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It is not the route for everyone! I remember some steep drop offs on US 550 heading north to Silverton . My DW was very quiet in those spots. There is still a lot of beautiful scenery else where.

Do you know what effect it will have on the 3176 Cat? There are a lot of them out there in the older DPs.

I hope that there are some places between here and Colorado to find diesel with less bio in it. I have found better quality fuel at the high volume stops over the years however. Not using any diesel since Nov of 2011, I have not kept up with the latest news. Kinda hope Lucas or one of the other additive mfgs. comes out with something to help. My Cat was built in 2002.

We bought a 2012 Forester with a manual from an area dealer recently. The sales lady told me that manual transmissions are about to be discontinued in the Forester and several other models. I have not verified her statement, but she has been at the dealer ship for almost 20 years. Guess she knows what she is doing. Ours has been outfitted with a Blue Ox Base Plate and wiring package. I plan on taking it for a trial run behind our Phaeton next week. Weighs around 3400# and Subarus are very reliable cars. This is our sixth one over a period of about 35 years. Act quickly, and be prepared to settle for late model used if you are in a hurry.

All of the above and bio diesel is a scam perpetrated on the diesel users of America by well connected special interests and well connected lobbyists. We can't keep dumping food into our fuel tanks. It also has no real impact on our energy needs.

We have run it several times in our 34gasser ( no exhaust brake ) from Durango to Ouray. In October we will leave Lake City heading to Montrose on US 50 pulling a Subaru Forester behind a 40 ft DP with an exhaust brake. We will then head south on US 550 maybe stopping in Silverton for a couple of days and the on to Durango. Not bragging just stating a fact/ I am an experienced mountain runner in a tractor trailer with no incidents during a long career. My advice is to keep your speed down and pay careful attention to your task. Don't worry about the cars that may be backed up behind you. Most of them are probably enjoying the scenery. There will places where you can pull over although sometimes far between. Use your retarder to full advantage through downshifting. If you are afraid of heights take the lengthy detours, but you will miss some amazing scenery. Be sure that your slack adjusters are well greased and in good shape. Re: Fall Scenery. Normally after about the first week in September the aspen start to turn yellow up high, but the area seems to be getting a lot of rain again this year. That really slowed the fall colors last year when we were out there. Hope that this helps. It is a beautiful part of the world.

Leadville is over 10,000 ft. Everybody in your group OK with high elevation? Buena Vista is close to Leadville and Salida, with lower elevation. Salida is a neat town by the way. We love the Boathouse Restaurant right on the Arkansas River. We are headed through there in August. Probably stop a day or two on our way to Lake City.

I-84 to the Mass Pike, exit at Auburn onto I-290, to I-495 north, to I-95 then North to Maine. 495 can get busy but it beats trying to go through Boston. There are some backroads, but be careful in New England. Low underpasses can be an issue. If your desire is to get to Maine with the least amount of trouble, the roads that I have listed really are the best way.

Good looking coach. I haven't bought anything new with wheels on it since our 1988 gasser. My new one is a 2003 Phaeton purchased in May. It was garaged only 40 miles from our home. Just too convenient. There were older ones out there but they involved more travel. Hope you got a good deal.

Another worry with Bio Diesel is that it has solvent characteristics. It loosens a lot of stuff in your fuel system that is best left alone resulting in fuel filters being changed earlier than normal. I retired from trucking in 2011 and I would not run anything with more than the mandated 5% in my home state of PA. My engine was a 500hp Series60 assembled in 2000. Maybe Brett is aware of some way that the blenders are able to remedy that problem today. When we leave later this month for Colorado I hope that I will be able to stay away from the higher concentrations. My Cat has one filter that doesn't look all that large to me. Guess,I better stock up on replacements just in case.

Re: US160. La Veta Pass west of Walsenburg is a hard pull but not to worry on the downgrade. It is rather easy because you drop from 9413 ft to the San Luis valley with an average elevation in the mid 7s. There is a little town 5 miles west of Ft. Garland named Blanca. It used to be and probably still is a speed trap. Olathe Sweet Corn will be available at City Market in Alamosa through most of August. Best sweet corn in the world, but don't over cook it . 2mins after return to boil at the most. Walmart Super Center a little further west of Alamosa. Wolf Creek Pass is legendary and beautiful. Take Heman's advice. Be careful. I am when descending that one, but I still have to take a glance at the beauty. If the park in Pagosa Springs that Herman mentioned is open in October, we are going to try for that one on our trip back east. We will probably leave Durango around the tenth or so of October. Durango is a really cool town. Francisco's for mexican is always on our list. It just a short walk from the train station. Save some tummy room for a sopapilla. It is what I would call a Mexican pastry that is served with a side of honey.

I have traveled it a few times over the years. Was always in a tractor trailer. The stretch from St. Joseph to I-70 is lightly traveled most of the way. I have even received waves from a few Kansas State Troopers. I don't remember any rv parks, but then I wasn't really looking.

When we had a gasser, quality inverters either did not exist or were quite expensive. We now have a "new" 2003 Phaeton with a Freedom inverter/ charger that should be up to powering our Dometic. We cooled with propane in the gasser and it worked well. I will try the inverter on our big absorption frig. If it is hot on our trip west we will probably be running our Onan 7.5 Quiet Generator and that can power the frig. So far, I am really impressed with the genset.

Sounds like you are losing prime to me. After setting for a few, can you reach the filter with a wrench? Take it off carefully and if the filter is not full the problem might be upstream. Perhaps Brett could weigh in on a solution. Check valve bad. My Series60 Detroit had a check valve that caused problem for some. I was lucky with mine though.

The water pumps on the big guys (C-15) are gear driven. Guess I can't be that lucky. I have looked for access from the bedroom. Can't find it. A long call on hold is next for me with Tiffin. I will call Cat with the engine serial number to check. Big guys don't have that issue either. Thank you for the help. Will do everything that I can to follow up.

Fired her up this afternoon. Grill up. Nice flow of air coming through the radiator from all areas. Had the dash air off so the high pressure switch would not turn on a possible fan clutch. Guess it is just bolted on and belt driven. Short of being a contortionist and working my way up from the gravel it is parked on alongside the engine I don't know how to even get a look at Cat yellow. No access up top. Sure do miss popping the hood for a look. My guess CAC receives first blast of air and then the ac condenser or are they both mounted to get an equal amount of the fan's first blast? Where can I see a chassis of this age before a coach was built on it? 2002 chassis and 2003 coach. If it was stored on concrete or blacktop I might be able to get alongside the engine even at 70yo. Wasn't used hard. All 17,644 miles over 11years were put on primarily running back and forth to Myrtle Beach from Taneytown, MD before we bought it. Plan on a VMSpc system to watch EGT, Boost, and tranny temp.

XZEs are available in PAs Service Tire Company's network of 40 stores. Had six put on last week and saved $102 per tire thanks to FMCA. They seem to be a big outfit to me, but hopefully, if they have them others do. No difference in the ride to me.

Is there a post on this site for a sprayer? Are they custom made or available at retail? I am heading across Kansas in late August. Last year in early September it was 100 F. Contrary to popular belief, Kansas is not completely flat on I-70 and then there are often headwinds. Managed with my F-150 pulling a travel trailer and grossing 13,800, but I had a front facing radiator and a good set of gauges. When I get to Poncha Springs, Colorado I have Monarch Pass to deal with. Probably won't be a scorcher up there, but it is a long hard pull.

Oh well! If I do have a fan bolted directly to the shaft, I will be wasting fuel, but I won't have to worry about a switch. When I start up a grade on a hot day, I will keep my rpm up to move more water through the radiator and hope for the best. Rather than being on hold for a long time, I have an easy way to tell if the fan is bolted that saves trying to crawl underneath on a gravel covered storage yard. Just assumed it would have a clutch in order to save fuel. Re: 16,000 miles and a failure. Fan clutches last hundreds of thousand of miles on an 18 wheeler. Kinda thought some of that durability would be built into a DP.

On the Tiffin RV independent site, I read just yesterday about programmable cooling fans on the 43 footers (the Bus I guess) and some really high temps on the cooling systems of respondents while climbing hills. Bolting a fan directly to the shaft is really old school. That stopped in the 70's on commercial truck-tractors. The first effort was the viscous clutch, then the air operated clutch that only worked with 12volts applied, and finally the fail safe air operated fan clutch that was always on if there was a broken wire or blown fuse. I am not new to motor homing . We owned a 34' gasser for 17 years. New to DPs, but certainly,not new to large vehicles powered by diesel engines. I started driving them in 1965. If you folks are right, what a fuel waster. Commercial trucking went to fan clutches to save fuel. Cooling fans draw a lot of horsepower. Kenworth even programmed their fans to come on when the engine brake activated. I had that stopped on mine. It was annoying. On a long downgrade, if I felt that I needed some more braking I turned the fan on with the switch near my left knee. Dumbfounded I am.

We recently purchased a 2003 Phaeton 40' with a 330 Cat powered Freightliner chassis. Other than shuttling it around for service and new tires, it hasn't been used. My guess is that the engine fan has an air operated fan clutch. I don't see how a viscous clutch would work with a rear facing radiator. I would like to install a toggle switch on the left side of the driver's seat to turn the fan on when starting a hard pull especially on a hot day. I had manual fan switches on all of the tractor trailers that I have driven for over the last twenty years of my trucking career, and I know there value on a hot day. With a rear facing radiator they seem even more necessary. I have seen a number of DPs on the shoulder of a long grade probably cooling down (my guess). Eliminating power to an electric over air fan clutch usually causes a constant run. Would a fused switch that eliminates the fuse dedicated to the fan work?

This looks like just what I need. The tv will output optical to this unit and then give me good old fashioned right and left analog in to the Tiffin installed Panasonic DVD player with 135 Watt output to power the factory installed speakers. Simple and cheap. Thanks loads.

My inlaws used tv to tranquilize my DW while they played bridge. I was one of the first to subscribe to Direct TV to please she who must be obeyed . I have little choice in the matter after 44 years of wedded bliss.

Factory installed Panasonic DVD player has no optical input. There are five small speakers mounted around the main living area that I would like to use because the Samsung LED 32" doesn't have much volume. All that I am finding are large beasts in the way of amplification.

I have run US89 in a tractor trailer two or three times, over the years. Had no problems. All the way from Flagstaff to I-70. I then exited I-70 onto US50 and ran that over to I-15. I was usually headed to the North West.