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Re: Advice and experience with older DP Class A's
The 99 Eagle will have the Cummins ISC engine married to an Allison 3060 6 speed transmission. You will have plenty of power/torque with this combo. 40 Feet has never been a problem for us...and we camp most often at state, county and local parks. The Eagle is fine for sleeping an adult on one couch and a child on the J-Lounger. Our grandson prefers the floor under the couch when it is pulled out for his dad to sleep on. The Eagle is a very good dry camping coach as it has 105 gallon fresh water tank, 60 gallons of grey and 40 gallons of black. We have camped with another couple at a music festival for 5 days....all of us showered daily and we were able to make it through without emptying or completely filling any of the tanks. These showers were all "Navy" showers but we were able to cope! Eagle will be on a Spartan Chassis with Independent Front Suspension. Set-up correctly (tire air pressure, alignment, ride heigth etc.) she should be a dream to drive. Eagle has plenty of Cargo Carrying Capacity which is also a plus. Likely will have cargo trays that make loading and un-loading a breeze. With vintage coaches it is pretty easy to see if they were "well looked after". I agree with Dennis that maintenance records are a big plus. I so not know if Cummins would have all of the maintenance details if the owners did their own work or went to a non-Cummins Service Center (ours is a mechanical diesel so no computer to store maintenance records). Low mileage may or may not be an issue. Garage kept is a big plus! Check the condition of the ball joints on the Eagle. Most vintage Eagles will have replaced the ball joints unless the owner knew how to maintain them. Also check the frames around the luggage compartments. Should be rust free! We have owned our Eagle for 12 years and 67,000 miles. It has been a very reliable unit. Likely someone with Monaco experience will chime in here as well.205Views0likes0CommentsRe: Need an Education
The best practice for deploying jacks, slides etc. for most DP's (Monaco's have a different procedure)is to have your engine running. Some rigs will not allow you to perform these functions unless the engine is running. By the time you are level and your slide(s) are deployed you can turn the engine off as the turbo will have cooled sufficiently. As far as campground depatures, DP's will need to be running to air the suspension, retract jacks and slides (except Monaco's). In very cold weather most of us have block heaters and can "pre-warm" the engine prior to starting and we know that a diesel engine idling is NOT warming up! There is nothing wrong with shutting down the engine if you need more time to complete your "pre-flight" checklist. So, there is no requirement for extended idling (my rig has a mechanical diesel but the engine manual calls for 5 minutes idling prior to shut-down, it will take me those 5 minutes to deploy the jacks, level and then deploy the slide so it has never been an issue). However, hyper-sensitivity to the sound of diesel engines is not compatible to the RV lifestyle IMHO. FWIW, have not witnessed excessive idling in our 12 years of owning the Eagle. We camp mostly in the SE USA, primarily Florida.430Views0likes0CommentsRe: Charging 4 batteries with external charger.
I do this often to keep my 4 six volt batteries in good shape. First of all, set your charger on the 12 volt charging option (most chargers have six and twelve volt options or if digital will sense the proper voltage setting). Next connect the positive charger cable to the positive battery terminal which is connected to the 300 amp fuse leading to the inverter. This is the positive cable that enters the interior of the motorhome. Then connect the negative charger cable to the negative terminal in the battery bank which is connected to the cable that enters the coach and establishes the ground connection for the battery bank. Make sure you use a good 3 stage charger for the operation and realize that it may take up to 2 days to fully charge your battery bank.385Views0likes0CommentsRe: Reintroduction, shopping for a 10 to 20 y-o DP
Take a look at vintage American Coach models. Our 22 year old Eagle has served us very well for the past 11 years. American Eagles were the top of the American line in most years, top quality materials,excellent design for ease of operation, Spartan Chassis, aircraft quality paint, Cummins ISC engines or C8.3 mechanicals thru 1998. Great system redundancy (electric or propane operation of hot water heater and refrigerator). You could do much worse! Have fun shopping!!!!!!!!!174Views0likes0CommentsRe: Tornado hits Carolina camp ground
There are 2 RV parks almost side by side in Emerald Isle. The Hurricane had not arrived when the tornado touched down. The Mandatory Evacuation for Emerald Isle was 7 PM on the day the tornado hit in the early AM so these folks had not been advised to leave when this weather event occurred. There is an RV Storage lot that is part of the Holiday Travel Park which is next to the Boardwalk RV Park where the Park Models were impacted. The towables that were turned over were in the storage lot. The lady who was in her camper when the tornado hit MAY have been checking on her unit to make sure it was ready for the arrival of Dorian. That is indeed what I always do when we are 12 hours before the arrival of any hurricane.546Views0likes0CommentsRe: To DP or not DP
Our coach was the first diesel powered vehicle we ever owned. While it is a simple mechanical diesel, it has been trouble free except for replacing belts, belt tensioner and the alternator. Pleasure to drive...and that sounds like it would be important to your planned change in lifestyle. A DP will usually give your more CCC...that is nice to have as well.68Views0likes0Comments
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