Fleetwood Bounder 97

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
A

alpine bob

Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2019
Posts
10
Will be looking at a 97 Fleetwood Bounder later this week.
460 ford, Alliston tranny ?
19,000 km ( 12,000 miles US ). Mostly parked and under canopy.
No slide out. Should be in excellent shape.
Any experience good or bad will be appreciated.
Thanks Bob
 
You won't find an Allison transmission on a 1997 F53. Or, really, behind any Ford engine. A 1997 F53 will have a 4-speed Ford E4OD transmission.
 
It's that old with only 12,000 miles? That means it sat a lot, which could be bad. In any case, at that age most anything rubber is suspect, whether belts, hoses, door and window seals, tires (even if tread looks good), suspension parts, etc. Also, there's a possibility of corrosion in the engine, if moisture was allowed to accumulate. I'd also check all the fluids for possible deterioration.
 
Thanks for the tips and transmission correction.
Will be sure to check rubber components and tire dates.
Should we buy the coach, we would have transmission fluid drained / refilled, coolant flushed etc.
Hoping this may be the right one.
Bob
 
I'm not sure if the Ford chassis uses air bags in the front coil spring like the Workhorse does if so, that would be a point of scrutiny.

Corky
 
We bought our '99 almost 4 years ago with less than 40,000 miles on it. A few more modern upgrades, normal maintenance items, and a few minor repairs and we have really enjoyed the coach. We did a 12,000 mile trip with only a couple of minor issues. Have a complete inspection done by a qualifies inspector to save a lot of heartaches. Get a good engine mechanic to check out the drive train. As others have said, fewer miles on an older coach is not always a big plus. Good luck. Chuck
 
The ol 460 is a very durable engine. Responds extremely well to a set of headers. Engine has issues with the right rear exhaust manifold bolt breaking. Banks Trans Commander for the transmission is a good investment. Raises line pressure, makes shifts firmer. Rear sway bar bushings fail prematurely. Available on EBay for $50 US. Easy change. Disk brake caliper slide pins need to be cleaned and re-lubed every 2 years. Front and rear suspension and front steering components are very durable. Dana 80 rear end is good.

NO Catalytic converter on  that 97 F53


 
We had a Honey with that engine & transmission. 

It ate catalytic converters.  Maybe headers would help.

The brakes are a serious weak point and tend to overheat easily.  Ours had to be replaced within only 2,000 miles.  I would replace the rotors with slotted ones and use high quality metallic pads.  (Hawks)

The rear suspension (leaf springs) sacked after only a few years.  The rear tires would rub the top of the wheel wells going over bumps.  Air bags helped. 

That transmission needs the biggest auxiliary cooler you can find.  Good idea to add a transmission temperature gauge too.  It?s an easy transmission to service.

If we had kept it longer I would have added anti sway bars and a steering stabilizer.

It got a whopping 4MPG.  That thing drank fuel like crazy.  I?m sure that had something to do with the catalytic converters going bad.
 
8Muddypaws said:
It got a whopping 4MPG.  That thing drank fuel like crazy.  I?m sure that had something to do with the catalytic converters going bad.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there was definitely something wrong with that Honey.  Maybe the engine was running rich which would eat both the converter and the MPG.

I had a 35 ft. Damon Class A of that vintage and drivetrain and it averaged around 8 MPG.
 
8Muddypaws said:
We had a Honey with that engine & transmission. 

It ate catalytic converters.  Maybe headers would help.

The brakes are a serious weak point and tend to overheat easily.  Ours had to be replaced within only 2,000 miles.  I would replace the rotors with slotted ones and use high quality metallic pads.  (Hawks)

The rear suspension (leaf springs) sacked after only a few years.  The rear tires would rub the top of the wheel wells going over bumps.  Air bags helped. 

That transmission needs the biggest auxiliary cooler you can find.  Good idea to add a transmission temperature gauge too.  It?s an easy transmission to service.

If we had kept it longer I would have added anti sway bars and a steering stabilizer.

It got a whopping 4MPG.  That thing drank fuel like crazy.  I?m sure that had something to do with the catalytic converters going bad.
Click to expand...

Wow. We have put almost 20,000 miles on our '99 since we bought it about 4 years ago and had NONE of these problems. Neither have the many other owners we have met along the way with coaches of the same years. Neither did we have to add any of those "EXTRAS" to make the coach perform any better. Lots of mountain driving and the brakes got us safely down some serious downward grades over and over. They never overheated and we still are running with all of the same brakes, etc. No problems with the transmission either and there is no cooler added. Rear and front leaf springs are all original and holding up just fine. We have not added a sway bar because it is not necessary. The coach handles just fine. You must have really bought a lemon. Chuck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 911 (members: 21, guests: 890)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,982
Posts
1,388,603
Members
137,729
Latest member
skinldy71
Back
Top Bottom