Thinking about a Bus/RV

We are now back from our longest trip in the RV to date - 4 weeks and around 4500 miles. It would've been 5 weeks and 5k miles if we'd done the full trip we had planned, but my broken wrist (I'll make another post on that in the adventure bike thread).

I threw in the towel on the Land Rover engine on the 4th of July, and so I went out and bought an enclosed trailer which allowed us to tow the GSA as well as the Alfa in it. We'd been considering this purchase anyway so it just gave us the motivation we needed to get it done.

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We started off going to Carlsbad Caverns to see the bats fly out of the cave at sunset - a truly amazing spectacle and worth seeing. We boondocked and were the only ones crazy enough to do that in the campground given the >100F temps:

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We stayed here once before in March and it had been fairly crowded. We were surprised to see it completely deserted, a testament to our preparedness or poor risk assessment, take your pick.

After that we went to Las Vegas to get a tour of the Hoover Dam. Both of those stops were really on the way to Laguna Seca raceway where we went for a vintage motorcycle racing weekend (watching, not participating). Through a stroke of good luck we got the best camping spot (in my opinion):

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Right at the corkscrew. :)

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We ended up spending a week at the raceway due to my broken wrist, and found it a wonderful place to camp in the area.

From there, we did a day trip to Pinnacles National Park, then went to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National parks and stayed there for close to a week. There's a lot to see there and my wife and kids got to do white water rafting (I had to stay at the RV due to my broken wrist and recent surgery). The trees are very impressive.

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We then headed to San Francisco for several days, and then headed home - the 3 day drive. While in San Francisco we attempted to deposit our son at Alcatraz but they wouldn't keep him. But it was a neat place to visit, somewhere I'd wanted to see my whole life. And we saw @Everskyward !

The campground in SF required the tightest U-turn I've ever made (due to the combination of length with the trailer and width of the passage Yes, I made it. This ended up being the only place the entire trip we had to unhook the trailer and hook back up. That was a pain, and made me glad we didn't have to do it anywhere else.

All in all, the RV and all the work I did to it performed well with nothing much for hiccups. The ACs performed beautifully and the generator ran for 6 days straight at the start of the trip, 3 days straight at the end, and while driving for much of the middle to power the rooftop ACs. It's quieter without a doubt.

After a week in 100+F weather it was amazing how heat soaked the entire bus got. The cold water coming out of the tap was warm enough that you kept it on full cold for a shower. That radiant heat challenged the AC after several days, but it still remained comfortable inside. Best of all, the driver area was much more comfortable while driving. Last summer I had to wear my cooling vest to stay comfortable through much of it. This summer, I never felt the need. The quietness at night proved very nice, I was no longer woken up by the compressors kicking on and off.

Towing the trailer was ultimately very nice. Having the Alfa proved a real asset this trip as we did a lot of car driving, and having the new more reliable vehicle with good air conditioning was really a benefit in this case. So long as you don't have to unhook the trailer, it was easy. And being able to bring the motorcycle along was very nice as well. The options provided by it were great.

The water injection worked, but it wasn't a slam dunk. For one, -20F washer fluid with methanol isn't available everywhere - it's outright banned for sale in some states. I ended up using straight water much of the time. It needed a significantly higher amount of water/flow than I'd hoped to keep the intake air temps in check (as you'd expect, water/meth worked better there than pure water). But, it absolutely worked. Temps were lower and it helped overall cooling and power. With water/meth mix the throttle response improved/turbo lag decreased which was a nice bonus. I felt like the intake had to get cleaned some as I was driving. The engine sounded healthier after some miles on it with the setup.

The only mechanical issue I had was one transmission cooler starting to leak on the way from Vegas to Laguna Seca. Because I have two coolers in parallel I simply bypassed the one. This was marginal, but it ultimately worked. The Allison seems to make heat mostly based on revs rather than horsepower, so ironically the extended downhills under engine braking are where I had the most heat issues. A few times I had to let it cool off, but this just shows my initial cooler sizing was correct. I'll get another one coming and replace it.

My cooling worked but it was, again, marginal. We were towing around 9k lbs instead of our normal 4-5k and that added up. It was also >100 through a lot of it, in mountains, basically the hardest test you could do. I only once kicked the Alfa out of the trailer and had my wife drive it, as we were approaching Las Vegas and the 110F temps were just too much for it to handle climbing hills from the Hoover Dam. Generally being cooling limited to 60 MPH (55-65 in the flat ground) got old compared to the normal 70 we were used to. This was especially true on the long drive home. But again, we were pushing the thing very hard, so this really isn't to be unexpected. It was marginal from the factory and I've been thinking about ways it could be improved. I've got a number of ideas of varying cost/effort/effectiveness.

Some of the other improvements really paid off. The added insulation above the generator did a fantastic job of cooling things going down the road. The new TV and sound bar/subwoofer in the bedroom made watching our favorite show (and movies) much nicer. We didn't end up needing the extra water capacity but it gave us good peace of mind while boondocking (ultimately this trip was very light on boondocking compared to normal).

It's been almost exactly 3 years since we bought our bus, and almost exactly 40k miles that we've put on it all over the country, with a total of 124k on the clock. This was the biggest, hardest, longest trip we've done yet and none of us wanted it to end, although real life dictated it was time to get home. Every single thing we've done has improved our quality of life on the road. We've also used this bus hard with that many miles and 3 kids, and some of the wear and tear is noticeable, as you'd expect.

We did discuss on the drive home whether we want to continue to work on this bus further or start thinking about an upgrade. There are a few things that are challenges on this bus that have to do with its inherent core build. Sleeping for the kids will continue to get harder - really the need bunks and there's not a good way we've figured to modify that. The chase lounge our son sleeps on he's rapidly outgrowing. Also they're complaining about mattress comfort, something that I think is valid - their current setup I find uncomfortable if I lie down on.

I love the 3126B, but at 7.2L, this bus needs more engine. A C9 would be ideal but that also requires an engine swap. It also needs more cooling. Rear radiator designs aren't good and get worse with extra heat. I could improve the cooling easier and cheaper than an engine swap, but of course an engine swap would also require more cooling.

The water tank capacity is lacking. I added an extra 50 gallons of fresh, but this doesn't help us with the grey tank, which is another issue, especially as we boondock.

The ride still leaves a lot to be desired, mostly from the front.

Really, the towing capacity is too low for how we want to use it.

With enough effort everything could be fixed, and obviously sticking with the bus we have lets us continue to benefit from the effort we put in. But with the market starting to noticeably tank and us always eyeing a proper bus (Prevost being the real top end) it does create the question of whether we want to find a 45' bus and work on that. A properly sized engine with Jakes, a better suspension, more interior space, more towing capacity. For now it's nothing more than a consideration. I've got some minor repairs I need to do on the bus, we'll be taking it to 6Y9, and before any consideration of a new giant project like that I'm going to work on getting the Cobra finished up and at least the carb rebuilt on the RX7 to try to get that running right. Plus some house projects and other overdue things.

Oh yeah, and get this wrist healed so I can actually turn wrenches again.
 
We are now back from our longest trip in the RV to date - 4 weeks and around 4500 miles. It would've been 5 weeks and 5k miles if we'd done the full trip we had planned, but my broken wrist (I'll make another post on that in the adventure bike thread).

I threw in the towel on the Land Rover engine on the 4th of July, and so I went out and bought an enclosed trailer which allowed us to tow the GSA as well as the Alfa in it. We'd been considering this purchase anyway so it just gave us the motivation we needed to get it done.

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When you said you were towing a trailer, I didn't imagine something that long!

Great seeing you, Laurie, and the kids! Glad you finally made it out to SF.
 
We started off going to Carlsbad Caverns to see the bats fly out of the cave at sunset - a truly amazing spectacle and worth seeing. We boondocked and were the only ones crazy enough to do that in the campground given the >100F temps:

Did you get to sit close enough to feel that cool, gentle summer rain on your face as the cloud of bats flew over?? o_O

We then headed to San Francisco for several days, and then headed home - the 3 day drive. While in San Francisco we attempted to deposit our son at Alcatraz but they wouldn't keep him. But it was a neat place to visit, somewhere I'd wanted to see my whole life. And we saw @Everskyward !

The campground in SF required the tightest U-turn I've ever made (due to the combination of length with the trailer and width of the passage Yes, I made it. This ended up being the only place the entire trip we had to unhook the trailer and hook back up. That was a pain, and made me glad we didn't have to do it anywhere else.

If anyone camps in SF in the future, I highly recommend the Terminal 4 HipCamp on the tip of Point San Pablo, off the eastern landing of the Richmond Bridge.

An isolated remote site on the San Francisco Bay that a large RV rig will fit well into, and turn around. It is a now defunct whaling wharf, just ashore from the East Brother Lighthouse Island, that was converted into a private 24 acre campground. Neat place!


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What’s the total length of the RV and trailer?

It’s somewhere between 65 and 70’. I haven’t fully measured. The trailer is 24’ but that doesn’t include the tongue.
 
With the wrist broken, I've been mostly working on things that don't require any significant force (at least on my left hand) and went through and figured out a few little nagging issues or updates/improvements in the RV and make sure it's all set for 6Y9 in a couple weeks. One of the cabinet door latches that holds a closed going down the road broke. These things are cheap plastic and it's pretty common/typical for one to break on a trip. And while the new TV/sound bar in the bedroom work wonderfully, the bluetooth connection I was using between them was unreliable (not surprising) so I added an optical cable instead.

I also did my first wrenching of any significance since the broken wrist (obviously not using my left hand for much) and changed the busted transmission cooler on the bus that failed on the last trip. I also determined as part of this whole ordeal that the Bosch relay I had installed with the transmission coolers had gone bad. I'm surprised at that as it was appropriately rated, but I've replaced it with another relay - we'll see how that works.

While under there, I also found that my fuel cooler I added had a leaking hose, so I'm going to buy some new hose and clamps to replace that. I hadn't used the best hose with that originally so I can't say I'm surprised to have found a problem there. I'll go buy some good hose and clamps and fix that over the next week. While I do that I'll also do an oil change.

The fuel leak got fluid over the other (good) transmission cooler which has me considering it somewhat suspect as far as if it is leaking too. My plan is to get the RV otherwise completed and then take it for a test drive, and then re-inspect. I'll figure out pretty quickly if there's a problem. The wetness is pretty clearly from the fuel, seeing as that leak was right in front of the good cooler, and the leaking cooler is now dry (after getting cleaned from driving through rain). I figure I'll be able to tell pretty quickly if the other cooler is bad and needs replacement. The other option would be to eliminate the fuel cooler altogether as I can't say if it's really helping anything significant, but I have it there so I figure I'll leave it.

Lastly as far as needed repairs go, I found that the coolant reservoir for the bus has been vibrating its mount and needs to be secured better. The mount isn't broken or showing signs of breakage, but it's bent the mount back and is not where it ought to be. A little extra welding will solve this job, but that's something that I will need some extra hands for - really just to hold the coolant tank in place while I apply the first tac weld and it should get better from there.

I also started digging into another nagging issue, specifically that the washing machine will tend to go crazy under certain conditions - specifically only when it's running off of the generator or the inverter, but basically never when it's plugged into shore power.

A lot of RV washers are made by "Splendide" (which is not exactly splendid... but it's ok) and apparently these things are very sensitive to electrical noise on their power input, and this is a common issue with them, and so the need for this thing is clean a clean electrical power output. I have no issues with any other electrical device in the RV, it's isolated to the washer which is annoying that it's this sensitive given the uses of RVs.

It looks as though the solution to this is a good quality "isolation transformer" which basically takes 120VAC input and makes a clean and consistent 120VAC output. Power ratings look like I need a 1500W unit. I'm also having a hard time with this as I see a lot of things that claim to be isolation transformers, but it's not clear if they actually are or Amazon/Chineseium marketing - and it seems that real/good ones are expensive.

Not understanding much of this black magic (I'm better with other black magic) I'm curious if 1) I'm on the right approach (or if there's something different I should be trying) 2) if there are any recommendations for an appropriate unit that would do the job. I'm definitely open to suggestions on alternatives.
 
With the wrist broken, I've been mostly working on things that don't require any significant force (at least on my left hand) and went through and figured out a few little nagging issues or updates/improvements in the RV and make sure it's all set for 6Y9 in a couple weeks. One of the cabinet door latches that holds a closed going down the road broke. These things are cheap plastic and it's pretty common/typical for one to break on a trip. And while the new TV/sound bar in the bedroom work wonderfully, the bluetooth connection I was using between them was unreliable (not surprising) so I added an optical cable instead.

I also did my first wrenching of any significance since the broken wrist (obviously not using my left hand for much) and changed the busted transmission cooler on the bus that failed on the last trip. I also determined as part of this whole ordeal that the Bosch relay I had installed with the transmission coolers had gone bad. I'm surprised at that as it was appropriately rated, but I've replaced it with another relay - we'll see how that works.

While under there, I also found that my fuel cooler I added had a leaking hose, so I'm going to buy some new hose and clamps to replace that. I hadn't used the best hose with that originally so I can't say I'm surprised to have found a problem there. I'll go buy some good hose and clamps and fix that over the next week. While I do that I'll also do an oil change.

The fuel leak got fluid over the other (good) transmission cooler which has me considering it somewhat suspect as far as if it is leaking too. My plan is to get the RV otherwise completed and then take it for a test drive, and then re-inspect. I'll figure out pretty quickly if there's a problem. The wetness is pretty clearly from the fuel, seeing as that leak was right in front of the good cooler, and the leaking cooler is now dry (after getting cleaned from driving through rain). I figure I'll be able to tell pretty quickly if the other cooler is bad and needs replacement. The other option would be to eliminate the fuel cooler altogether as I can't say if it's really helping anything significant, but I have it there so I figure I'll leave it.

Lastly as far as needed repairs go, I found that the coolant reservoir for the bus has been vibrating its mount and needs to be secured better. The mount isn't broken or showing signs of breakage, but it's bent the mount back and is not where it ought to be. A little extra welding will solve this job, but that's something that I will need some extra hands for - really just to hold the coolant tank in place while I apply the first tac weld and it should get better from there.

I also started digging into another nagging issue, specifically that the washing machine will tend to go crazy under certain conditions - specifically only when it's running off of the generator or the inverter, but basically never when it's plugged into shore power.

A lot of RV washers are made by "Splendide" (which is not exactly splendid... but it's ok) and apparently these things are very sensitive to electrical noise on their power input, and this is a common issue with them, and so the need for this thing is clean a clean electrical power output. I have no issues with any other electrical device in the RV, it's isolated to the washer which is annoying that it's this sensitive given the uses of RVs.

It looks as though the solution to this is a good quality "isolation transformer" which basically takes 120VAC input and makes a clean and consistent 120VAC output. Power ratings look like I need a 1500W unit. I'm also having a hard time with this as I see a lot of things that claim to be isolation transformers, but it's not clear if they actually are or Amazon/Chineseium marketing - and it seems that real/good ones are expensive.

Not understanding much of this black magic (I'm better with other black magic) I'm curious if 1) I'm on the right approach (or if there's something different I should be trying) 2) if there are any recommendations for an appropriate unit that would do the job. I'm definitely open to suggestions on alternatives.

Back when I was doing live sound mixing/production, we had what we called a 'power conditioner' that all the power for the gear at the mixing board was run through. It was a similar idea - eliminate the 'noise' that comes from the 'wall' power supply. Not sure if that would do what you you're looking for, but maybe another search term to use in your Googling sessions.
 
Using an isolation transformer to clean up a weird waveform from an inexpensive inverter generator sounds like maybe a reasonable solution. But if it's a conventional generator, then that sounds a bit weird. I think my first step would be to find someone with an oscilloscope and see what the power looks like, unless maybe there is a known problem with whatever make/model generator you have.

I say that because most modern electronics will run on just about anything that's close to 120V/60Hz. But it's possible some things might not be tolerant to small deviations in voltage, frequency, waveform, or added high frequency noise. An isolation transformer generally won't fix a voltage problem, especially voltage dips, won't fix a frequency problem much, will fix a waveform problem, and may reduce electrical noise.

In the old days, people would sometimes run constant voltage transformers or noise filters on incoming power for computer systems. Nobody does that now, because no current equipment needs it...if it ever did to begin with. I've never heard of using an isolation transformer to fix a noise problem, but I could see it maybe fixing a problem where a lousy or broken inverter generator is sending out a square wave rather than close to a sine wave.

The other thing you could do, if it's just the washing machine and everything else is good, is get a high quality inverter and just run the washer off your DC bus. That would absolutely work, and it might be cheaper than an isolation transformer, but before I went down that road I'd want to make sure neither the generator or washing machine were actually just somehow broken. Oh, and before doing that, I'd also check to see what the startup current for the washer is, because it sounds like it's design is a known PITA. Good luck! Hope not too rambly...this is only half in my field of work.
 
Back when I was doing live sound mixing/production, we had what we called a 'power conditioner' that all the power for the gear at the mixing board was run through. It was a similar idea - eliminate the 'noise' that comes from the 'wall' power supply. Not sure if that would do what you you're looking for, but maybe another search term to use in your Googling sessions.

That might actually do what I'm looking for better/cheaper/more accurately than an isolation transformer. As it's explained on the interwebz (assuming it's accurate) the electrical noise is the issue that these things have an issue with, more than anything else.

Using an isolation transformer to clean up a weird waveform from an inexpensive inverter generator sounds like maybe a reasonable solution. But if it's a conventional generator, then that sounds a bit weird. I think my first step would be to find someone with an oscilloscope and see what the power looks like, unless maybe there is a known problem with whatever make/model generator you have.

I say that because most modern electronics will run on just about anything that's close to 120V/60Hz. But it's possible some things might not be tolerant to small deviations in voltage, frequency, waveform, or added high frequency noise. An isolation transformer generally won't fix a voltage problem, especially voltage dips, won't fix a frequency problem much, will fix a waveform problem, and may reduce electrical noise.

In the old days, people would sometimes run constant voltage transformers or noise filters on incoming power for computer systems. Nobody does that now, because no current equipment needs it...if it ever did to begin with. I've never heard of using an isolation transformer to fix a noise problem, but I could see it maybe fixing a problem where a lousy or broken inverter generator is sending out a square wave rather than close to a sine wave.

The other thing you could do, if it's just the washing machine and everything else is good, is get a high quality inverter and just run the washer off your DC bus. That would absolutely work, and it might be cheaper than an isolation transformer, but before I went down that road I'd want to make sure neither the generator or washing machine were actually just somehow broken. Oh, and before doing that, I'd also check to see what the startup current for the washer is, because it sounds like it's design is a known PITA. Good luck! Hope not too rambly...this is only half in my field of work.

Thanks for the info/details. I only know/understand very basic electrical engineering in a design sense. Even though I have to deal with DO-160 electrical stuff from time to time, it's more in the practical/application/regulatory sense rather than designing.

I really know nothing about how this washer is designed, all I know is they are popular in RVs (probably in part because these units are all-in-one washers/dryers that run off 120VAC and it seems like few others did this in the year range of my RV), but they don't appear to be well designed. A lot of things or RVs seem to miss all kinds of basic things that you would find in any car or house, for reasons I don't fully understand. So while basically every electrical device is designed to handle a fairly broad array of power, it seems this one is pretty sensitive.

Now with that said, I don't think I've ever had it cause problems when it's plugged in, and it may not have to do with power from the generator rather the inverter. In the bus, the inverter (which is run off of the batteries, and the batteries are recharged by the engine alternator/solar array) runs all the time, including with the generator going. The generator is an inverter generator as I understand it (Onan Quiet Diesel 7500), and that allows the generator to run at the required RPM to generate the power demanded rather than at a constant/full RPM. The inverter ends up taking up transients and when it's turned off, power to various devices will shut off at big power surges.

The washer will sometimes act up with the generator turned off and the RV not hooked up to shore power, so just inverter, and at night where we might have a TV and DVD player going but not much else. However, it definitely acts up more with the engine running. Electrical noise there makes sense. You've got potentially solar with its inverter (although that thing seems to have been pretty good), an engine-driven alternator (that I'd expect to be very noisy), and then there's probably some other engine-side electrical stuff that may be sending noise around the bus even if it's not on the AC lines.

Your idea of running the washer direct off the DC system with a dedicated inverter might be a good option as well - provided I got a good inverter that could isolate the noise - and that might really be the cheaper option. Running some DC cables wouldn't be that big of a deal to do, as the washer is close to the batteries.

With 6Y9 coming up, the practical solution might be to try buying something off of Amazon to address the issue, and see if I notice problems on the upcoming trip or if it seems to have solved things. If it doesn't work, Amazon Prime return it afterwards.
 
Would a computer/household UPS work? The generator/power source charges the battery, the battery supplies power to the washer. You arent using the battery for anything other than making a clean power source. Thats what we use for the server room, but its not a household UPS at all, so the mechanics might be different.
 
Would a computer/household UPS work? The generator/power source charges the battery, the battery supplies power to the washer. You arent using the battery for anything other than making a clean power source. Thats what we use for the server room, but its not a household UPS at all, so the mechanics might be different.
UPS could be a good solution, but finding one capable of the amperage needed for the washer/dryer combo may be a bit more difficult/expensive.
 
Would a computer/household UPS work? The generator/power source charges the battery, the battery supplies power to the washer. You arent using the battery for anything other than making a clean power source. Thats what we use for the server room, but its not a household UPS at all, so the mechanics might be different.

I'd had that thought as well. My needs are 1500W (nothing particularly earth-shattering) so it should be within the realm of some UPSs, but it's something I haven't shopped for.

Maybe I should Amazon a few different options to try out on this trip... ;)
 
I'd had that thought as well. My needs are 1500W (nothing particularly earth-shattering) so it should be within the realm of some UPSs, but it's something I haven't shopped for.

Maybe I should Amazon a few different options to try out on this trip... ;)
Most (as in virtually all) UPSs switch from wall power to battery/inverter when the power drops. They will not solve noise issues. I could type several pages to describe how I learned this, but suffice it to say I still twitch a bit thinking about it. A true isolation transformer is pricey as you’ve learned. I don’t know much about RV washing machines but I assume they have one or more motors-which tend to not play well with electronic supplies (inverters and the like). As said above, get a scope and see what the power looks like both unloaded and with the washing machine running. Then you can get much better advice about how to fix it.
 
Well, I thought about buying a Prevost.

And I almost bought one...

The story is one of those ones that reads a lot like what you see on a lot of fishy airplane ads. Suffice it to say that I caught them lying badly about the mileage on it, and as they continued to double down on the lie it became more obvious that - whatever the truth might be - it wasn't going to be in my favor. So, I walked. I always say education is expensive. In the end, this cost me $50 for a CarFax and some time. Pretty cheap education all things considered, although I really hate being lied to, and this was a pretty egregious case. I'll get over it.

This all happened pretty quickly. Although we'd pretty much decided to keep the existing RV (and realistically we are going to keep it longer/get some more use out of it), when something that looked "right" popped up, we talked it through, and it became quickly and readily obvious that this is what we want, and it fits what we're looking for and need much better. There are things that our bus will just never be and will never do.

So, the takeaway is that we're going to continue to be casually "on the hunt" for the right bus, and definitely try to find something locally to look at for tire kicking purposes, even if we know it's not what we'd be wanting to buy, so we can continue to get some ideas.

Of note, the big things that we want that our bus will never have no matter what we do:

1) Better engine access, specifically not from inside the bedroom (that is really annoying and gets grease inside no matter how you look at it)

2) Better suspension for rough roads. I suppose this one could be improved with enough effort, and I've had the idea of swapping an IFS from a later Freightliner XC onto this bus. But, that's pretty heroic efforts.

3) Bay doors that either translate upwards (what you see on every motor coach) or swing forward (what you see on more higher end RVs). Ours swing upwards, which is annoying no matter how you look at it.

4) Bunks for the kids - and that's pretty well impossible to do in ours. Anything could be done with enough work, just not very likely.

5) Of course, more power/speed - the ability to consistently go faster, such as up mountains, being a big one.

We'd like more water capacity, and getting rid of slides is fine for us. We do two things in an RV really - drive and sleep. Slides are really not for either of those uses, they're for sitting in an RV at the campground.

We might not settle on a Prevost, but that's still where we're thinking. The real key takeaway is not to put any time pressure on ourselves with either finding a different bus or completing the project.

In a lot of ways waiting a bit for the right one to come along is better for us anyway, while I want to finish up some things on the RX-7 and Cobra, and then figure out what we want to do with the Rover. Oh yeah, and some house projects. But, good time to start looking.

In the meantime, I'll finish up a few things on the current bus before 6Y9.
 
I kinda want to hear about the Prevost saga

It is quite a story. Honestly was debating whether to post it or not. I’ll consider further.
 
Me: "I want a Prevost"
Also me: "Ooh look another idea for improving my Freightliner!"

One of the things that the recent Prevost situation did was bring up something I'd considered in the past, but as the bus continues to get more "done" and I continue to try to improve areas for us to enjoy the bus more, now gets closer to being up towards being something I might consider doing given the right circumstances.

One of the biggest complaints we have about this RV has always been the ride quality. It's improved tremendously over the past 3 years with incremental improvements here and there. Bigger roll bars helped (just not having the thing body roll all over helped a lot), so did new shocks, and also getting the tire pressures more accurately set for the weight (from 100+ PSI down to around 85) helped quite a bit. However, I think there's room for more improvement.

One of the things that is done in the Prevost world is what they call the "365 conversion", where the stock 315 wide front and tag axle tires are replaced with 365s. From a ride perspective, the big thing this allows is running a lower tire pressure for the same weight, which gives a nicer ride.

On the Freightliner XC, the common tire size change is going from 255/80/22.5s (the factory size) to 275/70/22.5s (which I have currently). I think there's room for more improvement, and I've done some measuring.

On the rears, I'm interested in trying out super singles, single rear tires instead of duals, and the wheels are very wide. One of the benefits of these is supposed to be improved comfort, both because of the tire size, and also being able to run (once again) a bit lower air pressure for more compliance. Super singles overall don't seem to have gained full favor with semi truck drivers, and there are a lot of used wheels and tires on Marketplace that look like they would make it a cheap enough experiment. So long as there's some life left in them, I could see what I think and then decide if I wanted to commit.

For the steer tires, I need to do a bit more digging, options would include a 285, 295, 305, or 315 tire. Wider is better, and the steer tires sit in quite a ways. Similarly I could get by with some used tires with some life for an experiment.

My existing tires have about 40k miles on them, and still have lots of life left. These are basically semi truck tires, generally good for around 100k, so it's not time to replace them. But at this point where we're looking for some more ways to continue to improve the ride and, even if we got a Prevost tomorrow we would probably be running this for a while longer, I think it'd be worth trying. The bigger diameter of the super singles would be like a bit more overdrive effect, but I did some more measuring and that should be fine. I'm not concerned there.

I'm starting off looking mostly at super singles, and I'll see if I can find some used ones worth trying out to throw on, but it would be best to also see if I can't try to find some fronts as well. I think fronts would be more noticeable than rears, but both would help.

So, we'll see what I can come up with in that timeframe...
 
My guess - and this is pure speculation - is that the super singles would be a little more finicky about tire pressure + weight configs to maintain even wear and not increase road noise while not eating up horsepower. I know with the big floater (TerraGator) tires, it was great to run them as low pressure as possible for ride quality on the road when not loaded, but the machine turned into a dog and couldn't get out of its own way once loaded. There was a lot of experimentation to get things dialed in for 'acceptable' road ride quality and still be able to get 'out of the hole' in the field when loaded - we even noticed a change between summer vs. winter pressures. Granted, the floater tires are an order of magnitude different in size than the super singles, but might be something worth including in your research.
 
My guess - and this is pure speculation - is that the super singles would be a little more finicky about tire pressure + weight configs to maintain even wear and not increase road noise while not eating up horsepower. I know with the big floater (TerraGator) tires, it was great to run them as low pressure as possible for ride quality on the road when not loaded, but the machine turned into a dog and couldn't get out of its own way once loaded. There was a lot of experimentation to get things dialed in for 'acceptable' road ride quality and still be able to get 'out of the hole' in the field when loaded - we even noticed a change between summer vs. winter pressures. Granted, the floater tires are an order of magnitude different in size than the super singles, but might be something worth including in your research.

Interesting data point. Tire pressures are definitely important on these, but I’d also expect that my weight variation is less than what you get with those big ag things. Figure my max fluctuation in the weight of the bus is about 100 gallons of water and 80 gallons of fuel - let's just say 1500 lbs total, or under 10% of the weight. I'm guessing your weight fluctuations were more than that.

The benefits are supposedly lower rolling resistance, lower tire pressures for the same weight (i.e. more comfort), and while lower rolling resistance is small enough that it won't impact me, that comfort definitely would.

The negatives as I see it are difficult to find if there's a flat (a legitimate concern, but not a big one), expensive (I'm calling that irrelevant for how few miles an RV gets relative to life of these kinds of tires), and poor handling in some weather. I'm less concerned about the handling aspect since tire traction has never been an issue for me in 40k miles of driving this thing.

I did some measuring of the fronts and I think I could fit 305/70/22.5s up there, and it also looks like those could fit on my existing 8.25" wide wheels based on the specs (although that's on the smaller side of what's recommended).

So, I'll see what I can put together for a reasonable price and go from there.
 
Super singles have come a long way, but still have the deficiency of reduced sidewall stiffness, which produces that ride smoothness.

In cross winds, the rear end will buffet back and forth. Same as a large truck passes, or you pass the truck. Handling in curves is sloppy. As you have mentioned, tire pressure must be right for proper footprint and wear pattern. The higher the speed, the more serious these problems, especially the wallowing in turns.

I had a friend who converted his delivery truck to super singles, and traded them back a week later, as his truck was difficult to manage on winding roads, even at 30 MPH. The more of the weight that is behind your axle, the worse the problem.

There is a reason those single duals are available used, with wheels. The owner is usually going to back to conventional duals.

I have seen then on over the road trailers, but they have dual axles, and the axles are at the end of the trailer, no overhang leverage. The tractors pulling have conventional duals.

Find an RV with those single duals, push the rear end sideways vigorously, finding the resonant rate then do the same for your RV. I suspect that you will not be impressed.
 
Interesting points, @geezer . I hadn't thought about half the sidewalls (although that should've been obvious) and that makes senes for the cushy ride.

I don't think those issues on winding roads are really a consideration for me. If there's a yellow sign telling me a speed for a turn, I'm usually going 5-10 MPH under it in the bus. While literally driving a house with dishes in the cabinets, etc., you really need to do that to prevent things moving around. I'm pretty regularly passed by semis and other trucks in corners. I've done a lot to improve the handling of this bus, it's all been successful, but the ride quality needs more improvement here. Plus, the weight in the bus is a fairly low CG compared to a truck where the loads can be packed much higher.

There aren't many people who've done this on their RVs. That said, the ones I see who have done it all love the conversion. So, I'm inclined to think I probably will too given what I'm looking for.

That said, this is part of why I want to buy a used set of wheels and tires to do an evaluation. If I don't like them, easy enough to swap the old ones back on and resell the super singles. Minimal cost involved if that goes wrong.
 
In cross winds, the rear end will buffet back and forth. Same as a large truck passes, or you pass the truck. Handling in curves is sloppy. As you have mentioned, tire pressure must be right for proper footprint and wear pattern. The higher the speed, the more serious these problems, especially the wallowing in turns.

That's interesting. I started to mention that in my post, as we had similar issues with the large floater ag tires we ran - get it loaded and the thing wallowed from side to side drastically. It definitely took some time to not feel like you were about to tip over. BUT, I didn't mention it because I assumed it was limited to our drastically larger ag tires than what Ted is running. Didn't realize the sidewalls would flex enough for it to be noticeable in that size tire.
 
Interesting data point. Tire pressures are definitely important on these, but I’d also expect that my weight variation is less than what you get with those big ag things. Figure my max fluctuation in the weight of the bus is about 100 gallons of water and 80 gallons of fuel - let's just say 1500 lbs total, or under 10% of the weight. I'm guessing your weight fluctuations were more than that.

Ah. That's a good point. For some reason, in my head I was thinking about "driving empty with no water and no people and no 'gear'" vs. "driving with family and all the shtuff loaded", but in reality you don't really drive it 'unloaded', so your variance would be much less. I can't remember what our empty weights were, but when loaded, we would put up around 12-13 tons of added weight, so yeah... a bit of a variance in load weight for us. ;)
 
That's interesting. I started to mention that in my post, as we had similar issues with the large floater ag tires we ran - get it loaded and the thing wallowed from side to side drastically. It definitely took some time to not feel like you were about to tip over. BUT, I didn't mention it because I assumed it was limited to our drastically larger ag tires than what Ted is running. Didn't realize the sidewalls would flex enough for it to be noticeable in that size tire.

It does make sense, but that also should provide exactly the effect I'm looking for of improved comfort on rough roads. I've got the rear suspension as good as it's going to get, so getting more comfort from the tires is the last step.

The fronts I've had the idea of swapping the I-beam front end for the IFS, and that would help, but changing tires is much easier and would be something that would help even if I do eventually do that upgrade.

Ah. That's a good point. For some reason, in my head I was thinking about "driving empty with no water and no people and no 'gear'" vs. "driving with family and all the shtuff loaded", but in reality you don't really drive it 'unloaded', so your variance would be much less. I can't remember what our empty weights were, but when loaded, we would put up around 12-13 tons of added weight, so yeah... a bit of a variance in load weight for us. ;)

Yeah, I figured that was the case. For reference, here's the Michelin guide for tire pressure vs weight:

1692966341218.png

I need to double check what my rear axle weight is (and probably actually weight the thing) but you can see the range changes quite a bit. For me a particular pressure wi;; be fine. but if you had high weight variation, it would be harder. I could see that being more of an issue on a semi where you were loaded or empty depending on the day.
 
I did weigh mine but of course no way to get four corner weights on a Cat scale. I used 60% of the axel weight for the weight on each side, matched it to the chart, came up with 95 Steer and 80 drive. Then added 5 psi and run 100 - 85 cold

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My wife and I went and did some tire kicking at a local RV dealer to see some newer 42' diesel pushers and see what we thought, more than anything just for a point of reference. Honestly, what we thought was not a whole lot.

In recent years it seems that, for reasons I don't really understand, 42' has become the new standard for big class As even though 45' is technically the limit in most states (and 40' in other states). There may be some regulation that I'm not aware of that makes the 42'ers more desirable.

The common theme with these all, across multiple brands, was a bath-and-a-half setup, with a half bath between the bedroom and living area, and then the main bathroom and closet in the way back. This really doesn't do much for functionality. For a couple it's nice enough, and the bedrooms did have sliding doors to section them off from the living area (unlike ours where the sliding door goes between the kitchen and the bathroom - the bedroom just has a curtain to separate it from the bathroom), but in the end it mostly feels like a lot of wasted space.

The bigger wasted space comes up front, where the theme is to have a fake electric fireplace with a TV above it in the living room across from a couch, and a 2-person dinette. The whole thing makes it essentially impossible to make anything resembling a good sleeping arrangement with the kids, and with the quad slides that are ubiquitous in today's RVs, the interiors look to be very non-functional if you can't get the slides out - another negative.

Although the bottom bays we saw swung forward instead of swinging up (an issue with our current ones that we'd like to improve upon in any replacement), the bay storage areas seemed much worse overall. Less total storage, a lot of them taken up by other systems.

There was also a 40' Monaco Diplomat - which is basically the same thing we have - but in a newer year with quad slides. Again, less functional than what we have now. Amazingly, despite being something like 15 years newer than ours, it maintained some of the same dated parts bin engineered features. An 80s GM ignition switch and 80s GM door lock on the main door. Oh, and that front door that swings open, with a poorly designed screen door that rattles when you open it.

As soon as we got into the car to leave I said to my wife "I didn't like any of those" and she said she didn't either, without any hesitation.

That has me somewhat going back and forth about what makes the most sense. In the end this bus has a lots of good things about it, and we really did luck out. The only thing I really did find I liked about the newer ones was more comfortable seating when we sat down on the couches or the driver's seat. That's all stuff that can be more easily fixed, although there are some definite difficult (not impossible - but difficult) things to change about ours.
 
This might be a tangent, but so be it. We went recently to see a band that hadn't toured together in 20 years. I noticed that they had a really nice tour bus. I didn't ask, but I'm assuming they didn't buy the thing for this short tour...there must be some place that rents them? Seems like an interesting business. They must also sell used ones occasionally? They had 5 guys living on this bus, so I'm assuming there must've been some kind of reasonable sleeping arrangements.

Your experience with motorhomes parallels my experience with hotels, cars, and everything else. The world is less and less built for families, and certainly not more than 2 kids.
 
This might be a tangent, but so be it. We went recently to see a band that hadn't toured together in 20 years. I noticed that they had a really nice tour bus. I didn't ask, but I'm assuming they didn't buy the thing for this short tour...there must be some place that rents them? Seems like an interesting business. They must also sell used ones occasionally? They had 5 guys living on this bus, so I'm assuming there must've been some kind of reasonable sleeping arrangements.

Your experience with motorhomes parallels my experience with hotels, cars, and everything else. The world is less and less built for families, and certainly not more than 2 kids.
 
Yeah, I've read that $1,000/day plus fuel is the standard entertainer coach rental rate. I have/had no idea what the driver fee was with that.

And yes, used ones are sold. But like with most money-making assets, they get sold because the company is upgrading to new ones, which usually means that the reliability has gone down enough (or is expected to go down enough) that it's not worth the upkeep. Just because a Prevost is designed for 3 million miles and a Detroit Series 60 is advertised as a "million mile engine" doesn't mean that either of those are trouble-free. It's a bit like buying a 200k mile car, you're probably going to find a bunch of little things that are worn out or wearing out - unless you bought it from me in which case I probably bought it at 190k miles, did all of those things, and then decided to sell it so I could redo it all on another project.

So, I'm generally wanting to find a bus under 200k if I buy one, although I'd be willing to change that depending on the history, price, and specifics. I've done a lot to make this bus as reliable as it has been, but I haven't had to touch the suspension in all of that, and a lot of other big ticket items have been fine.

@Jim K I agree with you that the world is not very well designed around families, especially once you get above 2 kids/family of 4. We noticed that immediately upon going from a household of 3 (with 1 kid) to a household of 5 (when the twins were born). Even cars get a lot harder unless you want to go with a minivan. We've managed to make hotels work usually with our son on an air mattress or on the couch and we're now moving into that phase where we just get adjoining rooms (which aren't always available - either due to being booked or hotels not even having them).

We are the only ones with this issue in the RV world. It's a question that comes up pretty often, but the same people who ask those questions aren't the people who can afford to go out and buy brand new RVs, and of course demand needs to come from the people who will pay manufacturers to build the products. I'm not that person, and oh yeah, if they have bunks, it's probably only bunks for 2 kids.

Today I did some running around and I managed to pick up some super singles. The image isn't uploading now so I'll have to deal with it later. I ended up buying 6, which is more than I need.

The big thing with super singles is that, since they're overall narrower than the pair of tires they replace, the wheels can also be a bit different. Your standard duals are effectively 0 offset when you sandwich the two together. However if you do this with a super single, it ends up sitting more recessed in the wheel well. The other wheel size is a 2" outset (2" offset outside) which gets the outside of the tire more in closer to the normal position. From my measuring I'm about 95% sure I can fit the 2" outside wheels. And I bought four tires who had 2 mounted on 0 offset and 2 mounted on 2" outset, but out of those 4 tires only 1 was any good, and all of the date codes were on the older side. I bought 2 more from another person who had them mounted on 0 offset wheels but excellent tread and newer date codes (basically the same age as the tires I have now). What I'll probably do is have the tire shop mount those good tires on the 2" outset rims, then throw them on the back - but after I confirm that the 2" outset will fit.
 

Altho they're local in Denver, most of the business is online. I've ordered a sleeper-sofa mattress to replace the 30 yr old junk - almost as good as the beds upstairs, but definitely a very good nights sleep. Had to order a new mattress for one of the beds upstairs. They have standard sizes and will custom anything (which I needed). US factory, delivery anywhere. More important, they'll custom-build anything for you.
 
@Ted how would this floorplan work out? I know it’s a charter opportunity and not for sale, but I’m trying to imagine what works for y’all.


It doesn’t seem like bunks + master is a common combo for Prevost based coaches and I can understand why.
 
@Ted how would this floorplan work out? I know it’s a charter opportunity and not for sale, but I’m trying to imagine what works for y’all.


It doesn’t seem like bunks + master is a common combo for Prevost based coaches and I can understand why.

That's pretty much what we're wanting. The difference being we'd want a king bed, don't want the walk-in closet in the back (although if done well I suppose that doesn't really hurt your usable space too much) and would want a triple bunk for the kids. A little surprised that one doesn't have a king bed given its year - but queens were more popular for a long time and are still probably more the standard.

More likely though we'd be going without a slide. Slides on a Prevost really kick the pricing up a lot.
 

Altho they're local in Denver, most of the business is online. I've ordered a sleeper-sofa mattress to replace the 30 yr old junk - almost as good as the beds upstairs, but definitely a very good nights sleep. Had to order a new mattress for one of the beds upstairs. They have standard sizes and will custom anything (which I needed). US factory, delivery anywhere. More important, they'll custom-build anything for you.

The way the couch is set up is really more like a futon than a standard sleeper sofa, so it's not just a matter of replacing the mattress in it.

The chase that our son sleeps on is just not long enough. He's starting to outgrow it now. There's room for a slightly larger couch that would fit him better. Bunks are nice just because we can put in some kind of a proper mattress (doesn't have to be a thick one, thin ones can still be pretty comfy) and they'll be happier with that.
 
TIL the "st" in "Prevost" is silent.

 
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