Notes on the RV experience
With all the good information and the relevant comments we can find today when looking for answers got me to share my last few weeks of experience of owning a used RV. There are some positive and some negative but decide for yourself in which category they should go.
So this summer I was going to rent a class A RV out west with the cost that goes with it, that got me wondering (the devil inside) should I not buy a used one instead, you know the un-expensive type. Well one thing got to another and I started to look at RV’s in the 20,000 range and I could honestly say that most of them were either******or rust buckets (see I live in Montreal and weather takes a toll on these vehicles).
Anyhow I stumbled into 2 that were immaculate, 2 Triple E Commanders 32’. These RV’s are Canadian made and according to what I read are more on the high end side in terms of build quality. They are also 4 seasons built with lots of insulation (even the storage compartments under) and they have heated gray and black tanks.
The house portion on the one I purchased is basically like new (the owner had plastics on everywhere) and a solid 163,000km (102,000 miles). Price 14,000$. Knowing mechanical stuff I put aside another 7000 just for the initial repairs (that’s based on owning too many vehicles in my life). It does not have a slide but cabinets are so well built, wood flooring, ceiling that looks like wool, it’s really nice.
The age old question, Chevy or Ford ? Mine is a Chevy P30 1998 with a Vortec 7.4L. The choice of the chassis has nothing to do with the brand, the driver was it was so clean that the chassis is secondary. This being said if comparing 2 rv’s that are equal go for the Ford. Why? Simply because Workhorse parts availability is really bad specifically in Canada and much more expensive. I get mine serviced at a huge truck center which has a Chevrolet dealership also and they service all brands even Ford’s and they are the first to say Ford’s are cheaper to maintain and they never wait for parts. Nuff said….
Now back to my P30, there are many comments on this chassis that go from the famous “Auto Park Green switch”, cracked manifolds and issues with sorting out steering/suspension.
All of the above are true to a certain degree.
The auto park I had the switches changed just because of their age, the previous owner never had an issue with those and the RV has now 184,000km (110,000 miles).
Cracked manifolds…. If they are not cracked yet they will! After my 12500km trip to the west coast I cracked the left one in one place and the right one in 3 places. Actually when removed they simply felt apart. The replacement was done with the proper thing, Banks torque tubes, unbelievable built quality. I only got the torque tubes because I do not believe of having any significant gain on changing the rest of the system.
Now to the steering and suspension, that part I had to address day one. After bringing it home with severe winds I sent it for service because I knew something was wrong, too much play in the steering wheel to my taste. Note that the previous owner purchased it new with a stabilizer. So, 4 tie rods, 2 boomerangs, 1 drag link and the mother of all 2 bellcranks (not to mention 4 shocks also). The Bellcranks are******on a P30 even when the RV was new (P30 independent suspension is more complex than equivalent Ford’s and there is a cost to this). I replaced the Bellcranks with the SuperSteer ones with internal bearings (worth all the money in the world). End result…. drives like my Mercedes now, zero steering play, wind has basically no effect on the RV except nothing that there is some wind outside.
I also had all fluids changed (tranny, motor, diff, rad, etc…), belt changed, alternator (was cheap so why not), plugs, wires, cap, the AC trinary switch from Evans (thanks to RV.Net) and the AC condenser.
Where does that leave me? With a 26,000$ rig now (12000 in repairs). Am I satisfied? Yes because now I corrected or changed all the stuff that I am worried about.
How does it run? Like a new one the engine makes no noise at all (no valve train noise or any undesired noise).
My service shop says that since the engine and tranny were so well maintained I am not going to see the end of any of them. Is this true? Only time will tell.
Useful links:
http://www.evanstempcon.com/serviceparts.php
http://www.hendersonslineup.com/
http://bankspower.com/products/show/334/66
So this summer I was going to rent a class A RV out west with the cost that goes with it, that got me wondering (the devil inside) should I not buy a used one instead, you know the un-expensive type. Well one thing got to another and I started to look at RV’s in the 20,000 range and I could honestly say that most of them were either******or rust buckets (see I live in Montreal and weather takes a toll on these vehicles).
Anyhow I stumbled into 2 that were immaculate, 2 Triple E Commanders 32’. These RV’s are Canadian made and according to what I read are more on the high end side in terms of build quality. They are also 4 seasons built with lots of insulation (even the storage compartments under) and they have heated gray and black tanks.
The house portion on the one I purchased is basically like new (the owner had plastics on everywhere) and a solid 163,000km (102,000 miles). Price 14,000$. Knowing mechanical stuff I put aside another 7000 just for the initial repairs (that’s based on owning too many vehicles in my life). It does not have a slide but cabinets are so well built, wood flooring, ceiling that looks like wool, it’s really nice.
The age old question, Chevy or Ford ? Mine is a Chevy P30 1998 with a Vortec 7.4L. The choice of the chassis has nothing to do with the brand, the driver was it was so clean that the chassis is secondary. This being said if comparing 2 rv’s that are equal go for the Ford. Why? Simply because Workhorse parts availability is really bad specifically in Canada and much more expensive. I get mine serviced at a huge truck center which has a Chevrolet dealership also and they service all brands even Ford’s and they are the first to say Ford’s are cheaper to maintain and they never wait for parts. Nuff said….
Now back to my P30, there are many comments on this chassis that go from the famous “Auto Park Green switch”, cracked manifolds and issues with sorting out steering/suspension.
All of the above are true to a certain degree.
The auto park I had the switches changed just because of their age, the previous owner never had an issue with those and the RV has now 184,000km (110,000 miles).
Cracked manifolds…. If they are not cracked yet they will! After my 12500km trip to the west coast I cracked the left one in one place and the right one in 3 places. Actually when removed they simply felt apart. The replacement was done with the proper thing, Banks torque tubes, unbelievable built quality. I only got the torque tubes because I do not believe of having any significant gain on changing the rest of the system.
Now to the steering and suspension, that part I had to address day one. After bringing it home with severe winds I sent it for service because I knew something was wrong, too much play in the steering wheel to my taste. Note that the previous owner purchased it new with a stabilizer. So, 4 tie rods, 2 boomerangs, 1 drag link and the mother of all 2 bellcranks (not to mention 4 shocks also). The Bellcranks are******on a P30 even when the RV was new (P30 independent suspension is more complex than equivalent Ford’s and there is a cost to this). I replaced the Bellcranks with the SuperSteer ones with internal bearings (worth all the money in the world). End result…. drives like my Mercedes now, zero steering play, wind has basically no effect on the RV except nothing that there is some wind outside.
I also had all fluids changed (tranny, motor, diff, rad, etc…), belt changed, alternator (was cheap so why not), plugs, wires, cap, the AC trinary switch from Evans (thanks to RV.Net) and the AC condenser.
Where does that leave me? With a 26,000$ rig now (12000 in repairs). Am I satisfied? Yes because now I corrected or changed all the stuff that I am worried about.
How does it run? Like a new one the engine makes no noise at all (no valve train noise or any undesired noise).
My service shop says that since the engine and tranny were so well maintained I am not going to see the end of any of them. Is this true? Only time will tell.
Useful links:
http://www.evanstempcon.com/serviceparts.php
http://www.hendersonslineup.com/
http://bankspower.com/products/show/334/66
