I have a 1997 Fleetwood Discovery that I bought new in the summer of 1996. It has a 230hp 12 valve Cummins 5.9L and a 6 speed Allison transmission. It is a diesel pusher Class A on a Freightliner chassis. I would highly recommend you looking at one of these. It has been VERY low maintenance, great mileage for it's size, and plenty powerful. I was a bit bummed that they soon came out with 275hp 24 valve Cummins in these shortly after I bought mine, but I didn't know until now how much better the 12 valves are for reliability. It is P-pumped just like everyone wants.

There are several reasons that I like this rig and one that I don't care for. The one thing I don't like is that it has a LP generator. A bit of a hassle to have it refilled, but it does have it's own tank plus another tank for the heater/refrigerator. I would rather have a diesel generator. Otherwise, I would consider this the Toyota Camry of Class A diesel motorhomes. Real value with nearly every feature you would want.

One of the best things about the coach is the size of the holding tanks. I think mine are larger than almost any on the road. A big plus when dry camping. Mine doesn't have slide outs, but that is not a deal killer for me. It would make it much roomier when parked if it did have them.

You can get one of these for around $50,000 or less for a well kept coach I believe.

 

TREK is (maybe was by now) made by Safari which I think is a branch of Monaco. Monaco specializes (again, that may need to be in the past tense these days) in larger Class A pushers. However, the TREK is (was) this rather unusual smaller rig. I can only find information about their gas units, but I know they had a diesel. They had some very unusual floor plans making a very roomy unit with minimum length. One of the neatest features was a very comfortable queen size bed on the ceiling. Push a button and down it came for sleeping. Push a button, up into the ceiling and all that floor space becomes living area for the day. Here is a website of an older brochure on them, but again it does not mention the diesel units. I had a 40' Monaco that was horrible, but I saw none of the same garbage in the TREK - - seemed to be a different animal. I have a friend with one and he loves it - - his is about 10 years old.

http://www.mcmahonrv.com/safari_trek_motorcoach.htm

Here is a URL for consignment sales that has some TREKs.

http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/rvs/rvs...i-trek-rvs.htm

Bob

 

Well, it's been 5 months since I started this thread and I've been around this bush at least a dozen ways but I keep coming back to the need for a large, high quality, older, Class A motorhome. I've looked at some of the options mentioned here and done a lot of Internet research and have somewhat settled into looking for an early to mid-90's Foretravel. The quality and workmanship seems very good on them and that vintage seems to come close to my price range. The next step is to actually travel to where some of them are and do the physical inspection and check out.

The one that's most attracted my attention is a '94 model with a 8.3L Cummins and an Allison MD3060 6 speed transmission. No transmission retarder but it does have a PAC brake. About 125K miles on it so it's been used but not used up. Anything that I need to watch out for with that combo, especially since it's been used to tow an enclosed 32' race car trailer?

Is there any advantage to opting for the Detroit 6V92 over the Cummins? I know that it's rated for 50 more HP but I really think that I'd prefer the Cummins.

 

sound like u r possibly looking for a otr truck single rear axle with a sleeper and still keep the fiver like this
http://www.commercialtrucktrader.com...NL670-95971701
(not single axle but you get the idea)
this way you can keep the cummins (not mechanical but) have power and the wife can move and lay down go with the double thing with the truck
hope this helps

 

anything less than a million is complete garbage ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g90k...eature=related

nice

 

Check this site, they have high end class As for a lot less than used market.

http://www.crankyape.com

I have 2 friends of mine that bought RVs there and they are very happy, saved a bundle especially on high end stuff.

When you can buy a $ 300k Class A for 1/4 of the price...you can't go wrong.

 

I know RV Magazine did an article on the Class C motorhome built on a Sprinter with the diesel. I couldn't find that exact article, but I did find one that was close to it here:

http://www.trucktrend.com/roadtests/...ome/index.html


For what you'd spend on a used Class A you could get a new Class C .... I just didn't know how many people you'd be travelling with.


Kris

 

My wife and I have been looking at diesel motorhomes for some time and are focusing on the Class C type (cab over) with the Duramax C5500 diesel engine with Allison transmission. I plan to use it for camping as well as pulling a racecar trailer.

A good suggestion also is to visit your local drag strip and see what rigs and trailer combinations are being used. This helped me some also.

Jayco Endura and other models are out there. Not sure if this is what you are looking for but hope this helps.

 

The 6.6 Dmax is working pretty hard to move these down the road, and if your planning on towing anything substantial I'd look at different chassis's combos. Another to stay away from is the International with the VT365.

 

Haulin-RV, got anymore info. on the 6.6 Duramax with Allison transmission. I heard it was ok but you seem to disagree.

I plan on pulling a race car trailer and other times a boat. Thx

 

x2 ... do tell

I've been looking at the Seneca....

 

Be sure you have counted in maintenance on a motorhome as compared to a fifth wheel or TT. If you are only using it occasionally, you will find it a mess. It has to be driven every three or four weeks (minimum) for about 50 miles and use everything in it. You have to run the genny. You have to run everything in it. The batteries are constant hassles. You have keep fresh fuel in it or pay the piper for mucho work to get fuel lines cleaned out and injectors to both the engine and genny. To change the oil in a big diesel will run about $250. Most of them have hydraulic slides - - get a few on those and see what troubles you have. Most have air suspension. One set of air bags (one wheel) on my Monaco ran me $1300. I have owned a bunch of them and I will never have another motorhome. I will stick with the fifth wheel. I can park it, move it once every two months to get tires to a different location, fire up the propane genny when I do that and forget it for another two months.

Motorhomes sound nice and are nice to travel in but sure not nice to own. For what you want in usage, I would rent one and put the other thousands of money you will save each year on depreciation and maintenance in a good investment account.

Bob

 

The simple answer is I have driven them. But if you look into the actual weight vs gvwr, the rated tow capacity and so on you'll see you really don't have the capacities. The Dmax was also de-rated in the 4500/5500 providing less hp and torque than in the pick up. Now I can also tell you of a couple guys I've hauled with that ran 4500/5500 trucks, poor fuel economy and lack of power were consistent complaints. Then how about the fact that GM halted production on these chassis last year, the 4500/5500 no longer exist.

BTW I am a huge Dmax fan, I had an 06 that I ran for 285k. In the pickup they are a fantastic combo, but when you are asking a pick up drivetrain to do the job in a med duty it doesn't work. International tried it with the vt365 (6.0 powerstroke) too, another way underpowered set up. Even the Cummins in 5.9 or 6.7 makes a poor choice.

 

Well, we actually went and looked at the Foretravel that I mentioned above (800 miles from home) and I really liked the coach but my wife wasn't too fond of the interior. After some more looking, we found a coach that my wife liked so last week we pulled the trigger on a '94 Vogue Prima Vista that we found locally. It has the C8.3L Cummins (P-pumped) and the 3060 Allison 6-speed transmission with retarder.

I'm sure that I'll have some questions as I try to figure it all out since it's a lot more complex than our travel trailer but I'm hoping that it will serve us well. I've already signed up for Coach Net and purchased a used tow dolly to use until we decide to buy a different toad so I'm gradually getting all my ducks in a row. Yesterday I bought a 20T bottle jack and some 12T jack stands for when I have to work on it. Now I just have to decide on whether I need a heavy 1/2" drive impact or a 3/4" or 1" impact to use for pulling the 22.5" wheels. Yep, new new tools to work on the "new" rig.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and opinions. It gave me lots to think about as I made the decision.

 

Pictures.....

Congrats on the purchase.