BSMEATON

I have a 2013 Itasca pusher with tag. I'm due for tires and I'm getting dizzy There seem to be a distinct difference between a line haul tire that has decoupling grooves on the outer tread, and and regional tire that does not have the decoupling grooves. My factory Michelins has the grooves, but the Goodyear G670 RV tire does not. One Dealer says a regional tire is more appropriate for protection on curbs and general city or local traffic and short trips, other Dealers say the regional tires are great until I hit the road for a continuous 5 or 6 hour drive and then they will start to shed tread pretty fast from heat. I drive all of it - isn't there a happy medium? My biggest criteria is the quietest, best ride in can get.

I'll admit, I've always felt the environmentalists make a good point and I tend to admire them for their efforts. They are the extreme conservationalist as they travel in their Prius when not on public transportation, and I'm sure they feel all their efforts are mocked or cancelled out when they see the other extreme couple lavish around in fuel sucking MHs, jets or yachts, for no other reason than they can. Add to the hypocrisy a prototype 40 ft "hybrid" mothorhome being shown around the country a few years ago! I really kind of laughed out loud at that, because that is like salt in the wound to a conservationalist! Now grandma and grandpa think they are being "GREEN" because their rolling house is a hybrid and they are reducing fuel consumption by 2 mpg (even though their 2,000 lbs of lithium ion batteries came at a huge cost to the earth). I'm sure the Prius driver believes they pretty much missed the point As for me, I am the ultimate hypocrite - I travel weekly on commercial airlines because I don't want to live where I work, I drive to the airport in my own car because I hate the train, cussing at the prius in the left lane, and when I have time off, I can't wait to fire up my diesel MH and tear across the country.

Never heard of that issue either. Tow my 2013 Auto Wrangler all over, and never had to do anything like that. On Wrangler, the Auto gets towed in Park, and the Manual in gear, so there is not transmission movement.

Like MWeiner said - how do you like the coach as a coach sans any trouble? If you look at others and still love this one, fix it. Eventually you will get on top of the issues. If you are indifferent to the coach and like others the same or better, maybe its time to trade off and take the lumps.

Kind of true with any roof isn't it? I understand on the seams now, caulked seams vs welded on a conversion van.

Well, I'll just ignore this thread then and go back to envying my neighbors beautiful coach

Where are there seams on a fiberglass roof? I thought they were 1 piece?

Just kind of curious where you are trying to go with this thread? Seems once we answer the questions, you take the opportunity to critique our decision based on your experiences. Was that your intent? I think you may have already offended a few, especially those poor Foretravel owners

Hey thanks! The wife picked the colors but they are growing on me.

We didn't even consider new. We bought a 2013 Itasca Meridian 42E with 19,000 miles. We paid less than half the original MSRP and it has proven to be a great RV for us. I do have DEF, noisy mach 8 ACs, and I do have Schwintek slides on one side which haunted many manufacturers back then, but all seems to be working fine and I respect the slides with can of CRC handy There were two GS warranties, Dealer sold with cash up front bumper to bumper for 4 years (~$125/month at $50 deductible), or the month to month direct warranty from GS that was around $150/month at $1,000 deductible. We opted for the Dealer warranty, but after bad dealings with them we dropped it and got a refund. We just run naked. Realistically in two years all we have had go wrong were 2 relays in the ACs and a fridge solenoid that cracked because the dealer didn't winterize properly. I am truly sold on Winnebago - at least for us they put together a great product.

I didn't have heavy enough fishing line to do the job (kept breaking) so I taped up a putty knife and slowly pried and it all came off - clean up with a little goo-gone and some wax, good as new. I remounted up high with the Kiley Mold brackets. I tried also adding the WIT club plate below it with additional brackets, but it looked kind of corny so I took it off.

Our favorite by far was the Tour 42QD and the Grand Tour would be just awesome for us. We found the Meridian/Tour 42E worked for us in feature/value with close to the same layout as the 42QD, but doesn't mean I wouldn't love to jump at a the Tour if it financially made sense for us as vacationers. We also loved the richness of the Allegro Bus, but almost a little too ornate for us and we could never find a floor plan we liked for the living room. Dutch Star was also a beautiful coach, and they did have a floorplan similar to the 42QD in the living room, but we never found one that matched what we wanted in floor plan. We have the Tag and it is simply an issue of weight - the tag supports the extended length of our bath and 1/2 and makes the rear axles rated for 30,000 lbs. Handling wise it is a treat to drive. We did not drive the Comfort Drive Newmar, but understand the concept and there are some aftermarket products that will get you close if it is a requirement. We did drive several Spartan versus Freightliner chassis and I honestly couldn't tell the difference, but we aren't necessarily seasoned. I know there is a lot of hoopla about side radiators, but in the end for us the rear radiator serves well and our shop has never complained about it for service (which has been maintenance, no repair). I suppose if push came to shove the side radiator may be easier to put on a belt and may be cheaper for some maintenance, but in the scheme of things I wouldn't let that be a show stopper. For every brand there are stories of the dreaded "time in the shop" but without qualification (was it the chassis, the coach, the appliance) it is hard to make judgement. Many share the same chassis, and almost all share the same appliances. Was it in the shop for a long time because it had so many issues, or was it because the shop had a 12 week lag time and blamed part accessibility on the manufacturer to overcome the fact he pushed all his new sale preps in front of yours? Hard to ever tell without the facts.

I made a mistake and used double stick tape on the bumper. It gets hidden by the toad. If I can get it off I'll move to the ladder.

As a recent buyer, I can say I primarily used RVTrader and RVT.com. Craigslist was a little harder for me to shop through so I didn't much. I sold our last 5er on Craigslist - to a guy 4 states away in the middle of winter. I would have never guessed that would happen.

7.5 mpg overall on our last trip to CA and Oregon from Denver. We have a 2013 Itasca Meridian 42E with tag axle (44K GVWR) 400 hp 8.9L Cummins ISL with DPF and Allison 3000, cruising 70-75 and Onan 8000 running at least half the time and a 97 TJ Wrangler (~3,500 lbs) on the back 4 down. DEF consumption was within the Cummins guidelines, but I was a little shocked at how thirsty that exhaust filter got. I can't remember now but I think we used 10 gallons over 3,800 miles. My pickup would have used 1/4 of that in twice the mileage. It guess its all about the size of the filter.

We're on our second generation of Splendide Ariston stackables and they have performed perfect. They dryer is big enough to accept 2 washer loads, so if the dryer isn't done I just add the next load to it and move on. Sheets, towels, never had any complaints. They aren't as big as home units, but we aren't laundering for a family of 5 either.

Ya, I hit mine twice already (newbies) - 1st at the gas pump under construction. I ran over a rebar and folded it over, no damage to the coach. 2nd was at Great Sand Dune where I turned at the end of the campground. I lucked out, it was a wood timber barrier that I turned into and didn't leave any permanent scratches or damage, but it initially looked horrid! I notice it did ruin the gas shock that holds open the cargo door so it must have caught it underneath. Both times I have been caught it was pre-occupied with holding the tag dump switch and not paying attention to my turn.

I guess it was new to us back in May, but just now posting. A 2013 Itasca Meridian 42E in some strange color (Platinum) I guess We tow a 97 Jeep TJ, We will probably start looking at an Unlimited Wrangler next spring. We are just vacationers out of Denver.

Very nice! What brand/model/year?

Nice coach! I've had mine self lock twice now for some reason. So far I've had the second set with me, but there will come a day.............

Thanks Bill & Carl We have a 2013 Itasca Meridian 42E with the Freightliner 400hp Cummins.

I had a sudden coolant loss on mine! Right in the middle of bumper to bumper traffic in Denver and the outer lanes were restricted to 13'0 heights because of the upcoming bridges. How I got to the side I'm just not sure. Mine was a piece of tire I ran over, flipped up and broke a plastic fitting on the diesel exhaust filter cooling loop that uses coolant to circulate around the filter to cool it after does its deed. I can't believe that part was plastic! Probably a $12 part and it cost me 10 times that in the end.

Our new to us Freightliner 43' tag is our first MH for several decades, and the ride is a dream. I can only dump the tag (not lift), but seems to work OK, although it is awkward to hold the dump switch and concentrate on everything else.