jleamont

Is that what's that is for, bowl cleaning? We do not have one but many we looked at did. Of course the sales person had no idea, I was happy he figured out how the key opened the door. Ha, one could get that right, I had to do it

Carl, I believe they are all in route to Springfield for the rally. I have observed when something like that is going on all you hear on the forum is.....nothing/crickets. Kay will respond to your PM I'm sure.

Shannon, this little tool if you have an air compressor works great and its not to expensive. https://www.matcotools.com/catalog/product/AC91200/AIR-OPERATED-LIGHT-DUTY-VACUUM-PUMP/ Also, I would try and add Freon with one of those one shot cans you can purchase at most auto part stores. As far as searching for the leak, look closely at your compressor, when Freon leaks it often leaves an oil trail, I'd bet its either there or at your charge ports up front.

Nice coach, love that interior and Welcome! As for the rest of you

Congratulation's! I'm glad that worked out and you are all set to hit the road again.

Harryglos, I have a unique situation with our first RV purchase, my experience as a Dealer technician and I have probably less than half the experience as most of the others on here with being around these for many years. I worked for a large truck dealer that worked on Motorhomes, we had a Ford, CAT, Cummins and Isuzu Franchise's. We did mostly chassis work. Over the years you develop relationships with customers over the years and they would ask us to work on other stuff beyond the chassis, so for that I was self taught. We bought our first RV from a small dealership, the owner called me prior to pick up and told me to allow him and the service manager 6-8 hours to go through it with us a pick up. I thought....what???? We arrived early on a Saturday morning and we literally went through the unit filling it with water, running all of the appliances, tank empting and we actually winterized it when we were done (it was February in PA). I picked the service manages mind since he was a tech prior to stepping up to his current position. That was great since I worked on so many before I was able to connect the dots through him. It was a great experience for us, sounds like you will also get some useful information. Take notes!

I was never a fan of the two rail design. Anytime you flex an RV body something is going to weaken and fail, from cabinet mounting, walls cracking to floors popping up. That was the selling point to me on a Monocoque chassis. Since the only way to get a true Monocoque chassis is to purchase a bus and build the RV part yourself or purchase a cookie cutter coach on a Semi Monocoque chassis i.e a true old Roadmaster chassis. Hopefully the new regime will flip the reputation back to what it once was from the intermediate companies partial destruction.

Tom, not sure about who owns what, but after looking at the picture one more time it has Freightliners proprietary wheels on it. It appears to be a Semi Monocoque chassis like the old Roadmaster design vs the Freightliner XC which is just a two rail design but it doesn't have the outboard air bags for stability. While an improvement its still a Freightliner with a stolen name of a legend .

Well that just answered it. http://www.monacocoach.com/returntopower/ That is not a traditional "Roadmaster chassis" design.

Am I the only one that finds this confusing; The superior performance of the Cummins ISL engine is an ideal match for the 2016 Diplomat. When you ride on the all-new Roadmaster Chassis, you get the full support and proven expertise of Freightliner Custom Chassis and its nationwide service network with over 400 locations, many of which include RV-dedicated Oasis locations. And with 24/7 Direct, 2016 owners receive direct access to factory technicians who can respond to all inquiries and technical issues.

Factory pick up cost more? . Wouldn't that save you money or maybe just a small amount for factory to put it in service, not that the dealers do it correctly anyway. But why the added cost?

Harry, good luck with your purchase. Please understand we don't want to see another fellow RV'r get taken for a ride, that is why this post has gotten so much traction. Usually we hear the horror stories after. On a good note if that chassis becomes a white knuckle experience there is a bunch of aftermarket products to dial it in. If you knew it up front you might get it thrown in. If you were good with the ride quality than you should be set. Now comes the task of locating a dealer that can support your needs after the sale and as close to home as possible. I can't help with that. keep us posted on your decision. Joe

After my friends Fleetwood wouldn't steer with a full water tank and my C was overloaded with no personal belongings and empty tanks, it really opened my eyes to what is out there and what they will do to put someone in a seat.

Agreed! Gas vs diesel or used vs new need not be on this post. I'm more concerned with the OP buying based off of what the salesperson told him assuming the OEM engineered and built it properly. As we all have seen in the past with others the majority of the time engineering and build quality go out the window and the consumer gets stuck. If one persons advice on here can help someone avoid that, great! I would hate his first trip out with his new toy be a white knuckle experience, my instinct tells me it would be with all of that wind sail.

Harry, I would like to say yes to your questions above, most of them anyway. I believe most RV companies would over build on a chassis, and most have and will every single day. I hold Newmar to a higher standard, but that's not to say they won't do it also. Since you will be making a purchase that is significant, take what you get in here and do your homework. Drive both models above and see for yourself, run them both down a interstate let a tractor trailer pass you feel them out, stop at a scale pull into it. Weight the unit, while it might not yield true numbers since it's not loaded it will give you an idea of the creditably of the builders weight numbers. Do yourself another favor, get numbers from the sales person and nothing else, scooping ice cream on Monday and selling RV's on Tuesday doesn't make you an expert. Most of the ones that have been around a while have no clue or idea what they are doing and are not experts on the product they represent. I learned this while RV shopping and we were amazed even the salesperson that has been around a few years could find his or her way to work every morning. If you doubt any of this take the time and read the other posts on FMCA from people like yourself, you will be amazed (horrified is probably a better word) what you will read. If it were me I would do as much homework as possible (as Rodger mentioned above) once you have that coach you are stuck with it. While everyone has their own opinions, the recommendations on here are as a result of watching so many people fall into a hole when making the decisions you are considering. Watching people jump into something that was engineered incorrectly or built incorrectly is a regular occurrence in the RV world and we read about it every single day. In my opinion, you are on the right track with the product line being considered. I did look at Newmar prior to our purchase in 2014.

Rodger brought up some good points. Something to add, I haven't driven a 39' gas coach, since Ford is now running the 6 speed and increased HP and Torque. I would be curious how it runs and handles with stock suspension, mostly with sway from passing vehicles, also what is the towing capacity? Watch out for that also, a coach that large increases the weight so it might decrease your towing possibilities, just keep that in mind while shopping depending on your car you may have to shorten the coach so your existing car can be pulled behind it.

Bill, a rack on top of a DP. Hmmmm, when that tire drops hopefully it bounces away from your coach and not off of the side wall. Wildebill, I just renewed my Coachnet and didn't notice it, I will have to go back and re read the options.

Harry, I've only read a few posts from you and you already sound like one of us ! Enjoy when you purchase make sure to join and post pictures in the gallery, I would love to see your new coach. Enjoy and safe travels!

Harryglos, welcome to get FMCA forum! If it were me I would go for the Newmar Gas over the Palazzo. The Newmar quality would be significantly better than the other. Depending on what you are using it for and if you were set on a diesel I would look in the used market. There are some really nice gently used higher quality used diesels on the market. We looked at a Palazzo in 2014 while we were shopping for our second coach (first was a gas class c). Since we had some experience already we were horrified over the quality of the Palazzo and lack of storage. I also wasn't a fan of almost no engine access on the coach which calculates into much higher maintenance costs. Also do not rule out Tiffen products for a gas coach. In my opinion Newmar or Tiffen would be my only two choices for a gas class a motorhome. We recently browsed a few new diesels, and I was shocked how poor the quality was with Forest River, Thor and Damon. Not sure where you are shopping but here is an example of nice used diesels. I'm in PA and I would make a trip to them if I were in the market and they had something I was interested in. good luck with your search, if you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask. http://motorhomesoftexas.com

I tried to up load my tank bay photos. Doesn't work on the forum or gallery now. my fresh is on the bottom and black and grey just above on a shelf. All plumbing is right in your face when you open the door on the access side, the opposite side is my wet bay. Hopefully his Monaco is the same. Looks like a fairly simple project to tackle especially for a dealer....as long as the tech has some sort of clue what he or she is doing.

He sent me a message also. Poor guy! It's a tank, something from another coach has to fit or can be retrofitted to work.

Carl, 295/80R22.5 is the original tire size. I prefer not to carry a spare. But I also don't want to sit for 5 hours on the side of the road. Time is money and them chasing a tire down can really add up. That's probably why the dealer put 295/75R22.5's on it, but they are the wrong load range.

Roger, I watched the video, walked out to the coach with a tape measure and was pleasantly surprised to see my basement doors are 47" wide. So I can actually fit one under the coach. My size is common among over the road busses but not common amongst tire dealers for some odd reason. Size; 295/80R22.5 I guess next year I will order up the proper size. I have two matching aluminum wheels that I have not installed on the inner duals yet (inner duals are steel now). I think what I'm going to do is replace the incorrect size drive tires next year swing those aluminum inner wheels on at that time and either purchase a 5th tire new for a spare at that time or see if the tire dealer has a decent used one to toss in the basement. I will mount them myself, I have all the required tools to do so, my blue cobra hasn't seen much action in a few years since I sold the mobile truck repair business. P.S. Love your website, I have sent several people from social media to it for advice. That is a great tool! Thank you Joe

Shalom, were you flushing the tank when this happened? What was the level in the tank when this occurred Was the coach level? I just read up on this and I have a better understanding of how it can happen, but still curious if I should pour water down my roof vent to verify its open?

Help me understand, how does the vent become clogged, and is this something I should be checking and if so how often and how would you do that? http://usedrvparts.visonerv.com/cgi-bin/c/rvsalvagemotorhomes-partingout.pl These guys seem to have a bunch of Monaco products for parts.