Advice on a motorhome please

[daugen]

Interesting time today seeing the RV with my wife. She liked the color, the interior, everything about it, particularly that it was so immaculate inside. We did have some hiccups, which really embarrassed the poor guy showing me the coach. First the living room slide would not open, turned out to be a defective limit switch and it finally opened. Ok. Then the power gen drawer would not retract. Likely another bad switch, but not an impressive showing.
My big unpleasant surprise was to find that the gen had four thousand hours on a really nice Onan QD series 10kw. Now I know these things will run double that, but that is still a lot of wear and tear on a gen. I’m estimating two to three thousand for a top end job, new water pumps, belts, stop solenoid, etc. vs, ten thousand new. PO took it to car races and just ran the gen 24/7.
Interesting that the coach had a big propane tank for the stove and what? Maybe the fridge?
Stove looked like it had never been cooked on btw.
Diesel powered hydronics system that looks like a nice to have in cold weather.
Nada range is 144-173, which btw is higher than what I’m seeing in the ads.
I’m thinking of offering 130K including their providing ten new radials, as a start.
Any higher than that and I think I would want to buy newer/less miles/hours.

 

[Bird]

Drew, when a slide-out won't open, you can always go to a dealer to get it fixed, but when it's open and won't close when you get ready to go . . . well, that's another matter. I know one of my brothers was lucky once that he had that big, heavy duty grill guard/push bumper on his F550 that he had to use to push the slide-out back in on this 5th wheel trailer.:laughing:

I guess it's hard to find motorhomes or travel trailers of any kind without one or more slide-outs, so they're obviously very popular and most buyers want them. I never had one, and never wanted one. I still would do whatever it took to avoid slide-outs if I were in the market for another RV, but I'm obviously in the minority.:laughing:

The mechanism that slides them in and out requires a lot of maintenance (there's more than one system), and they're almost a guarantee of a water leak with seals that frequently need replacing.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Interesting time today seeing the RV with my wife. She liked the color, the interior, everything about it, particularly that it was so immaculate inside. We did have some hiccups, which really embarrassed the poor guy showing me the coach. First the living room slide would not open, turned out to be a defective limit switch and it finally opened. Ok. Then the power gen drawer would not retract. Likely another bad switch, but not an impressive showing.
My big unpleasant surprise was to find that the gen had four thousand hours on a really nice Onan QD series 10kw. Now I know these things will run double that, but that is still a lot of wear and tear on a gen. I’m estimating two to three thousand for a top end job, new water pumps, belts, stop solenoid, etc. vs, ten thousand new. PO took it to car races and just ran the gen 24/7.
Interesting that the coach had a big propane tank for the stove and what? Maybe the fridge?
Stove looked like it had never been cooked on btw.
Diesel powered hydronics system that looks like a nice to have in cold weather.
Nada range is 144-173, which btw is higher than what I’m seeing in the ads.
I’m thinking of offering 130K including their providing ten new radials, as a start.
Any higher than that and I think I would want to buy newer/less miles/hours.

Low hours are worse on a genset than high.

I would seriously go to irv2.net if you haven't already. TONS of friendly people and info on anything you need.

 

[ronjhall]

4000 on a Kubota engine is just broke in. I would be worried that it was properly maintained during those 4000 hours.
My MH has 2 slides. Sure makes a RV much larger when they are extended. While I have had some problems over the 9 years since it was built. I would not live in a RV without them. Repairs were one switch and one seal. Both repaired by me.

 

[daugen]

Well, I did it. Put an offer in. My wife is always on my case because I'm too nice and she thinks I get taken advantage of. So to make a point to her, and maybe to myself...I offered 120K for the coach as is. This way there's enough money left in there for me to fix it up the way I want to, not some one else trying to cut corners to finish a deal at max profit.

The local Cat dealer wants about 800 to adjust the C9's valves, and do a total lube/oil/filter on the engine. I want to go factory the first time to set a baseline, and then Speedco, etc thereafter. It will be interesting to find out actual engine hours and remarkable that an expensive engine like this doesn't have an external hour meter. Now you either have the plug or you do not play.

Not sure if the offer will be accepted, subject to a test drive and thorough inspection of course. I suppose I should tell my wife I did this...

So, my offer is being presented, and probably making someone unhappy.

 

[daugen]

call back from salesperson. Long and short of it is that they want to check the coach over one more time, and
then they seem ok with the offer. They wanted to throw in a short warranty with a huge padding in the cost of the coach.
I said no, as is, cut the deal to the bone, if it all works, once, while I'm in it, once I drive away, I have an 8 year old truck, what do I expect?
And I told them the coach would immediately come in for a comprehensive maintenance overhaul in their shop, but I wanted to control what was done, and therefore
have a baseline going forward.

almost as much fun as buying a new tractor. almost.

the overweight lady hasn't sung so we shall see.

 

[fordmantpw]

Congrats...once the overweight lady sings!

Sounds fun...enjoy your travels!

 

[Gunny]

Well maybe the weight challenged lady hasn't started singing, but it appears that she's in the wings warming up! Hope the deal works out for you and I hope that you enjoy the RV. Camping is a lot of fun, a great stress reliever and there's just so much pretty country our there to see!

 

[dmccarty]

Daugen,

This has been a great thread which had some very good information.

It is interesting that they seemed to have accepted that low offer. Can't wait to hear what happens next. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[daugen]

Perhaps I just wrote them a convincing note as to why the offer was our best and if not please find us another similar one.
and why I would have been glad to pay close to asking price if the coach had 20K less miles and 2000 less hours on the gen.
But the wear has been taken out of the coach, and I have to invest about ten thousand into the coach, maybe a little more.

Dealer called and said the coach was ready for a ride. Rock and roll.
am off to walk up to my neighbor and bribe him with a lunch, for taking a drive in this coach and giving me his opinions.
He has a 36-38 Winnebago Journey, diesel pusher, and is a very pleasant retired plumber.
If the motor does not run perfectly, I will require that our next drive is down to the local Cat dealer who will plug in and
see what they find. My BIL has bought a lot of Cat excavation equipment from this dealer so I'm pretty sure I won't get
abused there. They were very nice when I called them and said they did lots of diesel motorhomes. It's nice, they are pretty
close by.

so the plot thickens...

am calling storage places like mad and no room yet for a motorhome.
may have to go further out.