dalltop

Space and weight is always an issue. However, I will often monitor the towed vehicle in heavy traffic while the GPS is working and the radio is talking to me. Not sure if that will all work at once real well in those all-in-one units, but it is something to consider. If any one piece fails, you will lose multiple system functions. If the screen fails, then no GPS or Camera. If speaker output stops, then no GPS spoken direction or bluetooth.

I always thought that the Diesel advantage was not HP but torque.

I agree with the floor plan comment. My dad has sold travel trailers and motor homes for years and still does. The floor plan is the biggest reason people will trade in a motor home. I bought a 1995 Fleetwood Bounder. The floor plan sold us. The coach only had 10k miles on it. From a technical stand point the F53 chassis have been around for years. Ford 460 engine parts are available anywhere and parts are less expensive. My regular mechanic can work on most of the frame and engine items without going to a specialist. Most of the inside parts are made by a limited number of manufactures. I can still find plenty of parts for my heaters, ac, and fridge. I drove this motor home to Vegas and back towing my Grand Cherokee. Yes the diesels can out pull and climb me but I just climbed the hill slower. I was not in any hurry. The older motor homes like mine were made when the speed limits were 55 mph. I know mine reaches its max torque of 2200 rpm at 55 mph. When it shifts into over drive it will shift up to max HP which is around 3400 rpm. It is really working the motor to run down the road at 65 - 70. I just do not get in a hurry. CORRECTION I miss spoke (typed) what I meant to say was that when the overdrive disengages and the transmission downshifts to climb or pass that the RPM hits the 3400 max HP. They designed the RV to run at 55 mph either at max torque in top gear or max HP when downshifted. Thank you Wolfe10 for pointing this out.

We travel with our small dog. I understand if the campground allows animals and must carry additional insurance to cover liability which would not normally apply to cats. I have seen several locations on the web that charge a base rate for two individual as additional people, children, and pets are cost extra. I avoid these places.

I sometimes find that even when I have what appears to be a good signal, my laptop does not have the power to transmit back. An external antenna on your laptop will help by allowing you to position your antenna to a better position that will allow for a better line of site to the WiFi antenna. It is a line of site transmission so even if you do not buy the type that is like a mini-dish (directional), mounting as hi as you can on the outside of the coach will help give you better range. Mirror mounted, or mounted like the FM antenna would work well. These type of antenna are $50 - $130.

We bought the unit used and it had an existing wiring for the toad I am not sure how the tow package was installed. My tow vehicle is an older 1997 Jeep so I used a simple magnetic mount lighting system and the wire chaffed. No fuses blew and I could see the toad lights were working. I can not complain about the tow lights. I have been 10,000 miles this year with them. The are positioned well and are very visable. I simple need to ad another item to the check list. Check wire condition in additon to lights working. I may look into wiring the Jeep, I will also investigate the diode option, especially if wiring into the Jeep directly. The motor home is a Fleetwood Bounder 1995 built on the Ford F53 chassis. I should have included that too. Anything built on this F53 chassis may have the same issue.

Wanted to share this experience incase anyone else has this issue. We were leaving Weekie Wachee heading back to Jacksonville Florida. I was running with the cruise and it was getting dark so I turned on the headlights. The cruise disconnected and the overdrive lockup torque converter started cycling on and off. If I turned of the headlights the cruise control and transmission worked correctly. Only the parking lights or flashers would cause the issue. If I flashed the headlights for passing it would not trip the cruise control. I stopped for full and did a walk around check and then disconnect all of the grounds cleaned them and tested. Still had the problem. My cousin also told me that if it was not a ground issue then it must be a voltage issue. I was leaning concerned that the charging system was having an issue even thought the voltage looked ok on the needle and I had a new chassis battery. I pulled the coach batteries and had them tested at a local auto parts store. They tested out ok. I was not happy to be sitting in Wal-Mart parking lot at 8:30 pm doing this but the next day was New Years Eve and my options for getting parts was getting harder by the minute and I was scheduled to be back at work at in 5 days with 900 miles to go and at this point I could only drive during daylight. It rained that night. The next morning the right turn signal had stopped working. I pulled the emergency flasher and the right turn signal would come on very faint. Traced the issue to faulty toad wiring. Thank God it was something simple. I repaired the fault and we made it home without any further issues. So the issue was voltage being in the wrong place. The fault in the wiring was allowing a small voltage leak from the running lights to the Brake light system which was causing the cruise control to turn off and causing the tranny lock up torque converter to cycle on and off.

We bought our used motor home this year. It was supposed to have been serviced from the dealership. I stopped at a Camping World as we traveled when it was time for the 3000 mile service. I had not switched to the 100% synthetic yet. I wanted to check oil consumption before making the transition to synthetic. The MH only had 10,800 miles when I bought it but it was a 1995 so I wanted to be sure there was not any major leaking or burning of oil. I asked twice that the unit be greased and all fluids topped and checked. Full service. Now even Jiffy Lube will check differentials, tranny, windshield washer fluids, coolant fluids along with air filters, lights, wipers and so on. I expected a full service to be that. When I got back home it was time for the next service. I serviced the unit myself and found that there was no way that the rear differential plug had been off in the past 15 years. The drive shaft had not been greased, there was no way the air filter should have passed based on 3000 miles (two weeks) from the last Camping World service. I would not judge all Camping Worlds based on one shop but if you can, try to use your local trusted mechanic. Always check the work. My service is easy since I am running a gas Ford 460. My regular mechanic is a transmission specialist so I let him service the transmission. This is more so he can inspect it as he services the unit incase there is anything that does not look right.

We purchased our first motorhome this year. My wife of 22 years and I have tent camped to Arizona twice and once to California from Maryland's Eastern Shore. We continued to tent camp until our daughter was old enough to sleep in a big girl bed and we bought a pop-up in 2004. We still have the pop-up because the wife can not bear to sell it yet. In five years we have been all over the east coast from Ottawa, to Florida multiple times. Our daughter turned 8 years old this year and we wanted to take her on a road trip across country. Traveling in the motorhome was a great trip. We bought a very clean 1995 Fleetwood Bounder 35uw this year in June. We have put 8000 miles since June this year and we are planning on spending a couple weeks in Florida over her Christmas break this year. My mom lives in Ottawa and we will be up to see her in the spring. I am David and work as a regional IT systems manager for a newspaper group, my wife Dawn has worked full time as a stay at home mom and part time bookkeeper for the past 8 years, and Laurie is a full time 3rd grader. Princes, our Lhasoapso/Terrier travels with us and enjoys going "bye, bye" as much as we do. My dad has sold RV's as long as I can remember so I guess it was just a matter of time before I bought one.