Is 153,000 Miles A Lot For a 1997 Class C ?

goreds2 wrote:
My girlfriend is going to look at a 1997 Class C Ford with E350 chassis and V10 engine with 153,000 miles. Is this a lot for an RV? Averages out to about 8500 miles a year. It was a rental until around 2000 and is on it's second owner since then. Maintenance has been well kept. Thanks for any future input.

The owner did sell it but not to us. :)

No offense to the OP, but the fact that he feels the need to ask about the liability of buying that motorhome tends to indicate that he has some concerns about it. Ultimately, he alone will be the one to make the decision based on what he sees. My best suggestion is to keep looking. There are plenty more fish in the sea, as they say, and with just a little patience, and time, you will find that gem in the rough and you will immediately be able to tell the kind of maintenance it has received, and your decision to buy it or not will be much easier.

I have a 1992 GM 2500 van with about the same mileage. It was only in a garage several times in the first 20 years - at the end of its extended warranty for a rear end whine complaint and one or two times for U joints, transmission fluid change and a belt change. Can't remember what the problem was but the cost was $1000, covered by the warranty. I have faithfully changed the oil, greased the front end, even changed the coolant, transmission fluid, fuel filter and gear oil in the rear end once in each case. Not exactly "well maintained". This van had no significant repair repair needs other than a bent axel one time, which a friend and I replaced, and a starting motor replacement, until the van was 20 years old with 260 000 km - the heater core failed while we were on a camping trip with our tent trailer.

We limped to a town, using lots of water, and a very nice garage took it in and shorted the water flow around the dead heater core so we could carry on with our trip. They said the cost to replace would be $700. I figured the van wasn't worth that much because it needed new tires and probably some other things were nearly worn out. Then I managed to replace that heater core myself.

A year later the water pump failed. A mechanic friend replaced the pump, alternator, thermostat, idler pulleys and belt for me, no doubt saving another $700. The rear heater core failed and no replacement was available so I did the bypassing trick myself.

The van has left me sitting several times in the last year due to battery troubles. It seems a connector I installed to power the tent trailer was drawing half an amp all the time and I didn't drive it very much. And one of the battery cables had some corrosion increasing its resistance - all things I took care of myself but which would have been pretty annoying on a camping trip.

In the case of the 1997 for sale, I would take it for a test drive, listen to the engine and transmission and take a look at the spark plugs to help foresee serious engine trouble. I expect it has ten years and fifty thousand miles to go, perhaps with some annoyances.

Bordercollie wrote:
Yes, RV tires deteriorate sitting parked. Tires on cars and trucks, that are driven a lot/frequently get internal lubrication and are safer to use based on miles and tread depth. If RV is stored indoors, and driven frequently, and sidewalls are not seriously cracked from sun and weather, they may be safer to use past the 5 year point. It's generally not worth it to risk tire failure, on the road and disruption of a trip though it seems a shame and wasteful to replace $300 RV tires every 5-6 years. Opinions on this vary with personal experience.

Well, its probably because ours move a little more that we haven't problems over the years but so far we have been lucky with Michelins 10 year recomendation so we will stay with that. Having said that we changed at 9 years last time because there were a few cracks showing up on the sidewalls. Everyone has their comfort zone though. I get that. Having said that if someone close by is changing out a set of 22.5 michelins in a few years I'll be happy to buy them off you for a good price. :)

Yes, RV tires deteriorate sitting parked. Tires on cars and trucks, that are driven a lot/frequently get internal lubrication and are safer to use based on miles and tread depth. If RV is stored indoors, and driven frequently, and sidewalls are not seriously cracked from sun and weather, they may be safer to use past the 5 year point. It's generally not worth it to risk tire failure, on the road and disruption of a trip though it seems a shame and wasteful to replace $300 RV tires every 5-6 years. Opinions on this vary with personal experience.

John & Angela wrote:

Good morning. Curious on the tire Statement. Why would tires need to be replaced at 5 years regardless of appearance.

Thanks in advance.

John

I'm new to this too but I've been following tire threads closely. I'd characterize this statement as a "rule of thumb". There are folks who take good care of their tires and pay special attention to them and get more than 5.

But I think the point is... We car-drivers are used to replacing tires when the tread is gone. But on RVs, where the loads are high, the miles often low - the tires will wear out (from stress, flex, load, UV) long before the tread is gone.

Bordercollie wrote:
It's been said that the average RV owner puts 5000 miles per year on their rig. So, a 17 year old rig might have 85K miles on it if driven the average number of miles per year. A rig with double that amount of miles that had been maintained well and driven with care might be ok chassis-wise but a 17 year old "Housebox" including the roof, the fridge, water heater, furnace, air conditioner, fresh water pump, converter/charger, house batteries, RV generator and awning are all on borrowed time unless recently replaced. Tires need to be replaced if older than 5 years old by date code, appearance doesn't count. Brakes need to be checked and serviced as needed including replacement of front flexible brake lines and flushing/replacement of brake fluid.

Good morning. Curious on the tire Statement. Why would tires need to be replaced at 5 years regardless of appearance.

Thanks in advance.

John

It's been said that the average RV owner puts 5000 miles per year on their rig. So, a 17 year old rig might have 85K miles on it if driven the average number of miles per year. A rig with double that amount of miles that had been maintained well and driven with care might be ok chassis-wise but a 17 year old "Housebox" including the roof, the fridge, water heater, furnace, air conditioner, fresh water pump, converter/charger, house batteries, RV generator and awning are all on borrowed time unless recently replaced. Tires need to be replaced if older than 5 years old by date code, appearance doesn't count. Brakes need to be checked and serviced as needed including replacement of front flexible brake lines and flushing/replacement of brake fluid.

Ours is around that (2002) V10 E350. All seems well. Lots of hard miles to, and lots of idling. Also an ex rental. More than half the miles are ours. Make sure all the appliances are running well, no water damage etc, price accordingly.

Good luck and happy trails.

My 2008 has 125,000 miles and is a former rental and is in better shape than many RV's with only 20,000 miles I see. Period. End of story. Oh, and I paid about $30,000 less for it than the ones with 20,000 miles on them. ;)