In need of some newbie advice please!

[Ben Pike]

My family lives in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. My wife and I have 2 kids. 7 and 2 years old. Today we are going to buy our first RV that we will be living in at least for the summer while we finish our Skoolie school bus conversion.

I know buses but I don't know RV's and I want to make sure we are not making a huge mistake. The RV we think we are buying today is a 1984 Ford Jayco (I believe Jay Mini 25?). Everything works on it and there are no leaks. There was one leak in the bathroom at one point but completely fixed. Tires are good. It has around 80k on the odometer and about 45k on the 2nd motor. They have put in a new starter and battery in the last 2 years. We are paying $3000 cash.

It is 2 hours away from our house so we obviously will have a 2 hour drive with it right off the bat. I am looking to get advice from some more experienced RV folk about this RV. Is this a good deal? Is this a good RV for a 1984? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. We have to leave here in about 3 or 4 hours to pick it up so hopefully I get some responses from you fine folk before then! Thanks so much in advance. Here are some pictures of it and will be a few more pictures in the reply from myself.

[Ben Pike]

https://ibb.co/kAmXFd

https://ibb.co/fWK8oy

https://ibb.co/bwUr8y

https://ibb.co/mpcdoy

[Gordon Dewald]

Looks to be in pretty good shape according to the pictures. If the actual is as good I would certainly consider paying the price.

Tires may look good but check the dates. If the tires are more than 7 years old you may want to keep a close eye on them returning home. You should be good as it seems you will be using this as a place to stay while converting your bus.

[FlatsixV2]

Check the fluids and air in the tires. That should get you two hours down the road with no trouble. Then give her the once over at home!

Good Luck!

[jrwitt]

Don't know anything about this brand or about Class C in general, BUT you said the tires are good. Did you check the date code on the tires? RV tires should be used no longer than 5 or 6 years. See the date code on each tire? Date should be no earlier (older) than "25 13" before they need replacement. You can't go by the amount of tread. See this website for more info:

https://www.tirebuyer.com/education/...-of-your-tires

On an RV, tires usually age out before the tread wears out. As tires age, they begin to break down. Don't risk you family's life on outdated tires.

[Ben Pike]

Originally Posted by Gordon Dewald

Looks to be in pretty good shape according to the pictures. If the actual is as good I would certainly consider paying the price.

Tires may look good but check the dates. If the tires are more than 7 years old you may want to keep a close eye on them returning home. You should be good as it seems you will be using this as a place to stay while converting your bus.

Thank you Gordon!

[Ben Pike]

Originally Posted by FlatsixV2

Check the fluids and air in the tires. That should get you two hours down the road with no trouble. Then give her the once over at home!

Good Luck!

Thank you!!!!!

[Ben Pike]

Originally Posted by jrwitt

Don't know anything about this brand or about Class C in general, BUT you said the tires are good. Did you check the date code on the tires? RV tires should be used no longer than 5 or 6 years. See the date code on each tire? Date should be no earlier (older) than "25 13" before they need replacement. You can't go by the amount of tread. See this website for more info:

https://www.tirebuyer.com/education/...-of-your-tires

On an RV, tires usually age out before the tread wears out. As tires age, they begin to break down. Don't risk you family's life on outdated tires.

Thank you very much for the link on how to figure the tire ages out!

[Ben Pike]

ANY RV ADVICE IS COMPLETELY WELCOME HERE! I want to soak in knowledge! Is there anything that RV's are known to have problems with that I should check right away or anything along those lines?

[MSHappyCampers]

Hi ! Welcome to IRV2! We're sure glad you joined the gang!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

[Ben Pike]

Originally Posted by MSHappyCampers

Hi ! Welcome to IRV2! We're sure glad you joined the gang!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

Thanks guys!!!!!!!

[Ben Pike]

This has been a very helpful resource already! Who knows.. maybe we will just fall in love with our new RV and keep it rather than moving into a bus! It would have to take some serious love though... we are completely converting our bus ourselves so lots of blood, sweat, and tears! We just raised the roof almost 2 feet on our 40 foot school bus. Now we are riveting all of the sheet metal on.

We actual have a YouTube show called "Life in a Bus" if anyone is interested in seeing our bus conversion, traveling, and comedy! We post 2 episodes a week if you want to Subscribe and follow along!

www.youtube.com/lifeinabus

www.facebook.com/lifeinabusblog

Life in a Bus | Raising a family on wheels

[nothermark]

Originally Posted by Ben Pike

ANY RV ADVICE IS COMPLETELY WELCOME HERE! I want to soak in knowledge! Is there anything that RV's are known to have problems with that I should check right away or anything along those lines?

The big things different from the average vehicle are tires and batteries. You already heard the tire story. As long as the lights light your batteries are more or less working so take it home and see what happens.

Thinking about it I would also want them to turn on the refrigerator before you head over. It takes a while to cool down a gas refer but it should be noticeably cooling in several hours.

[Stever53]

Hi


this place is great

Safe travels