1997 Lance squire lite 185s

KW, I myself have a 95 185s and love it. Granted the newer ones have a lot to offer but mine is just fine for the 2 of us. The only thing I miss is there pretty well set up for mild weather so if it gets below 30 you have to watch it. I got mine 5 years ago fo 3K and have had no problems at all besides minor repairs and general up keep. I like the fact it's light and rides great on my 2500 HD. I guess it's all in the style of camping you do. We off road 99% of the time and again the lite weight helps. I think yours is overpriced quite a bit, but the market and availibilty of campers where you live might justify a high price, good luck on whatever you decide.

It might be $1,000 - $1,500 too high, but having been stored inside is definitely worth that much extra if it has ALWAYS been inside. Find that out and the history of ownership and then negotiate. In general the prices for used (and new!) RV's seems to be going up rapidly right now and there is a lot of demand. I just sold my TT on craigslist in 4-days and had multiple people wanting it. Because of that it's really hard to determine a fair used price. The ad you are looking at just went up a few days ago, so they probably won't be willing to negotiate much until it's been up for a few weeks. At $4,900 they are probably looking for $4,500.

Jefe will probably chime in on durability. He has a similar model 165 and takes it off-road all the time. Common issues for any old TC would be leaks with wood rot. Open things up and look for any evidence of water intrusion and problems underneath in the back.

There's 2 different models for the 1997 Squire lite each 165 and 185 TC's. The long bed truck 8' model and the "S" model which is for short beds trucks. The 1997 Lance Squire lite 165 and 185 TC are very different TC's in size, weight, and center of gravity location etc. Very different animals!

165 & 165s and the 185 & 185s is how the various models are desiginated.

The 165 models are 86" wide and the 185 are 93" wide.

The 165 is 6'5" high and the 185 is 6'6-1/2" high.

Fresh water tank cap is 18 gal on 165 and 33 gal on 185 models.

Gray tank cap is 11 gal on both.

Black water tank cap is 12 gal on both.

Dry base weight is 1580 for the 165 and 1650 for the 165s.

Dry base weight is 1756 for the 185 and 1826 for the 185s.

The 165 was not offered with an ext cabover (NS bed) only the EW bed.

The 185 was offered with the ext cabover (NS bed) and the dry base weight is 1906.

Makes a lot of difference as to which model the OP is looking at as to what the used TC could be worth and of course the obvious rules: It's true condition!

BTW: I have the original brochure as we had ordered 2 new Lance TC's in 1997. A 1997 Squire 4000 9'6" and it traveled over 140,000 miles all over the USA, Canada, and yes, Alaska until we'd sold it in 2009 and began using our Lance Legend 990 11'4" purchased new also in 1997 that we'd had in my inside storage for 12 years. The Lance Squire 4000 never had any leaks or needed any repairs done except for replacing some burned out light bulbs in all the time we own and used it. Haven't even had light bulbs burnout yet in the 990 and ZERO leaks or repairs done or needed! Fabulous TC's!

Depending on total true condition, the 185 the OP is looking at could easily be worth over $4500 but that is his decision.

TC's actual cubic footage of space for the 165 models is 338 cu ft.

Cubic footage of space for the 185 models with EW bed is 380 or plus 42 cu ft.

185 model with the ext cabover NS bed is 406 cu ft or plus 68 cu ft. That's roughly (11) of the 6 cu ft refrigerators space of additional TC size or (17) of 4 cu ft refrigerators which is the size in both the 1997 165 and the 185 models.

kw,
Our '98 Lance Lite 165s ext. cab does have the n.s. bed. I guess it changed from '97. The 185s has 'wings', or short curved extensions toward the back of the camper to hide and take advantage of the space provided by a short bed. If you have a long bed truck (I could not tell by your info file), keep looking. If a short bed, keep negotiating. It is a wood framed camper, and despite all the cudos for aluminum frame campers, there are still some plusses to having a wood frame camper. I bought my Lance Lite in 2001 for $6500. It had been used three times and was stored outside in sunny so. cal.
The major difference is the 185s is larger in every respect, especially with respect to tank size, height, width, weight. I would say this camper wet/loaded weight will be right around 3000 pounds, or more depending. Much of that weight is in those much larger tanks. I hope the 185s has more insulation than my 165s does. That's my only gripe about the Lance. It's like an old shoe now, worn and patched up, but still solid as a rock.
Is it worth the price? Knowing what i know about the Lance campers of that era, I would say the price is too high, even knowing that they were, in general, well built at that time.
If you do have a short bed and upper secondaries, air bags, helper springs, etc, you should be fine with the weight, but close to the edge.
A friend laid a saying on me that I've never heard before:
"If you want it real bad, you'll get it real bad." That got me to laughing.
If you can afford to wait, see if after no one buys it if he will come down on the price. Would it come with the tie down parts too? Steps?
regards, as always, jefe
Here's the skinny little brother to the 185s on a 6.5 foot bed Dodge:

Wow lots of info to digest. Yes I have a short bed 3/4 ton. I will be looking at it tomorrow afternoon. I saw the pics from his garage and asked him how long has it been garaged. He said he bought it in 99 and has used it ever since. When home it has always been garaged he says. It looks from the pics as it has been well taken care of. So tomorrow is the day, I will keep u guys updated. Thanks so much for ur help, I appreciate it. Forgot to add its a 185s squire light for sure according to the info he just sent me, and the bed goes front to back. Pretty nice inside from what I can see. My truck has no mods, just everything package for 4x4 and towing was ordered from new. So I may need air bags or an extra spring, time will tell.
Thanks,
Kris

I have the 185s its a 97 i believe.Their was a tag on the rear that said with water and propane as equiped it was near 2700 pounds i think.Mine also has an A/C unit.Mine also has the extended overhead cab.

I carry it on my 2500hd i currently dont have air bags and its feels and sits fine.i bought mine used in 2009 for 4500.