RV's

[Wingnut]

Re: RV\'s

doggone ... we need an undelete feature on this board ... at least once a day I accidentally hit "Esc" and kill 5 minutes of typing!

I'm not too worried, Bird ... that's what cell phones, AAA gold cards and credit cards are for. If she tanks on me ... I rent a car while she gets fixed or stored until I can trailer it back. (wonder if my 7000# trailer will haul it ,,,)
As I understand it, there were about 15000 of these little guys built on the Renault chassis .. gas and turbo diesel from '83 to '86 and gas from '87 through '92. And now Winnie is building them again on a VW chassis so they're still pretty popular. It seems most of the running ones (about 3/4 of those sold) as still Renault powered, although several companies seem to be making a pretty penny repowering them. I'm just waiting for the company in Bozeman, MT to get back to me with the cost of repowering with a V6 ... but I think that if I drive as others who own them have suggested ... I should be ok wfor quite awhile.
I just finished changing the oil, tranny and diff fluids and they all looked good .... which is a good sign. There is some rust underneath ... but considering the previous owners wintered in Florida ... I'd be pretty shocked if it had none. Changed out the rear battery ... now just the generatopr to go and she's ready to be cleaned for the trip. I figure if I drive like I should .... under 65 ... it'll take longer than normal (for me) ... but I'll get 18-20 mpg and make it there and back.
Guess we'll see.
Sure looking forward to a whole week ... plus ... away from the office and these 10+ hour days!
First stop Poteau, OK .. then Dallas, Buffalo, Nacogdoches, back to Dallas (maybe with another stop in Buffalo) and back here .... should be enough driving for awhile!

too bad that common sense ain't

 

[Wingnut]

Re: RV\'s

so far the only irritating thing about it being Renault powered (these are pretty durable engines ... in widespread use in Europe ... where they drive much faster and harder than we do) is the cost. One outfit sells spares ... sold me a service manual for $72 which was copied ... and has little in the way of service info .... maybe useful if I want to rebuild the engine ... but not for much else ...
filters were $10 for oil, and $16 for air

too bad that common sense ain't

 

[Bird]

Re: RV\'s

Wingnut, I probably shouldn't have said that; it's just that in my years of RVing (6 different RVs over the years), including over 5 years of living in one full time, I never heard anything good about the Renault powered LeSharos except fuel mileage from the owners and what I read in the magazines from The Good Sam Club and the Family Motor Coach Association (we were members of both) wasn't any better. The last owner I talked to on the road was in Idaho - folks from Maryland on their way to Alaska when theirs died in Idaho and they did manage to get just a little bit of a trade-in when they replaced it with a Toyota powered mini. And the last one I saw was in '93 when the owner offered to give it to me free if I'd just get it off his property (said it needed an engine and he hadn't been able to even find a salvage yard that would take it). From what I read in the magazines, I thought all those that were still on the road had had the Renault engine replaced by a Buick V-6. But . . ., my knowledge of them is very limited, and dated, so you may have a good deal there.

And I live out in the sticks 58 miles due south of downtown Dallas - northwest side of Navarro Mills Lake. If you get in this neighborhood stop by for coffee or a beer or a hamburger or something. Plenty of room to park on my 10 acres, or there's a Corp of Engineers campground across the road.

Bird