Welp, I now own two Foretravels ^.^d I purchased Bob's 87 ORED today. It was only a couple hours from my house and sounded good so I spent the entire morning going over it with his mechanic today and we ended up striking a deal. The body is in amazing shape for the age, chassis super clean and tight, and it runs like a top. Everything, and I mean everything, works, even the dash AC! The awnings look brand new, clearly never used. The interior needs some love so we're just going to gut the living room and bathroom down to the walls and start over from the ground up. Lot's of work ahead of us but the bones are great.
After a fair bit of discussion with my wife, we've decided to sell the U320. Now that we're no longer fulltime, it's hard to justify having such a nice big rig sitting in the driveway 8-9 months of the year. I think the GV aligns a little bit better with where our priorities are in life right now...boo, I hate adulting. So anyways, more to come but Kim and I are both very excited :))
Welcome to the Grand Villa club! ^.^d
250hp cat?
Sweet ride. I'm pretty sure that is the same chassis as mine. Yours is much prettier . Any question , feel free to ask . I have rebuilt most of it .
Congratulations. Looks like a great coach. Many good times ahead. I'm sure we'll all be hearing about the remodel. You shouldn't have any problem finding a new home for the 320.
Again. Welcome to the Grand Villa club.
Wow! Elliott, congrats on a big decision and wishing you both the best. We have always looked with envy on the Grandvilla's and I am sure you both will be well pleased. See you down the road and good luck with the sale on your 320. Should not have a problem there!
Yep
Looks like a great coach. Congrats.
Pierce
It is the cat 3208, yes. I'm uncertain of the stated horsepower in this configuration though. She scoots though, that's for sure!
Gonna need some pics!
Great buy! I knew someone would snap that one up in a hurry.
So cool Elliot! Love the look of the GV's. Glad you will still be around the forum with your new purchase :)
Can't wait to follow your progress on your "new" coach!😀
My 89 U280 had the 3208 Cat @ 250 hp it was somewhat of a dog loaded down on mountain passes. Turning up the fuel rate a couple of turns made all the difference, easy 10 minute adjustment. Just need to be aware this could create a little more heat on long pulls.
https://www.thedieselgarage.com/threads/turn-up-fuel-and-rpm-on-a-3208-cat.7294/
Also Beware of the fiberglass exploding fan if you have one.
I also turned mine up a click. Fuel burn went up to 7-8 mpg. Turned back down , added the electric fans ,removed the solid fan .
Now 9.8 or more mog, much faster , quieter.
Sounds like a good move for you. Sure you are giving up some things, but much simpler than the U320.
More!!!
I'll get more photos once I pick it up from the exhaust brake install but here's what I have so far. You're not missing much on the inside... everything works but it needs a good cleaning.
Elliott,
It has been long time since I had a 3208 but seems like when we had our 240 with the 3208 Cat. had to check the engine number to see if the valve springs needed to be changed out when we added the exhaust brake system. Brett might remember that info better than me as the Dr has burnt up those brain cells. IIRC there was a point where all of those engines had the heavy duty springs. Or I'm off in left field.
Mike
Actually, PacBrake is a better resource for what PSI exhaust brake can be used on the Cat 3208.
Your recollection is like mine-- low PSI because of valve springs.
Call them with your engine serial number: 800 663-0096
Mike/Brett - very wise warning!
Doing a quick forum search (Community -> Search) for cat 3208 springs will bring up a number of threads for reading and discussion of what needs to be researched
before adding an exhaust brake to a 3208.
The other authoritative source would be Caterpillar Corp: 877 777-3126.
Haven't called that number in years, but ASSUME still active.
Again, you will need your engine serial number.
Thanks guys, glad you caught that. Still a lot for me to learn. I'll start my investigation this morning.
Are you sure that you need the jake? I dont cruise over about 64 and it stops OK. Do you have cam or wedge front brakes.?
I changed the title of the thread to more accurately reflect your learning curve on the "Care and Feeding" of your new coach instead of your mental state.
Elliott: Feel free to start another topic in Around the Fire Ring on mental state if you want-- could be an active discussion.
Brett/moderator
I've been calling around and US Gear quit making an exhaust brake for the 3208 5 years ago and only sell sreplacement parts for it now. Pac Brake never made one due to the low backpressure. I called Cat and got some lady that spoke English as a second language; she was of little help and said the engine was too old to look up parts in her system. I left a message at Jacobs engineering (jake brake) but suspect I'll run into the same issue as with Pac. I may end up striking out here. Not the end of the world given the marginal gains but it would have been nice to have in the mountains
Nope, I'm not. Maybe it's overkill. After talking to Art I think I have wedge front brakes but am not certain
On an unrelated noted, I finished entering all the maintenance records into a spreadsheet last night, that was fun :o
I have records all the way back to 3/19/87 and none of them were in chronological order or really organized at all. It's been a relatively cheap coach to maintain so far... the only major expense was new bags and shocks on the front where it looks like some shop took the owner for a run and charged almost 30 hours. I can't imagine you *actually* need to drop the front axle off to change those but maybe? That was 9 years ago so hopefully these guys give me another 10-15 years before they need it again. They looked almost new when I was crawling around under there for the PPI.
You have to drop the axle on mine to change the front bags. At least that's the proper way .
Takes a lot of work. I will cheat it next time.
What build # and build date of the chassis ?
Can that be deduced from the vin? I have the full Oshkosh service manual that's about 3 inches thick and on the front someone wrote "FSO 3618", does that mean anything? It's a "class 6 V series"
All that info is on the spec plate to the left of the drivers seat.
Thanks, I just so happen to have a pic of that. V-917-3?
You are aug 86
I am nov 87.
If the front brake cans face the tires/ sides, you have wedge . If the cans face the axle( rearward), you have Cam .
The model number should include your build number. Mine says g995586######etc. Not sure if the 99 is model year but the 5586 is my build number.
Agree - it's probably on the smaller "Manufactured by Foretravel" plate on the right side of Elliott's photo.
Foretravel Model Code [ForeForums Foretravel Motorcoach Wiki] (https://wiki.foreforums.com/doku.php?id=through_the_years:model-codes)
Mine build # is 3150
Mikes is 3124 so yours being earlier look for 31?? number it's on the data plate.
I have driven 3208's fitted with pac brakes. It helped if you keep the revs up. 250 car is 2600 rpm. Maybe a couple of hundred more rpm for no load. Valve cover will show hp rating.
In-line 6 cylinders have higher torque than a v block. Same thing in compression braking.