.

[Captjake1]

Cat engines (mine is a C9) prior to emmisions are solid! Avoid the emmisions engines made 2007-2010. Very problematic vgt turbo and emmisions system.
Ours is a C9S. The straight C9 are solid

[gimlimike]

Wow, what a story of strenght! No doubt whwtever you buy and if you do have troubles they will pale in comparison to your journey. My opinion would be Cummins because I am confident in their network, stability , and might help with resale down the road when you decide to move on to other adventures.

[fla tom]

not about motors but I would add travel supreme and blue bird wanderlodges to your list.

[Ucbyrickg]

Keep in mind Cat’s are not used in motor homes anymore because they can’t keep up with the government standards.
Cummins is king. most issues are from lack of Maintainance or repairs not done by authorized trained pros.
Check the web for shops that are authorized to work on motor homes with Cat or Cummins.
Many shops can work on all Cats but not in a motor home.

Shops without the ability to lift your unit above human height cannot remove your motor without cutting the fiberglass and then charging you the body and paint repairs.
A Cat is fine on earth moving equipment but will defiantly cause repair issues not as prevalent in a Cummins.

Also I would not recommend a front engine diesel or a mid mount diesel.

Try to avoid rear radiator as well.

Mileage on any motor is not as important as maintenance and care, these are million mile engines.

The most important things to keep up on, are fuel filters, oil changes, air filtration and allow the turbo to cool for five minutes after each hard run before shutdown or the oil will cook.

The cheeper asking prices on used Cat motor homes will sound appealing, but will bite you later.

This is not to diminish Cat owners coaches, many have had some luck with them and they are proven well in big rigs.

Good luck.

[AE Wanderer]

Sorry to hear about the big C. Yes, life is too short. Go out and enjoy.

We have a 2008 American Eagle 42F. Love it. It has the Cummins 425HP ISL engine. There is one item with these engines, and we solved it for our coach (Cummins did the work). Between 45,000 and 55,000 miles the EGR cooler will go out. Cummins knows of this issue and has discontinued the cooler. They offer the ISX cooler and a retrofit kit. Cummins installed it. They did a very good job installing it.

If you look at any motorhome with an ISL engine, ask if the EGR cooler has been replaced. If not, budget about $4,200.00 to have it done.

When I looked, noticed 360HP was cut off. Below that engine was light duty (think pick up), above that were medium and heavy duty engines (think semi).

[CountryB]

As with all brands, there are good and bad models.

CAT has two categories of engines, medium duty and heavy duty. The medium duty are the C7 and C9, and the heavy duty are the C12 and C13 (and C15 which is not seen in RVs much if at all). The C7 engines do not have replaceable liners (built more like a gas engine) so they cant be rebuilt as easily or cheaply as the C9, C12, C13 wet liner engines.

The CAT C12 and C13 engine is great. Very powerful but not as fuel friendly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igDWcKX-a-4

The C12 is considered one of the best heavy duty engines, followed by the C13 - but don't ever get one that is 2007+ emissions equipped. In 07 they added the ARD head (emissions) to the C13 and it wa a disaster.

CAT stopped making over-the-road engines at the end of 2010 before the next round of emissions regulations kicked in. Pre-2007 CAT engines are very good.

[Domo]

Floorplan is the primary concern.

After that, have a mechanic inspect the engine and tranny.

[CountryB]

Also to add...
I'm sorry to hear of all the health issues you and your family had to deal with. Obviously you don't need any more problems. I don't know if your free of cancer now or still dealing with it, but you should expect that whatever you buy - there will be some problems. Have about 10% of the purchase price of your coach set aside for repairs. Even brand new coaches have problems. These are big complicated machines.

I recommend that you either buy new so you get a nice warranty - or buy a used coach but get a "supplemental (aftermarket) warranty" to cover the big expenses (engine, transmission and power train). You'll pay about $3K for a policy but the piece of mind (and savings if you do break down) will be worth it. I would not get a warranty to cover everything (too expensive), just cover the engine, transmission, powertrain. IMHO.

[Mr_D]

Sorry for your health problems. Lost my wife 48 days after a liver transplant to cure her cancer.
CAT decided to cut their losses and get out of the on road side of their business as it was a small percentage and not worth the cost.
Cummins and Cat produce some good and some bad engines. I happened to have had a good Cummins ('02 ISC) and a bad ('08 ISX). Find a floorplan you like and go. Fon't worry about the powertrain that much.

[saddlesore]

Don't forget that Detroit builds engines as well (Mostly seen in the Newell and Prevost shell conversions)

[Mark D]

I have had a Cat and a Cummins. The cat was lower one power but smaller engine. Gave us no issues except for a bearing on the accessory drive going bad. It was a rear radiator so it was a two day fix.

Our Cummins is a monster 650hp 1,950 ft lbs of torque. The Foretravel or AC may have an ISX. If it does you should budget in the cost of an updated head at $15,000, easy fix and cheap insurance. Any head after 2015 ish is new design and fixed the acid issue. The other smaller engines I cant comment on, never owned one.

Now engine aside floorplan rules. If you like all three a Foretravel and American Coach are built like tanks. I own an American Coach and did look at the higher end Newmar. I didn't like the usability of the Newmar when the slides were in and I preferred the ride and rigidity of the AC.

There are people here that are 100% Newmar or nothing so I keep my Newmar comments brief.

My wife and I made a list of must have and would like. Things like passenger side king bed (wont own another without it) heated floors, 1.5 bath , stacked washer and dryer, all electric and heated basement were on our list. So when is say what to look for its floorplan, build quality then manufacturer.

For quality look in the basement, is the fit and finish just as good there as in inside? Are the cabinets full wood including the boxes? Look at the entrance door is it cheap or from a bus, are the hinges overbuilt? Then drive it. You should be able to have a conversation without raising your voice.

Hope you make a decision that makes you content.

[Ivylog]

“A Cat is fine on earth moving equipment but will defiantly cause repair issues not as prevalent in a Cummins.-“ X2 and I made a lot of money with CAT equipment but would not buy one made after 06...Acert engine and the bigger the engine the bigger the problems.

Actually I would not buy any rig with an engine made after 06 BUT, Monaco in particular, bought a bunch of extra 06 engines so while I recently bought a 08 DP, it has a 06 engine.

[FatChance]

Our coach has a Cummins 400ISL with a side radiator. That combination is the most prevalent on the higher end coaches built in your time frame. I consider the ISL series the gold standard for what you want based on the number of them still putting in trouble free service.