OverPhilled
Green Cove Springs, FL
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Joined: 03/01/2007
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I have a friend looking at a 2003 Mountainaire 38' gasser, with 20,000 miles on a Workhorse W22 chassis. No maintenance records, as owner did all maintenance. I guess it will need tires soon. Anything specific to be concerned about with this coach? Any current owner experience?
Many thanks in advance, Phil
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womps
Olds
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Joined: 08/22/2008
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My brother has the exact coach with 30,000 miles on it. Very good coach. He has the banks system and I think it has very good power. Hasn't had any brake trouble yet. One thing is the poor payload capacity when full of fuel & water.
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Deen
Vancouver, WA
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Joined: 12/07/2000
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womps wrote:One thing is the poor payload capacity when full of fuel & water. Which is a by-product of the extra heavy construction Newmar uses. Well built and heavy because of it.
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bsinmich
Holland, MI
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Joined: 11/18/2000
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Wwe love ours and will again once the brake problem gets fixedf. I solve the weight problem by only carrying 1/4 tank of fresh water when travelling. Newmar makes a top quality MH and we have had very few problems ( except the brakes). I thought I would not have the brake problem because I change brake fluid regularly. I had the problem twice on my vacation last summer and just brought it home to park in the barn until the brakes can be made to work. The recall should be early in the year according to the rumors on the IRV2.com website. Once I change out the 2 TVs to the flat screens that are sitting here I will save another 100#. The weight is not really a problem.
2003 Newmar Mountain Aire, Workhorse W22, & 2002 PT Cruiser w/Remco lube pump, Falcon 5250, & US Gear Unified Tow Brake
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Phillerup
USA
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Joined: 10/15/2002
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I like the Newmar Mountain Aire coach a lot...but I would be very cautious of the CCC on this unit and would probably be concerned about buying a W22 chassis. I believe this vintage of W22 also has the brake issue related to the Workhorse chassis. I believe they were supposed to have a fix in October -- then January and now maybe spring of 2010....now who really knows. To my knowledge, they have not even really decided for sure and announced exactly what the brake fix and recall actually is and the cost. Personally, I believe he could find a better Newmar. I would stick with Newmar but probably pass on this at least until all this brake stuff is resolved.
2003 Newmar DSDP 4005 dual slide king bed Spartan 350 Cummins 2004 Jeep Liberty 4X4 tow, SeaEagle boat in basement
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bobcatcharlie
Houghton Lake, Michigan
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We had an 03 Mt. Aire gasser for 3 years. Took it to Alaska with the Newmar Caravan. It was a great MH. We had everything aboard needed for a summer long trip. I'd still have it today but the DW wanted another slide.
2004 Dutch Star
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MNtundraRet
Bloomington, MN
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Joined: 12/06/2007
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Most people who know how to do the maintenance would keep the maintenance records of what they did. If the current owner claimed he did the maintenance, but never kept records, I would not trust him. Odds are he did almost nothing, and could be hiding problems from you. Also; he should have saved the records for any work done under warranty.
Mark
Mark & Jan "Old age & treachery win over youth & enthusiasm"
2003 Fleetwood Jamboree 29
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OverPhilled
Green Cove Springs, FL
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Thanks for the info everyone. What is the nature of the brake problem with this vintage chassis?
Phil
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womps
Olds
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OverPhilled wrote:Thanks for the info everyone. What is the nature of the brake problem with this vintage chassis?
Phil
Here is the simple answer. One minute you have brakes & the next minuet you don't!!!
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Deen
Vancouver, WA
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Joined: 12/07/2000
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bsinmich wrote: Newmar makes a top quality MH and we have had very few problems (except the brakes). But that's not exclusively a Newmar problem, that's a industry wide problem with WorkHorse chassis and the Bosch brakes WorkHorse used.
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