Foretravel Owners' Forum

Well for better or worse, I pulled the trigger and am now the proud owner of the '97 U320 from MOT!  I want to thank Brett for helping me with the inspection, and Mel at MOT for putting up with my fence sitting, as this was an agonizing decision for me.  I am still having stuff done, so I will not be picking it up for a couple of weeks.  I am sure I will be asking a lot of questions here as I learn the coach, and work on my projects that I have planned.  I am not a total neophyte to motor homes as I am moving up from a pretty nice little '99 Safari Trek, but this Beast is a whole other machine!  Any way, my name is Mike Brady, I live in the Missouri Ozarks, and I will welcome your comments and suggestions to the questions that I will have in the future.

Congrats and welcome to the "family"!

Michelle

Fantastic. Great to have you onboard.  When we bought our first Foretravel I asked so many questions thought I would be kicked off the board... :)) Luckily we have great people who have a lot of patience.  Enjoy your time in Nac, tour the factory, sign up for Foretravel Motorcade (Beverly @ factory). Plan your first trip...

Welcome aboard from another 97 320 owner. They are amazing rigs for sure.

Congratulations and welcome to the forum, there is a wealth of knowledge here

Mike,
I'll stop in at MOT tomorrow to get to know you and answer whatever questions you have that I can help with.  Congratulations and welcome aboard.
Peter

Mike, are you back at MOT now?  Mel and I visited today, he and Keith said oil analysis, etc. went good.  But I understood they had some things to get ready for you.  Maybe I misunderstood.

mike

Welcome!!
Feel free to ask any questions.  This forum has been a great resource for us and many other lucky Foretravel owners.  Enjoy your new ride:)      Bob and Faith

I had to go on down to the Gulf for two weeks, so I won't be picking up the coach until mid June. New tires, trans fluid replacement, wheel lube, new toilet.
 

Welcome Mike, I am sure that you will find a wealth of info here.  Looks like there is a group of you in MO, you will have to have a get together.
Gary B

Mike, When you get back home here in the Ozarks and have some time to visit send me a PM. And welcome to the Foreforum

        Rick

Welcome to the forum. I think one of the greatest strengths of this forum is that Foretravel did not make a zillion different models and sizes so that here, among a relatively few people, you can find someone with almost exactly the same coach you have. This means that they can go take a photograph of something to help guide you to the adjustment or repair or lubrication point. Or pictures of an upgrade that they did that will make it easier for you.

Having this resource does reduce some of the normal stress of buying a complex mechanical and electrical device that's 15 years old.

Craig

Welcome to the Foretravel community. Many safe and wonderful travels to you. We will be coming through Kansas City in a couple of months ourselves.

Mark Z

Seems like a small club here.

I bought the same year and model two months ago.

A comparison list from the new owners of this model might be helpful to all.

Bob

97 models had lots of great upgrades!

Mike, welcome to the Foretravel family. The 97 is arguably one of the two most reliable years that Foretravel built. At least that's what I have been told by several of the technicians at Foretravel. I think you made a wise choice and will enjoy your new coach for many years to come.

Kent, and others that touched on the 1997s, IF this does not exist, perhaps someone would start a topic thread on the  1997 coaches?  Those seem a very popular era, well made and regarded.

Recall that I began one on the 1999 - 2001 series because it seemed to me there was some commonality in that series.  I have gotten a number of PMs of thanks for the thread and especially some good information to add.  The only difficulty I have had was going back and including/updating key topics enumerated in the original list.  I wanted to put them there that future readers could see it all in one list.  At one time I could Modify the list but that closes is time, so later Michelle or Barry made the additions for me and that is just as good.

(See Discussion Forum, "Information Share, 1999-2001")

I do not know the timeframe of enough similarity of years.  The 1996 - 1998s appear very similar to me.  IF that would be the right span, you could put in the list key similarities and difference (Peter Martin told me one just today on the bulkheads for the 1998s).  THus a buyer, or present owners, might have a list of topics to check, things to learn. 

But, it is easy to think of work for others!  Mike 

I did a knowledge search the hard way when I first found this great site.

I found all the similar owners and read every one of their posts in reverse order. ,older first.

A member search keyed to the year of the coach would eliminate missing any owners.

The similar year would be very helpful for the older website and this ones search function.

Nothing like someone who has already done the repairs and upgrades.

I have already done quite a bit to my 97 u320 and the things I have fixed would be applicable to most similar coaches I would think.

Wheel seal was worn out at 100k as an example....

Bob

One of the problems I encountered is I can not find any history on this coach.  FOT did have some service info but would not let know what was done.  This was before I actually bought the coach, so I don't know if they will release this info to me now that I am the owner.  So, before I pick it it up, I have put 6 new tires on it, synthetic trans oil change with filters, engine oil change with filter, fuel filters, brake lube and adjustment, generator service with filters, aux air pump filter change, and air dryer filter change.  Let's see, did I miss anything!  Oh yea, new toilet!
Hopefully, this will get me down the road for awhile...

No differential oil change?  Now that you own the coach, FT will print out their full service history if asked.  Talk to your service writer.

Congrats and welcome aboard Mike - Good deal!

A front right  wheel seal failed on me at 100k miles.  The seals inner lip was fairly worn so the sealing area was not enough and when I went 80 downhill by not paying attention and hitthe brakes heavily warming everything it leaked.  No one had driven this coach aggressively like almost all large rv's

Absolutely normal for me as I am sure I use my coach much harder than the average nice conservative Rv owner.  I am used to appraising used Rv' s many years ago.

Drive and use the coach hard first.  Find out right away what it needs.  Can last forever with systems and chassis maintenance items. 

I cannot imagine actually wearing out the physical box.  And with a unicoach the fore's really made their version of a bus.  I had forgotten,  as I drove and sold the prototype unicoach with a dd series 60. had their version of aqua hot with radiators.  No fans.  Worked great.  Fun fast.  0 to 60 in 18 seconds.  Time yours.

Foretravel made 6 or so prevost conversions in 35' and when prevost stopped building the 35' shell and went to 40' only they dropped out. I have driven and rved in these several times.  Now that I see, driving the u320 myself,  that they finally made a perfect  suspension/m11/xtarder/aqua hot/enclosed bays/dual pane 8-10mpg  40' wtbsbid wide body, solid wood bus. 

My personal 1997 40' mini bus is a great drive.  40' for the floor plan and with a steel/fiberglass shell you got better insulation and a tougher outside and 30,000 pound weight.

No wonder beefed up versions are still being sold with the same design but with a tag.  Even more stability.  And gvw. 

Sorry to run on but I was at the start of the pusher market and I am almost pleasantly  surprised at the final version of the coach. 

Ultimate 1980 ored is my 1997.  No slides, no paint.  A foretravel....

Interesting to get to own the end product.  I hope you all appreciate what you are driving.

Cosmic coincidence for me.  Way fun.  I laugh every time I go in the coach that foretravel made this.  Good for them and all of us.

Bob

Check with your local Cummin's shop. If any service was done at Cummin's they have it on record. They are not "supposed" to give out that information, but if you buddy up the shop forman he will give you the information.

Was it a consigned coach? Will they let you speak to the owner? Was this the 97 that was 'extremely well priced' to the point of suspiciously low?

Actually did check with Cummins; no record of service.  FOT does have some records, and at least told me nothing major.  Yes, it is the coach that was listed for 43.5k.  The story is that the owner passed away, and the cosignee was an agent for the estate sale.  And whether you agree or not, that price is within the NADA average retail. I feel that I got an extremely good deal. The coach is in remarkably good condition.  The exterior shows some shadow lines of the original graphics that had been removed, and my plan is to remove the current graphics, and sand/buff/polish the entire coach to get the gel coat back to sterling condition.

Exactly where mine is now.  There are deals out there but you have to be the "big" guy and be willing to fix things both large and small.

The 97's appear to have a fairly small volume dash air system.  A poster had a picture of a 99 here and the a/c tubing was much larger and the hoses larger to the dash vents.  Dash appears similar so maybe an update might be worth checking into.  No not cheap I assume.

My fuel line is bad also.  Rear A/c cover came off today on the road.  15 years old stuff fails.  Duh.  The chassis air controller on mine sticks also.  Air pressure drops locking parking/safety brake.

Then will fill....intermittent.  Part not expensive just gets oil fouled per my mechanic buddy.

Shocks need tightening as the Koni's are adjustable.  Plus my suspension makes noise from the bushings as it goes through its travel.  Anyone fixed this issue?

Bob