Seriously looking at a late 90's HR Endeavor

[mountainkowboy]

We are getting close to full retirement and have been throwing around a million ideas of "direction to go" when it happens. Is there anything that I need to be concerned with that was an inherent problem with the Freightliner chassis in those years?

[TexasShadow]

I have a 1997 Holiday Rambler Endeavor LE with a 3126B Caterpillar with 196,000 miles that I tow a 2016 Ford F150 with a golf cart in bed. I have owned it for over 16 years and it is a great Coach.Headed for Wyoming from Texas first of August.
Bill

[mountainkowboy]

Thanks for the replies, we've owned HR's in the past and were happy with the build quality. I have friends who have HR pushers also and they speak highly of them.

[grldst]

I am currently running a 2000 Endeavor with the CAT 3126B Freightliner chassis. It currently has 82,000 miles and have had no major issues and few issues of any sort. Over the yrs I have had 8 different class A’ s. 4 gas and 4 diesels. Cummins or Cat will make little difference in this scenario. Cat may have a bit more power.

The Endeavor is a good basic mid line diesel motorhome. The ride and handling are very good and near exceptional for an RV in this range. Fit and finish better then avg. In my opinion you are making a good choice.

[10forty2]

Can't speak for the chassis of the DP Endeavor, but my gasser's fit and finish is what I would consider above average for what I've seen as the "upper level" models of similar years. And in many cases, above average for current year models. We have been very pleased with our unit, and have found very little trouble getting parts for the house when needed.

[oldave]

We had a 99 Endeavor , freightliner , cat engine and it was a great coach .

There is one little on going issue with rear radiator coaches . The engines
have a crank case breather (slobber tube) that emits a tiny amount of oil
mist , the fan picks it up blowing it into the radiator where dust collects .
If you don't know about this and don't clean periodically over heating will
result. Not a big deal but important .

Freightliner will probably be around longer than any of the coach builders
so I would not be concerned about them .

As mentioned tires , age and size are very important . That coach came with
255 tires but should be up sized to 275 if it has not already been done .

[fcooper]

We owned a 2000 Holiday Rambler Endeavor built on a Freightliner Chassis. This was probably one of the last units on the Freightliner as Monaco switched to their own chassis sometime in 2000.

Over 11 years and 60000 miles, it was a good solid unit. It had the cat 3126 engine and 6 speed allison transmission. Some of the Endeavors came with a smaller cummins with a little less power. The cat 3126 towed our Honda Odyssey with ease.

I don't know which years saw changes, but I drove a 1999 model and it was virtually identical to our 2000 model. Some of the older models had instrument panels that would not allow repair or replacement of one indicator. The whole panel would have to be replaced, or an alternate method of getting that info would have to be installed (ie new temp or oil pressure guage installed outside the instrument cluster).

My motorhome came with marginal tires for the load being carried. The original owner kept having blowouts on the left front tire. When I weighed the coach, I found the left front was running overloaded due to the slide weight being on the driver side. An upgrade in tire size cured that problem.

The Freightliner chassis is well supported, and Freightliner maintains a free help desk with well trained people to help you with problems encountered with the chassis. I never had a problem getting parts from them either (the location in Gaffney, SC).

If I can help with other questions, just ask. I still have the detailed maintenance log if you want to see what I encountered.

Good luck with your search.

Fred

[Executive45]

The Endeavor was a great coach. Some a bit underpowered but overall good quality. Of course, like anything, how it was maintained will play a big part of it's value. IMO, as you near retirement and think about full timing, there are some caveats you should consider.
1. State of Domicile. Since taxes vary greatly from State to State, choosing a 'residency' State can be important. In our case we saved almost $42,000 in taxes. South Dakota is the most RV friendly State.
2. Cost of insurance. There are but a few insurance companies that insure full timers. Expect to pay around $4k/yr for decent coverage.
3. Have a 'slush' fund for maintenance and repairs, especially with an older coach. This will prevent a burden on your overall monthly budget if a repair becomes necessary. Remember tires age out at 7 yrs and a $4k cost can bite you hard. There's other things, of course. But I believe these are the three top considerations...Best of luck....Dennis

[MountainAir05]

Parts.