1997 Class C Winnebago, 47,000 miles too old to buy?

[Xavpil]

I did my due diligence and read the FAQ and also did a search
I am looking at a 97 Winnebago Minnie Winnie with a ford engine with 47,000 miles on it.
It looks great cosmetically and drives good. But I know this is the tip of the iceberg and it will require a thorough inspection.
It is my first RV. I’d take it across country.
I know it depends on a lot of factors but is there a rule of thumb that says RVs shouldn’t be older than....
Thx guys

[jaycocreek]

I bought a 1993 Jamboree Class C a few years ago with 51K on it..The engine had all new belts and hoses and drove excellently..It did need new front rotors but that was added to the price..The 460 ford drove nice and gave me over 10 mpg loaded up and traveling from Montana back to idaho...Never put a dime into it in over two years..

There's some nice older units out there if you look around...I sold it and bought a 1994 Ford F-350 DRW for a pickup camper to get where I couldn't with the Class C..

I also had an 1985 Beaver Class C and the only thing I had to do to that was replace the water pump in 8 years or so of owning it..The old 440 Dodge did well...We full time in this one..Three people and a black lab..Great layout,it was called the party edition with a couch and two chairs and the rear bath that was huge..

I would buy another older Class C in a heart beat if it met my criteria..

[jimx200]

Xavpil wrote:

jimx200 wrote:
So did you buy the rig.

I passed.
Engine service light was on. Tires were 6 years old. They guy bought it two years ago and never used it and couldn’t show me how things worked.
I decided it wasn’t worth a $500 inspection

Wow, $500. inspection fee is laughable. Up here they run $100. and these are done by old school, experienced, and often a retired tech. Hope you find another.

Here's a 1998 Itasca 32' that looks to have lots of newer parts and appears to be in very good condition. https://slo.craigslist.org/rvs/d/cayucos-1998-itasca-sunrise-32-class/7130438793.html I would love to see it and offer them $10,000, but that's a 6 hour drive away.

[Grit_dog]

jimx200 wrote:
So did you buy the rig? I see them up here in Sacramento area around that year for $8500-$10,000 and in good to excellent condition. IF it's been taken care of, there is no downside. Take it to a good wrench for new hoses, belts, fluids flushed (including brake fluid), install new brake pads and hoses, get the roof sealed, flush out the holding tanks, service the generator, new rubber, and enjoy the heck out of it. Betting all of this can be done for under $2500. or so. You can buy a newer 2006 on up for $17,000 and still spend $3,000+ on getting it road worthy. Don't worry about the Triton engine with the 2 valve..we had a 1999 (98 production year) and that beast never let us down.Plenty of power and don't worry about any spark plug issue. Any mechanic can change out old plugs and torque to specs. Get out and enjoy life.

I agree, most/all of this stuff is what should be or may need to be done to an old car to make it as road worthy as possible.
Your estimate is misleading and off by a factor of 2 at least.
But $2500 ain’t going to cut it unless you do the work yourself. The above list is 2 grand in parts and days of work. Less if some things not needed, more if others needed.
And one should worry about spark plugs on ALL Triton engines. Not a definite reason not to buy one but whether it’s a plug spitter or plug sticker, the potential is there.
Rather have a plug spitter. Heli coil kits are easier than the ones that break off. And they will break off when changed.
Just did plugs on a super low miles, garaged since day 1, 2006 4.6 Triton motor. They all came out, barely. Had to work at every one and all were corroded in. And that was 32,0000 miles and 13 years of dry warm storage.

[Grit_dog]

Bummer, not getting a good feeling about the “history” is the first reason to be skeptical of an old vehicle.
There’s plenty of them out there though.
Consider deals like the above a good opportunity for a low ball offer though.
Generally the bad problems don’t result in a check engine light though, but it’s a good excuse for a low offer if the owner can’t or won’t keep up with servicing and repairing the vehicle.

[Xavpil]

jimx200 wrote:
So did you buy the rig.

I passed.
Engine service light was on. Tires were 6 years old. They guy bought it two years ago and never used it and couldn’t show me how things worked.
I decided it wasn’t worth a $500 inspection

[Xavpil]

BFL13 wrote:
Do they something like this in your area, where they "match" you with a private RV owner who rents out his rig?

https://www.rvezy.com/?rvz_campaign=9984949857&rvz_content=&rvz_term=433467799372&rvz_adgroup=107567...

They do but they all limit you to 100 miles a day. I guess it s more for weekend rentals...

[jimx200]

So did you buy the rig? I see them up here in Sacramento area around that year for $8500-$10,000 and in good to excellent condition. IF it's been taken care of, there is no downside. Take it to a good wrench for new hoses, belts, fluids flushed (including brake fluid), install new brake pads and hoses, get the roof sealed, flush out the holding tanks, service the generator, new rubber, and enjoy the heck out of it. Betting all of this can be done for under $2500. or so. You can buy a newer 2006 on up for $17,000 and still spend $3,000+ on getting it road worthy. Don't worry about the Triton engine with the 2 valve..we had a 1999 (98 production year) and that beast never let us down.Plenty of power and don't worry about any spark plug issue. Any mechanic can change out old plugs and torque to specs. Get out and enjoy life.

[IAMICHABOD]

Xavpil wrote:

I hear you but renting isn’t an option. With the milage it costs $12000/month

There are a few options far cheaper than that in the L.A. Area such as

RV Share

or Outdoorsy

There a few members that bought a Former Rental then listed them on both of these websites,one I know of has almost made back all of his investment. It is a pretty common thing to do.

[BFL13]

Do they something like this in your area, where they "match" you with a private RV owner who rents out his rig?

https://www.rvezy.com/?rvz_campaign=9984949857&rvz_content=&rvz_term=433467799372&rvz_adgroup=107567...

[Xavpil]

bobndot wrote:

Xavpil wrote:
I don’t plan on keeping it that long actually
I am too young to retire and enjoy the open roads weeks at a time. I just want to go on my dream road trip cross country while I have the luxury of being able to work remotely

I think you will be better off renting a unit for a one time vacation that you can do in a month or two . That way there is no prep and you walk away from it. That freedom might be money well spent.

Consider how long it might take you to get an rv repair appointment to repair a older rig while on the road. With rv sales going thru the roof now, the shops will be overloaded.

I hear you but renting isn’t an option. With the milage it costs $12000/month

[bobndot]

Xavpil wrote:

BFL13 wrote:
Suggest you are a good candidate for renting a Class C.

Renting prices are out of this world, $300/day, and limited to 100 miles/day, unless I am not looking at the right vendors

average Rates: this one was sent to me by a friend in NY which has very high insurance rates reflected into those prices. There are rv dealers in other states that rent, that do not advertise it. You have to place phone calls and ask various dealers.

I would rent a unit in two stages. Do a few weeks on a southern tour then another few weeks on a northern loop with a break in between to break up your out-of-pocket expense.

• Weekend $1395.00 with 500 Free Miles
• Weekly $1945.00 with 1500 Free Miles
• Add extra days for $225.00 which will include 100 free miles per added day
• Any weekend package that exceeds 750 miles, the extra mileage charge will be .75 per mile due to our weekend mileage cap, which is why we can offer weekend rates
• Rental will be Required
• Extra Mileage 36 Cents per Mile

[Dusty_R]

At one time the E-350 emergency/hand break set the rear wheels break, and the E-450 had a break at the output of transmission that was the emergency/hand break.

[DrewE]

ron.dittmer wrote:
Rear disk brakes became the standard for the E350 a few years after 1997, maybe when the E450 was introduced.

The E-SuperDuty, which was renamed to be the E-450 after a few years, came out in the 1998 model year from what I can suss out; certainly not later than that. My 1998 E-SuperDuty based motorhome has four wheel disc brakes (and they are perfectly acceptable at stopping the vehicle). I have no idea if that's when the E-350 got them or not, nor if possibly different variants of the E-350 differed in that respect--say the dually versions having disc brakes while the single-wheel ones still had drums, for example.

(As an aside, it can be a bit irksome to try to look up parts for the E-SuperDuty as many of the parts store computer systems seem not to know about the existence of that model under the name.)

[BFL13]

^If that's your experience, then older vehicles are a challenge. BTW, brake light switches for your van are like $10.99 at any parts store and easy to replace, which I'm sure you're aware of
--------------
I had no luck finding one for a 1991 E350. They changed it in later years. Ford dealer here doesn't have it on their parts computer anymore, and I couldn't find it on line. I will look some more.

It is not for the brake lights, it is the switch for the parking brake light on the dash, same light that indicates brake failure while driving. It was confusing trying to figure out what was the trouble when it was both at once.

I was able to look at one in somebody's older E350 so I could see how it is supposed to be. My two parts were not obvious how to fit them back together. I have it working again for now (second repair on that), but the glue won't hold long I think. At least now it is only the parking brake indicator and not a "real" brake problem, so no scary red light while driving.

That red brake light comes on while driving and you know you are supposed to get off the road, but then you see the anti-lock light on, so you think it is just that, so you try to brake and it feels ok, but you don't know for how long, and this is not a good time or place to be stuck, and, and,--- if you are close to home it is one thing, but what if on some Interstate half way across the country? Good Sam time for sure, and what does that do to your dream trip when you have to be back to work next week?

How many expensive parts will the local garage sell you when it was only the brake fluid pot not being full to the top and the light comes on when it gets down to half full every two years or so ? Oh well.