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jleamont

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Posts posted by jleamont

  8. Posted · Report reply

    2 hours ago, manholt said:

    Thank you Joe, for making me realize that I have to put in more disclaimers in the future...Like chassis that are no longer used on any type of coach, also I will discard the position of the diesel engine...Super C is in front, Class A FRED is in front, etc!  

     

    Carl glad to help. I am engulfed in truck chassis/body specs and maintenance 5 days a week. There is a lot of options out there, none will take the truck ride out of a truck chassis, not from the chassis manufacturer anyway. Aftermarket, different story. 

  11. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, manholt said:

    To my knowledge, all Motor homes, gas & diesel ride on a truck chassis! 

    Not exactly, the DP chassis is exclusive to the RV industry. Some chassis manufactures make a bus version with spring or air suspension up front basically a more simplified price point chassis.

    Examples;

    Roadmaster customized each chassis for each model. Of course they are gone now, their chassis derived from a commercial Bus. Early models were more of a Bus chassis, later ones were more of an RV type design.

    FCC (Freightliner) Rear engine DP, not sure what they offered over the years for suspension, but I cannot recall ever stumbling upon a FCC DP chassis with spring suspension in an RV. 

    F53 (Ford) Exclusive to the RV industry. Very similar to the F-550 truck chassis, suspension almost identical, brakes are the same along with the powertrain. Gas powered is a different group all together. Ford does make an F59 for the commercial truck stripped chassis, i.e. Step Van chassis which is different from the RV.

    A class C super or otherwise starts its life as a truck, depends on who purchases it and what they build behind the cab. I just checked Freightliner, you can pick axle manufactures for the front, not spring or air suspension. 

  13. Posted · Report reply

    59 minutes ago, CCallaway said:

    I will be buying either just for this trip. The children are 7, 9, and 11 and I know my window is shrinking on when I can take a trip like this.  All our kids are really involved in sports and extracurricular activities and I just don't see us having time to take enough trips after this one to justify the expense/maintenance of keeping the trailer or motorhome. I have considered the cost and close one eye every time I think about it.  I just sold my business and have a little money to play with and just think this would be a fantastic experience for the children. After the trip I will go back to work full time. Wise man told me one day that you can always make more money but you can never make more time.

    Both the Super C and the 5th wheel I was looking at had bunk beds. The beds in the 5th were not right on top of our bedroom which was nice. At the end of the day we plan on being on the road for 4-6 weeks, fly home for a long weekend, and then fly back out to continue our journey. My parents are in their 70's and in good shape but I want to come home to see them on a regular basis and probably fly them out to see us some also. 

     

    Thanks for the comments.

    You are in a position I was in back in 2008. We wanted to take a family trip across the country, my wife looked into renting a Class C. When she got the pricing we dropped the idea. She asked me if we bought a fixer upper and flipped it after the trip could we break even? I looked into it and found a 31' Class C that seemed like a good candidate for the plan. At the time our kids were 8 and 6. We bought the coach February 2008, I worked on it daily for several weeks and got all the defects out of it. Spring arrived and I had an itch to for a shake down local trip, off we went, unit performed perfectly and we had a lot of fun. July rolled around and we took our extended vacation across the country from PA to CA. After returning from the trip we discussed selling the coach, kids flipped out and my wife admitted she had a lot of fun and I will admit, it was the best family vacation ever. We ran that coach up to 2014 and traded it in on the DP we currently have, as they say they rest is history.

    At the time I considered a trailer, my wife's Yukon XL would have made a great tow vehicle. I tried to sell to my wife being cheap but my wife pointed out quickly that wouldn't work with kids and the trip planning at hand. She reminded me of all the potty breaks and how the trailer would make that miserable couple that with the climate we were headed into (HOT) and No AC then having to wait for it to cool at our daily destinations. Plus she planned boondocking along the route, no generator was another concern. A motorhome was our only option at this point. 

    When I traded it in 6 years and 44,000 miles later I got what I paid for in 2008, I felt good about that. I will say I am not sure if I miss that old coach or the memories made with it but it certainly changed our lives and made some wonderful memories. We have also met a few life long friends along the way. 

    Good luck with your decision making and keep in touch.

  14. Posted · Report reply

    2 hours ago, F433921 said:

    My concerns are what are the long term effect on the engine when using  of B20 fuel.  

    The link Jim provided is great for answering questions.

    I have filled up many times from pumps bearing the same label and all I have ever experienced was lower power and MPG's. Our coach is slightly older than yours. I always use a fuel additive at every fill up, when I see those labels I add more, that usually overcomes the MPG and low power issue.

     

  16. Posted · Report reply

    Dan, I would think between Netflix and Hulu and the OTA antenna you should be covered. IF and its a big IF you have good internet coverage. 

    We are in the process of dumping our cable provider at home, installing an antenna back on the chimney, we subscribed to Hulu and Netflix. It will save us almost $200.00 per month. I am not sure how its going to work on the road, but to be honest, most campgrounds have a cable TV hookup, works well for us. When there is no Cable i use the OTA antenna, since we do not watch much TV it also suites. 

  18. Posted · Report reply

    41 minutes ago, WILDEBILL308 said:

    When I was outside earlier you could see your breath and they are forecasting sleet pellets this evening. 

    Great, Ya'll want me to move there. I relocate to that ill be single and homeless after the first January :blink::lol:

    I'll be sleeping in Carl's basement, Coach basement that is :wacko:

  20. Posted · Report reply

    If it were my A that had this issue here is where I would start.

    • Obtain 4 corner weights, adjust tire pressures according to tire manufactures charts, road test, evaluate.
    • Alignment, road test, evaluate. 
    • Seek out aftermarket suspension parts to assist in getting this chassis under control. Here is one example company; https://supersteerparts.com/

    Considering all of the aftermarket parts to get the Freightliner M2 (most common Super C chassis) to handle better, I can only assume it has issues also. 

  23. Posted · Report reply

    Rattler, Welcome to the FMCA Forums! 

    The last tires I bought were only 4 weeks old. Personally I wouldn't go longer than 3 months. If the 6 month window is true I guess you wouldn't have many options other than trying a different manufacture. 

    Are you sure that is the correct size tire (sticker inside the coach displays the 235/80R22.5)? 

  24. Posted · Report reply

    Bruce, Welcome the the FMCA Forums! 

    We have a similar set up as you (same year same coach manufacture), however we have Aquahot so part of this might help, the rest I hope someone else chimes in. 

    We have "COOL, HEAT, FAN" as the options. Aquahot has its own thermostats spread out over 4 zones not connected to the main thermostat. When set our main thermostat on HEAT (which is for the heat pumps) it takes a good 5-10 minutes before you actually get heat, they start off blowing ambient air throughout the interior, which is typically cold. Have you ran them that long? As far as identifying which unit comes on you will have to turn one zone on and listen for the compressor, Monaco ducts are all connected so you will feel air everywhere even if one unit is on at the opposite end of the coach. Ours Zone 1 is the Bedroom Unit, Zone 2 is the front unit. Seems backwards too me also.

    If it is too cold for the heat pumps on the roof, the display will show "ICE", which means the heat pumps will not turn on due to outside air temperature being too cold. I have ONLY gotten this message below 30 Degrees, otherwise they have come on everytime for me. Most say below 36 they will not work. Our's its 30!

    "Furnaces coming on and off", that sounds like they are toggling back and forth due to the actual room temperatures in those zones. These I am not familiar with as I do not have furnaces in ours. 

  25. Posted · Report reply

    3 hours ago, huffypuff said:

    At the pump or over the counter.

    Box store, Walmart, NAPA etc. Some place that turns it fast and stored in a sealed container. I have heard many horror stories purchasing bulk DEF at the truck lanes. You might want to add these to your tool collection;

    https://www.amazon.com/Performance-Tool-W16500-Professional-Tester/dp/B01DVAL4I2/ref=sr_1_5?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjKzHs4-n5wIVFXiGCh3bEAi3EAAYASAAEgLPDPD_BwE&hvadid=274072479561&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9007366&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=13310853782751750841&hvtargid=kwd-318993979639&hydadcr=24660_10400764&keywords=def+test+strips&qid=1580242899&sr=8-5

    https://www.acustrip.com/cgi-bin/proddesc.cgi?s=480508

    DEF Storage, general information;

    https://www.peakhd.com/lifeblood/fluid-thinking/a-guide-to-def-storage-contamination/

     

     

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