Well Im eating a little crow now lol after making a statement that the 92 u300 we looked at awhile ago would not fit our needs We bought it yesterday and will pick it up on the 27th of June. It is the one that Sam Patton owned and we are sure it will be the right fit for us and our needs. After all this time 7 years, we have finely got our Foretravel.
So now the learning begins.
Regards Andy and Eileen.
Congratulations! We are in our fourth year of ownership and absolutely love our U300. Only minor tinkering expenses in that time with fuel and insurance the only real costs. Lots of tips on the forum to keep yours healthy and you happy.
Pierce
Pretty cool, buying a Foretravel and intimidating too. Exciting and terrifying at the same time. But you are at the right place to get whatever help you need. Welcome to the Foretravel School. We are all in this together.
Roger
I finally found my photos of the accelerated engine tests on engine oils for Detroit 2 cycles. Bottom line is to never use anything but a low ash, SAE #40 single grade oil like Delo 100 (not 400) in your 6V-92TA. It is not like any other engine in it's oil requirements but will last forever with a little knowledge.
This also includes the correct hydraulic belt and alignment (see previous posts).
Pierce
Congratulations, Andy and Eileen. We love our 93 U300 40' coach. Now you can change your signature.
Welcome Andy and Eileen,
After you get used to driving it I believe you'll appreciate the view sitting up high like the truckers in a Grand Villa. I also like the mid-entry, wide body and the sound of the two cycle Detroit. Foretravel driving and handling characteristics are second to none. On a U-300 like yours with a two-stage Jake and air disc brakes all the way around it won't take long for you to realize how well these motorhomes are built. The brakes are so good I didn't even realize I had no front brakes until I had new slack adjusters put on at FOT in January. The old ones were rusted out and not even working!
If you are a Do-it-Yourselfer you will really enjoy upgrading and modifying as part of ownership and pride that comes with these coaches as I have found out. I've met some really great people and our moderators do a fantastic job of keeping everything civil and friendly when a controversial topic comes up. Even though the Karma points are gone I know Good Karma still exists for all the members on this forum.
Jerry aka Murph
Welcome you two! Since I consider myself a newbie too (only owned our FT a year next week) this site and the people on it are amazing. I fnd it a privilege to be the caretaker of our coach. At 25 years old I'd put her up against any SOB for reliability and ease of driving.
Don't be afrad to ask any question. "No such this as a stupid question" plays true here. No making fun of people, only helpful and caring people no matter what the question. Good luck with your learning curve.
Jeff
Congratulations on your new to you coach! We drove our 95 model home almost 500 miles last weekend.Plan on taking good care of her and expect she'll take care of us.
;D Thanks to all for the welcome. Eileen and I know from having been looking at Foretravels for a long time that we have made the right decision. Looking forward to getting acquainted with her. I'm a DYI guy and really am thankful for all the help that this Group can offer. and hope one day we will be able to return the favor.
Getting to know the Coach will be exciting and challenging but with all the knowledge here this adventure will be great I'm sure.
Thanks Again Andy & Eileen
Contact Beverly at FOT for your remainder of the year free club membership. Welcome.
Intimidating...YES! A lot of parts, and a their all 20 something years old! I'd love to see pictures, as I have a 92 too. Congratulations!
Rich
Rich I will post pictures as soon as i get them we will be picking her up on the 27th. Thanks Bob for the heads up on contacting Foretravel. As far as the oil post, Thanks for the heads up I had a 8v92 in my Bus and used straight 40 in it as well. My learning curve will be in the House systems lol What all the buttons and switch's do. I'm sure i will have a ton of questions. Thanks again Regards Andy
One year on the Alaska motorcade, a tour director insisted on using 15/40 weigh oil in a 6v92 and drove up from Florida. He got to Whitehourse, Yt. Before the ddec shut him down, changed the oil to 40w and finished the tour. I won't say what his name was.
A little late with response, but welcome and congrats.
Well Thank you, We have been in the Coach now for two weeks waiting to close on our new to us house on the 31st of July and having a great time. all systems are go with just adding all new shoes and a good cleaning. Still trying to figure out the Audit system. It blows a five amp fuse each time I turn the key on. So still have to figure that out. But for now all is well in Montana.
Welcome. Can never have enough Andy's.... Because of your last names my brother Tom was often called "Andy" at his firefighter job, and one of my sisters--until married--was called Andy instead of Patty.
Like most of us, you will learn--and enjoy learning--how to make your Foretravel a comfortable and safe home. Most everything of interest has been done on this forum. It and Barry Beam have helped me for years.
My wife, Carolyn, and I would have settled somewhere in the western part of Montana (instead of northern New Mexico) if we had not noticed a thermometer hanging on the brick wall of building as we walked down the alleyway. The scale went to -90 degrees. That was enough to convince us to keep looking for a place to settle after seven years of full-timing.
Lots of great scenery to see. (We learned in the first year not to use interstates.) Lots of great, untold history in county and personal museums. And with a motorhome, we learned not to plan to far ahead. While visiting the Eisenhower (sp?) Library in Abilene, KS, we extended our stay for three full days. (They let us stay in the parking lot.) They gave me white gloves to wear as I read the 27 editions of the so called "Military-Industrial Complex" farewell speech with E's marginal comments and changes for his speech writer. Fascinating stuff.... And Salvador Dali's 20' by 30' paintings in (St. Petersburg?) Florida were so much more impressive than found in any book or film when standing in front of them. And so on.
Andy1 and Carolyn
Open the sliding compartment in the rear stateroom, take the inside camera compartment cover off and unplug the hot camera lead and then try it. That failing, you can start up front unplugging items but the OEM Audit system is more than obsolete with inexpensive and better options available now. With the Audit system, you have all your eggs in one basket. Nice to have a separate rear/side camera system and then something like SeeLevel for the tanks.
Pierce
Thanks Pierce for the heads up and yes I agree with you on the eggs and basket thing lol, I will mess with it tonight and let you know. on the seeLevel system will i be able to use the same wires for the tanks or pull new ones?
Regards Andy
Andy,
I have not installed it yet but think Bill Chaplin did a few months ago. I think you can use the existing wires but will see if Bill will post the info.
Pierce
Andy, you can use the same wires if you mount the SeeLevel up front. However if you decide on a different location as several of us have, you'll need to run new ones. It's not a bad job. Search for SeeLevel and you'll find several threads and lots of photos on the installation.
jor
Thanks jor that takes away some of the stress :-\ ;D
Seeing how Bill Chaplin did his upgrade to the SeeLevel, I was amazed. The old system ran lots of wires, the SeeLevel only needs maybe a single wire from each tank. That works in your favor, as all the unused wires can remain, and be reused for other things from the dash to the tank bays. So it is simpler and provides added benefits. Win/Win for you.
Also some have installed only a single sending strip on the tank. This then can be towards the bottom for the fresh water tank, seeing it "getting low". Then you can install towards the top of the black and grey tanks, seeing them "getting full". But if you care, to know more from full to empty, just order 3 extra strips and see the true tank level.
If you decide to monitor the whole tanks you can buy a second set of sensors, however, turns out it's not much more to buy a complete second set. This means you will have a second monitor which you can mount wherever. In my case, I mounted one in the cabin and the other in the wet bay.
jor
Great idea and maybe worth the costs. Or if you wanted, you could mount the second set on the tanks that are just behind the wet bay wall. Zero issues with wire runs, like 3' at most. But it would be easy to push wires from the passenger main tank strips across the tank tops to the wet bay wall.
Well that looks like they way i will go. I went to the SeeLand site and was looking around to find something that would work. Im also just going to update the old auldt system I really don't need all the extra stuff that come with the old unit. I will be happy with just a rear camera thet works lol. Thanks for all the ideas will let you all know what I end up with.
you will want to upgrade your monitor - cheap and VERY cool with the right camera
Tim at RV cams is your guy for advice, selection and price
Bill Chaplin upgraded his rear camera and added side view under the mirror cameras on each side. When he signals a turn, the correct side displays full screen, an amazing view!
Thanks Gents, last night I was doing a little testing and found a dead short in one of the items, not sure which one yet as i did not want to start cutting wire ties and have a mess. and tracing these wires will take a little time.
I found three wires that went into one female spade end, two were maybe 12 or 14 gauge and the third was way smaller. according to the wiring diagram one of the big wires goes to the monitor and the other to the camera and the small one says it goes to the coach battries. not sure what to even take out when replacing all the audit gear.
So for the moment i will just try to wrap my head around this stuff and take my time.