Pre purchase questions on a 98 Beaver Monterey pusher

[graphite9]

Hey guys, so we own an 84 winnebago sunchaser, ive gone through top to bottom, and looking for bigger. I dont have a large budget, and I do all my own work. I found a 1998 beaver monterey 36', slide, cat with 68k. Owner has repalced the tires, batteries, steering box, alternator. He's owned it for 4 years. Id say the condition is 7/10. We went out to check it out this morning, and he said he came to it and realized there was alot of water that made it in through the roof ac unit. He lived in it for 4 years, so I really doubt this was an ongoing issue. So, my question is, is the flooring in these beavers just wood? MY winnebago was. It doesnt feel soft at all, but clearly the carpet is damaged, and I'd rip that all out and do different flooring anyhow. He drove it this weekend about 17 hours, so it must be in decent driving condition. I have a big indoor shop, and could address the issues all winter. Here are the issues

Water leaked after heavy rain, through the front ac
Window seals are sucked in, between the panes. I've read its common called seal creep?
Generator Inverter isnt working properly (im an electrician)
Front door step doesnt come out
Fuel gauge doesnt work.

I can get this thing for 15-16k, and it seems one with this mileage, clean around here is 25-30K. I dont mind the work, if I can get it for a fair price.

HUGE thanks in advance, just wanted to get some thoughts on it. I have a 4500 lb trailer I'll be towing with it, and the little winnebago won't cut it for the hauls across the us.

[graphite9]

looks like the window seal repair is $500 ish for the kit. just have to do some reading on the labor intensity. I guess IM more or less curious about the water around the AC, and the prices these things go for. I havent really seen much for less than 27K around here even for an older unit with 100K+, Trying to stick with a slide+diesel.

[TMan59]

Beavers are a good coach.
How much water was there for how long is the question.

[graphite9]

Originally Posted by TMan59

Beavers are a good coach.
How much water was there for how long is the question.

thank you for the reply! I didnt spell mildew/mold. He just drove it from reno to portland, this weekend. So I can only assume it was from this weekend. we just got a really heavy downpour for a full day. Same thing happened to my 84 with heavy rain, comes in through the AC. The carpet was super soggy and he was drying it out. He was definitely caught off guard as he had to leave to get towels right before we arrived. The carpet would be the first thing to go. Id want to do wood, or something else. IM not looking for a mint vehicle, as it will get used with kiddos. He seems really honest, and told me about all the little issues upfront I never would have even seen or asked about. He said years back the skylight cracked, and there was water damage above the bathroom, he was storing it at this time and they had a crazy storm. He told me he spent like $1200 having it all repaired. Also said the water manifold.valves were in poor condition, and spent $800 having them all replaced. He said he's spent $10k on it sine 2014.

[MO Fred]

Flooring should be wood on aluminum framing. Your floor should be alright as long as it was not continuously exposed to moisture. 10k spent in 4 years..... sounds about right unless you do your own work. OBTW... we like our Beaver a lot.

[graphite9]

Thanks.. so, im guessing there’s some issue with the way the ac is sealed.

As for the price does 15/16k seem about right for this unit?

Second question is it common for the fuel gauges to quit working? Not sure if they had issues with sending units or the gauges themselves. I have attechaed a few photos. If I can get it for 15 and put 4-5k into it over the winter I’d be happy with that. Curious as to what people think is a fair price for this coach granted it’s issues

[beaverfever]

peninsula glass in vancouver,wa can take care of your windows.

rapid mobile rv repair (503-454-0201) can do a leak test for a couple hundred dollars and you will know for sure what is going on with the roof

[graphite9]

Originally Posted by beaverfever

peninsula glass in vancouver,wa can take care of your windows.

rapid mobile rv repair (503-454-0201) can do a leak test for a couple hundred dollars and you will know for sure what is going on with the roof

thanks so much! I thought about doing the window seals myself, but would rather not attempt it and risk a leak. Im going to look up a place in salem that does inspections. My main concern is the chassis, frame, brakes, trans engine etc. THe inside isnt really a main concern.

[crb478]

I am doing a lot of same things to my 1998 Beaver Patriot. The floor on mine was a OSB product that was placed on top of styrofoam on top of a thin plywood that covered the tops of the bays. It is supported over a metal frame. I had to repair a couple of small areas, and then added another layer of 1/4 inch water resistant plywood, followed by vinyl planking. I made sure to put the seams over the metal frames.

The windows are easy enough to get out, but you will probably want 2 people to do it. One inside and one out. I had 9 windows total in mine and took them to Suncoast Designers in Fla once I had them out. I don't remember the exact cost but it was around $1700.00 to have them repaired with a lifetime, for me, warranty. I could have done it, but for the time it would have taken me it was much easier to take the windows to them. Putting them back in is also a 2 person job, and careful centering them is a must.

The fuel gauge on mine turned out to be the fuel sending unit. It fit into the side of the tank so you can get to it fairly easily. It is a fairly simple unit with a long arm. You could probably get a universal unit and make it work, but I ordered one from Beaver Sales in Eugene Or. It was pricey at around $235.00, but it is correct for the tank and has shown no signs of leaks. I also did not have to leave the tank open for any amount of time and guess at how accurate the gauge was.

I would look for other leaks and signs of delamination. Check the heating and AC systems. Mine has the Hurricane yours may or may not. At the end of the Day it is a used coach. It is also like remodeling a house and rebuilding a car at the same time only worse, and the electrical will leave you scratching your head a few times. Start identifying the 3 way switches and how everything works early on.
Next on mine is new shocks, new air bags (8), Safe-t-plus, and new tires. Then new lines to the Hurricane and registers, maybe air valves for the air bags, (will evaluate first), and a improved bell crank.
I hope to make it as new as possible before we start taking it any distance.

In my area Beavers of this era are typically 30 to 50,000 dollars, but some do start out a little nicer than mine, but some not so much. Even so, for me the tires, air bags, safe-t-plus , and shocks would still be something that I addressed unless they had recently been done. The interior in mine is close to being finished now, the cabinets are excellent, layout works well for us, and if necessary I could walk away and not be hurt to bad by the price.

It is a lot of work, but you could end up with a bargin diamond in the rough. Oh the carpet on the walls had to go in mine also as well as the padded wall paper. I used vinyl clad aluminum over beadboard so the windows had to come out anyway.

[graphite9]

Originally Posted by crb478

I am doing a lot of same things to my 1998 Beaver Patriot. The floor on mine was a OSB product that was placed on top of styrofoam on top of a thin plywood that covered the tops of the bays. It is supported over a metal frame. I had to repair a couple of small areas, and then added another layer of 1/4 inch water resistant plywood, followed by vinyl planking. I made sure to put the seams over the metal frames.

The windows are easy enough to get out, but you will probably want 2 people to do it. One inside and one out. I had 9 windows total in mine and took them to Suncoast Designers in Fla once I had them out. I don't remember the exact cost but it was around $1700.00 to have them repaired with a lifetime, for me, warranty. I could have done it, but for the time it would have taken me it was much easier to take the windows to them. Putting them back in is also a 2 person job, and careful centering them is a must.

The fuel gauge on mine turned out to be the fuel sending unit. It fit into the side of the tank so you can get to it fairly easily. It is a fairly simple unit with a long arm. You could probably get a universal unit and make it work, but I ordered one from Beaver Sales in Eugene Or. It was pricey at around $235.00, but it is correct for the tank and has shown no signs of leaks. I also did not have to leave the tank open for any amount of time and guess at how accurate the gauge was.

I would look for other leaks and signs of delamination. Check the heating and AC systems. Mine has the Hurricane yours may or may not. At the end of the Day it is a used coach. It is also like remodeling a house and rebuilding a car at the same time only worse, and the electrical will leave you scratching your head a few times. Start identifying the 3 way switches and how everything works early on.
Next on mine is new shocks, new air bags (8), Safe-t-plus, and new tires. Then new lines to the Hurricane and registers, maybe air valves for the air bags, (will evaluate first), and a improved bell crank.
I hope to make it as new as possible before we start taking it any distance.

In my area Beavers of this era are typically 30 to 50,000 dollars, but some do start out a little nicer than mine, but some not so much. Even so, for me the tires, air bags, safe-t-plus , and shocks would still be something that I addressed unless they had recently been done. The interior in mine is close to being finished now, the cabinets are excellent, layout works well for us, and if necessary I could walk away and not be hurt to bad by the price.

It is a lot of work, but you could end up with a bargin diamond in the rough. Oh the carpet on the walls had to go in mine also as well as the padded wall paper. I used vinyl clad aluminum over beadboard so the windows had to come out anyway.

thanks so much for the insight. Its a little bit daunting, as im not familiar with this chassis, drivetrain. ON my 84, I did thorley headers, MSD fuel injection and edelbrock pump, trans cooler, elec fan, solar panels, etc. I don't have an issue with the work, I just want to make sure the price is fair for the work that needs to be done. Budgeting

$2k for window seals
$5-800 for generator work
$5-1000 for awning fabric replacement
$2-500 for fuel gauge repair
$1000 misc.

figure 6k. If i can get it for 15/16, be into it a total of 22k. I dont really see any decent coaches for under 30K..And Id think ANY coach this age will need 2K worth of work minimum right off the bat.

Im going to call around see what It would take to get a pre purchase inspection scheduled for at least the drivetrain.

[Roy1]

16k is a pretty cheap price for a diesel powered beaver with a slide too boot and low miles. Does it have a 3000 series Allison also? Reno had almost no rain since the beginning of the year so you should be ok there. My windows have the seal creep also but they don’t fog so I don’t worry about it for now. I reluctantly paid $48 k for mine a few years ago and it needed a lot of repairs like the toilet,a new refrigerator internal piping, non operating furnace ,some cabinet refacing ,bad carpet,etc etc but like you I knew little about diesel and owned a gas powered GMC for 29 years that I did all the work on. My diesel had 16 k on it so I figured I could bring it back to life like I did with the old GMC . Your soon to be beaver should have a rust free frame if it spent most of its life in Reno. My coach was from inland southern calif. so it was rust free. I did all the work needed on mine and now it is good again and every thing works. I say grab it before the guy changes his mind. If you are like me you will enjoy bringing it back to glory and you will learn a lot about it in the process if you are going to have a shop do the work it may not be worth the expense.

[guardrail53]

15/16K is a fair price, if the driveline checks out! It is the bottom of the Beaver Lineup, the sister to the Monaco Endeavor, rear radiator, gas/propane generator! It does have a slide, so a plus there, if it is solid! Check out the slide very closely, looking for leaks, soft spots and the operation, making sure it goes out and back in smoothly, and seals up good both in and out!
Check out the roof very closely, and when walking around up there looking at all the seams, listen for the sounds of crackling, (like walking on popcorn) dead giveaway for water damage! Look the bathroom over very closely, you mentioned sky lite leaking? Is it built on the Roadmaster chassis? If so, the 8 bag, 8 shock one or the one with 4 bags/shocks? The 8 bag (RR8R) will be on the vin plate! 8 bag one is the preferred!
Nothing else comes to mind, and other questions, feel free to ask? Lots of owners here that can help you! Rail!

[astrnmrtom]

Odds are the leak from the AC unit is the gasket between the unit and the roof. It's a common leak point. I learned this from a woman who did inspections for a local RV dealer. From what I understand they aren't hard to replace. If you remove the interior covers there will be 4 long bolts that hold the unit in place. First check them to see if they are loose. Loose bolts can be the cause of your leak. The gasket compresses over time causing a leak. You don't want to over tighten them, just tighten till you feel resistance. My '98 Safari is very similar to the coach you are looking at, and mine were loose enough on the front unit that I had a leak this summer when pressure washing the roof. I'm careful not to shoot the water too close to the gasket and have cleaned the roof this way for three years without a problem. When I spotted the leak this time, I checked the bolts, and found there was almost zero resistance when tightening them.

I've rebuilt 10 windows and while a bit tedious, it isn't technically difficult if you are handy. You can buy repair kits here: https://www.daverootrvglassrepair.com/ or you can save more and buy the same stuff from Amazon - about $65 for the spacer material and $13 a tube for sealer. Search for CR Laurence super spacer and super spacer sealer. Spacer comes in 66 foot rolls, enough for several windows. About one tube of sealer per total window. I always order an extra tube. There's youtube videos showing how to repair the windows too.

The hardest part of rebuilding the windows is removing the handle from the sliding pane. They're held in place with adhesive backed foam tape. I had my first handle removed at a local glass place and after watching how he did it, I removed them myself after that. I made a slicing tool out of a hacksaw blade by grinding the teeth off one end, then grinding a sharp hook on that end. The hacksaw blade is strong and hard enough to cut and scrape the foam tape and flexible enough to hold most of it slightly away from the glass so it won't scratch. You can wrap it in tape for a better grip. Then using a solvent - seafoam - to soften the foam, scraped the goo out from between the handle and glass until the handle loostens. When the handle is loose enough to rock and move, I use a wooden block and a hammer to pound it loose working along the length being careful not to bend it. Took a while to get up the nerve to whack on the handle and swing a hammer that close to the glass. Some heat applied to the handle from a heat gun can help soften the remaining tape.

I mark the outsides of the panes with masking tape, listing inner, outer, fixed and sliding. You separate the glass by cutting through the sealer with a razor blade knife and after separating the panes, use a single edged razor blade to scrape the sealer and spacer from the glass - always scrape wet, never dry. I use windex as a lubricant. I then clean any film of sealer off the glass with acetone, and finish by washing the glass thoroughly with dish soap and water and blow dry. You want the glass to be very clean for a good bond. I do a final dust and smudge inspection with a microfiber cloth holding the pane up to a light or sunlight, looking through it, and also the light reflected off the surface.

The spacer has adhesive on two sides. I remove a couple inches of the protective tape from one side and starting in a right angle corner, stick the spacer to the glass, foil side facing the edge, spaced in from the edge about 3/8" (or whatever the original set-back was) and work my way around the edges, around the rounded corners and back to the straight edge pulling the plastic protector as I go. Then I use a separate piece to go along the straight edge butting it against the first piece. As long as you just very lightly press the spacer down, you can pull it loose and reposition it if you mess up. When complete, remove the protective plastic from the entire exposed side and carefully set the other pane in place - careful, you get one chance to line it up right. I started by making a couple alignment blocks screwed to the workbench, but free handed it later. I then press the two pieces together working my way all the way around. You can see through the glass when the adhesive bonds as you squeeze. Then comes the messy part - the backfilling with sealer. It guns easier when warm and can be messy as hell. Wear gloves! I suggest getting the plastic applicator that fits on the end of nozzle. Watch through the glass as you go to assure the sealer is completely reaching the spacer. Re-install the handle with the same sealer. After curing overnight, I clean up any mess with a razor blade and glass cleaner, and re-assemble the window. I can do a couple windows in a weekend from start to finish.

Make sure you do enough windows at one time to use up the spacer because, once opened it will start to absorb moisture from the air so you can't save it for later.

I believe the Beaver, like my Safari, has an aluminum skin. If there's been leaks behind the skin it will manifest as corrosion bubbles in the aluminum. A little is common on rigs this old, especially near seams or around some rivets. Corrosion bubbles in the center of a panel is a sign of a more serious leak as is a larger group of bubbles.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

[guardrail53]

Originally Posted by guardrail53

15/16K is a fair price, if the driveline checks out! It is the bottom of the Beaver Lineup, the sister to the Monaco Endeavor, rear radiator, gas/propane generator! It does have a slide, so a plus there, if it is solid! Check out the slide very closely, looking for leaks, soft spots and the operation, making sure it goes out and back in smoothly, and seals up good both in and out!
Check out the roof very closely, and when walking around up there looking at all the seams, listen for the sounds of crackling, (like walking on popcorn) dead giveaway for water damage! Look the bathroom over very closely, you mentioned sky lite leaking? Is it built on the Roadmaster chassis? If so, the 8 bag, 8 shock one or the one with 4 bags/shocks? The 8 bag (RR8R) will be on the vin plate! 8 bag one is the preferred!
Nothing else comes to mind, and other questions, feel free to ask? Lots of owners here that can help you! Rail!

I meant to say HR Endeavor, Monaco Diplomat! All sisters to the Beaver Monterey! Rail!