Monaco...The Good years and the bad...
On the way to our vacation property, one of our neighbors has a Monaco Diplomat. It looks nice form the outside. My wife asks me about it and I say I really don't know. She say is it on that monoco...
Forum Discussion
DSDP Don wrote:
"Ocean Mist"....I'll add my two cents since I owned a Monaco for over 9 years. I'll start by saying that Monaco was one of the best coaches made. The older ones are still as popular as ever.
Monaco made it's own chassis, called the Roadmaster chassis. Most of the chassis' on the road were their RR8R chassis which had 4 airbags and 4 shocks at each axle. This design made them a little stiffer handling, but they cornered really well. The tag axle chassis' were called RR10R and indicated they had two additional airbags and shocks on the tag axle.
They made also made an R4R chassis which was similar to something like a Freightliner with just two airbags and shocks per axle. They had a few years 07 and on, that had a defect and would crack the axle support. The R4R chassis was very rough riding. If you look at coaches with this chassis, you need to make sure the axle repair was done...about $3000.00.
In about 2009, Monaco went under like many others due to the recession and probably bad management. A short time later, Navistar bought the rights and began producing motor homes again, but they were now built with the Navistar/International engine, except for the very high end models. A few years later they were not profitable and dropped the line.
After Navistar dropped the Monaco line, the parent company of Fleetwood and American Coach Line bought the rights to Monaco and dumped the Roadmaster chassis. They then proceeded to make a few new coaches on a Freightliner chassis, starting with a Dynasty and called them the new Monaco.
If I were looking for a good quality used coach I would, depending on budget, start with anything Monaco built 2002 - 2008 on an RR8R chassis or higher. That includes Beaver and Safari that were brought into the Monaco family. Anything in 2009 may have some build issues as they were going out of business. Anything after that will typically have the Navistar engine which many liked.
From 2015 on, again, my personal opinion, Monaco is no longer. The new Monaco is just a rebranded American Coach on a Freightliner chassis. What made Monaco a Monaco was their chassis and it's gone forever.
Wow! where do i start...This is very important information. This is the Holly Grail for RoadMaster Chassis. Thank you for the detailed info. I can feel a bit safer now when im shopping.
The RR8R or RR10R is the shiz nizzle, I think that's how they say it...{:{>
But i agree with you, sadly that Monaco is no more...
