I own a 35ft 2002 LaPalma with Workhorse 8.1L. After talking with techs and MH owners for almost 4 years I had a Banks package installed in 2006. What I wanted was more power on hills, cooler operating temp, less shifting on the Allison and maybe a little better milage, but gas milage was not the top priority. Also, a couple of times earlier I had experienced some sparkplug wire heating problems. Even though Workhorse gave me great support on this issue it was not completely solved.
First trip out with Banks I noticed more power when climbing the Blue Mts out of Pendleton, Ore. I climbed that hill at least 10mph faster then before and then for the rest of the trip South, I noticed much less shifting in the tranny. The milage at first didn't seem to be an improvement until I realized that it was more consistent when towing my CRV then before. I was now getting 8mpg on a regular basis instead of part of the time. Now I don't know where all this talk of 10mpg is coming from because I have never been able to achieve that at all even when not towing, but I have been able to get 9mpg at times when not towing. Another bonus I was hoping for was no more sparkplug wire burnup problems. Well I been running the same plugwires now for 3 years with no evidence of heat damage.
Overall, I am very pleased with Banks and all the tech support from all sources. As far as justifying this purchase, you can't, the pay back is way down the road. The payback I am getting now is a better overall Motorhome to travel in and that's what I wanted. Besides, who can really justify owning a MotorHome, you do it because you want to.
