wae
wae UltimaDork
6/21/24 6:49 p.m.

We've had this coach since 2016 and it's served us very well.  It's not fabulous by any stretch, but it's a great starter coach.  It's got the 454 TBI power plant with the 4L80E transmission on a Chevy P30 chassis.  I put new Firestone helper airbags inside the front springs about 15k miles ago along with fresh swaybar bushings and some control arms which helped it's ride tremendously.  It has also had relatively recent front brakes and wheel bearings, probably about 7k miles ago if I had to guess.  It's 32ft long and can sleep two in the rear queen bed, two on the fold-out couch, and two on the fold-down dinette.  It is wired for 30 amp service which means while there are two rooftop A/C units that work well, only one can be run at a time - there's a selector switch mounted in a cabinet above the microwave. 

There's an Onan generator that will keep the A/C going for you along with all the other 120V outlets.  The generator's fuel feel tube is cut a little short so that it won't run when the fuel tank gets to about 1/4 full - that way you don't strand yourself with the generator.  The house batteries and the coach battery have been recently replaced - December for the coach and January for the house if my memory serves.  The fridge runs on propane or 120V and it recently had its orafice tube replaced so it's working well.  For hot water, there's a 6 gallon heater that runs on LP and its control board was replaced a couple years ago.  If it gets a little chilly, there's a propane furnace which also got a new control board and a new thermostat about 2 years ago.  Both windshields are intact with no cracks.  The passenger side was replaced about 5 years ago and I can recommend that you make sure you have glass coverage - insurance paid for it, but I believe it was billed to them at about $960!  The plumbing all works just fine with a 100 gallon fresh water tank and a 12V pressure pump with grey and black water tanks which combine for 99 gallons of, uh, "stuff".  I can't remember the breakdown between the two, but if that's the one thing you need to know before you buy this rig from me, I'll figure it out for you.  To make sure the fridge doesn't catch on fire and to keep you from feeling like you're in a Batman TV episode, it has a hydraulic leveling jack system.  It's not the fancy kind like they have now where one button will level you out, but it is calibrated to the fridge and will give you little lighted indicators telling you which way you should push the little joystick.

In the kitchen, there's a working 4-burner gas stove, an oven with a broiler, and a microwave.  The oven works and I've used it to broil things and bake homemade pizzas.  I wouldn't try to, like, make a cake or anything in there because I don't think it's capable of that kind of heat regulation, but that's just how it was designed!  "In Theory" there's some sort of water filter system installed in the sink, but I don't know anything about it and have never tried to use it.  While you cook dinner, you can listen to the radio, the weather radio, or stream from your phone via bluetooth on the Jensen RV stereo that I installed.  After dinner, you can relax on the couch and watch TV - it's not in the pictures because it rattles while you go down the road, but there's an AC/DC TV that mounts up above between the two front seats.  Behind the front seat is a little table that slides out and you can rotate the passenger seat and the extra chair around to have dinner for two or play a game.

There's a newer awning installed that has no rips or tears.  It's a manual awning, but it sets up easily.  There's a second, smaller awning that goes over the window behind the couch to help keep it a little cooler inside.  That one is original to the coach, I believe, but has no rips or tears, either.  The "basement" has an absolute ton of storage available for all your stuff and there's a very nice-sized closet inside, across from the bathroom.

For the interior lighting, the automotive-type bulbs have been replaced with LED auto-type bulbs and the fluorescent tubes have been replaced with LED strip lighting.  Cuts down on battery usage for boondocking and it gives you some better light inside as well.  There are still some "regular" bulbs in the bathroom and in the bedroom.

It was out of commission for a while because on the trip to the Rolex 24 in 2022, it had a problem where a pushrod beat a hole through a rocker arm on the right head.  I pulled the head out, replaced the rocker arm, the pushrods, all the lifters, 4 of the intake valves and 2 of the exhaust valves.  I did the break-in on the lifters with fresh oil and a zddp break-in additive then changed the oil again then drove it around for a few miles and changed the oil again again.  I also had the infamous leaky oil cooler lines rebuilt while I was there.  I finished that job in January of this year and then took it the 960+ miles to Daytona for the Rolex and then the 960+ miles back.  After that, we went up to Canton over Easter.

To keep the costs down, I've been staggering the tire replacement instead of doing all 6 at once.  It will need 2 tires replaced in the next year or so and when you do that you're going to want to move the front tires to one side on the rear, put the two new tires you buy on the other side, and then move the newer of the rear tires to the front.  That's all to move it to metric tires and away from the impossible-to-get 8R19.5s.  The rear four are the 8Rs and the front two are P2something-somethingR19.5.  Sounds more complicated than it is, but you'll thank me later.

All of that said, however, this is not a brand-new coach and it certainly isn't perfect.  So let's talk about the stuff that you might want to fix or that you might just live with.  First off, the dash A/C is non-functional.  Don't know why.  We would just run the generator and the front A/C while we went down the road and that was fine.  If it got really hot out, we'd augment that with a box fan to make sure the air was circulating.  The ceiling lights in the bedroom do not work as I think there is a break in the wire between the wall switch and the fixture.  There's a really nice Fantastic Fan in the kitchen area, but something happened to the knob - I think a bit of it may have broken off so that there's nothing to engage the splines anymore.  One of the drawers under the dinette seats basically fell apart in my hands when I was cleaning it and needs to be stapled back together.  The roof, being a single bit of fiberglass which I sealed with Eternabond, does not leak.  The top of the driver's side windshield does need to be resealed occasionally as water will drip down from there onto the dash.  A little bit of DAP seems to clear it up but then I guess it rattles around a little and needs to be done again about once a year.  The cruise control does not work because I lost the little clip that secures the cruise actuator cable to the throttle body linkage.  The brake controller does not work because the wiring got snagged on something and needs to be spliced back together.  The rear view camera needs to be replaced as the lens is all pitted and nasty.  It's a cheapie universal thing that I got off of Amazon or eBay.  I replaced the EGR valve about 6k miles ago and it's fine, but after holding steady interstate speeds for a while it'll light the SES light with an EGR code.  I haven't been able to figure it out, but I've read a lot about how these things are stupid sensitive to EGR valves and anything but a Delco will throw a code.  But they don't make the Delco one anymore that I can find, so there we are.  The bathroom faucet could stand to be replaced - if you don't close it just right it'll leak a little sometimes, but it goes right into the sink.  The outside "porch" light doesn't work as the fixture got corroded.  One of the wheel simulators seems to have decided to take an adventure of its own on our way to Canton over Easter.  The passenger seat swivel lever doesn't work; you have to reach under the chair and work the linkage by hand. 

I have it listed right now on marketplace for $7k, but the GRM friends and family discount is in effect of course!  It's located in Erlanger, KY which is just a short jaunt over the river from Cincinnati, OH.

EvanB
EvanB MegaDork
6/22/24 3:20 p.m.

Pretty much what I'm looking for but not ready to buy this year unfortunately.

wae
wae UltimaDork
6/22/24 5:44 p.m.

Then I don't feel too bad saying that I just took a deposit from a facebook marketplace deal for it so it is (probably) sold!

I do, however, need to hightail it up your way to buy those wheels off of you! 

EvanB
EvanB MegaDork
6/22/24 6:51 p.m.

In reply to wae :

I figured it wouldn't last long. 

wae
wae UltimaDork
7/30/24 7:54 a.m.

Well, the guy kept showing up with excuses instead of cash.  I feel like I was pretty reasonable - he told me he'd have the money in a week, I gave him over a month.  We agreed last week that he'd either show up with the cash or I would re-list it.  I didn't get the cash, so it is officially re-listed.

One minor update: I fixed the broken drawer, so that's a little nicer!

wae
wae UltimaDork
8/3/24 1:25 p.m.

And..  sold!

Again.

 

But for reals this time.

Indy - Guy
Indy - Guy UltimaDork
8/3/24 1:53 p.m.

In reply to wae :

I sure hope EvanB got it.

EvanB
EvanB MegaDork
8/3/24 2:15 p.m.

In reply to Indy - Guy :

Not me, still looking and clearing space for one.

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