I was just curious why country coach used mostly cat diesels and foretravel used it seems to me more Cummins diesels and also foretravel used a transmission retarder, country coach used a Jake brake three position. Does anyone have comments on which is the best and why?
Thanks.
Other then the 3208 both engines are great and Cat got out of road engines years ago.
Both retarders and a Jake brakes have advantages and disadvantages. Retarders don't make
noise but they make a lot of heat. Jake brakes don't create much heat but make a lot of noise
so they are not good in town. I have both and I use the Jake on long descents and I can descent
faster with the Jake. I use the retarder in town and sometimes with the Jake when I want to
slow down or stop. As I usually drive in the mountains if I could only have one I would choose
the Jake. The M 11 only has a 2 stage Jake which is fine.
I watch this YouTube channel that includes many Country Coaches for sale and lots of good back ground info on Country Coach.
Many of the employees are former Country Coach employees and there facility is the old Country Coach factory.
Premier RV (https://www.premierrvservices.com/)
A pre-DEF Country Coach Magna with a CAT C-15 would be a nice ride!
I understand both are great coaches. Foretravel is probably going to be around longer
And FT is still in business
Since CC went out of business a long time ago, Foretravel is still in business today, I think it is a safe bet
Not only is FT still in business, they still service the old coaches and try to keep parts for them
I love my 3208 and would take it over my M11 for reliability all day long. I can fix that thing up with duct tape and bubblegum in the middle of nowhere. Slower up hills for sure but have been really happy with it
I actually worked as a chassis engineer with Country Coach in 2008. I think the answer to your question is the sales team and company owners pick what they think customers will want. A lot of sales are to existing customers, so I saw a lot of emphasis on "the next great floorplan" that will make customers trade up. In other areas this also leads to a lot of status quo; since very few owners have experienced both a retarder and a Jake, few (if any) request a change from one to the other. CAT actually had a staff engineering at the Country Coach office, Cummins was much more hands off. At that time CAT also made an automatic transmission directly competing with Allison. Word around the office was it wasn't as smooth as the Allison but they were rapidly improving the code in the software and overall it was a well built unit. I think another reason CC kept with CAT was a fair number of customers who insisted on them.
I had owned my Foretravel for 7 years when I interviewed and asked it that bothered them; they really didn't care. Every employee I met there was not into motorhomes; I was the exception. I left a job in semiconductors, took a sizable pay cut, but loved every minute of it. We all left for Thanksgiving break in 2008 and the company never opened again. The company was already weak before the 2008 financial crisis. They were really hoping the Veranda project (replaces a slide out with a swing down patio) would pull them through it and even converted some existing coaches over to Verandas at the very end. Turned out Verandas are like convertibles; they turn heads but few people actually want to own them.
As a Foretravel owner, I have the following opinions on Country Coaches:
1. They are well built and something that's not mentioned much is they use good raw materials.
2. They are generally heavier than a FT, but will have the same size engine. That means they are little slower. I also associate the GVW with cost of ownership too. I've worked on missiles, planes and locomotives and everyone cares about weight; but not CC. When a new model year got heavier, all they would do was switch to a higher rated axle. No weight reduction efforts at all.
3. Unless a lot older, they will have IFS on the front axle: This is good for turning radius and the ride but replacement parts for all of those moving pieces can be hard to find sometimes.
4. They don't use the space as efficiently and the tanks are usually smaller than in a FT. I recall CC having some really strange shaped holding tanks that looked like puzzle pieces.
5. Just an opinion, but I find the CC exterior more attractive. FTs are nice but are more understated and less likely to attract attention.