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RE: I'm new here and have a few questions....
Check out my blog at http://community.fmca.com/index.php?autocom=blog&blogid=63&showentry=88 You may find some useful stuff on it. I talk about my purchase and decision making to delivery and the maintenance I have done after delivery.
I got a Holiday Rambler Vacationer. Same coach is available as a Monaco La Palma just different name on it. I am happy with it and it has everything we need. No washer/dryer but it is factory ready to install one if thats what you need. 2002 Holiday Rambler Vacationer Web Site
Good luck.
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gonzo71
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11/16/09 04:54pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Where in the States to go to buy a Class A
We boughed the current coach a year ago. We paid the same in Can$$$ than this coach would have cost us in the US. Dealer really wanted to sell and dropped the price by can$20.000. We purchased here in Alberta, saved me a lot of money if fuel as well.
A few month ago I saw our exact coach with a little higher mileage advertised in the US in the Dallas area for more than what I paid.
Dealers here are as desperate as they are in the US. They may advertise the price high but I learned that if they want to sell the unit and know you got the money, they will deal.
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gonzo71
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11/14/09 06:47pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Have U ever caught ur RV's fiberglass bumper on something?
I had our coach parked outside my house on the street for 2 days. My neighbour backed into the coach. Apperently she did not see the coach. W H A T ???? Did not see? I told her if she cannot see a 34 Class A, she needs to give up driving, her husband agrees!
$2000 damage to the rear bumber.
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gonzo71
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11/14/09 06:39pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: What is the ONE thing that your next MH will have...?
Diesel
Slide-out
wood floors
around 30-32 foot
And who would the manufacturer of that. I dont whink I have ever seen a 30-32 ft diesel class A. Howver I have seen a 2009 30ft class C with a Ford diesel.
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gonzo71
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11/09/09 03:21pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Camping in sub-freezing weather
We took out our trail cruiser a few times during winter. We never opend the tent ends and where happy that the trailer got the U-dinette so may of you love to hate. However the u-dinette gave us a full queen size bed.
The inside of the camper was nice and warm however during a stay in Banff National Park at -20f we did freeze some water lines. Most water lines are inside or behind the cupboards. The heat from the living space may not get into these areas. Once we opend up the cupboards the pipes would thaw out in a few hours.
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gonzo71
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11/08/09 10:44pm |
Hybrid Travel Trailers
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RE: Requirements for Importing older Mh into Canada
When I consider what I know today about coaches, I would not touch a 15 year old coach no matter if it is in the US or here in Canada. Unless I want to spend a lot more money in upkeep.
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gonzo71
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11/01/09 08:24pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Really, does anyone own a rig that DOESN'T give them grief?
MH'ing is a hobby. As such it cost money. Since we own the coach I have not once had anybody but me do any work on the coach.
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gonzo71
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11/01/09 08:19pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Brake Failure on W-22 Workhorse Chassis
I am sure that the new pistons will be phenolic as well. Using stainless will be to expensive. Also stainless steel will give all the heat right to the brake fluid making the brake fluid even hotter. The phenolic piston insulated some of the heat from the brake fluid keeping it cooler.
Are you sure about this? I hear the pistons in the replacement calipers will be steel.
No I don't. But if we are already having problems with boiling brake fluid, how will a metal piston help. WH will continue to tell us that we don't know how to brake and will blame us on failing brakes due to overheating. if they go metal, is has to be stainless otherwise with our kind of useage it will rust and we get sticking brakes again in a few years. Stainless cost a fortune. The ideal material may be ceramic, since it will conduct heat poorly and is by itself heat resistant and will not be affected by moisture.
Also keep in mind that the problem with the phenolic pistons only show up in the RV application. There are commercial trucks, busses etc. out there with the same brakes and no problem. This shows me that there is no fundamental problem with the phenolic piston unlike the believe of the previous poster. So the low usage of our vehicles maybe to blaim and that the piston simply sits in brake fluid that contains to much water and the piston will absorbe the water. If we now get metal pistons and still have the mooisture sitting in the bake fluid the metal will rust.
I can understand why it takes Bosch a while to come up with a solution since simply replacing the piston with a metal piston may not be the long term solution.
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gonzo71
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10/26/09 09:39pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Brake Failure on W-22 Workhorse Chassis
So its all about composit plastic pistons in the calipers on the Ford brakes.
How dumb does an engineer need to be to know high heat & plastic dont go to good together.
Neil
Ford??
We are talking about Workhorse here.
I am sure that the new pistons will be phenolic as well. Using stainless will be to expensive. Also stainless steel will give all the heat right to the brake fluid making the brake fluid even hotter. The phenolic piston insulated some of the heat from the brake fluid keeping it cooler.
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gonzo71
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10/26/09 03:36pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: 2000 Four Winds Hurricane Motorhome - High Mileage?
The P series chassis are the older GM chassis that Workhorse inherited when they too over the chassis manufacturing from GM. A 2000 build Motorhome ca have a 1999 build chassis so it is possible that it is an older GM chassis.
Now to auteejay question, the W chassis has reportedly some brake issues due to non use of the brakes. Apparently the phenolic pistons can swell due to moisture in the brake fluid which can make the brakes stick. I personally have not have any problems on my brakes to-date however many do. Workhorse is working on a solution. If you drive a coach that is build on a Workhorse chassis it is very important that you register your coach under your name. You can do so at the Workhorse web page. This way you know that workhorse has your information when the recall is finally released.
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gonzo71
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10/26/09 08:26am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: End of the Season blues
Winter is no reason to hybernate. We are in the greate white north and use the coach all year long. maybe not at -40 but cold and snow never stopped us to go out and enjoy. We make payment year around so I use it year around.
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gonzo71
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10/25/09 11:17am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Trip to the Black Hills
You will be fine with your Class A Mirada. Just stay away from the needles you will not make that road with any RV. Nice Nice Nice scenic drive. There are other sice drives you will not fit into. I suggest you stay on major routs and make sure to follow warnig signs.
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gonzo71
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10/21/09 09:35pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: SUV and hybrid trailers
We sold our 06 F150 and the 03 HTT just last year becasue we upgraded to the rig below and did no longer have a use for a truck.
When I looked into the truck thing I was actually very pleasantly surprised how nice the F150 was. I found it to be a better ride on rough roads then the Tundra. Tow capacity on our F150 was 9500lbs. I also went with the F150 because there are more repair shops around all over the country. I liked the F150 and would buy one again if I would need a truck.
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gonzo71
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10/21/09 05:58pm |
Hybrid Travel Trailers
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RE: Gas vs Diesel Class A
I had exactly the same question when we looked for a MH. I think many of the DP guy's don't like gas simply because it would be considered entry level and I have learned in my past 15 years of living on this continent that many around here have the attitude that bigger is better and you always have to show off what you got (sorry guys).
For us the Gas engine won big time for the following reasons:
1. Maintenance. WE only travel around 3K to 4K per year. Si regardless If Diesel or Gas I do a full lube and oil change once per year. On My gas MH I do all this myself on a nice Saturday afternoon. Oil, Filter, Lube for $30 in materials and my own labor. And I know it has been done to my satisfaction.
Longevity of a diesel engine is not my concern because I will never put the miles on my MH that this is a concern. Our 2002 HR now got 19.000 miles on the clock.
2. Size. We were looking at smaller MH's. we ended up with a 34' because my wife liked the floorplan better.
3. Purchase price. I like to hang on to my money.
4. Exhaust smell and idling noise of the diesel
Now to some other comments made here:
I drive the GM 8.1l on my MH and have been passing DP on the way up the hill more than once. Yeah I have less HP (but not significantly) but also weigh less.
As to fuel savings. I make 9.5 to 10 MPG so once the Diesel price it up there again not much savings. I also doubt that some DP owners really get what they claim.
Smoother ride of the DP. IMHO there is more to a MH than the ride. I am happy with mine MH the way it rides.
Noise if gasser. Not sure what the DP guy are talking about. No problem here. There is more rattling from all the stuff in the cupboards.
So in a nutshell I am happy with my decision. I like the MH the way it is. I am satisfied with the ride and the power I got. My Holiday Rambler has many DP options since it is not an entry level coach.
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gonzo71
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10/21/09 09:43am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Power gear rear jacks have no springs
A dealer told a friend of mine to use spray silicon on them a couple of times a year. That seems to work on his anyway. The dust seals are just tight.
Hope this helps.
My manual states to wipe the ram with ATF. This makes more sense to me than the silicon, since ATF is what is isnside the systems and I don't want silicone to polute the fluiud inside.
I read a few times on this forum that some members have sticking rams and the silicone resolved the problem for a short time but after wiping the ram with ATF the problem went away.
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gonzo71
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10/20/09 09:37am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Battery Winter Maintenance---What do you do?
Thanks guys, keep it comming.
Now to the battery tender thing. What I have seen a battery tender will only supply 1.5 amp to the battery. How does this differ from a trickle charger?
Is anybody here doing anything about desulfation in the cells. I have seen a few charger that take care of the sulfication of the plates like the battery minder. This sounds like a good idea to me, but what do I know?
For those that are concerned that storing a battery on concrete can damage a battery, here is a link to the interstate web page telling us that this is an old no longer up to date myth:
http://www.interstatebatteries.com/www/faqs/tech_talk/maintenance/storing.htm
http://www.thebatteryterminal.com/TechTalk_Batteries_on_Concrete.htm
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gonzo71
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10/19/09 10:16pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Battery Winter Maintenance---What do you do?
Note Trojan says charged batteries freeze at around MINUS 90 degrees F. If only 0 degrees or so killed yours, you didn't keep them charged.
Did not have trojans. Batteries were 4 year old Interstate. Probbably porly charged. Mu 120w solar got covered by snow. By the time I check stuff out it was too late and the batteries were history. YES MU MISTAKE.
It can easily get to below -25F out here. And I will not even keep my new T-105 out at that. Since they run at $200 canadian per piece.
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gonzo71
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10/19/09 08:33pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Battery Winter Maintenance---What do you do?
With over 1600 POST how can you ask that question. I would done a SEARCH. KISS, JMO
Even I can lean something. Done the search but to many******hits and I got tired of reading all the post and not finding the answer I wanted.
If everything is answered and everybody uses the search feature we would no longer need the forum :R
And if it is bugging you that I asked the question, why did you answer?
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gonzo71
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10/19/09 08:14pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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Battery Winter Maintenance---What do you do?
HI Guy's
Well winter is almost here. I took out the batteries last weekend and hooked them up to my (expensive but 6 year old) xentrax true charge 10. However when I hooked up the batteries, nothing happened, my charger is dead.
So I have to look for a new charger now and I wondering what everybody else is doing. Leaving the batteries inside the coach is not a option. it gets below 0 degree here and I lost a set of batteries last winter.
So what do you do?
How do you store your batteries?
What kind of charger do you use?
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gonzo71
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10/19/09 07:38pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Walmart brand motor oil.
I think Walmart oil comes from China.
I checked some of the oil aut this afternoon. All I found here in an Edmonton Wal Mart was MADE IN CANADA.
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gonzo71
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10/18/09 10:50pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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