wheelman16 wrote: I have the same MH same year but with the 460 ford engine with 35k miles. I have had decent luck with it except for a couple of things. I have thrown alot of cash into the Kohler generater and it is still running rough (going to take it to a Kohler repair shop if I can find one). It also has issues with the braking system (caliper pins) and the 16 inch tires are pretty much maxed out empty. If I knew that before I purchased, I would have selected a model with 19 inch tires for the weight and braking issues. Bob.
wheelman16 I am with bsinmich on using Sea Foam to get your Kohler generator running smooth. Our 1992 5000 Confidant had about 450 hours on it when we got it in 2007. It would load up so bad (after running OK some of the time) I would have to just shut it down. It look a long while using Sea Foam through the gas tank but sometime after about a year it smoothed out and still runs fine today. I think we are at around 600 hours now.
The output was about 118v so voltage would go low on heavy loads but when I set it to 126v no load voltage sag stopped until max load occurs.
I bought a 1996 GBM Swinger in 2004 with the 454 eng. when I retired with 24,000 miles. It now has 76,000 miles. I knew nothing about RV's when I bought it. The front end needed work, the exhaust manifolds leaked and ran hot, dash was loose, side walls had some delamination and the auto park system did not work right. It would down shift at the slightest hill and the temp gauge would go up. I spend several years fixing the issues with allot of help of people on this forum. After installing headers, free flow mufflers, Cold Air Intake, new coils springs in the front it has plenty of power and rides smooth. I drive it like a car with one hand no "white knuckle ride" that may report with with the P-30 chassis. Fixed the delamaminations and loose dash etc. Been to Alaska and Canada several times with it runs well and have averaged 8.6 mpg over 50,000 miles. Check the things that I mentioned that were problems and be prepared to spend 5-10k to fix and upgrade. Hope this helps you decide.
Gale Hawkins, I guess you've had better luck with your Confidant 5000 then I have. I have used sea foam numerous times and it is a good product, it worked very well to keep my generater running smooth when I first bought my MH. After sitting for a few months without starting is where my problems began as it wouldn't start at all. I started from the fuel line from the tank and worked back. Put in a new fuel filter then fuel pump, replaced the secondary circuit board then finally the carb. It starts and runs for a while but spits and sputters and will not run under a load and now $1000 later. The plugs look okay but cannot get to the plug wires which I would like to replace but I cannot remove the cover without pulling the genny out. I did all this while in contact with a Koeler repair agent who told me what to do step by step. I think I've done everything I can do up to this point and need to get it to a Kohler repair shop. Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble on someone elses post but thought this might be of interest to the OP and to others who may be experiencing problems with a Kohler gen set.
In a previous life I bought a repoed boat that had a Kohler generator that a pre buy mechanic checked out and said it would not run steady, he thought it was the carb or governor. I couldn't even get it to run for more than 5 seconds it always cut out. I found a Kohler factory repair shop nearby (at a marina) and they had one Kohler trained mechanic who found the problem was something about sacrificial node was loose in the cooling system. After $80 repair I ran the generator everytime I was on it. Hopefully your local repair shop will have a quick answer also.
wheelman16 wrote: I think I've done everything I can do up to this point and need to get it to a Kohler repair shop. Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble on someone elses post but thought this might be of interest to the OP and to others who may be experiencing problems with a Kohler gen set.
Gjac wrote: I bought a 1996 GBM Swinger in 2004 with the 454 eng. when I retired with 24,000 miles. It now has 76,000 miles. I knew nothing about RV's when I bought it. The front end needed work, the exhaust manifolds leaked and ran hot, dash was loose, side walls had some delamination and the auto park system did not work right. It would down shift at the slightest hill and the temp gauge would go up. I spend several years fixing the issues with allot of help of people on this forum. After installing headers, free flow mufflers, Cold Air Intake, new coils springs in the front it has plenty of power and rides smooth. I drive it like a car with one hand no "white knuckle ride" that may report with with the P-30 chassis. Fixed the delamaminations and loose dash etc. Been to Alaska and Canada several times with it runs well and have averaged 8.6 mpg over 50,000 miles. Check the things that I mentioned that were problems and be prepared to spend 5-10k to fix and upgrade. Hope this helps you decide.
Did not have running hot or delamination issues when we bought our 1993 Pursuit in 2007 with 91K miles but our experiences have a lot in common.
We could not ask for a more powerful, better running and handling MH. Different people have different experiences with this era of the P30 based GBM MH's but as already noted by other owners they are as good of an option as about any of the era.
If one does not plan to do most of his own service/upkeep and own it for a long time the purchase and after purchase price will leave some feeling sick.
The is more of a MH thing with no real connection to brand however.
Ours performed well with a lot of time in the Rockies on our 8000 mile 31 day trip to the Pacific last fall and is now at 109K miles and in better shape than when we purchased in 2007.
It has been a great project over the years to teach the kids home and auto repair. At 14 they now do most of the work on it. The last task was replacing both roof AC gaskets last fall. The daughter is best at trouble shooting and the son handles things like oil changes, etc on his own now.
Again I would say NO to purchasing any brand of old MH if you are going to have to depend on others keep it up especially the house part. Most of the heavy chassis stuff like exhaust manifold leaks, recoring of radiator, Auto Park are one in the life of ownership kind of thing so there is only so much to go wrong. The same applies to the frig or hot water heater.
Most any older MH will take $20K - $50K out of your retirement account forever and one day however a trip to Vegas could do the same in one weekend.
We have been places and saw things that we would never have done had we not bought the old MH at the request of the kids when they were nine.
From other posts and our experience MH ownership will cost about $3 per mile min and for some it runs more like $10 per mile of use.
For some this is a non issue yet for some cost is a real issue. Those who count the costs before hand may be more happy.
Going old and being willing to junk it may be the cheapest/lowest risk route. If you buy a new $150K MH and keep it five years then sell it and with average usage it is going to remove $100K from your retirement account without exception.
The first decision is not what to buy but if to get into RV'ing or not.
We have a '96 GBM Cruise Master one of the last off the Edwardsburg line as a true Georgie Boy. As we were ordering it at a show in Chicago the company Rep. said that the sell out to Coachman was underway and would be completed that summer of '96 - as it was. We have had a great time in our unit and thought that we would upgrade but never did find a better layout or better built unit for the money. It has 60,000 on it, problems were minimal - it does have a hot runinning problem which a separate fan we control did help some (we don't travel around anymore just IN & MI. It has been to both coasts east south & west and north into Canada. Also we just replaced the air bags last year, of course tires, and last week took the unit to Indy to a Kohler repair shop as the gen set would not start after faithful service for 16 yrs. It was the coil and the mechanic successfully got to it without pulling the unit. We are back in business. We do faithfully run it every 2 wks for 20 min. We are to say the least very happy owners of this unit. That '97 was probably built at Edwardsburg but shortly after that they closed the plant and transfered all operations to Coachmen. We chose not to get the vortec engine as it was just coming out at the time and so we have a 454. We also have no slide out and it has never been a problem for us.
Rog & Nan
'96 Cruise Master
32' no slide (love it)
'99 SW2 Saturn Toad
Roadmaster Tow & Brake
Banks Power
We have a 2005 Pursuit LE 35 year Anniversary Model and have been extremely
pleased with it. If GeorgieBoy was still in business would have no problem
considering an upgrade and newer model.
I have had pretty much the same experiences as the happy ones. We just bought our first Class A motor home and didn't know a thing about brands.
We found a 97 Georgie Boy Cruise Master with the 460 Ford system. It was an estate sale and the children of the owner only knew the generator wouldn't start. I found only very simple fixes necessary:
The house batteries had been replaced with a single automotive battery. Fuse holder and fuse missing for control panel on generator, and flushed with seafoam in the main tank for both the engine and generator.
Replaced all sewage system replaceables (hoses, connectors, etc...) and now in the process of swapping out Hunter digital thermostats for the old analog ones. I have a minor leak in the back of the hot water tank, but it seems it may only be plastic fittings splitting which I will swap out new brass ones. I don't have an extensive long history with different brand name RV's, but it looks to me common sense and a bit of DIY elbow grease plus a little luck works out.
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