The joys, or nightmares, of buying a used older coach

[CountryFit]

Thank you Hooligan. This is a nice site, exactly the one i am looking for.
When my air pressure reaches 120psi, I often hear a spit of air exiting somewhere. A mechanic told me I have an auto demoisture system. I guess that was what he was referring to. From this site, it's recommended the dryer service be done at 3 year interval, I think I need to look into it.
I am learning new things everyday! Love this board...

[deandec]

Country Fit, I would suspect you also have a toggle switch that will dump all your brake system valves from the cockpit. Mine is located in the driver left side console. This is normally a pre-trip procedure good practice.

Dumping the valves prior to moving the rig will drain moisture from the air brake system. I seldom get any because we live and travel in low humidity areas. You may have a different circumstance.

You also might want to review the CDL Air Brake Pretrip Tests at Pre-Trip Inspection | Brake Check | Commercial Driver's License

[tompn]

When ever I purchased a used vehicle I assume that the previous owner has not kept up with the required maintenance and have all fluids and filters changed, including the air drier.

Buying used is almost the same as buying new in respect to the needed maintenance and repairs. On a new unit it generally takes about a year or more sometimes to get all the bugs worked out. On a used unit at least you then know what has been done and can rectify things as you go along. Although if you have to take it to someone else to have thing done it can get quite expensive. Best if you have the interest to learn how to do these things yourself.

Just my opinion.

Tom

[DegoRed]

Originally Posted by JohnT

My coach had all of the filters dated with a permanent marker when we purchased it. I've kept that tradition going when I had everything recently changed. I can't actually "prove" they drained and added new fluids. But I know that every filter was changed.

I do 100% of my own repairs and maintenance. Always write the date of the oil/filter change on the filter with a sharpie. We do this for all of our equipment and machinery as well. I would not say this is a standard in the MH world, but this is a standard in the heavy equipment world. It is a very good way of keeping track of when changes were done.

I would highly recommend to everyone adopting this practice, even if you don't do your own stuff, just tell the service guy to do so.

[docj]

Originally Posted by Monkey Run

My new/used pusher has 76K on her. The original owner did to what he felt was regular maintenance (according to his buddy who did the work) but missed things such as the transmission filters and oil. When drained it looked great, filters were in good shape, so I would not worry too much about that Allison unless the fluid color is off.

With all due respect, IMHO this is extremely poor advice. A 1998 DP would not have had its transmission filled with Transynd fluid. Unless it has been converted to Transynd since then it is extremely important that fluid change intervals be followed. The best way to know what's in the transmission is to have the fluid tested. If it isn't Transynd you will want to pay for the conversion to it.

Once you have it filled with Transynd you'll probably never have to worry about the fluid again other than to have it tested periodically. However, changing filters on a 3-4 year basis is a good way to prevent problems from occurring.

IMHO many DP owners get themselves into trouble by forgetting to do the maintenance items that are on an every 3-4 year schedule, particularly those that says things like "every 100,000 miles or 3 years". The attitude is often that "we don't drive anywhere near that much so we don't need to do that". Unfortunately, those time schedules weren't created just to sell oil and filters; quite often they represent needed maintenance. Failure to follow maintenance recommendations can have serious consequences.

[F117plt]

Originally Posted by CountryFit

don't mean to steer away from this thread, can anyone explain a bit what the air driver does? i have done many of the regular maintenance such as oil, tranny, airfilter etc, but never touched this air driver nor known where it is located...

It's called an air dryer and it removes water from the coach's air system. It will be located near your air tanks.

[CountryFit]

Originally Posted by deandec

Country Fit, I would suspect you also have a toggle switch that will dump all your brake system valves from the cockpit. Mine is located in the driver left side console. This is normally a pre-trip procedure good practice.

Dumping the valves prior to moving the rig will drain moisture from the air brake system. I seldom get any because we live and travel in low humidity areas. You may have a different circumstance.

You also might want to review the CDL Air Brake Pretrip Tests at Pre-Trip Inspection | Brake Check | Commercial Driver's License

Dean, you are very right - now I recall I do have it on front panel in the grouping of HWH leveling. There is a button called "Dump Air", another "Travel"... I thought it was only to be used after using leveling, dumping the air prior to traveling... Didn't realize it has a different purpose...

[CountryFit]

Originally Posted by F117plt

It's called an air dryer and it removes water from the coach's air system. It will be located near your air tanks.

Thanks. yeah i had a typo it was too late after i noticed it I checked the service records there was no record it has ever been replaced. I am thinking it shouldn't be too expensive I might just change it soon.

[jerichorick]

This is a great discussion! We moved into this Meridian in May last year in Fort Myers, FL. We bought it with around 19K on the OD. Our travels brought us to volunteering at a project in WV. I realized we were less than 200 miles from the Freightliner factory where this chassis was built. We drove to Gaffney, SC and camped in their parking lot for several days waiting for an opening in the factory service center. They did the chassis tuneup. This included torquing the chassis bolts, fluid and filter changes, hub and axle service, break inspection, AIR DRYER service, four corner weighing and ride height adjusting, plus things I have forgotten. It was money well spent.

Oasis is the name of the Freightliner RV service centers. I think they work on all brand of RVs but I could be mistaken. A phone call to the one near you would answer this question. The great thing about these centers is that they are very familiar with the quarks of working on RVs and they are full service trained. Generator to DP, they know all the systems.

On this rig, I just installed a Blue Ox TrueCenter. My DW is not keen on the idea of packing the coach up just to go for a ride to test this thing, so I won't know how or if it works for a few week yet.

I see many older rigs on the road. Some look great (the owners care) and others are true travel trashers. To those who are taking the time and money to keep their vintage coaches looking so nice, thank you. It is a joy to see you on the road. Many happy trails to you.

Rick

[F117plt]

Originally Posted by CountryFit

Thanks. yeah i had a typo it was too late after i noticed it I checked the service records there was no record it has ever been replaced. I am thinking it shouldn't be too expensive I might just change it soon.

You probably have two air dryers, one for each air tank.

[deandec]

Originally Posted by CountryFit

Dean, you are very right - now I recall I do have it on front panel in the grouping of HWH leveling. There is a button called "Dump Air", another "Travel"... I thought it was only to be used after using leveling, dumping the air prior to traveling... Didn't realize it has a different purpose...

Nope, that button is as you describe.

My toggle for discharging the brake air tank vents is on the left console.

[Monkey Run]

Originally Posted by docj

With all due respect, IMHO this is extremely poor advice. A 1998 DP would not have had its transmission filled with Transynd fluid. Unless it has been converted to Transynd since then it is extremely important that fluid change intervals be followed. The best way to know what's in the transmission is to have the fluid tested. If it isn't Transynd you will want to pay for the conversion to it.

Once you have it filled with Transynd you'll probably never have to worry about the fluid again other than to have it tested periodically. However, changing filters on a 3-4 year basis is a good way to prevent problems from occurring.

IMHO many DP owners get themselves into trouble by forgetting to do the maintenance items that are on an every 3-4 year schedule, particularly those that says things like "every 100,000 miles or 3 years". The attitude is often that "we don't drive anywhere near that much so we don't need to do that". Unfortunately, those time schedules weren't created just to sell oil and filters; quite often they represent needed maintenance. Failure to follow maintenance recommendations can have serious consequences.

I am not providing any advise...(where did you see advise?) but rather hoping to ease his fear that some astronomical damage had occurred to his rig. Mine was completely serviced from front to back after I purchased it, no expense spared as I am a stickler with maintenance. Including the air dryer and all filters.

[docj]

Originally Posted by Monkey Run

I am not providing any advise...(where did you see advise?) but rather hoping to ease his fear that some astronomical damage had occurred to his rig. Mine was completely serviced from front to back after I purchased it, no expense spared as I am a stickler with maintenance. Including the air dryer and all filters.

You specifically told the OP "I would not worry too much about that Allison unless the fluid color is off". All I was doing was pointing out that it is extremely important to find out what fluid is in the Allison. If it is not Transynd I wouldn't be at all surprised if the previous owner never changed it. If that was the case I would want a fluid analysis before purchasing the vehicle.

I'm sorry if I offended you by the stridency of my advice, but maintenance of transmissions is often overlooked by RVers because they think they are "bulletproof". Unfortunately, this is only true if they are maintained.

[Dutch Star Don]

You'd be surprised how many people know nothing about Air Dryers and their filter. I routinely find people that have no idea that their air dryer needs to be changed every so often.