Community Forums

Lindan n Jim · 01-22-2018, 07:22 PM

Heads:

2004 Southwind 32V with 40K miles on a Ford Chassis. One plug blew 10K miles ago and the others have bee torqued to spec. Owner had it for the last 20K miles (8 years or so). Looks to be in pretty good shape. Owner was involved and seemed to take care of things. MANY trips to the Left Coast and back to central US. Selling it because they can't use it anymore.

Tails:
2007 Fleetwood Southwind 36B with 25K miles on the Workhorse chassis. Owner has had it for 5 years, and doesn't seem to be invested in really taking care of things. But, it never needed much. He only put 5K miles on it in the last 5 years. Selling it because it's taking up space.

Both are in good shape for their respective ages, both have newer batteries (house and chassis), both store indoors or under cover and both need tires all around. Both owners are willing to negotiate up to a point.

Do we buy the '04 for $25K or the '07 for $37.5K? Heads or tails?

Is 3 years newer worth $12K? We understand the '04 36V is supposed to be a popular model and in demand in some areas. I'm enough of a mechanic/technician I can take care of most things that crop up, so mileage/age/dis-use doesn't bother me.

rcrevolution · 01-22-2018, 08:06 PM

The 2004 sounds like a better coach. Sounds like he used it and kept up with maintanance. The 2007 may have some deferred maintanance to deal with. I’d take one with some miles over one with low miles that sat idle for a long time.

avfordguy · 01-22-2018, 08:15 PM

I can add something here the 04 is more than likely a v10 2valve motor.

Hit_the_Rhod · 01-22-2018, 08:17 PM

One engine that has demonstrated problems. One spark blew out and hopefully was repaired properly. The other nine haven't blown . . . yet. My bet would be on the 07. Heaven forbid, if both engines were to bite the bullet tomorrow a long block on the Workhorse will cost less than half as much at a long block for the V-10.

The 07 is a larger coach. The per year mileage on the 07 is only slightly less than the 04. 2857 vrs 2273 miles per year, so any disuse argument doesn't hold water.

If the extra 12k is doable, in my book it boils down to floor plan. Which do you like more, and can you use the extra 4 feet? Happy Trails in whatever you decide!

CJ7365 · 01-22-2018, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lindan n Jim

Heads:

2004 Southwind 32V with 40K miles on a Ford Chassis. One plug blew 10K miles ago and the others have bee torqued to spec. Owner had it for the last 20K miles (8 years or so). Looks to be in pretty good shape. Owner was involved and seemed to take care of things. MANY trips to the Left Coast and back to central US. Selling it because they can't use it anymore.

Tails:
2007 Fleetwood Southwind 36B with 25K miles on the Workhorse chassis. Owner has had it for 5 years, and doesn't seem to be invested in really taking care of things. But, it never needed much. He only put 5K miles on it in the last 5 years. Selling it because it's taking up space.

Both are in good shape for their respective ages, both have newer batteries (house and chassis), both store indoors or under cover and both need tires all around. Both owners are willing to negotiate up to a point.

Do we buy the '04 for $25K or the '07 for $37.5K? Heads or tails?

Is 3 years newer worth $12K? We understand the '04 36V is supposed to be a popular model and in demand in some areas. I'm enough of a mechanic/technician I can take care of most things that crop up, so mileage/age/dis-use doesn't bother me.

Assuming the Workhorse chassis is on the W22, ask the owner if the Bosch brake recall has been performed.

Gary RVRoamer · 01-23-2018, 03:11 PM

It's more than just 3 years newer - it's also 4 ft longer. And is the 36B floor plan 2 slides or 3? Most of the 2007 35 & ups were triple slides. If so, the 3 years, extra length and additional slide easily compensate for the price difference. The downside is that the 2007 may have been neglected. "Didn't need much" can be a synonym for "I ignored anything that wasn't a show stopper".

I personally feel the Workhorse W22 is a superior chassis to the 2004 Ford F53 (but Ford caught up by 2006). However, the Workhorse does need to have a Bosch brake recall fix applied. Nearly all of them received the fix long ago, but don't buy ione without verifying (cause it's too late now for a free fix).

Lindan n Jim · 01-23-2018, 04:09 PM

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

1) AVFORDGUY: Yes, it's an early V10, so it would be a 2 valve. As noted, it has blown one plug about 10K miles ago and was supposedly fixed, but NOT by a Ford garage. PO says the mechanic merely replaced the plug with no heilcoil. hhmmmm........Can you do that?

2) CJ7365 and Gary RVRoamer: No word yet on the Bosch recall. I understand it had something to do with the calipers?

We have attempted follow up communications with the owner of the '04 to get some more pics before we spend a couple of days on the road to go take a look, but have heard nothing yet. He has had the coach on the market for quite some time and has reduced the price over time from $41K down to $29K currently. We are patient.......

We also received a completely surprise email this afternoon from the owner of the '07 asking us if we would be interested in a price about $1K lower that the lowest he said he would settle for over the weekend. Told him we would think about it, considering it will need $4K worth of tires, and a new windshield. Will he go lower? He started at $40K and just offered $39K With the expenses of tires and windshields, I hope I can negotiate down a little more.

More to come.............

Lindan n Jim · 01-23-2018, 04:55 PM

UPDATE 2 UPDATE 2 UPDATE 2

JUST heard from the owner of the '07. He earlier this afternoon wanted to know if we would be interested at $39K after our original offer of $37,500K. Just now he wanted to let us know "Paul" has offered $38,500.00, and wanted to know if we were still interested, would we be interested in matching the price?

He was unaware of the Bosch brake recall being done or not, still hadn't found out about the windshield, and was not interested in allowing us some compensation on having to replace the 12-year-old (!!!!) heavily weather checked tires.

I don't really mean to be critical, but as mentioned originally, he lived in a disposable world, where he would use something until it broke then replace it. He really wasn't interested in maintaining anything.

I don't know if that make us the oddball or not, in that we do our best to keep our toys in great condition and update then as we can. That is what has helped us with our '92 Pace Arrow with 100K miles!

vito.a · 01-23-2018, 05:34 PM

First, you need to do a nationwide search on RVT.com and RVTrader.com for each make-model coach. Then rank order them by price with the smaller price first. This will give you a feel for pricing. I also subscribed to NADA RV Bluebook for a month to look up wholesale pricing as the online retail price is virtually worthless.

I would also be concerned about the blown spark plug fix.
Have you driven both a Ford V10 and a Chevy big block powered motor home?
Going up a hill that V10 winds up so loud I would be paranoid it was going to spit a spark plug right out through the cowl into me! The Chevy is also loud, but it's not turning nearly as high RPM.

Sounds like the 2007 owner is playing games with you. Play the game back (after you have done your price research). Tell him you found another one that is $5k cheaper and has the recall complete, BUT its across the country so if he wants to sell it he needs to come down.
Best of luck!

NC25T · 01-23-2018, 06:30 PM

I wouldn’t touch the 07 unless you can get it inspected, have someone with trained eyes give it a once over.

Does the 07 have the Allison 6spd trans? Back in 09 when I was shopping for a rv I thought the workhorse chassis and engine were superior to ford. The trans worked better and the chassis drove better vs the ford. Thus if the 07 has the 6spd Allison that’s the direction I would lead, that is assuming when the coach gets a once over everything is OK.

As you know tires aren’t cheap and that can be a drop in the bucket vs other neglected repairs.

CJ7365 · 01-23-2018, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lindan n Jim

UPDATE 2 UPDATE 2 UPDATE 2

JUST heard from the owner of the '07. He earlier this afternoon wanted to know if we would be interested at $39K after our original offer of $37,500K. Just now he wanted to let us know "Paul" has offered $38,500.00, and wanted to know if we were still interested, would we be interested in matching the price?

He was unaware of the Bosch brake recall being done or not, still hadn't found out about the windshield, and was not interested in allowing us some compensation on having to replace the 12-year-old (!!!!) heavily weather checked tires.

I don't really mean to be critical, but as mentioned originally, he lived in a disposable world, where he would use something until it broke then replace it. He really wasn't interested in maintaining anything.

I don't know if that make us the oddball or not, in that we do our best to keep our toys in great condition and update then as we can. That is what has helped us with our '92 Pace Arrow with 100K miles!

After thinking more about that spark plug jumping out, and "just" replaced with another spark plug, I would not even consider the Ford.

I also agree with what vito.a said, the guy is playing games, play it back, or just move on, if you get the vin # there are a few people here that can check if the brake recall has been done.

GBDTN · 01-24-2018, 05:39 AM

I ve had three 454 s and they are tough. Setting is a bad enemy of chevys and a 36’ is at the top f their power and frame capacity. Drive both, see how they ride and handle and there power. Try to imagine another 3k to 5 k additional weight loading. Can you ease down the road comfortably? Can you live with the lay out? You sound meticulous and i understand, bugs me to idiocy when things don’t work, but majority of people sound like the owners and just use things without involvement and i wish i could. All the posts are good advice, even if you just 2 to 4 weeks a year its a 2nd home and the average owner has 3 coaches and the average s&b buys and sell every 7 years. Great forum

Motor7 · 01-24-2018, 06:26 AM

Go down to the Workhorse sub forum and post the VIN # of the coach in the "recall" thread:

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f22/brake...ck-325081.html

edgray can run the VIN and let you know whether or not the brake recall has been completed. Or you can PM him.

Personally I would not be interested in an engine that spits out spark plugs since that can get expensive real fast.

Lindan n Jim · 01-24-2018, 06:43 AM

FINAL UPDATE FINAL UPDATE FINAL UPDATE

Partially based on the advice received here, and partially on our "gut feel" we have decided to let the '07 go. We felt that the owners non-involvement and uncaring attitude and his negotiating tactics ere too much to compensate for to result in a good deal. We wish "Paul" he best of luck with his purchase.

In the meantime, the '04 is still in play, but as of this morning, nothing heard from the owner. I think we can get it for $25K, which we consider a fair price, considering the work we will have to put into it to make it perfect. Tires passenger side window (fogging issue) and other little things that will likely need attention. We are anxious to hear from him.

In the meantime, DW has complicated the equation by locating an '03 Holiday Rambler 36WDD on a Workhorse chassis in our price range. One of my favorites that you don't see very often. She has also found a number of other '03 through '07 Southwind 32Vs we are using for comparison purposes, or as a vackup in case our original falls through.

So, if you are interested, stay tuned...............