Reliability in purchasing older diesel A
Good Evening to all. Looking for the many who respond to us that are would be newbies. I consider all of you experts because you know far more than I at this point in my RV life from years ago (80's) ...
Forum Discussion
IMHO, the key to having a relatively hassle free experience in an older coach is to buy one that was high end when new. In the days before the 2008 crash, these were built by craftsmen who were giving the time and resources to do a quality job.
As mentioned, 20 year old appliances are the biggest issue, but even there I don't think a Dometic fridge built today would last anywhere near 20 years. As for body parts, even if the manufacturer is out of business (and most of them are or have been absorbed by another company), salvage yards usually have the parts. The only real manufacturer specific body parts are the front and rear end caps.
We bought the Sahara at 19 years old. It has most of the Mx records in a book and I could see what needed immediate attention. The tires were replaced right away. We took a season to do some short and extended weekend trips to shake things out, changed all the fluids and hit the road for 6 months, putting 6000 miles on the bus. The issues were.
- a roof leaked that developed, probably due to the rough road conditions in the northeast
- most of the parts on the toilet failed. Should have just gotten a whole new one
- the seal around one of the roof air conditioners leaked
All were repaired by me on the road. When we got back I took the coach to a CAT shop for the required valve lash adjustment and a lube, and they found a bunch of suspension worked that needed to be done. I put the rig into the local shop over the winter and had the sway bar ends replaced and all the stuck grease fittings freed up. Then I added another 100 watts of solar to the roof and replaced the house batteries with 4 - 6V golf cart batteries so we could do more dry camping.
IMHO, the older coaches have way more character than the paper bag buses being sold today. Every place we stay, someone always comments on how nice the Sahara looks. The interior layout is good even though we don't have 4 slides, and it's not done up like a French bordello.
Someday I might trade it in someday for a newer (2001) Beaver. Cari - yours for sale???
As mentioned, 20 year old appliances are the biggest issue, but even there I don't think a Dometic fridge built today would last anywhere near 20 years. As for body parts, even if the manufacturer is out of business (and most of them are or have been absorbed by another company), salvage yards usually have the parts. The only real manufacturer specific body parts are the front and rear end caps.
We bought the Sahara at 19 years old. It has most of the Mx records in a book and I could see what needed immediate attention. The tires were replaced right away. We took a season to do some short and extended weekend trips to shake things out, changed all the fluids and hit the road for 6 months, putting 6000 miles on the bus. The issues were.
- a roof leaked that developed, probably due to the rough road conditions in the northeast
- most of the parts on the toilet failed. Should have just gotten a whole new one
- the seal around one of the roof air conditioners leaked
All were repaired by me on the road. When we got back I took the coach to a CAT shop for the required valve lash adjustment and a lube, and they found a bunch of suspension worked that needed to be done. I put the rig into the local shop over the winter and had the sway bar ends replaced and all the stuck grease fittings freed up. Then I added another 100 watts of solar to the roof and replaced the house batteries with 4 - 6V golf cart batteries so we could do more dry camping.
IMHO, the older coaches have way more character than the paper bag buses being sold today. Every place we stay, someone always comments on how nice the Sahara looks. The interior layout is good even though we don't have 4 slides, and it's not done up like a French bordello.
Someday I might trade it in someday for a newer (2001) Beaver. Cari - yours for sale???
