First time buyers considering a 1997 Four Winds class A

[JamesFerg]

Hi, James and Sami here and we are first time buyers getting ready to take the plunge. We're getting ready to go take a look at a 1997 Four Winds motorhome with a Ford 460 gas with a slide out. I'm going to inspect the roof thoroughly and look at the tires and engine for any obvious signs of problems, but apart from that I have no idea of questions I should ask or potential pitfalls to watch out for. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[gvisnic]

Your water leaking when 100% full could actually be the effect of water being siphoned off from the tank from the tank overflow. If I fill my tank completely full, water will siphon out thru the overfill line. I have learned to fill 90%

[JamesFerg]

gemert, Will do, thanks Chief

[JamesFerg]

JimM68 We are fortunate that this 97 model has one slide, right now the seller is telling me that the only problem with the rig is that when the potable water tank is 100% full then it leaks.... so my first thought is to find this tank and see what's underneath it to make sure nothing has rotted out, my next thought is I don't really plan on pulling around hundreds of pound of water and most likely will only be using shower and sink when I'm parked at campground where water is available so this isn't a huge issue, am I deceiving myself with that idea?

[dayakster]

JamesFerg wrote:
Question about NADA guide values

I'm familiar with using NADA having bought and sold about 25 vehicles in my life, but I'm a little lost with the RV NADA... Am I just missing the section or is there no place to put in the mileage? Also they list the prices as low retail and high retail. How does that apply to a private seller?

I compared the Allegro Bus I bought against an Itasca and a Bounder (all 1997s) that were sitting on a dealer's lot in the NADA guide and all figures were exactly the same. $12,500 low and $15.900 high retail.

I dropped into the dealer during their CamperPalooza and wasn't impressed with either the Bounder or Itasca mainly because of the cleanliness. The bounder had a real soft spot in the floor and the Itasca had a few more miles on it that I wanted but I never got around to discussing price with anyone there. The dealer has them both marked at $15,900. I paid $13k for my Allegro Bus from the private party. It was immaculate and I knew from seeing their ad late last season that they had already come down in price so I didn't even bother to dicker. He was a retired military guy who unfortunately had a stroke right after he bought it last year and now it was too much for him to handle with the loss of some of his dexterity.

[gemert]

JamesFerg wrote:
I'm an enlisted guy in the Air Force and we have a two year old so the pockets aren't too deep, but I'm fairly mechanically inclined. I obviously don't fully grasp all of the ins and outs of a complicated home on wheels... I know my way around the engine of most any carbureted GM 350 and I'm a decent carpenter so I can get a fair idea of structural integrity. I don't have much experience when it comes to things like tanks, electrical systems, and leveling/hydraulic systems so any advice about what to check for in those areas is much appreciated. Also if there are any rookie checklists that somebody knows about or any hard learned lessons that I can avoid, then I'm all ears.

Look in the "files"sections, Libraries or "sticky"sections of all of these RV forums for buyers checklists. There are a ton of them. Good luck!

[JamesFerg]

Question about NADA guide values

I'm familiar with using NADA having bought and sold about 25 vehicles in my life, but I'm a little lost with the RV NADA... Am I just missing the section or is there no place to put in the mileage? Also they list the prices as low retail and high retail. How does that apply to a private seller?

[JimM68]

Jmaes,
It sounds like your background has given you the tools you need to deal with something like this. We all learn as we go.

Make sure everything works, or if it doesn't, you know about it and can take the cost of fixing it into account.

Tires are always a biggie. 3 grand plus to replace all six tires, a must if over 7 years old... Know that and take it into account.

Updates can be important too. TV's? VCR/Blueray? satellite?
What's it have, what will you need?

Slideouts are important. While there are still some dinosaur types who will say the fewer slides the better, most find their slideouts to be trouble free free space. Slides started to exist around '98-99, and were very common by '02. Most will say the more the better. Those who don't can keep buying the no slide motorhomes.

[JamesFerg]

Dayakster, thanks for the words of encouragement, I've got a chunk of land up in Minnesota on the Wisconsin border and I hear you about how cold it is, hopefully it will be one of the places we visit this summer.

John Wayne, Thanks a bunch, just the kind of advice I'm looking for, I'm going to google date codes on tires right now so I know what to look for.

[dayakster]

I also took a flashlight with me to get a good look at the ceilings and walls plus underneath for rust.

I walked through a 96 or 97 Bounder on a dealer's lot and thought I was going to fall through the floor back near the wet bay. NOT GOOD.

[John_Wayne]

Look in ALL upper and lower corners and under windows for soft spots (dry rot). make sure all appliances work AC, stove ,oven,refrigerator. water pump,heater. If appliance works on propane and Elec. (refrigerator) make sure both systems work. Check date code on tires most suggest replacing at 7 years, could be a bargaining point. Nice if he has maintance records would be plus. does he still have all the manuals how things work? look down side for signs of delamination. Soft spots on floor, conduction of ceiling discoloration or soft spots. Floor plan you can live with. Seat belts for car seat?

[dayakster]

Hey James! I just took the plunge myself on a 97 Allegro Bus because we've got a disabled son and will be retiring next year and we just needed something to travel with him so we could finally get out and enjoy life.

All I have is my memory of my father's travel trailers so the MH thing is new to me too....still trying to piece the systems together in my mind. It's too cold here in Wisconsin yet to really get out and do anything with it but I figure now the initial investment is made (by budget was similar to yours)and now it's paid for, no financing, so everything else can be saved for and worked on as I go. I've also got an emergency CC dedicated to the motorhome.

I went into this armed with the knowledge from these fine folks and so far so good! (Knocking on my wooden head.) I also got lucky and found the sellers to be really nice people and part of it is having a good feeling in your gut about who you are doing business with. Good luck to you!

PS> I googled and printed out a list of questions before I got on the phone with the seller for the first time. Checked off the ones that I thought were important and skipped the ones that didn't apply. That way I kept control of the conversation and hopefully appeared to know what I was doing. lol

[JamesFerg]

I'm an enlisted guy in the Air Force and we have a two year old so the pockets aren't too deep, but I'm fairly mechanically inclined. I obviously don't fully grasp all of the ins and outs of a complicated home on wheels... I know my way around the engine of most any carbureted GM 350 and I'm a decent carpenter so I can get a fair idea of structural integrity. I don't have much experience when it comes to things like tanks, electrical systems, and leveling/hydraulic systems so any advice about what to check for in those areas is much appreciated. Also if there are any rookie checklists that somebody knows about or any hard learned lessons that I can avoid, then I'm all ears.

[Robert78121]

It's a 17 year old motorhome, so you should be on the look out for everything. These are homes on wheels and will have the same problems as any car and/or home has. You should either have deep pockets or be mechanically inclined and be willing work on it yourself. Good luck and keep us posted.

[JamesFerg]

Also if anybody within 5/6 hours of the Omaha area is trying to sell a late 90's or newer Class A and possibly a Class C for 15K or less then we'd love to see what you have to offer.