Purchased a 1999 36' U320 from MOT last week. Now the long distance process of getting it ready to drive back to NC has begun.
OTM just finished putting on 8 new airbags as well as a few items from Brett Wolfe's inspection list.
Starting Monday it gets into the shop at MOT for a bulkhead repair and brake work.
At some point before the trip home it gets a set of new shoes at Herman Power Tire.
I fly in next Sunday to see the coach for the first time in person. Hopefully all goes well and I start the 900 mile trip back to Weaverville (Asheville) NC Thanksgiving morning at daybreak.
I am flying Southwest so I can check a couple of bags for free. I will pack up some tools and a few things I will need for the return trip.
I drove a 26.5 foot gas Class A and a 16' trailer for about 10 years but never anything with air brakes, a retarder, this heavy, or this nice before. I plan to spend some parking lot time to get a feel for it before heading out.
Going to take a while to get over the repair bills.
Feeling like a kid waiting on Christmas morning.
Sounds like us.... we have own our coach now for two years and our coach is in Texas having some work done for our upcoming travels this winter. We drove down to Texas and flew back home to Connecticut. Please share your adventures, fun to read and if I can add, follow this Forum. There is a wealth of information here and the folks here are extremely knowledgeable in Foretravel and are eager to help and lend advice.
It has been a great experience, a little overwhelming at first.... Take small bites.
Safe travels...
I have been reading for a while, I don't plan to stop.
Thanks!
Wow Charlie, seems like yesterday (well almost) me sitting at that Quebec Border Crossing waiting foe the 2 of you to drive up and assist in the job of proving to the US Customs that we were not doing anything illegal or devious!!
It was a long trip 3200 miles for me thru rain and snow, and some sun but worth it to meet you and Eileen and know that the coach would be looked after.
Take care
Johnh
Welcome to the family and safe travels!
I made the same trip...flew into Houston, drove to NAC to meet my new coach and Brett Wolfe at MOT. After a couple of days in the shop I made the trip home. We are in Boone, north of your destination. I took a friend to share driving and did it with one overnight at a casino campground overlooking the Mississippi. I'd suggest 2 overnight stops. :D Try to avoid Atlanta during rush hour. It was awful.
Have fun and enjoy! Hope to see you in the western NC mountains sometime.
Atlanta is a pain when it's not rush hour. I try to go through very early in the morning. If I can get to the other side of downtown by 5:30 it's not too bad. Knoxville isn't much better as they are doing a ton of construction.
I am going to try and drive Thanksgiving day and take two days to get to ATL. I have a friend doing a couple of track days in his GT4 Porsche in ATL on the 25th and 26th. I really want to drive that car so I will probably do an overnight at the track and leave early on the 26th. I have to be back at work on the 27th.
Anyway, I look forward to meeting you in the mountains at some point.
Small bites?
THAT'S what I've been doing wrong!
Move your head one foot to the left in the lane you are driving in. That compensates for the 102.
Turn down the right hand mirror until you can see the rear tire. Pull forward until you can see the rear tire has passed the last obstacle on that side.
Be mindful of short height things that stick out. Easy to turn into them. Don't ask me how I know.
If not sure of a prospective backup or route through a tight area stop and walk the route.
A copilot helps with a small radio set.
36' is somewhat easy to learn.
Go straight for quite a while then turn sharply if turning.
Assume something is hiding right below your right side vision.
Move the right mirror up and down to verify if anyone's there.
If not sure use the right side docking lights turned on as you move over.
The mid orange lights and the body ones come on with the turn signals.
Try 100 front 90 rear for the ride if "h" series tires. 110, 100 rear if "g" rated tires.
Will be slightly too high but close.
Full sidewall tire pressure will wander and ride rough. Your coach does not weigh the sidewall max weight
Welcome! You will love your Foretravel! You are in for a night and day difference and will be giggling like a school kid :-)
While your doing new air bags and tires, has the alignment been check recently? It should drive/ride like a dream.
Nice list Bob!
Just concluded the "new to us coach MOT to Home" trip. Even tho the coach bucks to fix the issues Brett found are hard to spend you'll have more confidence on the trip and fewer to spend when you get home for all the things to make the coach how you want it personally.
Take your time driving. We did 60 mph and enjoyed the ride. Let the cars and trucks blow by.
Randy
Welcome to the family, Mattschild. Since you have driven a MH before, the change to the Foretravel won't be all that great. You will be comfortable with it fairly quickly. As others have said, don't push it. You will probably be better off planning routes that avoid large cities that you don't know well. We generally limit driving to no more than 5-6 hours per day. Jo Ann doesn't drive, but she is great as a navigator. She typically has a paper map, the iPad and an iPhone going. The iPhone is actually mine, so it lets my Apple Watch know about turns. The latest OS has an improved maps program that tells me which lane to be in.
In January we will be leaving St. Louis for Nac, a distance of about 650 miles. That will be three driving days for us. Of course, we're retired, so most of the time we aren't in any great hurry to get from one place to another.
You made a great purchase! You will be very impressed with how solid these rigs are. The first 100 miles or so were "sweaty palms for me! But soon we were very comfortable driving, wide open roads, great scenery, a little windy though....
Kristen and I started our Foretravel adventure in Phoenix this March. We picked up the U320 and drove it to NAC after spending a few days with the previous owners Carol & Jeff and some great friends of theirs whom also were FT owners. We learned a lot from everyone and wished we could have stayed longer, some of the best folks you'll ever meet are fellow Foretravel owners!
We flew in/out of Houston to NAC, to finally make the last leg home to Connecticut in April, watch the speed limits carefully as you get close to NAC, lots of enforcement...
We are still very much "newbies", and we continue to learn by perusing this forum and I always have a bunch of questions every time we meet up with another Foretravel in our journeys. Welcome to the club.
Best travels, Jeff & Kristen
What Jeff said about speed enforcement is true but also the Foretravel coaches drive so well your speed starts picking up without you noticing it. This will happen until you get really comfortable with your new hobby.
For me it is likely best that the navigator sat rear facing and can't read (toddler). I prefer to navigate myself as I run out of patience before I get one trained.
Well MOT called today about the bulkhead. No structure damage, no welding, cleaned it up, put new bolts in it, sprayed it with some rust preventative, sealed it back up.
Brakes turned out to be a smaller job than expected as well.
Nice when it's good news.
T minus 4 days till I get to see it.
Welcome to the family. :D
About 7 years ago, we flew into Dallas to pickup our 36 ft 1999 U320, so our build numbers are pretty close, I expect.
You will love driving the FT, especially the retarder. Wish I had your experience in driving a rig, because my first experience was bringing this back to WA State. having finally retired, the Forum is now the leader on my reading list. :-)
See ya down the road!
We don't find Atlanta to be an issue......HOLD your lane and be a bully when changing lanes.. :)
Saving coachbucks is good :)
I used to drive my 26' with 20' of trailer behind it through ATL 3 or 4 times a year when I was racing dirt bikes. 36' is going to feel small until we put the F150 behind it.
Check the Atlanta road reports. I try to squeeze through just after midnight and have found much road work and detours the last 2 trips. I have not checked this week .Atlanta Traffic and Road Conditions | WSB-TV (http://www.wsbtv.com/traffic)
I will be heading to nac the 20th also from Houston to drop the coach off at extreme for a little booboo repair. Plan on stopping in at mot, maybe we will cross paths, will be in an orange Jeep. This is our first coach, we picked it up on 9/11 from mot.
Sahara-Sunset Orange Pearlcoat sounds like it will be easy to spot.
yep it's pretty easy to spot..
wish I would have seen this earlier we might could arranged getting you to nac in our 2000 u320, except we won't be going thru till about noon..
Well is 4:30 local time and I am wide awake. Nothing like kid at Christmas syndrome going on here.
Best advice. Don't push too fast/long first couple of days. Initial CG setups will take longer and you don't want to be tired from a long drive when you do it.
Work out hand signals with your better half so you can get her help backing into sites. Make sure she looks UP as well as at the ground.
You said you have driven a 26' gasser, so this new coach won't be as big a shock to drive as it was for some of us "newbies". When you do your parking lot practice (prior to leaving NAC), pay close attention to the turning radius. Your new-to-you Foretravel will be 10' longer, and it might not have the same the same wheel cut. In the 4 years we have owned our coach, ALL of our "sweaty arm pit" moments have been due to ME badly misjudging a turn.
These errors usually occur when entering (or leaving) strange RV parks, or when stopping for fuel. We had to sit at a fuel pump one time for almost an hour, waiting for a delivery truck that pulled in front of us to move so we could pull out. It's even more critical if you are pulling a towd. You can't pull forward - you can't back up - people are getting pissed at you...and you sit there REALLY wishing you had a "DO OVER". If I am contemplating entering a potentially tight spot, I try to look at it using Google earth on the laptop. That has often saved me from getting in a bind.
Good luck on your maiden voyage!
Well I have driven it, and parked it.
It is big and will take some time to get used to.
I do like it!
Congratulations and Enjoy!
Michael
I just bought a 19 year old house that has 70 mph winds, lots of bumps, etc for 122k miles.
The systems are 19 years old and I assume some of the maintenance work was not done all that well. I also assume it has been sitting unused for a while.
I expect to have lots of issues for a while until I get it under control. At that point I hope to keep it up and use it for a long time.
I had a couple of hours to go in every coach at MOT and none fit my needs as well as this one. Some were at least 5x the cost. It is obvious to me the previous owners took care of it. For me it is a plus they didn't update things as I want to do updates to our taste.
If you read a post from me about a problem please understand I am not complaining just wanting to use the collection of knowledge I have found here.
Sounds like you are going into this with a excellent attitude. You make a great point - a coach that has
not been updated is a blank canvas, ready for
your custom touches. Take care of any mechanical concerns first, so you
know you have a safe, reliable driver. After that, you can take your time with the cosmetic, comfort and "bling" upgrades. After you use (or live in) it for a while, you will generate a "to do" list. As soon as you scratch one item off the top of the list, another will appear on the bottom. After 4+ years, I'm still working on our list. That's why I call our coach my "hobby". It happily absorbs all my spare time (and cash). 8)
Good luck!
Maybe one more tip that you won't need but it was a big help for us.
We rent in-door storage and the back-in spaces are VERY narrow, i.e. not much space between vehicles. We appreciate that our new neighbor is a boat owner which gives us a little extra room.
Initially, however, when we first got our FT, we took it to a nearby empty parking lot and marked the position of the wheels. I then locked the steering wheel to turn and backed up into a marked parking space. After finding the correct initial starting position to end up where we wanted to be with a "locked steering wheel, I measured the turning radius. Then, we went to storage facility and marked the starting position with tape on the floor, next to where tires would be. When we brought the FT into the facility, we re-aligned the tires to the "x" marked spot, locked the steering wheel in the turn position, and backed up exactly where we wanted to be.
We also did same to get through "garage door entrance" and to ensure alignment there, I added a small "stick-on" to upper windshield - visually aligned with telephone pole - to facilitate aligning the FT before getting to "x" spot, used to begin turn. Since clearances are so narrow, DW watches carefully and gives hand signals to make minor corrections. USUALLY works like a charm, unless we are tired or she is mad at me. :-)
Well phase 1 of the new adventure is over. I got it home and parked without hitting anything other than bugs. It got pretty close to a tree in the driveway with the top of the coach. The driveway leans pretty hard at that point and even though the wheels were well away from it the top almost hit +- 6". Nice Sandi was spotting for me. It went in our driveway without having to raise the back. The tree is going to have a bad day tomorrow.
The first 5 or 6 hours were pretty stressful as I had no feel for how to drive the coach. Tight shoulders, getting tired really quickly. Brett's advice to take it easy the first couple of days was perfect. The third day it kind of clicked and I could relax and just drive. Yesterday I drove about 7 hours and was tired but not near as bad as day 1 after 3 hours. Took I85 through downtown Atlanta yesterday which was pretty intense with lots of traffic and people are just flying.
Met a friend from Ontario I had not seen in 10 years yesterday and we had lunch and talked for hours. Getting to see him and catch up was a highlight of the trip. Getting to drive his Porsche GT4 was a nice bonus. Pretty amazing car.
There was a ton of road construction going on on 85 north of Atlanta I made my way through after dark. Poor signage, lots of traffic, and marginal headlights made it less than fun. I would be rolling along in the right lane and I would go around a bend or over a hill and the lane would just end or turn into an exit. I was taking it pretty easy and trying to keep away from as much traffic as possible so it worked out.
The oil leak on the first day tossed me for a loop but I think I have figured out where it is coming from. I am pretty sure it's just the crush washer on the oil drain plug letting oil pass by when pressure builds up. I will be a bit messy to fix but easy enough.
The M11 is a dream motor, plenty of power, smooth, and just fun to drive. I was rolling along on a nice smooth road and wasn't paying attention to my speed all that well. I looked down and was well into ticket range on a 70 mph road. For the most part I just drove the speed limit with the economy button turned on. 1500 rpm is 70 mph and that seems to be the speed the coach likes.
From the start I had house battery issues. They would hold a charge for a while at first but pretty quickly they just dropped down to around 6 volts. Not knowing the coach and how any of the systems worked let to some frustration. I had all the manuals and was able to do some troubleshooting.
Replacing the batteries on day three was not optimum. I didn't get to spend time shopping. Sandi called around and found an Interstate dealer with 3 8d's and a shop I could get the coach in near Jackson MS. A couple hours and the better part of a CB later managing the power got a lot simpler. The last two days and nights the Aqua-Hot got a workout and it is amazing. The new batteries seem to have solved all the electrical glitches and made the last two nights really enjoyable.
I stopped short last night as I didn't want to bring it into our driveway at night. Woke up at 4:30, on the road by 6, a fuel, and breakfast stop was in order as I ran out of food and diesel is .30 cents cheaper in SC than NC. I put the coach on a scale that gave me axle weight but not individual wheel weights. 10,340 on the front axle and 18,360 on the rear. Full of fuel but almost out of water so the base weight will go up at least 800 lbs. Still pretty far from the 34,880 GVWR.
I have a pretty big to do list but it can wait until tomorrow. I am going to get the coach plugged in then take the rest of the day off. Thanks to all for the tips and encouragement over the last couple of weeks.
Sorry for the rambling post but I wanted to get it written down before I lost it.
Glad you made the trip without any skin damage. You have a coach that is very common on the forum so just ask questions when you need to. The oil pan doesn't build up pressure, but the oil gets thinner. Hard to believe that the drain plug washer could be the problem, let us know the cause of the leak when you find it
What points me to that is the pattern of oil on the underside of the coach.
I am assuming the dry point farthest forward is the source. That dry point is at the drain plug. There is zero oil towards the front of the coach from there. The spray pattern is consistent with this being the source as it fans out from there. There is no constant leak if the motor is not on and being run down the road. Now that I am home I am going to raise it and block it up and run the motor to see if I can find the drip.
In 900+ miles I can't really see the oil level change much at all so it's not a lot of oil, just a big mess.
I am open for suggestions but this is the best I have at this point.
It is the plug leaking according to your picture. Have you tried to tighten it? There are posts about the drain plug getting stripped by over tightening, as that is an aluminum pan. I don't remember all of the solutions but one was to re-tap with either a bushing or oversize plug. Can you get a picture of the area rearward showing any oil residue greater than at the plug?
Awesome post, thanks for the info -
Glad you made it home and had no issues.
- Driving at night especially in rain is more of a challenge. If you don't have the headlight modification and are going to drive at night, consider working on getting improvements there - LOTS of threads available by search on the forum on the topic. If original headlights, polishing lens or replacing housing along with upgraded wiring/bulbs one option - best is $3,500 for headlight upgrade back in NAC at X-Treme - careful, they do a lot of nice modes, many coach bucks later....ask me how I know!
- Batteries - new ones well cared for will last a LONG time. - again a lot of posts out there - basically
- your charging side of your inverter should be set for the type of batteries that you have - if you put in the same type as you took out, should be fine, but easy enough to check by reading manual and checking unit
- Try to limit how far you discharge batteries, preferably no more than 50% discharge - again much on this topic via search as to how to measure, a nice battery monitor is actually a wonderful addition, usually installed along with solar - more discretionary coach bucks...again, ask how I know...
- NEVER let batteries sit in a state of discharge for any length of time
- Aquahot is very nice - plan on annual service and the occasional significant expense vs. Propane furnace, but I love the quiet clean heat, multiple zones and endless hot water. For all my repair $$$ vs my old propane furnaces in my prior U-270 would not go back unless AH was not an option when I and if downsized (likely that a small coach would have simple propane furnace)
- Beware the tendency to "awfulize" - thinking an oil leak, or electrical glitch or some other issue is going to cost mega coach bucks. Usually is is something very simple and fixable at a relatively low cost. The back threads on this forum and this group will help you a lot with your coach - a ton of info here on the 1995 - 2003 coaches - occasionally a problem will be in the multiple coach buck and up category, but usually it is just something that needs to be accurately diagnosed and fixed at a reasonable cost. A plus if you can DIY on some of the more mundane things.
Tim Fiedler
Sure Start Soft Start (http://www.gen-pro.biz)
TCER Direct (http://www.tcerdirect.com) generator-gas-prod (http://www.generatorgasproducts.com) 630 240-9139
Gen-Pro
Remember that when you are driving on city streets with lots of tall light poles, signs and trees close to the curb. The slope (toward the gutter) of the "slow" outside lane can position the top right edge of your coach perilously close to obstructions. I try to stay as close as possible to the road center line in those conditions.
I hope you don't need this link, but if you do it will save you time.
Engine Drain Plug Insert (http://beamalarm.com/Documents/engine_drain_plug_insert.html)
if you now have wet batteries - be vigilant regarding filling the batteries (maybe add a fill kit) and corrosion in the compartment and on the cables
Tim Fiedler
Sure Start Soft Start (http://www.gen-pro.biz)
TCER Direct (http://www.tcerdirect.com) generator-gas-prod (http://www.generatorgasproducts.com) 630 240-9139
Gen-Pro
Yes batteries are going to be hard to check and fill. I will do something to make it simpler to take care of them.
I hadn't thought about corrosion in the compartment. I will keep an eye on it.
This type is what I used on my '81 found one on ebay used for 4 golf cart batteries for around $25.00
Flow-Rite RV2000 Pro-Fill RV Edition 2 Battery Kit New | eBay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/Flow-Rite-RV2000-Pro-Fill-RV-Edition-2-Battery-Kit-New/162343955694?epid=718272979&hash=item25cc742cee:g:ifcAAOSwXxhZ-vwF:sc:ShippingMethodStandard!91335!US!-1&vxp=mtr)
The BEST thing about this Forum is that we have ALL been in your position, pretty much. Ages of coaches and condition may vary ... but we have all been in the headscratching position of needing to reach out and wonder if we are asking a dumb question. NO question is DUMB. May we have a show of hands on how many of us discovered the button/outlet/lever/adjustment/gizmo that was right in front of our eyes for 2 years, but the lightbulb never illuminated in our brain??? I cannot tell you how good it feels when I am able to provide a solution to someone else's issue by telling a tale of my own. (I have had plenty ... and could have sold tickets to several!) We look forward to hearing about your exploits and issues ... never fear. This is a Support Group for Foretravel people ... your non-coach owning friends will have their eyes glaze over if you try talking to them about this stuff ... but us??? NEVER!
Carol S.,
Do you mind if I say:
I love you?
Moby---Get in line!! We were there first!! :))