rsbilledwards

I have the same question and the same unit unused. Let us know what you find out down the road or by private message. thanks Bill

Brett, I would add here that the it is probably not necessary to make a total change of the brake fluid but a through breeding of the caliper chambers, particularly the fronts as this is where most of the heat is generated. The full flush of the system could probably go out five or six years. Faithfulness of this exercise would extend the full change interval. I checked the fluid on the just purchased 99 Safari Panther with almost 12K on the odo and I found the front master cylinder chamber was very viscous and clean, fluid dripped quickly. It appears to have had recent service, but the rear pot however, was stringy and slow to drip...darker in color too. It needs a full flushing and new fluid even though it has been sitting for the most of the last 17 years. Brake fluid is HYDROSCOPIC meaning it will draw moisture just sitting. Bill

The Trailer Toad axel is either fixed or live, depending on direction of travel. When backing a load the axel can be locked/pined in place. Going forward and unpinned it has x nr of degrees of turning ability. I saw one last year under a goose neck trailer and it followed very nicely. I have a few more questions to ask Jock at Trailer Toad and one of those was the how many degrees does the axel rotate/turn. I am told there are about 1500 of them on the road. As for the adding an axel not practical, unfortunately, and moving the other two forward a bit same problem. Fenders and wells integral to floor and walls, 1/2 in and 1/2 out and the current position lends to a heavy tongue if front engine and car loaded first. I think it is better w/ATV in first but still do not like the additional weight on the long tail of the coach with that C12 hanging back there too. I bought this particular coach because it did not have a bedroom slide in order to have the full integrity of the uncut side wall. I could buy a new trailer but Featherlites are pricey and building a custom one well they might take my wallet. I bought this one 10 tears old for 50% of new 5 years ago and it was still $9,500 but with most of the bells and whistles. It tows great but the back end is way back there. With respect to trailer brake lock up, I think the M&G set up is air actuated and likely would lockup. Will see on that tomorrow and report back. Carl, I for one would like to know more about the big hole in the water...the cig boat. I know how big my racing hole was over the years but boy was it fun. I was just thinking about the swing ability of the DMI hitch with the Trailer Toad locked...I don't know will see and more conversation with Jock. There are several others out there where the axel is not live and behind a pickup they are pushed sideways on the tires not good! Almost forgot to answer the most important question asked about the PORSCHE brakes...nope no booster unless you are referring to my size ten shoe. No those cars were blessed with brakes way oversized for their measly 1,800 pounds thru 1965 and all 4 corners. When Porsche introduced the 911 the same brakes were used on a car a thousand pounds heavier and still were more than adequate. Again thank you all for the input Bill

Thank you for all the input, just what I expected or had hoped for. I think Carl hit it on the nose. Certifying the coach virtually impossible for the additional tow weight. Using the DMI hitch probably overkill but what the heck it will be different and likely a one off combined with the Trailer Toad, a smooth pull. Yes the coach manufacturer did do some weight compensation by moving the Onan 7.5 genset to the front of the coach. Power is not an issue with the C12 CAT and the 4060 Allison. Both of them were designed for a lot heavier duty than this lite weight coach at 31,000 pounds. The C12 I am told, loves the mountains. We went this past weekend to Oregon and see what we bought in the Safari Panther. We drove it and oh my, we were not disappointed. With only 11,781 on the odo it is a real barn find. We will go back in April and pick it up for the drive back to Denver...Wheee I towed this same Featherlite trailer, 3,300 pounds around with a 3,300 pound Porsche and a Trail 90 in it, summer of 2014 with the Zanzibar and a 3126 CAT. It was a bit slow going up some of the hills and did not over heat in 5,200 miles of Northwest mountain driving including some for sure 7+% climbs. Fuel consumption was around 8.5 and 6.5 to the gallon. I found it necessary to drive further ahead than I normally would have. The trailer currently has electric barely there brakes and I will convert to hydraulic discs and the M&G set up to do the trailer braking. I make this last comment loosely and let it reflect on the construction of these older coaches, not the newer ones. 1998 coaches had a lot less engineering in them, and a lot more trial and error beings as they were built early in the development of the coaching industry. We can pick the fly stuff out of the pepper all day about this, but the best part of this experiment is using common sense along with modern technology and learned fabrication skills to achieve a given goal with out getting into the big pile of .... Again Thanks Bill

It amazes me how folks do not read the entire question. Not that you did not but I said in each posting there is NO TONGUE WEIGHT only PULL WEIGHT in this situation and now the reason, I am using a Trailer Toad, Trailertoad.com. I am doing this because I don't want the tongue weight applied to the back of the coach. The website makes perfect sense to me. All of the hard jars, irregular roads the 500 pounds becomes a lot more when physics are added to the tail of the coach. The Panther has a long tail and a heavy engine. Hence the Trailer Toad and the interest in strengthening the pure "pull" capabilities of the hitch. If the trailer has hydraulic brakes "disc" capable of stopping its own weight the coach is only activating those and is not doing the stopping or slowing of the trailer, the trailer is doing that. The reason for the comparison of electric over hydraulic drum or disc, is that electric are really inadequate in any situation or barely so. Discs are far superior to either of the others and will readily stop a load with out fade. Manufacturers are not going to differentiate any variances between braking systems and will apply a generic rating covering the weakest link. The real issue here just brought up, would be verifying the structural integrity of the modified or redesigned or newly designed hitch. For me building the hitch is not an issue, Certifying it could be. I added the dually as an example only of something w/less power, smaller chassis, less braking ability, greater capacity X2. Yes I haul the feather lite with both. The Panther is as Brett described, Hydraulic over hydraulic fixed caliper 4 piston Disc w/ABS and C12 with a 2 stage Jake, not an exhaust brake. It will throw everything off the counter under heavy braking no problem. The axel location on the 24' Feather Lite allows for a greater than five hundred pounds tongue weight when the car and ATV are loaded. The over all increase in weight is under the 2000 pound example. Carl, I tried to send you a personal note and your mail slot is apparently full and the coach does not have a tag axel. It is an 8 air bag suspension, it is not a BF Goodrich Velvet Ride. Thanks, I appreciate the input, Bill

Great thread even if it is an old one. I am 70, limber and exasperated with the way purported professionals treat those that feed them. Statically 50% of the shops are crooked, of the other 50%, half of them are crooked part of the time and that leaves 25% that are worth your patronizing them. This forum can help and does spread the word for both. I too do all of my changes and other maintenance. I will leave the really heavy stuff to ALLISON or CAT. That said both Wagner CAT and Stewart and Stevenson (ALLISON) in Denver were very fair when we discovered the cracked bell housing on the 3126B and when the drive shaft decided to leave and put a hole in the valve body of the transmission. Five thousand miles later all is well in Colorado. Bill

Ok, then allow me to add another element to the equation. The coach assumes no additional weight other than the towed weight. Bill, I think there are some generic actions by manufacturers that cover their behinds. This is for my information and someone else that has structural knowledge might benefit or not. There is brain power here to draw on. So being specific to the coach, mine, the Panther. With the added power, and structural changes, weight limit went up 2,000 pounds total, hitch and tow weight remained the same, same hitch. The rear chassis is not constructed like the Zanzibar at all. The C ([) channel has been doubled to accommodate the C12 CAT, both in weight and torque capacities. There is little doubt in my mind that the hitch assembly is the same on both coaches thereby placing a stated limitation of 500 tongue weight and 5000 tow. By increasing the size/thickness of the cross member bar of the hitch assembly and the receiver it should be able to safely tow a greater load. I am not intending to tow an additional 5,000 pounds or looking to tow 10,000 on the hitch but possibly 2,000 making a total of 7,000 or less. Now remember no added tongue weight. The C12 has 125 more horses and nearly double the torque of the 3126B. It is not the weak link. I am ok with you guys being the devil's advocate. I need the input to determine how to design the changes. I look at my 03 Ford Super Duty dually and it has a greater capacity and everything is smaller except the hitch assembly. Thanks B

Brett, I would concur that the assumption would be that all have brakes. That said, are not hydraulic brakes significantly better than electric brakes generally used on trailers which are at least in my mind the weakest point if adding towing weight. Yes the hitch could be as well, but assuming it is not the weakest link. Thanks Bill

Alright, here is my question for a discussion. Phrasing this is going to be difficult. All of the MH builders have a maximum given towing weight, lets say for reference 5,000 pounds. I am not referencing tongue weight here only towing weight. Why is this not different for cars being towed and utilizing their hydraulic disc brakes versus a trailer with electric brakes? Electric brakes certainly do not have the same braking ability and are woefully inadequate. First, they are drum brakes and fade much faster than discs, Secondly, they use the face of the drum as the friction surface as opposed to the radial surface of the drum as do cars. Thirdly, setting the modulating pressure of the controller is left to the ability of the driver/operator. If the trailer brakes were converted to surge hydraulic disc brakes, which can then be tied directly to the coach's hydraulic system with a modulator, why can't the trailer weight be increased over that 5,000 pound threshold? Now remember no reference to tongue weight it is just towed weight. My first acknowledgement to this question would be that the cross member of the hitch assembly would need to be upsized to a heavier wall thickness as would the receiver tube. Bill

Odd, I have not had any adverse responses to my technical posts on iRv2 as of this posting. I have had a couple of thanks and when I have posted questions to specific people ie personal notes, have had a 50/50 reply or no reply. This will be interesting going forward. I have enjoyed this forum greatly and had the best response to comments and questions...lucky me no bad ones. Bill

Carl, Where are you, more questions here... What kind of amp draw for this refrigerator that you are using. I wonder if it would be suitable for a coach used for dry camping. Does this unit fit the cavity for a Norcold double door vintage 99/02 since you do not have a date on your coach. How did you get it in the coach, thru the door or a window? Just contemplating for down the road. Bill

Were there specific models that had more issues than others or were the problems confined to front or rear models? Were there issues with the SMC coaches particularly the side radiatored coaches? Were the SMC coach radiators three cores deep or four. Did these problems arise after Monaco bought them? Are the problems a fault of the mounting style, or a failure of the mounts? Are the radiators just inadequate by their design? If mounting were changed would the radiators have survived? Thanks Bill

Seriously, A Great place for cheap advice that works most of the time. Thanks to you all b

Bill, I hate to admit but I at 70 and in the auto repair/restoration business for 38 years I got a lot out of your post. I won't tell what because Porsches do not have drive shafts. Had you posted it last summer I might not have thrown the shaft out of my coach in spite of the fact that IT WAS ALWAYS greased. When it was all over I spent $4,000 getting it back together and I did half the work! Thanks Bill

Herman, Carl,Dave Atherton I have to admit my Safari Zanzibar is a lighter coach, as is the 1999 Safari Panther I just bought and correspondingly lighter rubber under them than your comparatively larger coaches. I have too as well, admit I would likely not do a tire change on one of them either. I apologize for using that as an example. I did not realize what a response I would generate. For me I have had poor luck at CW, having had tires stolen, at TCI, tires stolen...too many details makes for a long story. The point I was trying to make was that there are many repairs being paid for with disappointing results. This forum exists because you three and others like you take the time and lots of it, to ask and answer many varied and repetitive questions about a multitude of vehicles, both new and old but predominately out of warranty older coaches. With this forum and help from many of the retired and not so tired professionals, individuals could easily make many more repairs or go to service facilities fore-armed as to what to expect and how some of these services should be preformed. Justifiably, folks react negatively after unsatisfactory repairs have been made. I can tell you that one only has at best a 50% chance that a given job will be done correctly the first time. Out of the other 50%, 50% of them will do it right and fairly, that leaves only 25% of the whole that will get it right and charge a fair amount every time. If the consumer would be proactive in his or her education or knowledge of the subject matter, the results would likely be better. If more people took advantage, prior to repairs being made, of the forum and of fellas like you Carl, Herman, Dave Atherton (Cat diesel guy),and made the effort to make some of the repairs themselves, check books would be heavier and they would be much happier probably a little frustrated along the way as well but in the end...just sayin

I would agree with Herman. There is a mountain of things you all can do with out writing a big check. At the worst it requires making a statement like: I do not know how to: It has never taken any skin of my nose to admit a lack of knowledge. There are many of us here that you see repeatedly answering some purportedly dumb questions over and over. But the real fact is that the only dumb question was the one you never asked. There are untold dollars to be saved by using this forum for your fiscal gain and learning pleasure. I am 70 years old, and not a big guy, Herman may be older, and bigger, are you Herman, and we are still doing the majority of our own maintenance. I change my tires by myself, roll'em around, put them back on, I do not lay them down, dumb and heavy. I have changed the tires on the rims, dumb. I changed the brake rotors and yes they were heavy, made sure they did not go all the way to the ground either. The point here is try, ask questions take a little risk on your own behalf. Tools are inexpensive at Harbor Freight and Home Depot with lifetime warranties. If you screw up yell at yourself and learn...FUN It is a lot less frustrating than paying professionals to learn at your expense. Bill

Jim, Assuming it is a Base coat, Clear coat acrylic Urethane, Two weeks if it is warm, thirty days should be more than sufficient if it is cooler. It is not an air based cure but a chemical reaction cure. With respect to the question about or the comment about removing it,the bra. The 3M material should look good for ten years and perhaps longer on our coaches, particularly if a pusher as there is no engine heat to degrade it. Removing it is tedious or slow at best. There are a couple tricks we utilized over time. One is a hair drier or a heat gun and a cool day as opposed to a warm one. For some reason the plastic came up better. Obviously the hair drier or heat gun is used to warm, not hot, just warm the plastic and the adhesive so you can pull ever so slowly to allow time for the adhesive to release. Pull too fast, and you have a million small pieces, pull slowly and evenly you will end up with sheets. If the plastic is heated to much it will loose its integrity and just tear into bits. One of the things you will discover about the plastic is that there are chips when you pull it up that must be then repaired. The plastic really does not prevent the chips. It prevents the chips from leaving. It maintains the integrity of the paint surface visually. To extend the life of the plastic bra material it can be polished with a "very fine" abrasive in order to clean it and it should be waxed.

Having been in the paint and body business for nearly 40 years the answer to the question can you do it yourself? The answer is a resounding YES. The chief requirement is patience. The other stuff: a sharp pen knifeand a plastic squeegee, likely a small one 3 inches and a larger one 5 or 6 inches and a couple bottles of isopropyl alcohol and a quart spray bottle for its application. The alcohol is typically diluted by 25% though I have used it straight. Buy the 3M bra material, most of us believe it to be the better out there. Since it is your first time, the material is not expensive and you will have a learning curve...buy at least one strip the width of the coach cab so, you probably get where I am going, you have some to experiment with. You will need it. Tape off with masking tape where the top edge is going to end up across the front of the coach as a guide line. It will be the bottom edge of the tape that is the guide line. Wash with soap and water the entire area prior to taping. Wipe with an wax and grease remover and wash again. Then wipe the whole area with the isop.. alcohol straight or mixed. This material will stretch quite a bit but on a large radius it is very awkward to work with. Does this coach have a gen set located in the front? I assume the bra will be above the opening or the opening cut into a portion of one or more pieces. What I am driving at, is you would like to have minimal seams or no seams where there is an open plane. A sheet needs to run from one side to the other. Any openings are cut at the existing body joints or seams in the middle of that joint with the pen knife after the plastic has been installed. The excess is then rolled over the edge to give a blind edge so the plastic edge is not visible. Many installers do not do this because it takes an extra step an is time consuming. It also in their defense takes a lot of skill to cut the plastic with out cutting the painted finish. OK Now the installation. WASH YOU HANDS TWICE BEFORE HANDLING THE adhesive backed plastic. Your finger prints will show if extreme care is not taken prior to stripping the paper. It is impossible to work a full piece of this stuff, so don't peel it all off at once!!! Begin by putting the ISOP mixture in a the quart spray bottle. Begin by removing 3 feet of the paper backing, spritz the back (adhesive surface) wet! You will not get it too wet and the coach surface, you will not get it to wet! Stick the plastic to the outside edge, where ever that is going to be and allow about three + or - inches to hang over as a grab handle. Do not stick it hard, just enough so as to have it hold itself in place as you begin to place the plastic along your guide line tape. As you move around the cap, pull more paper in sections until you are all the way across. Keep it wet, you can touch it all you want, lightly, as long as it is wet and you fingers are wet! Once all the way around and it is stuck enough that it will not just come loose, you may go back to the other side and pull it loose back as far to the center as necessary and add some tension to it, paying attention to your tape guide line and then the same for the other side. Be patient once you start a sheet you cannot stop till is down tight. Using the squeegee begin in the center of the plastic and work the moisture which is your friend outwards toward the edges. You have two centers to work from, the coach, toward each side and the center of the plastic upward and downward. This outside surface must be kept wet as well since it is also the lubricant for the squeegee. This is where the money is where the result is, in your patience. You may find it necessary to pull the plastic up and reset it. If you do then be sure to wet it down again. Keep you hands wet...no gloves either, wet fingers only, more squeegeeing. The squeegee is used to move the trapped air and isop mixture from under the plastic. "Tiny" air bubbles or isop bubbles will disappear evaporate in a couple months or sooner if you are unable to remove them all. There is no substitute for miles around the track in other words done many times. The plastic will come off pretty easily in the first week if you are unhappy with your efforts. Good luck. If you need more help or have questions send me a personal note.

It is quieter and should be more so when the front section is finished between and above the front wheel wells. I found the floor where the steering assembly perforates the floor was a big culprit for admitting noise and cold. The hole in the floor assembly was nearly 12 inches square with an aluminum sheet over it, the rubber boot, and a layer of carpet. This is not much for reducing either noise or cold. I packed 2 inches of foil faced foam into this area. It took a little time to shape it so as to allow minimum clearance around the shaft and universals. Another area that is quieter is the bedroom. The engine drone is definitely softer. B

This summer past another friend in Milton Freewater, Oregon insulated a portion of his 2000 Safari Zanzibar to enhance the heat retention of his basement cargo area. I looked at what he did and thought what a great idea. So here it is: the cargo area is created by welding a framework of, in our case, both Safaris and all of the Safaris are constructed similarly, with 1 1/2 inch thin wall square tubing. The floor for the basement is laid on top of this framework and then carpeted. Underneath, outside are some large voids that we filled with foil faced foam, specifically 1 inch and 1/2 inch 4' X 8' foam sheets obtained from Home Depot. This stuff can be cut quite accurately on a small table saw or cut less so with a box knife and a straight edge. Now since the framework was 1 1/2 inches deep, the foam board was sandwiched together with 3M spray contact adhesive also obtained at HD. I sprayed the bottom side of the floor and one side of a foam panel sized tight enough that they would stay put when placed in their respective cavities and then the same procedure for the next layer. When all the cavities were filled I used some 2 inch diameter plastic concrete form retaining fasteners and 2 inch long, coated deck screws, 4 per panel to permanently retain the foam boards in place. I was able to utilize this procedure on the inside side wall behind the 14 foot slide, both ends and the bottom of a portion of the coach floor. I boxed the metal heat registers installed below the floor (heat radiator to the heat the outside). There are numerous seams between pieces and as you might surmise one could not do the exterior wall in one piece with all the factory perforations for wiring, gas plumbing, chassis framing and such. All of these seams need to be taped for a number of reasons the least of which would be to prevent the accumulation of moisture but to create an integral unit of foam. A complication or deviation from the original plan. I also used the space aged foil faced bubble insulation which amounts to 1/4 in thick, as some of the framing had only an 1 1/4 inch shoulder or ledge. In this case I tried to put the foiled bubble insulation on the inside and the 1 inch on top. This particular layering produces an insulating value of R12 or very close to it. There were some places where I used bubble and 1/2 foam board. There were places on the front and back wall where I laminated foam boards together with a layer of bubble in between the two as conditions allowed. But as I stated earlier, it all needs to be taped with a 2 or 3 inch wide adhesive backed foil tape. I taped over all the plastic retainers. Home D did not have any of the really wide 3 inch tape and their 2 inch wide tape is very expensive when you consider what you get on big roll of 3 inch "Venture" which is the brand I used. There are others out there, look around you will find it. The HVAC community uses a lot of this material. The stuff is very sticky and touching your fingers does not seem degrade the adhesive value at all. When I had panels where foam edges were exposed, I pre-taped the edges prior to adhering to the coach, with both the spray adhesive and the plastic retainers. I made special panels for the outside water bay as well. I used about 4 rolls of the 3 inch tape 1 roll 2 inch tape and 3 cans of 3M adhesive, and do not buy the expensive adhesive, buy the lesser of the two or three there. I think I used 6 sheets of 1/2 foam and 5 sheets of 1 inch board and 3 rolls of 24 inch wide foil faced bubble insulation. I paid special attention to the engine bay and the closet area of my Safari as I found numerous holes that allowed both dust/dirt and heat to engulf the bedroom, particularly heat after shut down. In the end after shut down, there is less than a ten degree temperature rise in the bedroom!!! Prior, after a days drive open the windows for a while to cool it off. Another thing I did along this project was to add 3/4 inch insulation behind any cabinet I could get it into and when I did this I discovered numerous cold holes that were used by our nemesis, that 4 legged critter, the infamous "MOUSE". In my coach the hi-ways to heaven have been sealed up. I had a blast doing this and at 70 I could not be happier with the results. There is still a big area up front from the cargo bay to the front firewall to do next summer and I will have a four season coach. The whole basement stays toasty with minimal heating effort which translates to warmer floor and a happier Misses.

A small increase or decrease in tire pressure can have a positive or negative effect on how a given vehicle tracks, particularly on worn roads and byways. It takes time to determine.

Interesting here, he stated that he replaced 4 of the tires and "the vibration has been reduced to more of a hum like running over a rumble strip". Sounds to me as though the other 2 tires are suspect. However, in order to check the shaft joints, block the wheels so it won't roll and then take it out of gear or park, so there no load on the shaft. You should be able to move the shaft a little and feel any movement in the universal joints, it should be minimal. Another way to check the joint would be to drive it long enough to have all components warmed up maybe 20 miles or so a little farther won't hurt and dirt cheap to do. Shut it down and then crawl underneath and check the universals for excessive heat. If one is a great deal hotter than the other you likely have found a failing joint. Since you removed 4 of the tires, one might wonder what the production dates were or are on the other two, maybe older than they appear and are acting like a box of rocks, less so since you removed some of them. Check the slip joint between the two halves of the drive shaft. This should be tight and "no" lateral movement, but it should slide freely. Could it be the carrier bearing between the two or three shaft sections. There maybe some disassembly of this assembly to check accurately. I had a 993 Porsche TwinTurbo a few years back that had a similar problem...the tires were hard as rocks and it rode like it was on rocks. When I replaced them it was unbelievable how nice the ride was. The tires were just plain old and we know not all tire are created equal!

There are numerous enhancements to be made within the manufacturers production guidelines that have little to no adverse affect on tear and tear. Not everything the manufacturers produce is designed to produce the ultimate level of performance and a great deal is dictated today by DOT. I too have used the AERO 5" Stainless and found it to be pleasing to the ear. It can be noisy if one has a heavy foot, otherwise the volume is modulatable with a lighter application of the foot. The biggest gain has been from wrapping the exhaust with the 2 inch fiberglass exhaust tape. The heat reduction in the bedroom of our 2001 Safari Zanzibar has been significant. I went one step further though in this effort to reduce the bedroom temp and added in some places 1 inch and in other places 1/2 inch of foil faced foam board and in some areas an additional layer of foil faced space age bubble insulation to interior and exterior surfaces in order to reflect this heat away from the bedroom. The result has been amazing, with little to negligible heat rise 5 minutes to ten minutes after shut down. 1 inch foam and 1/4 inch foil faced bubble equals R12! Back to the heat wrap. It stands to reason that if the fiberglass wrap keeps 90% of the heat in the exhaust tubing, then wrapping the intake plenum tubing to keep the heat out will translate to ultimately more power by increasing the density of the air which is the reason we have inner coolers or CAC units to decrease the heat from incoming air which increases density which equals horsepower!!!. Will we feel it, likely not but races are won by thousandths or hundredths of a second and can we feel or sense such a small fraction of time, I doubt it. Over time it will add up. I might add here to that the wholesale cost of the AERO muffler is about 130 dollars. I have seen the retail price as high as $250 from some of our supporting retailers when they are giving us a "deal".

Ok I want some input here and I too believe all said and have followed the dictums of 7 year change. I want this question answered by all of you so I have the ammo to argue with when I talk to the dealer where I just bought my preferred coach, a 1999 Safari Continental Panther with 11,200 honest miles on it. It still has the original Goodyears on it in fine shape. There is apparently no visable fracturing on the sidewalls or tread. This coach was stored inside a climate controlled warehouse and appears new. Its overall condition is stellar as the mileage indicates. The tire size is 275 R70 22.5 16 ply. I have had another Safari owner and friend between me and the dealer so far. He has inspected the rubber and confirms their condition. What say you all???

With all of this I too am glad I have AN OLD SAFARI ZANZIBAR...good luck b