Forum Discussion

jerem0621's avatar
jerem0621
Explorer II
Jun 18, 2013

New to this...Older Gas Class A's

Hello, I am new to this forum. My wife and I are in the process of selling our Travel trailer and our Truck and we want to purchase a class A motorhome.

I fully understand that these thengs have different operating costs over a TT.

I am pretty sure we are going to be going with an older coach with either a GM P30 chassis or a Ford (not sure of the chassis name).

I am a decent wrencher and feel confident I can handle the maintenence on these coaches.. The tires are throwing me off. I can't find what tires sizes to look up for these Chassis I understand that it will depend on my preferred brand, etc etc.

So, here is what I expect to do pretty much after I purchase our new to us coach.

1) Change all fluids
2) Replace the soft brake lines with new and inspect/repalce the brakes
3) Flush the radiator and replace Tstat and hoses.
4) Replace the tires is great than 5 years old or if damaged
5) Have the AC inspected

I am sure that I can handle all of the routine stuff. I don't expect it will be that expensive if done in my drive way.

My main question about tires is... are they like my Dually's tires? Are they just standard "E" rated tires? Are they Semi tires? Should they be something like 235/85 R16's or something along those lines?

I see that a 18.5 inch rim was available on some of the P30 chassis as well. Are the larger Wheels of any particular advantage? Any reason I should stay away from the 16 inch Wheels?

Thanks!

Jeremiah
  • You need to have budgeted about another 5 grand over the next 2 years for surprise repairs. Adding up all the possible parts typically doesn't explain or predict where all the money goes.

    Also one other thing I learned in buying vehicles is don't buy something that you know needs real work. The problem is that while you can budget for things you can see, there will be many things you can't see. When you add the two together, you end up way under water. There is a curse of those mechanically inclined to think stuff we can fix is no big deal. We quantify it, and use that for justification of the purchase. The failure comes when tacking on all the unknowns. It adds up to a grand total much greater than we imagined. Yes, being mechanically inclined is a curse.


    ON EDIT: man that was hard to read, so I fixed it. Didn't want to be a poster child for 'Your Grammar Sucks' on youtube.
  • Don't worry about buying a MH with 16" tires, they work just fine. If you take care of your MH and inspect it before each trip, like everyone should regardless of tire size, you will be fine. True, the tires are carrying alot of weight, but they ride and handle great. My MY has 16" tires and yes, the larger tires are nice. However, they are also more expensive. Keep that in mind when you have 6 to 8 tires to replace.
  • My old, sold off now, '94 Tiffin Allegro, GM P32 chassis, came with 8R19.5 on it.

    Considering the cost of tires, you pretty much want to stay OEM. My choice would be to stay far away from any Class A with anything smaller in tire size. As to changing there, there is lots of technical tire stuff involved, including lots of money.
  • This is my opinion only. You will be able to get a 11-14 year old Class A for your 9-12K as we are in the "selling season" now and prices will be up. My Ford V10 has 19.5 wheels which is standard for that chassis I believe. My V10 has been bullet proof and the Fleetwood chassis has been trouble free in the last 13 years. Good luck.
  • Thanks for the replies.

    Doug, I will add these to my list as well. Our budget is 8-12k. Meaning we have 12 allocated to the purchase of the coach and will look at coaches around that price range. I know that this puts us firmly in the 90's... And we will be looking at gassers.

    Any brand suggestions would be great .. But I know at this age it's more about maintenance than anyrhing.

    Thanks
  • Good luck with your search. Don't jump on the first thing that you like until you have looked at a good sampling of what's available in your price range. IMHO a coach is worth a little more money if it can be proven that it has been maintained properly. (Too many people just buy 'em and drive 'em like they stole 'em)

    The Ford chassis is typically the F53.

    To answer your question about tires... it depends! Depending on size and age of MH, you may be looking at anything from 16" 235/85R16 to 22.5" tires.

    A couple of things you may want to add to your list: 1) shocks, 2) sway bar bushings 3) any soft fuel lines (don't forget the genny either)

    If you give us the year range that you're looking for, that would help us to make recommendations.


    Doug
  • Mine have LT235/85R16 Load Range E. There are trade-offs. Bigger tires preclude carrying a spare, but the smaller tires run on the load range envelope. I've considered stepping up to Rickson bolt-on 19.5", but that will cost $700 per tire. So far, two dually flats haven't budged me hard enough to step up tire size, but I did add TPMS.
  • Why don't you just go with what size is currently on it? Don't you have a info tag on the door jamb that specifies what size tire?
  • Taller tires help to give more usable basement storage, but too tall makes for more steps to go up. Ours are 19.5 and that is enough for me.