I have a 98 u270 and have scheduled at Parliament Coach in Clearwater to have the generator and Cummins lines replaced.
They say it is 6 hrs just to pull and replace the tank.
I have heard that many Foretravels of this vintage are showing up with this issue and was hoping some of you could give me a ballpark estimate of what I might expect to pay.
Having this done now. The time to remove tank is definitely wrong. They may have done a 320 in the past as that tank is a real bear. Wish I could tell you more but I do know that 6 is excessive.
I would say that FT who did mine took about 2 hours to remove it and another two hours to reinstall. Also they had four men on it but if they had less I am sure it would have taken longer. The issue is disconnecting the fuel lines before they can pull the tank all the way out.
Several reports (including ours at FT) - 2 coach bucks. FT had 3 guys on ours, and they had to drain and pull the tank - most of a day, I recall. They replaced lines for the Cummins and the generator, of course, and I was happy they were doing it, rather than me.
I did mine in approx 3 hours with about 25 gallons of fuel still in tank. Biggest problem could not get tank to slide finally figured out there is a drain plug on bottom of tank. Pried tank up, used 1 x 4 as shim slid out far enough to get to fittings. I pulled it out on drivers side.
Larry
1998 36' U270
I posted about my fuel line experience with my U320 the tank r & r was about 5 hours because the bay door had to be removed and the fuel lines didn't reach all the way out of the coach had to use a long extension and a crows foot to get the lines off. changing all the fuel lines took much longer. I didn't keep track of hours but would guess 7 hours for the lines.
Bern'd replaced ours and he had 3 men working on it for 8 hours. 24hours at $125 hr plus material. Expensive but necessary as both line were cracked and probably sucking air. Based on what I seen it is a job for MOT,FT, or Bern'd as it takes 2men at least. Along with the ability to filter fuel into a storage container to drain fuel tank.
Records indicate from previous owner my fuel line was replaced in 2007 by Cummins NW on a service call for engine will not start.
$1,250.00 parts and labor.
Is it fair to charge 3x labor for 3x guys when only one is an expert and the other two are just muscle?
How do you know that only one is an expert.
I don't ;) but it's generally a safe assumption. Besides it's just a hypothetical question more than anything. I had my own very seriously huge quote from Parliament before. I guess some people are happy to pay it but I just can't do it. Paul yasbeck on the other hand was probably too fair in the other direction. I would probably have him do it and offer to be another man on the job.
Sometimes it can be a lead tech and his helper. Sometimes it is all lead techs. I have had it both ways at FOT. Work out well both ways.
Raymond
Having pulled the tank in my U270, I find the 6 hours to be accurate if its 2 people at 3 hours a piece (or 3 people at 2 hours each). 1 person isn't going to pull the tank by themselves. I doubt you're going to do it much quicker unless you've done the job a bunch of times on our Foretravels.
Jerrett did a great write up on fuel line replacement on his U320.
Using some of his information I did pull the tank n my U320 by myself. Agreed it would have been easier for two people but in my case there was no helper available. In the last step I did have to call someone to help me hang the bay door back on because of the gas struts being too difficult to compress while holding the bay door at the same time. If it wasn't a 193 gal tank I believe the door does not have to be removed.
Maybe there is a different orientation on some of the tanks but my U270 door hinges, etc. had to come off and the door had to stay propped up by external means during tank removal. May have been easier to completely remove the door.