Purchasing Advice Needed for Diesel Pusher

[docj]

Originally Posted by Racklefratz

So, if you decide to buy a legacy RV, just be aware that the systems in it are getting on in age, and won't last forever. When it happens, and it will, you will face a repair/replacement situation which will be, at best, inopportune and inconvenient, and, at worst, impossible, when replacement parts are unavailable.

Spoken like someone who doesn't own one. We've had our Beaver for 4+ years and we've replaced lots of things, some because they broke or wore out and lots more because we wanted to tailor the coach to our liking. We've yet to find an instance where a part took more than a day or two to get. Most MH's are built using standard truck parts and when they fail replacements haven't been difficult to obtain. Not to say it can't happen, but it hasn't been an issue for us in ~45,000 miles of full-timing.

[Steve Ownby]

Originally Posted by docj

Spoken like someone who doesn't own one. We've had our Beaver for 4+ years and we've replaced lots of things, some because they broke or wore out and lots more because we wanted to tailor the coach to our liking. We've yet to find an instance where a part took more than a day or two to get. Most MH's are built using standard truck parts and when they fail replacements haven't been difficult to obtain. Not to say it can't happen, but it hasn't been an issue for us in ~45,000 miles of full-timing.

X2! We have lived full time in our 12 year old coach for 8 years now. I could pull in the slides in the morning and head for Alaska with total confidence in the coach.


Steve Ownby
Full time since '07

[JFXG]

Originally Posted by Racklefratz

60K's not gonna' buy much "high end". Just sayin'......

Just plain wrong. 60K will buy plenty of high end coach, age about 10 -12 years or older.

High end is not the glitz and glam, it's the name on the nose. Well built quality will last many years. The actual age becomes meaningless at some point.


Fulltiming since '12
2002 DSDP 40, FL, Cat 3126

[evotech]

Originally Posted by Racklefratz

60K's not gonna' buy much "high end". Just sayin'..

60K will buy many 10-13 year old coaches that were certainly "high end" Many of them with low miles and excellent histories. This will not be my first motorhome, I do know what I am getting into. Things can and do break. Even on brand new coaches. The difference is that I won't have a warranty to cover it, but then again I will be saving a 150K!

[tropical36]

Originally Posted by evotech

60K will buy many 10-13 year old coaches that were certainly "high end" Many of them with low miles and excellent histories. This will not be my first motorhome, I do know what I am getting into. Things can and do break. Even on brand new coaches. The difference is that I won't have a warranty to cover it, but then again I will be saving a 150K!

Depends what you call high end. As for really getting up there, you're looking at more like 20yrs with the top 3 or 4.
Again, if you'd like a real land yacht that's built for next to forever, get yourself one of these... Blue Bird Wanderlodge and Motor Coach Brokering Service

[flynnwalter]

evotech
You've got some good advice. Monaco includes Beaver, Safari, Holiday Rambler and prior to bankruptcy and purchase first by Navistar, made some fine coaches. Now owned by same company that owns Fleetwood, Monaco at least offers tech help, parts, etc. so that is a real plus. Just avoid the RR4R chassis and stick with the 8 or 10 (tag axle) Roadmaster chassis. I would aim for Camelot and above. Camelot has aluminum coach frame, while Dynasty and above use steel. But the semi monocoque Roadmaster chassis is a fine one. Go for a tag if you want to full time and don't spend all your time in state and federal parks with sites pretty small for 38' and up, and/or not very level. Good luck and happy hunting.

[Jeep trekker]

You already have many comments on Monaco products. Having owned both, I would not hesitate to also recommend Newmar.

[Racklefratz]

Originally Posted by docj

Spoken like someone who doesn't own one. We've had our Beaver for 4+ years and we've replaced lots of things, some because they broke or wore out and lots more because we wanted to tailor the coach to our liking. We've yet to find an instance where a part took more than a day or two to get. Most MH's are built using standard truck parts and when they fail replacements haven't been difficult to obtain. Not to say it can't happen, but it hasn't been an issue for us in ~45,000 miles of full-timing.

"Doesn't own one", huh? Did you feel it necessary to try to discredit my post because it doesn't agree with your preconcieved ideas? Did you think I was just pulling stuff out of thin air? Seriously?

As it happens, you'd be correct - we don't "own one" - NOW. We're between RVs, and in the market. But, your "doesn't own one" jab is unwarranted and uncalled for.

And what a coincidence you should mention Beaver. You fail the mention its age, but it's wonderful your ownership experience has been so idyllic. We OWNED ("don't own one") our '94 Patriot 15 years. One of the primary drivers in my decision to liquidate it was its age, and the reliability issues that are part and parcel of aging equipment, and hence my post you thought was so lacking in credibility.

On one particularly fateful trip, the Allison 3060 transmission controller, the box mounted under the gear shift buttons, died while we were rolling down the interstate. We were dead in the water at that point, and being towed to the nearest Stewart and Stevenson facility took the rest of the day. We spent the following 3 full days (not one or two) in their parking lot, waiting for a replacement part to be sourced and installed.

They were not equipped for RVs, and had no hook-ups. We were literally boondocking in their back lot, and all we got from them was a water hose - no sewer, no electric. The generator ran for 3 days. We were short on food, with no place to buy food anywhere nearby, and no toad.

If any sensible argument could be made that that was only a 1-time thing, and such an event would never happen again, that would be one thing. But such an argument ignores the realities. RVs are complex machines, and as with any other complex equipment, are subject to age-related failures. And it goes without saying that the older the RV gets, the more likely such failures will be.

Even with the best maintenance, things don't just last forever, and consider that items such as transmission computers never even get any maintenance.

You're only kidding yourself if you think foolishly that things won't fail; it's not if, but when. And trust me when I say that this kind of thing will quickly suck the fun right out of a vacation.

So, although you chose to impune and discredit my comment, it's based on 100% been-there-done-that experience, and you may want to reconsider your tendency to jump to hasty conclusions. You can extoll the virtues of high line old RVs in all their glory all you want, but I intend to do whatever is in my power to never be exposed to such a situation again, and that means avoiding aging RVs - I don't care how wonderful they were when new.

[Racklefratz]

Originally Posted by JFXG

Just plain wrong. 60K will buy plenty of high end coach, age about 10 -12 years or older.High end is not the glitz and glam, it's the name on the nose. Well built quality will last many years. The actual age becomes meaningless at some point.

60K will buy a big, complex box on wheels full of potential for hugely expensive and unexpected maintenance catastrophes.

Even with good maintenance, things have a finite useful life, and other components never even get any maintenance. And it's more of a problem when the company's been defunct for years, since the suppliers for those companies also often don't survive.

Can one buy an aging RV and get beneficial use out of it? Well, sure. But trying to argue that it'll all be wonderful and without the potential for serious age-related problems is simply ignoring realities.

I'll save my future opinions since you people seem to think they're useless.

[Mklbrook2]

Western RV Alpine Coach, 2004 and older, they are superbly built with quality material and available in your price range..

[Mklbrook2]

Alpines are known for big motors, tanks and generators. The Peak chassis is great, does 60 mph lane changes without loss of control. Disk brakes not air, type used on airplane, race cars, no maintaining air brakes, quality solid wood cabinets.

[docj]

Originally Posted by Racklefratz

They were not equipped for RVs, and had no hook-ups. We were literally boondocking in their back lot, and all we got from them was a water hose - no sewer, no electric. The generator ran for 3 days. We were short on food, with no place to buy food anywhere nearby, and no toad.

If that was the worst problem you encountered with your MH, I'm not sure why it got you so upset. I agree that the experience wasn't pleasurable, but 3 days of boondocking waiting for a part doesn't sound so dreadful. It's hard to imagine that there was absolutely no place to buy food, assuming you had a toad available. We have a residential fridge, so we always have many days of food onboard, anyway. As for it spoiling a vacation, that's the beauty of being a full-timer; we have all the time in the world.

I totally agree that there can and will be age-related failures but I still think my MH is better built than many of the ones available for sale today. There definitely is nothing available at a price I can afford that offers a power train like the CAT C-12 and Allison 4060 that I have. I surely won't preemptively sell a MH I enjoy because I "think" there may be problems in the future.

[Moxy]

Originally Posted by Racklefratz

60K will buy a big, complex box on wheels full of potential for hugely expensive and unexpected maintenance catastrophes.

Even with good maintenance, things have a finite useful life, and other components never even get any maintenance. And it's more of a problem when the company's been defunct for years, since the suppliers for those companies also often don't survive.

Can one buy an aging RV and get beneficial use out of it? Well, sure. But trying to argue that it'll all be wonderful and without the potential for serious age-related problems is simply ignoring realities.

I'll save my future opinions since you people seem to think they're useless.

I think where your comments fall short and tend to be misleading is when you use inevitable, serious etc, you are not being realistic and you appear to be basing it on one failure on a older coach where one component failed, and as stated by others it took three days to repair. In order for your comments to be taken seriously and not challenged you need to use more than a hunch and a guess, one failure does make a pattern, Alison transmissions are typically extremely reliable and a failure like you experience is not common by any stretch.

The OP was looking for opinions in general, Generally there is nothing wrong with a 15 year old pusher that has been maintained, fridges, TV's, water heaters, AC's all fail some sooner than others, some on newer coaches some on older coaches, where you are correct is we own complicated machines and things do fail, some are expensive to repair, most are not. I have heard of storys of people waiting weeks for repairs on their 6 month old coaches, at least when you have a coach like mine or several others who have posted, we have several hundred thousands of dollars to play with when compared to buying our coaches new.

If you are at the point where a $1000.00 repair will ground you, you are out of your league and need to explore smaller less expensive motorhomes,

Moxy

[alpha99]

Originally Posted by Mklbrook2

.... The Peak chassis is great, does 60 mph lane changes without loss of control. ...]

Uh...I should hope so, else they'd be crashing all over the place!