Thinking about a Bus/RV

Wiring : 50A for sure for dual AC and we needed both once on a 36’ rig. In Nebraska.

LED lights: Awesome but watch out for color just like home stuff. Bright white with way too much blue content is the cheap end and frankly is hideous and blinding in a nice dark campground environment.

Batteries: You know how to properly care for lead acid so no worries there, but long term consider a LifePo bank. Not cheap. Way better with a high quality controller and charger system (also not cheap) especially if adding solar (also not cheap!).

(You’re probably seeing the theme here. A battery tender is waaaaay cheaper as are the typical lead acid golf cart batteries wired in series to get to 12V. We already had multiple high current lead acids sitting here so I did a three battery addition to the coach battery for something like 300 Ah worth of battery and then just maintained them properly. Solar/LifePo/fancy controller was “on the list” for whenever I felt like blowing a huge chunk of cash for a “nice to have but don’t need it”. AME that would have been driven by doing much more boondocking. The annoyance factor of the genset plus lead acid would have very mildly crept up to convince me to redesign the entire system and do it all at once. Dividing that cost by the number of trips would have proven it wasn’t worth it at all. Ha.)
 
denverpilot said:
Wiring : 50A for sure for dual AC and we needed both once on a 36’ rig. In Nebraska.

LED lights: Awesome but watch out for color just like home stuff. Bright white with way too much blue content is the cheap end and frankly is hideous and blinding in a nice dark campground environment.

Batteries: You know how to properly care for lead acid so no worries there, but long term consider a LifePo bank. Not cheap. Way better with a high quality controller and charger system (also not cheap) especially if adding solar (also not cheap!).

(You’re probably seeing the theme here. A battery tender is waaaaay cheaper as are the typical lead acid golf cart batteries wired in series to get to 12V. We already had multiple high current lead acids sitting here so I did a three battery addition to the coach battery for something like 300 Ah worth of battery and then just maintained them properly. Solar/LifePo/fancy controller was “on the list” for whenever I felt like blowing a huge chunk of cash for a “nice to have but don’t need it”. AME that would have been driven by doing much more boondocking. The annoyance factor of the genset plus lead acid would have very mildly crept up to convince me to redesign the entire system and do it all at once. Dividing that cost by the number of trips would have proven it wasn’t worth it at all. Ha.)
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Is not cheap the same as not cheap in aviation world, or not cheap compared to automobile world?
 
charheep said:
Is not cheap the same as not cheap in aviation world, or not cheap compared to automobile world?
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I just did a cursory check.

6v batteries at Costco or Sams Tun about $89 bucks a piece. So 225ah in 12v is roughly about $200.

By comparison, similar capacity in Lithium would be about $1200.

I don’t quite see the ROI in lithium in my opinion yet. Sure, different charging characteristics, blah blah blah. 4-6 times the expense? Only if they have a lifetime guarantee, maybe.

Fancy? Sure. Do they have curious tech? Ok.

Ymmv on price between $500-700 per kWh but really. They’re nitch-y, overpriced, unproven to the bump and grind, deMonstrated in a tiny house, but...like re-doing any of my trusty planes with newfangled ignition tech or Diesel engines, the cost is premium and I don’t feel like finding others by being an early adopter.

I’ll stick to cheap, replaceable wet cells for now, with cheap, largely available solar panels, with rock solid DC MPPT controllers, with cheap, warm white LEDs in the coach instead of fluorescent. Is there a theme here? My Jewish roots are showing.
 
charheep said:
Is not cheap the same as not cheap in aviation world, or not cheap compared to automobile world?
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Ha. Ted just posted the numbers.

Not cheap as in “costs more than a really good quality annual on a simple airplane with a few minor things found and fixed”. :)

And he didn’t even include the solar panels or control/charging system. :)

One man’s luxury, another man’s “must have”. Quite a few of the year-rounders go lithium and solar and such, then head to essentially free parking in BLM land for a significant portion of the year to cost-justify it.

It’s not “replace the engine on the airplane” high though, so the crowd here may find it more reasonable than a different demographic with cheaper hobbies! Ha.
 
On batteries, I run the AGM or sealed batteries and they're a nice in between being maintenance free and fast to charge, but not much more than flooded cell. I couldn't justify lithium, I doubt Ted could since he'll have a genset that he could just run for an hour to top off.
 
We are RV owners :)

It’s a 2000 Holiday Rambler Endeavor, 40’ diesel pusher with a Cat 3126 and 6-speed Allison transmission, two slides.

We drove down this morning. I expected we wouldn’t get home today, and we didn’t. After spending a couple hours looking things over, we found a few discrepancies, negotiated based on that.

And since one of the discrepancies was a big crack on one of the steer tires, we made it to a place where we can get it fixed. The tires are 10 years old per the date code, so we’re just getting 6 new ones. The rear tires were “all position” rather than dedicated drive tires. I want proper drive tires with better traction anyway, so this works out.

Aside from the old tires, the engine hasn’t had the HEUI hose service bulletin complied with so that’s a big deal, I’ll take care of it when I get home.

The power awning is inop. Relay clicks but motor doesn’t move. I’ll fix it. Slides work, that’s the big thing.

Engine runs well. Gauges are absolute crap. I need to upgrade those, at least for a few of them.

Doesn’t appear to have air leaks. It had sat a couple days not running supposedly and hadn’t bled down, air still was over 100 psi. Driving down the road I heard what sounded like air from the passenger side front door, but not sure yet.

Tomorrow morning we get the tires taken care of and head home. Then I call the Cat dealer for parts. :)

BDC0183D-0C9B-4730-916E-7B9B21D29C6B.jpeg EA5E6B39-229C-46A8-B03E-FD8B3DDA7755.jpeg
 
Those are great coaches. driver door more better.
Michelins are the best ride, don't do truck tires, they have no protection to keep the tires on the rim.
 
I’m going to look at your online scheduling for the next time I do a bbq contest and don’t feel like sleeping in a lawn chair under a tarp in a downpour.
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
It's a 3126B right? I believe they switched over in 98.
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Not sure which version of the 3126 it is. It has the older style HEUI pump, which supposedly is better - that’s all I know. But it needs the High pressure oil hard line SB complied with. Supposedly the C7s have a SB adding a second oil filter between the HEUI and the injectors, I need to look into that more and see if I should try to put that in.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Not sure which version of the 3126 it is. It has the older style HEUI pump, which supposedly is better - that’s all I know. But it needs the High pressure oil hard line SB complied with. Supposedly the C7s have a SB adding a second oil filter between the HEUI and the injectors, I need to look into that more and see if I should try to put that in.
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Should be a B. Send me the serial number and I can give you the manufacturing data if you want.
 
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NealRomeoGolf said:
Should be a B. Send me the serial number and I can give you the manufacturing data if you want.
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I should’ve looked for that when going over the engine today. Mostly I was looking at the HEUI and for leaks etc. Runs well but I need to get rid of that muffler so I can hear the Cat power! :D
 
Llk said:
I Is there a theme here? My Jewish roots are showing.
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Just sounds like common sense to me!

Ted DuPuis said:
We are RV owners :)

It’s a 2000 Holiday Rambler Endeavor, 40’ diesel pusher with a Cat 3126 and 6-speed Allison transmission, two slides.

View attachment 88395 View attachment 88396
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Very nice, Ted! Sometimes I just have to say that you're a bastard sometimes, as when you start "thinking" about something or buying something it very often gets the same gears going in my head as well. Half (or probably more) of the fun (for me) of owning a coach like that would be learning the systems, how to properly use the systems, how to properly drive and handle the thing, how to properly maintain and upgrade, etc. That's just as fun as actually using the coach to go places.

And of course if I bought a coach, I'd need to buy a new TOAD that could be flat towed....

Thanks, Ted...
 
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Ted, major congrats! That's a nice looking unit for sure, and seems like a great compromise with being 40', having slides, and still being a diesel pusher. I don't think you'll regret the piece of mind from the cash you're spending day one to have 6 very high quality tires in place, that you know the history on.

Invite to "camp" at our place still stands. You know... Laurie could always jump flight back from here if you did a west coast swing and she had to be off to work for a few days
 
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Ted,

Congrats! Very nice looking coach.

At times I miss ours. It would be nice to have a place to go to in the winter that we can take our dog. Renting a place that accepts our "large" dog is proving to be quite the PITA.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
We are RV owners :)

It’s a 2000 Holiday Rambler Endeavor, 40’ diesel pusher with a Cat 3126 and 6-speed Allison transmission, two slides.
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Well... in the race of "he who has the most toys wins" - you are the leading contender!! Enjoy! Could never convince the wife to tour in one of those, although I'd give it a try.
 
Some thing I'd get right away, is a surge protector. we got plugged into a campgrounds that was the reverse polarity, cost us a new inverter, plus several other components ($4500) we now have a new surge protector.
https://www.progressiveindustries.net/ems-lchw50
Once learned ?
 
Ted DuPuis said:
We are RV owners :)

It’s a 2000 Holiday Rambler Endeavor, 40’ diesel pusher with a Cat 3126 and 6-speed Allison transmission, two slides.

We drove down this morning. I expected we wouldn’t get home today, and we didn’t. After spending a couple hours looking things over, we found a few discrepancies, negotiated based on that.

And since one of the discrepancies was a big crack on one of the steer tires, we made it to a place where we can get it fixed. The tires are 10 years old per the date code, so we’re just getting 6 new ones. The rear tires were “all position” rather than dedicated drive tires. I want proper drive tires with better traction anyway, so this works out.

Aside from the old tires, the engine hasn’t had the HEUI hose service bulletin complied with so that’s a big deal, I’ll take care of it when I get home.

The power awning is inop. Relay clicks but motor doesn’t move. I’ll fix it. Slides work, that’s the big thing.

Engine runs well. Gauges are absolute crap. I need to upgrade those, at least for a few of them.

Doesn’t appear to have air leaks. It had sat a couple days not running supposedly and hadn’t bled down, air still was over 100 psi. Driving down the road I heard what sounded like air from the passenger side front door, but not sure yet.

Tomorrow morning we get the tires taken care of and head home. Then I call the Cat dealer for parts. :)

View attachment 88395 View attachment 88396
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Congratulations. Looks nice!
 
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Bill Jennings said:
Very nice, Ted! Sometimes I just have to say that you're a bastard sometimes, as when you start "thinking" about something or buying something it very often gets the same gears going in my head as well. Half (or probably more) of the fun (for me) of owning a coach like that would be learning the systems, how to properly use the systems, how to properly drive and handle the thing, how to properly maintain and upgrade, etc. That's just as fun as actually using the coach to go places.

And of course if I bought a coach, I'd need to buy a new TOAD that could be flat towed....

Thanks, Ted...
Click to expand...

Learning the new systems and a new type of vehicle (and everything that goes with it) is definitely a lot of the appeal for me, too. And I have a lot to learn...

MIFlyer said:
Ted, major congrats! That's a nice looking unit for sure, and seems like a great compromise with being 40', having slides, and still being a diesel pusher. I don't think you'll regret the piece of mind from the cash you're spending day one to have 6 very high quality tires in place, that you know the history on.

Invite to "camp" at our place still stands. You know... Laurie could always jump flight back from here if you did a west coast swing and she had to be off to work for a few days
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I agree. I'd pretty much already decided I wanted to put new tires on it before we started trips. The fact that the tires were 10 years old and I found that big crack in the one made it an easy decision to just do all 6.

And thank you for the offer! We do expect we'll take you up on it, but likely sometime next year. When we got home one of our girls asked "Are we going to go see the Golden Gate Bridge tomorrow"? :rofl:

It's good they're so excited.

Tom-D said:
Some thing I'd get right away, is a surge protector. we got plugged into a campgrounds that was the reverse polarity, cost us a new inverter, plus several other components ($4500) we now have a new surge protector.
https://www.progressiveindustries.net/ems-lchw50
Once learned ?
Click to expand...

Fortunately, one of the things that this came with was a surge protector, and another was a voltage regulator (or whatever the term was - makes sure the voltage coming from the hookup source is good). I need to find those in there and figure out how to set them up.
 
Today after getting the tires done in OKC, we drove home. I ended up going with a set of Falken tires. Out of the options that were locally available, the Falkens seemed to be a good value in terms of reviews vs. price, plus they were the only ones locally that were rated for 81 MPH (the rest being 68 or 75). :D

Driving it - the coach does drive well on the whole. Driving it is a different experience. I'm used to having a total vehicle length of 50 ft long or more when I'm towing my trailer, but it bends in the middle. With this having the full 40' long by itself, it's different. The shocks I do believe are bad. Although this is big and you'd expect it to sway a lot, this feels like it sways more than it should. I also expect the shocks are original and thus 20 years old at this point. I need to crawl under and check but then I think it'll be time to order new ones and just get those coming.

The more I drove it the better it seemed to drive. Most of that is probably just due to me being more used to it and learning how it behaves. Maybe it was starting to work better after having sat in storage for a year or more.

The gauges on this thing are all driven by the ECU, and seem to be complete junk. So I am going to invest in something that lets me actually monitor the engine better. I need to confirm it has the J1939 port on it, but assuming it does I think I'll grab one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/BlueFire-Blu...fire+j1939&qid=1596166233&s=automotive&sr=1-2

So that I can get real data. Really that's just for my knowledge more than anything since I like to know what my engine is doing.

I think I have my list together for what I want at the Cat dealer. Basically prioritize on changing the engine oil (also for the generator), engine and fuel filters... have to figure out where to order an air filter. And get the service bulletin taken care of that has the exploding high pressure oil hose. None of that's too bad. Find shocks and get those ordered, I'd like to replace those ideally before the first big trip. Headlights are another "sooner rather than later" item just because these are original Ford Explorer headlights that were bad when new and worse now.

Once I have the shop going, there are other projects I want to do, but nothing that can't wait. I'll want to do the differential fluid eventually. According to what I can find, Allison designed the transmission to last 150k+ miles between fluid changes, so I'm probably fine there. It's working fine. To my surprise even the windshield wiper blades are fine.
 
My wife would never buy in on a nice used coach like the one you just picked up, but man, I would love the possibilities. Put an enclosed trailer behind it with a full size motorcycle and maybe a scooter for local errands, and go see the country. Park the coach in a good spot for a week or two, and tour the local area by bike. THAT would be choice!
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
https://parts.cat.com/SearchDisplay...ductId:undefined&filterByEquipment:undefined&
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I was hoping I'd be able to get that at Cat too, just wasn't sure whether the air filter was a Cat item or a bus item. This is a new learning of where to find parts.

SoonerAviator said:
Get you some Bilstiens and start racking up the miles!
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Seems like Bilsteins and Konis are the two preferred items. Cursory search of the RV forums would indicate the Konis are better liked among the diesel pusher crowd, and the Bilstiens are better liked among the gasser crowd. I've generally not been a huge fan of Bilsteins, but be interested in input from others on that.

Bill Jennings said:
My wife would never buy in on a nice used coach like the one you just picked up, but man, I would love the possibilities. Put an enclosed trailer behind it with a full size motorcycle and maybe a scooter for local errands, and go see the country. Park the coach in a good spot for a week or two, and tour the local area by bike. THAT would be choice!
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Bill, you've pretty much outlined a lot of what we're thinking about/planning.

It's taken a while to get Laurie on board with the idea. She's not a camping person, and a lot of RVs are kinda like builder basic cookie-cutter houses inside, which we don't go for. Plus we can fly places, so going slower is, well, slower. We knew we'd eventually want one for some of the travel we wanted to do with the kids. Then the school year became what it is, and it made the decision easier.

Oh, one thing - the slides. The one right behind the driver's seat prevents me from making the seat go back as far as I'd like it to. Another 6" would be nice.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I was hoping I'd be able to get that at Cat too, just wasn't sure whether the air filter was a Cat item or a bus item. This is a new learning of where to find parts.



Seems like Bilsteins and Konis are the two preferred items. Cursory search of the RV forums would indicate the Konis are better liked among the diesel pusher crowd, and the Bilstiens are better liked among the gasser crowd. I've generally not been a huge fan of Bilsteins, but be interested in input from others on that.



Bill, you've pretty much outlined a lot of what we're thinking about/planning.

It's taken a while to get Laurie on board with the idea. She's not a camping person, and a lot of RVs are kinda like builder basic cookie-cutter houses inside, which we don't go for. Plus we can fly places, so going slower is, well, slower. We knew we'd eventually want one for some of the travel we wanted to do with the kids. Then the school year became what it is, and it made the decision easier.

Oh, one thing - the slides. The one right behind the driver's seat prevents me from making the seat go back as far as I'd like it to. Another 6" would be nice.
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Koni, Bilstein, and RoadKing from the brief internet blurbs I read (thank you for sending me down that rabbit-hole, lol). A few of the independent tests seem to like the Bilsteins as the best balance in overall ride, especially over rougher sections of highway. The Koni's were the stiffest (by a small margin) but the tests resulted in the perception that they were more jarring on the rougher roads. The Bilsteins were also the cheapest of the 3. The RoadKings didn't fare as well in the diesel-pusher tests I read, even though they are popular with semi-trucks and were the most expensive. They do claim to be rebuild-able and have a longer service life, but it doesn't make much sense at twice the price. I have liked Bilsteins on my personal vehicles, but that's for every day driving. For something sportier (like our 300ZXTT), the Konis are great, although we had Tokikos for a bit and then KYB.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Koni, Bilstein, and RoadKing from the brief internet blurbs I read (thank you for sending me down that rabbit-hole, lol). A few of the independent tests seem to like the Bilsteins as the best balance in overall ride, especially over rougher sections of highway. The Koni's were the stiffest (by a small margin) but the tests resulted in the perception that they were more jarring on the rougher roads. The Bilsteins were also the cheapest of the 3. The RoadKings didn't fare as well in the diesel-pusher tests I read, even though they are popular with semi-trucks and were the most expensive. They do claim to be rebuild-able and have a longer service life, but it doesn't make much sense at twice the price. I have liked Bilsteins on my personal vehicles, but that's for every day driving. For something sportier (like our 300ZXTT), the Konis are great, although we had Tokikos for a bit and then KYB.
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Yeah that wouldn't surprise me. The ride is definitely not jarring at all right now. I'll probably do a comparison and decide... if the Bilsteins are half the price they probably will be "good enough" (and way better than current).
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I was hoping I'd be able to get that at Cat too, just wasn't sure whether the air filter was a Cat item or a bus item. This is a new learning of where to find parts.
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Yup, dealer should have them. If you stick to CAT oil filters, those are made in Champaign, IL. Good old American made. Not sure where the air filters are done.
 
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Ted DuPuis said:
Yeah that wouldn't surprise me. The ride is definitely not jarring at all right now. I'll probably do a comparison and decide... if the Bilsteins are half the price they probably will be "good enough" (and way better than current).
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Here was one of the articles from MotorHome Magazine, albeit from 2009. They also mention a Sachs brand, but it is apparently a cheaper brand that many RVs come standard with that wasn't particularly great, especially due to diving when braking and rocking back on initial acceleration.

https://www.motorhome.com/tech/diy/shock-therapy-rv-shock-absorber-test/
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
Yup, dealer should have them. If you stick to CAT oil filters, those are made in Champaign, IL. Good old American made. Not sure where the air filters are done.
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From everything I've read, I want to stick to CAT filters, at least for fuel and oil. So I think I'll do that.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Here was one of the articles from MotorHome Magazine, albeit from 2009. They also mention a Sachs brand, but it is apparently a cheaper brand that many RVs come standard with that wasn't particularly great, especially due to diving when braking and rocking back on initial acceleration.

https://www.motorhome.com/tech/diy/shock-therapy-rv-shock-absorber-test/
Click to expand...

Interesting points. There are also anti-roll bar upgrades, which in my experience on cars will help roll control immensely without making the ride harsher at all. So I'm thinking the Bilsteins might make the most sense, and then if I still want more roll control (which I probably will) then I add in the anti-roll bars.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Bill, you've pretty much outlined a lot of what we're thinking about/planning.

It's taken a while to get Laurie on board with the idea. She's not a camping person
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Bingo!

I think the evil plan is to rent a nice 40ft diesel pusher for a long weekend and see how she likes it. If she does, then lay the plan on her about the trailer and bringing along a bike. I'd just love to do an extended tour like that, park for a week or two, see all there is to see, then move on to the next cool place.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Interesting points. There are also anti-roll bar upgrades, which in my experience on cars will help roll control immensely without making the ride harsher at all. So I'm thinking the Bilsteins might make the most sense, and then if I still want more roll control (which I probably will) then I add in the anti-roll bars.
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I'm sure anything is better than nothing in terms of replacing worn out shocks. The larger diameter roll bars are also a great upgrade. The article didn't really have much scientific data with it, just individual perception; at least they apparently ran the same RV on the same 1,000-mile route with each of the 3 shock-absorber brands to try and make an informed opinion about the ride/handling characteristics.

Consequently, the Hellwig rear anti-roll bar upgrade is a popular one with the Ford Excursions I've been looking at, so I'd be right there with you if I end up grabbing one up, lol.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Bingo!

I think the evil plan is to rent a nice 40ft diesel pusher for a long weekend and see how she likes it. If she does, then lay the plan on her about the trailer and bringing along a bike. I'd just love to do an extended tour like that, park for a week or two, see all there is to see, then move on to the next cool place.
Click to expand...

You may have trouble finding a diesel pusher to rent. We'd thought about similar, but the biggest I've seen around has been in the range of... I want to say 33' in a Ford V10 chassis. Now for just the two of you, that could still give you some idea, but the Ford V10 chassis won't ride as well going down the road. You'd have to make sure she understood the concept of "This is not what we'd be getting, look at the basic concept."

SoonerAviator said:
I'm sure anything is better than nothing in terms of replacing worn out shocks. The larger diameter roll bars are also a great upgrade. The article didn't really have much scientific data with it, just individual perception; at least they apparently ran the same RV on the same 1,000-mile route with each of the 3 shock-absorber brands to try and make an informed opinion about the ride/handling characteristics.

Consequently, the Hellwig rear anti-roll bar upgrade is a popular one with the Ford Excursions I've been looking at, so I'd be right there with you if I end up grabbing one up, lol.
Click to expand...

Having owned two Excursions, I never felt the upgraded anti-roll bars were needed on those things. :)
 
I ordered the front anti-roll bar upgrade. Found a place online that had a really good price on one compared to others, decided to snatch it up while I could. Plus most other places were out of stock (no surprise). Probably going to order the rear one as well, but need to look at the rear end a bit more carefully first.

Shocks... they're old. Need to order new ones and decide on Bilstein vs. Koni for that. Also need to figure out the proper grease and go through and grease all the appropriate fittings.

Brakes all look good, lots of meat left. Good stuff there.

Looking through the service records, looks like 2016 was the last time the cooling system was dealt with. Fresh coolant, new fan, new hoses, water pump around then... need to look at the condition of the fluid.

Ordered new headlights and the BlueFire interface with the ECU, so I can read all of the actual information. That'll be nice to have. I'll probably start off by just interfacing it with my phone and if I find it more useful, I may buy a dedicated Android tablet, or maybe we have an old iPad around that I could dedicate to it. I'll see.

Right now it looks like the thing's exploded all of its contents onto the driveway, but it's getting a lot cleaner. I've been letting the generator run so it's air conditioned inside.
 
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