What's the problem with radiator price for Motorhome?

Cost me 7 grand to replace my side radiator for my cat c12 16 hours labor at 125.00 to do it and that was the cheap quote !Thats for a copper core .. the aluminium doesnt hold up.

Price of RVing. Mine went bad and had it installed by Quinn Cat in Calif. Total cost $5400. We got it here
http://radiatorsupplyhouse.com/
JR

These are more expensive than an AC in a house!!

Prices when quoted for RV's & Boats I believe are jacked up. Their thinking being if that person can afford one of these things then they can and will pay whatever is quoted. Just sayin!

It looks like it, we are the big fish in a small pond. And they look at us like we are stupid and we don't know anything.

It's another one of those "Because we can" stories. Due to being of similar size to bigger trucks and due to the fact motor homes in that range usually end up in the same repair facilities as over the road trucks and most of those shops have high hourly rates and raise their parts prices sky high you are going to have to payup. And further more the line of thinking is if you can afford that level of coach then you should be able to pay whatever bill they throw at you.
Never mind that maybe your rich uncle left it to you.
One thing for sure before I pay prices like that I would shop till I drop and find a lower priced deal out there. They are there, take a little time to find the parts and then some time to get it changed or get help and do it your self. Radiators on busses, OTR trucks and motor homes are lucrative for sales and an area where price gouging is rampant.

I had mine recored the recore cost $2000.00 from the place that does the actual recore

Never said what it was for but I replaced mine in a 97 Winnebago Luxor with a 325hp Cummins. Got a new copper radiator installed for around $2000. I know the only place I could get a new replacement was from Freight Liner and it was around $1500......Mine wasn't leaking but most of the fins were gone and the tubes were just bouncing up and down so I fixed it before I had to call Good Sam and get raped on the road. A place that works on big trucks did the work...

I paid $1700 for new copper core for my radiator in 2007. It also included labor to move tanks from old core to new core and delivery to/from my house. Price of copper was going sky high at the time. The radiator in my unit is pretty big and very heavy!

The shop made out pretty well on me since they told me the core had been in inventory for quite a few years so they bought it when copper prices were much lower.

Kidoo wrote:
Hi, my radiator started to leak and I am checking for a replacement. I do not understand the exorbiting price on these. I see replacement rad for big truck and equipment and it seems to be like 1/3 of the price in most case.

Even my local shop is quoting $2000.00 for an aluminum recore. I got a call from a rad builder in USA and he quoted $3000.00, just sickening.

What is so special about these?

Kidoo,
There really is nothing special about these radiators. There are some, that are made especially for the RVs they're installed in but, in many cases, they're the same as many other larger trucks and vehicles on the road. Our coach, an '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the C-7 330HP CAT, had a leak in the lower left corner of the radiator. When I pulled it out, and took it to the local radiator shop, it was deemed "un-repairable". The shop foreman pointed to a shelf which, held about a hundred aluminum radiators, "UN-REPAIRABLE".

The price from Freightliner, for one specific for our coach, was/is $1,750.00, not including shipping from Atlanta GA to what was our home of San Diego CA. And, it was going to take around 10 days or more, to get there. The foreman took some measurements and, in about 2 minutes on the computer, he came up with a copper/brass unit, identical to my aluminum one, for $1,230.00. And, the really good part, he could have it in his hands, in less than 24 hours.

So, it didn't take a "rocket scientist" to make that decision. As far as cooling capabilities of copper/brass vs Aluminum, there are no differences. I've ran this coach, on the same grades, with the same toad, at the same speeds, with the same outside temps, with both radiators, not one degree difference in the coolant.
Scott