Looking At A 1999 Allegro BUS 39

[Monkeyrun]

Hi folks,

I am new here and new to motorhomes so appreciate advise and tips if you feel so inclined. Camping is not new to us, however we have not done any since the 80s, we intend to travel more than actually "camp".

We have been looking at motorhomes since last summer and in doing so have found one that we like but it does have a little water damage. The coach has 76,000 miles on it, needs tires (due to age) and the rubber roof will need replacement at some point in the future. The BUS 39 has the 8.3 Cummins, which we like, it also has a diesel genset with 2000 hours on it. Inside it is clean other than the crinkled wallpaper under the two windows in the bedroom (water leak). I can fix the water damage from the inside, outside shows no sign of any damage or delamination. BUT this is where I am hedging a bit as I have never worked on this type of coach. Thinking I should be able to cut the luan plywood out and then dry the wall with fans. Once dry, rebuild from the inside. Sound reasonable?

This unit was traded at a dealer 100 miles from me. I was able to find the previous owner, an 83 year young man, who said it was in great mechanical condition and he also told me what maintenance had been done to it. They gave him a killer deal on a new, leftover Allegro, that is why he traded.

I have been haggling with the dealer since October. We are now at $30,500 with them doing the heavy truck state inspection and checking all systems for proper working order. A friend of mine is a diesel mechanic and will be installing new tires and servicing the rig. Any feeling as to the price?

Thanks so much for any advise you care to provide!

[desertdeals69]

You have the right idea on the wall repair. I had to do the same to a couple of areas on my coach. After cutting out the bad part and making a rectangle hole I took a router and cut down 1/16 inch about 1/2 inch in and inserted a 1/16 inch plywood. I used model airplane plywood but if you can't get it you can use 1/8 luan and do the same routing on the back side of the new piece and it will fit flush. I used waterproof glue.

[Keggar]

I did a Google Advanced Search for "1999 Allegro BUS 39" and found several for sale... generally from $40k to $60k. I have no idea how long these coaches have been for sale, or if they are still for sale. Several coaches were noted as already sold and did not state the sale date, nor the seller's asking price, nor the price used for the sale. Mileages for the group I saw ranged from 25k to 125k.

[Monkeyrun]

Well I did not make it out to the dealer today as I wanted to spend some time at another place, a repair shop for the roofing and coach bodies. They pretty much verified what we are thinking, repairs can be made from the inside in that area. The roof can be recoated according to the repair shop as long as it is not loose from the underlayment. I called the Allegro dealer and put a deposit on it based upon one more inspection by me. This sounds as though it will be a great starter coach as it is what we want and also gives us some wiggle room to put tires and roof repair at a later date. So by waiting, I saved $5000 since my first go around with them in October, additionally, they just put a new starter and batteries in it last week! Now I'm excited.

[Monkeyrun]

Getting a bit nervous, heading back up to the Allegro in the morning and will need to make up my mind finally. I really like this BUS 39, it has everything we want and I believe that area under the bedroom windows near the floor can be repaired quite easily. After speaking to a roof guy, he feels that I can coat the roof, which I will do myself. Also, the front tires are the oldest, the rear are almost new.

[wildebill308]

Check the date codes on the tiers. You will probably have to pull the windows out to do a good job of repairing the leaks. This isn’t as hard as it sounds. Yes you probably can repair the damage from the inside.

Bill

[Monkeyrun]

Thank you Bill. Tonight I spoke with the original owner again and found some further information. Within the last two years he had the exhaust replaced, the air compressor, alternator, AC units, all filters ($2500 for the engine work), fluids etc related to the engine and transmission, air bags replaced, hydraulic levelers rebuilt, front end aligned and probably more that I forgot. He bought a new Damon, a high end model I guess, with four sliders. He said there is nothing wrong with the coach at all, and also said that it never leaked so he is quite uncertain where that water damage came from under the windows. I'm wondering if he left the windows open too many times in the rain.

[wildebill308]

"and also said that it never leaked"

That he was aware of. I would pull the windows and reseal. Water leaks have a cumlutive efect. You may have had a leak for a long time and it wasen't evedent. No water driping in your face when you were sleeping or weet spots on the floor. Water slowley seaping into the wall my go un notised for a long time. I think it could be an fairley easey fix.

Bill

[Monkeyrun]

I suspect you are correct but it did take it's toll on the inside of the coach wall. Today I went to purchase and all went as expected except an electrical issue was discovered. The genset ran fine but someone had jumped a solenoid in one of the compartments and it toasted that jumper, none of the 120 stuff would work. Dealer might not fix it due to cost but rather sell it off to a wholesaler. We are all uncertain what is going on, dealer is going to call the original owner and have his tech diagnose as well, if it's not much he will repair. I still want the coach, the damage inside is not that much and I could easily repair it. The roof can be coated, nothing to worry about. The rugs could stand to be replaced and the rest needs a good cleaning.

[desertdeals69]

With electrical problems you may be getting into a can of worms. A clue is that they don't want to fix it.

[Monkeyrun]

I am thinking the store manager suspects the charger/inverter, guess those are almost 2k.

[Monkeyrun]

Also, I found a thread while searching around for the solenoid jumper issue and discovered that some people jump the charging solenoid in order to always charge the starting batteries when the coach batteries are charging. Bad idea IMHO due to them being able to discharge too. I think I figured it out, when the 12 volt was left on in the coach for an extended period, all six batteries in the motorhome went dead due to that jumper wire. Then, when four new coach batteries were installed, the current went past the solenoid via the small jumper wire to the dead chassis batteries, thus burning the wire up due to the excessive load.

[wildebill308]

You may be right about just the jumper burning up. This is something that I can’t make much of a diagnosis with out hands on and a meter to check out various items. Could just be a fuse or circuit breaker. Could be something more. When you start looking at older used coaches you go in expecting to do some remodeling. That is why you are spending $30,000 not $130,000. Hope it works out for you.

Bill

[Monkeyrun]

I did not hear back from the dealer but noticed that the listing is gone from their website, although I do still have a deposit on it.

[desertdeals69]

Are you going to be able to get your deposit back? Hope so.

[Monkeyrun]

Sure they will give it back, if this gets cancelled it will be them doing so.

[Monkeyrun]

Well, admiral and I ended up purchasing this motorhome on Saturday. The dealer called after we had broken off discussion, being the end of the month and also (I am guessing) the one year anniversary of it sitting there, the store manager called me and offered a front to back, top to bottom repair on everything other than cosmetic stuff. I accepted based upon test drive which went very well, we loved it.