Who's keeping an older MH on the road??

'Hi folks. Just thought I'd see if I'm the only nut out there squeezing "just one more season" out of an older mh?

I'm piloting a 1992 Southwind 30E (Chevy 454, P30 chassis). She's starting to show her age, but everything works! Put about 4000 - 5000kms on it last season, and hoping to get near that again this year, though scheduling conficts may keep me closer to home than I'd like to be on vacation.

How old is your rig, and what do you do to keep it roadworthy? What issues have you faced and how did you deal with them? (I've had to replace just about every plastic reservoir/tank under the hood, and have a leaking fresh water tank to deal with this spring. Usual mechanical issues/maintenance/wear and tear stuff.)

How old is too old? (If such a thing exists - don't give my wife any ideas!)

We got a old 1983. It's not the fanciest out there but its still solid. Have had to do very little to keep it on the road. It's how you take care of it that counts.

Our '95 Coachmen is still going strong at 85,000 miles, and we have no plans to replace it in the near future. We average 7-9,000 miles per year on the road. I try to stay on top of the maintenance, changing out belts, hoses, etc., any time I see a possible problem brewing. Oil and filter changes are done regularly too. We did dump the Ford E40D transmission while traveling on I-75 in Kentucky a few years ago. The only area rebuilder wanted two weeks to do the job, so for only a couple of hundred bucks more, I had a Ford remanned tranny with a 3 year/100,000 mile warranty shipped in from Pittsburg, and a local heavy truck shop did the exchange in one day. Including shipping time, we only lost 4 days of travel time. Last year, the in-tank fuel pump acted up in Arizona, but I was able to install an inline pump from a local NAPA store, and we only lost a couple of hours. We've been kind of stuck at our base cottage in Upstate NY this winter, while my wife was undergoing medical treatments, but we're finishing up packing the rig right now, for a Monday departure for Florida. We'll be very glad to leave the snow and cold behind!

1974
She needs a new control board for the genny and a ground issue on the bedroom and bath room lights, then she will be ready for another season.

We have been herding our 95 Bounder down the road for 11 years. It's a game to see if the Bounder out lives me or I out live it. She has 111,000 on the clock and still runs strong, with no oil usage. There is something that needs attention on almost every trip. IE failing circuit boards, high resistance connections, failing inverter, hoses and belts, etc. One year I ended up replacing rear brake pads and calipers and hub seals in Death Valley. Just last week my gray water transfer pump failed and will get replace when we get home. In the near future I intend to re-do the ol 460 with a stroker kit and rebuild the tranny.
If you plan on putting a lot of miles on an older MH, be prepared to do a lot of wrenching or pay a bunch of dollars for some one else to.

Richard

We took my friends 94 bounder dp to Nova Scotia two years ago. Blew one tire on the coach and two on the trailer towing our bikes on the way down. Blew the tranny on the way home. My friends a diesel mechanic. We blew the tranny at 4 pm, and limped into a truck stop in first gear. He ordered a new tranny from 4 hrs away over the phone with his visa card. We dropped the tranny in the parking lot after dinner. The next day the new tranny showed up and we had it installed and back on the road by supper time. Theres a lot to be said for having a on board mechanic. lol Thats why hes coming with us this year when we go to Newfoundland in my 2000 37g winnebago. Hopefully this trip will be a little less eventful on the mechanical side. Never hurts to have a few thousand sitting around when you own one of these critters eh. HAPPY TRAILS

I wouldn't "retire" my 1991 Aero Cruiser for anything. After a long period of research, it was exactly what I wanted and needed!

90k miles and still going strong.

Rich "The Wanderman"

We sold a newer 2007 and bought an old 1992 American Eagle.  I wanted certain things in a motorhome and also a heavier one. Our DD wanted a bathtub, I wanted a washer/dryer, and the stand alone icemaker is sure nice.    I had problems with the other driving in the wind, was to light weight for me and even though it had slides there wasn't enough room.  And while I think its wonderful folks can afford the new gorgeous up to date ones we don't feel we can.  So we bought this one.

I am a woman driving it also, my husband had planned to do a lot of the work but he has been working away and we had a neighbor that kept wanting to buy our other one so we let it go sooner then we planned.

We had the mechanicals gone over and all the fluids serviced, new hoses put on, brakes redone, and lots of other stuff.  I had some electrical issues at first but with the help of a tenant and my husband they seem to be ok, knock on wood.  We are still upgrading and fixing things, but I like driving it and as hubby says even if it needs a rebuilt engine or tranny we are still money ahead, or we think we are.  He still has things he wants to fix.  We want to fix the air horn and the lights around the floor.  Also the docking lights, I think the sockets need replaced or cleaned good.  We had all the TV systems working with the new Winegard dome and the last place I took it to merely have it ready for Dish TV totally screwed it up.  Now Tom will have to undo the work of "the professionals" when he has time.  I like it and hope we can keep it on the road till we hang it up.  That's to be seen, but I will say the workmanship on this old one is a lot better then many of the new ones I've seen.

So we too are using and oldie.  I'm in Florida right now and have been for a couple of weeks and plan to be until the 4th of March.  No matter what you've got enjoy it, we plan to.!

NY_Dutch said:

Our '95 Coachmen is still going strong at 85,000 miles, and we have no plans to replace it in the near future. We average 7-9,000 miles per year on the road. I try to stay on top of the maintenance, changing out belts, hoses, etc., any time I see a possible problem brewing. Oil and filter changes are done regularly too. We did dump the Ford E40D transmission while traveling on I-75 in Kentucky a few years ago. The only area rebuilder wanted two weeks to do the job, so for only a couple of hundred bucks more, I had a Ford remanned tranny with a 3 year/100,000 mile warranty shipped in from Pittsburg, and a local heavy truck shop did the exchange in one day. Including shipping time, we only lost 4 days of travel time. Last year, the in-tank fuel pump acted up in Arizona, but I was able to install an inline pump from a local NAPA store, and we only lost a couple of hours. We've been kind of stuck at our base cottage in Upstate NY this winter, while my wife was undergoing medical treatments, but we're finishing up packing the rig right now, for a Monday departure for Florida. We'll be very glad to leave the snow and cold behind!

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What did it cost for the new transmission? And the fitting cost?

1275gtsport said:

1974
She needs a new control board for the genny and a ground issue on the bedroom and bath room lights, then she will be ready for another season.

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WOW! Impressive! Not sure I'd have any luck convincing my wife to travel in an RV almost as old young as she is!  ;D

Have you updated the rig at all or is she still all 70's glory??

PatrioticStabilist said:

We sold a newer 2007 and bought an old 1992 American Eagle. 

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That's quite a story! You don't see too many people "retrograding" to older MHs!

With ours, it's curerntly the mechanical end of things that has the DW most concerned. We bought it used last year and quickly found out that the mech who did the safety inspection was not on his game - the brakes had to be redone as well as about $2K worth of steering components (tie rods, steering stabilizers, etc) before we took the rig on a serious trip. If anyone has read my posts in the Tech section, you'll know I've got a few more ghosts in the machine to clear up this season, too.

We spent a few weeks updating the interior when we first brought it home - out with carpet, in with new vinyl flooring; fresh paint everywhere inside; got rid of the UGLY (and space-filling) fabric-covered boxes around each window, and generally cleaned up and streamlined the interior. If I can find a way to recover the sofa (or replace cheaply), I'd love to make that change too. New covers for the dinette cushions is easy enough but still on the to-do list.

How about exterior make-overs for oler rigs? Anyone repainted their older MH? I'd love to know costs and whether you think it was ulimately worth doing.

oops sorry I put the wrong date down. that was the year of our first motorhome the "new" one is a 1977 sorry for any confusion. we replaced the oven/stove with a smaller 2 burner cooktop and a microwave. change the double sink for a single and replaced the counter top. have also replaced any of the rotten particle board with real wood.

The PO (previous owner) had removed the green shag carpet so we installed the allure flooring from home depot. He also included new leather driving seats that I installed. the rest of the furniture is 1977 green plaid which we really like. it will need to be replaced in the next 5 or 6 years. (starting to show age) That is all we have done in upgrades.

the front drive 455 seems to run strong and most of the rubber maintenance components (hoses, brake lines, cooling line.) were replaced less then 6 years ago

She should have a new coat of paint soon

We have a 1991 GMC 454, Damon Escaper Magunam, 38 Ft tandam axel, bath and a half. We live in it full time and just love keeping it on the road.

We bought ours last spring , A 1988 Vanguard 24 ' with a 350 engine .  We have put over 10,000 miles on it last summer and had a few hiccups , front tires , alternator , serpentine belt & pulleys .

Motor hasn't burned any oil , gets 10 mpg dolly towing a car through mountains .
Everything inside works great and we expect to travel another 5000, + miles this summer .

As log as a person does maintenance on the drive train and keeps the outside shined up and in good shape a older motor home can be a very cheap investment to have great vacations .

One thing it is good to have road side assistance for the unexpected .

Bill 

I have a '90 Jamboree Searcher that I just bought 4 months ago and fixed up. It has 75k miles. New batteries, tires, roof, converter/charger, radio, fuel pump, and a small tv. It had been sitting for a number of years and needed some TLC. I have everything working in it, now. Runs like a top. I have done a couple of overnighters within a couple hundred miles from home. As I get a little more confidence in its roadworthy-ness, I will venture farther and farther from home. I almost got stuck in Tucson when my fuel pump started crapping out. If I stray too far, I might consider some more significant roadside assistance package.


Mylo

I would love to find the silver blind that goes over the dining room table.  2 of the lathes on this one apparently a dog bit!  They are bent and have teeth marks I pull it halfway up and you don't see them but I would still like to have one.  I'm wondering if Colaws might have them.  I'm sure these are the originals, 20 years old and still going.  To me that is quality.  I got 2 new fans for the dash overhead, the older one still works so I only had them install one, Tom can do the other, I noticed its chrome, 2 speed, and bigger so will have him put the second in for Sue Anne.

For now we are sitting the 27 or 30 something inch TV, need to measure forgot which it is on the dash.  We took the old ones out, the back has the TV on an arm and secured with a bunge type cord. I have plastic drawers in the hold in front but Tom needs to build drawers in there and I need to stain them and make them look nice.

I also want to change the color of the fabric on the bedroom window boxes and the spread, hideous red and black color.  The bedspread looks like a custom, maybe at a later date??.  I could use it and just get fabric and tack on it and make something that looks better. because you can't find really good bedding like that now or I have a problem.  But its big and bulky and takes up a lot of room.  I'm thinking of using some smaller quits I have and making the window boxes coordinate.

There are things hubby wants todo also.  I would like to have the nose painted the rest will make it more years but the front, of course, gets the brunt of the wear.

1988 Bluebird Wanderlodge. The last of the all steel Wanderlodges. Lookin good in the neighborhood.

I'm glad to see so many other folks loving their older rigs!

Here's a question: has anyone ever experienced any problems getting a campsite because of the age of their rig? I've heard stories of CG management turning older rigs away to maintain some kind of aesthetic standard(??)...... I've never encountered it myself, just thought I'd see if there's any truth to the urban legend?

On a related note, I DID have a few more hoops to jump through when setting up our MH insurance. I seem to recall having to get a few more inspections than might have been strictly necessary (or requested for a newer model MH). Maybe it's just due diligence on the insurer's part, but I remember being mildly irritated at the time!

Only once did we not stay at a park where the age of our motorhome came into question.  The requirements for admission were too onerous that we just said "forget it".  We had been renting there for several years until our coach became 10 years old and was suddenly not acceptable.  We sent one photo to another equally nice park in the area and they said "come on over".  We've since stayed there with no problems based on that one time request for a photo.

I've got a 95 Challenger and don't plan to upgrade anytime soon. I just upgraded the converter, put on 6 new tires, moved my older lcd tv to the front and bought a new digital lcd tv with dvd player 12v/120v for the bedroom. I've thought about buying a newer one but for what I'd consider a move up would cost  me at least $20,000 difference. I don't really want or need a slide, and it's pretty hard to find a newer rig without one. My coach only has 58,000 on it and I'm the third owner. I've talked with the op that sold it to his friend. He only owned it for 1 year and moved up to a larger DP. The original owner only used it to go to nascar races. An older couple, and she quit going with him he sold it. I've owned it for 4/5 years now, and I pull a race car, golf cart, on a 18 ft steel trailer. Was pulling 3 weekends a month, but have slowed some since I had a heart attack, Sept of 2010. Going to do more camping in the near future as I'm retiring sometime this year. I had a 1980 Itasca before this one, and have had no trouble getting full coverage insurance on either one of um.