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Topic: New to the FT world any advice (Read 944 times) previous topic - next topic

New to the FT world any advice

My DW and I are looking to purchase a 1990 GV U280 with a 3208 Cat with 160k miles.  I have been reading this forum for information  the last few nights (does make getting up harder in the morning) and the more I read the more questions I have.  Such as can you walk on top of these MH, and the AquaHot is it a mystical device or just a heat exchanger.  This will be our first MH and have settled on buying a FT due to the quality of the coach.  We plan to use it for 7 to 10 days at a time every other month with an occasional short weekend trip.  Never owned a diesel engine before but it seems to be the best due to the size of these coaches.  This may be too general of a question but here goes.  What should I be looking at when looking at this coach?  Is 161k a lot of miles?  The MH seems to be well maintained.  What service records should I be looking for?  I have a hundred other questions but will look to you guys to share your experiences.  Thank you in advance. 


Re: New to the FT world any advice

Reply #1 –
Cajun, sent you a PM.
Rudy Legett
2003 U320 4010 ISM 450 hp
2001 U320 4220 ISM 450 hp
1995 U320 M11 400 hp
1990 Granvilla 300 hp 3208T
Aqua Hot Service Houston and Southeast Texas

Re: New to the FT world any advice

Reply #2 –
160 k is nothing on a diesel  If it is well maintained you can get 1,600,000 ks  or 1,000,000 mile on it with the Proper servicingI have a 1999 u270 and I walk on the roof all the time it a solid roof don't know anything  about a u280 are you sure your odometer is in kilometres not miles I just bought this unit in December for that old of a motor coach you will have repairs I found that a lot of the rubber part were dried out and some of the plastic things are brittle i had  rotted on the frame of the compartments check the underneath carefully had over $10,000 in repairs if it has a plastic underbelly under it remove part of it and check it out and the power steering box started  leaking that was over $3,000 and they total me that the radiator should be replace it all goes back to how well it was looked after it is a lot cheaper than buying a new one but you will have repairs I look at it this way a little at a time and I'll get it the way I won't it long as I got the time and don't have to get tow in you can have problems with the new one as well and they are having big problems
Rick & Hilda looking forward to full- timing one day for now couple of months at a time
1999 U270 3602
Built number  5530.  Feb 1999            Motorcade  number 18438
8.3 Cummins Allison six speed with brake  retarder
Purchased Nov 28 2019

Re: New to the FT world any advice

Reply #3 –
Quote from: Cajun –
My DW and I are looking to purchase a 1990 GV U280 with a 3208 Cat with 160k miles.  I have been reading this forum for information  the last few nights (does make getting up harder in the morning) and the more I read the more questions I have.  Such as can you walk on top of these MH, and the AquaHot is it a mystical device or just a heat exchanger.  This will be our first MH and have settled on buying a FT due to the quality of the coach.  We plan to use it for 7 to 10 days at a time every other month with an occasional short weekend trip.  Never owned a diesel engine before but it seems to be the best due to the size of these coaches.  This may be too general of a question but here goes.  What should I be looking at when looking at this coach?  Is 161k a lot of miles?  The MH seems to be well maintained.  What service records should I be looking for?  I have a hundred other questions but will look to you guys to share your experiences.  Thank you in advance. 


The Aqua Hot is the Delux heating system, as such is is a small mobile version of a standard home oil fueled forced hot water heating system.

I've had two gasoline engined motorhomes, a 1973 Winnebago Brave bought new with the Dodge 318 and a 1986 Rockwood with the Chevrolet 454, and neither motorhome ever did better than 7 miles per gallon.  Our 1992 U225 with the 5.9L Cummins regularly turns in 10 MPG.  And as the Cape Bretoner said, 100,000 miles ain't nothing.

As the Cape Bretoner said, the steering box has an issue with the seals failing due to age but professionally re-built steering boxes are available and the majority of the repair cost is labor.

I am by no means as expert, having purchased our Grand Villa 3600 about a year ago, but, one of the reasons I purchased ours is that the Unihomes are built on a Foretravel built chassis.  If you've ever driven across a Bailey bridge, you've seen what is essentially the Unihome frame.  If you haven't, well, the load bearing part starts just underneath the windows and ends at the top of the compartment doors and extends the length between the bulkheads.  The bulkheads and the framework between the compartments keep the frame from twisting.  The structure underneath the storage compartments is where Cape Bretoner found his problem.  It's"easily" repairable and won't occur again in your lifetime.  Several Forum members have done the repair themselves since the material is square steel tubing in straight sections welded together.  Again, the major repair cost is labor.

There is some expense in maintaining the air brake system but then again you have awesome stopping power.

A 1990 U280 very well could be your one motorhome purchase.
1992 Foretravel Grand Villa
U225 SBID Build No. 4134
1986 Rockwood Driftwood
1968 S.I.A.T.A. Spring
1962 Studebaker Lark
1986 Honda VF700C
1983 Honda VF750C
Charlie, the Dog was broken out of jail 24 Oct 2023
N1RPN
AA1OH (H)e who must be obeyed.

Re: New to the FT world any advice

Reply #4 –
The above is true but 160k on a 3208 is alot of miles, would consider getting a oil sample and have someone who is familiar with
a 3208 check it out.
96 U270 BUILD 4810
85 380SL
Drummonds TN.

Re: New to the FT world any advice

Reply #5 –
 Cat shop manual says to renew rod bearings at 5000 hrs +-.  Maybe less.   
Get it warmed up with fresh 15/40 and run it for at least a half hr  down the road . Make note of the running oil pressure.
 Mine runs at 60ish @ 2200RPM /(63)mph./@ 177 degrees. water temp
 Idles at 25-30 hot.
  Write this data down, so you dont cheat ..  Over time, the pressure may fall a bit and you may opt for swapping the bearings. 
  The turbo may puff a little on the first couple of cold  pulls and then almost nothing. Mine uses  about 1 qt  oil per tank, 1000miles.

  The bus is now 30 yrs old , Lots or tired items.  Mines an 88 and has new everything . Shocks , airbags, water heater, water pump, floor , tires,  Resi fridge(cuz I hate fires) . about 10K retail easy . I did my own work  and spent about 4k$
 The Foretravel chassis  when new  I'm sure was awesome . Now it is not new and can be expensive to repair.  Short story is that the bottom of the bus is glassed over the bottom of the frame rails .    The frame can break and rust inside of the covering .  Make sure that it is rustfree or close to so. 
 My Wife and I love our Foretavel  and all the work has been totally worth it . We could never afford to have something this nice and well built as a new unit.  The older Fortarvels are a great bargain, but keep an extra 20k$ ready . 

Re: New to the FT world any advice

Reply #6 –
Quote from: Cajun –
My DW and I are looking to purchase a 1990 GV U280 with a 3208 Cat with 160k miles.  I have been reading this forum for information  the last few nights (does make getting up harder in the morning) and the more I read the more questions I have.  Such as can you walk on top of these MH, and the AquaHot is it a mystical device or just a heat exchanger.  This will be our first MH and have settled on buying a FT due to the quality of the coach.  We plan to use it for 7 to 10 days at a time every other month with an occasional short weekend trip.  Never owned a diesel engine before but it seems to be the best due to the size of these coaches.  This may be too general of a question but here goes.  What should I be looking at when looking at this coach?  Is 161k a lot of miles?  The MH seems to be well maintained.  What service records should I be looking for?  I have a hundred other questions but will look to you guys to share your experiences.  Thank you in advance.

FYI.....1990 Foretravels do not have Aquahots, unless this coach was custom.
Chris and Tammy White  CDA Idaho
Previous owners 1997 U295 36' 3126 Cat 300 HP Build # 4998
Former Foretravel tech & RVIA certified tech
Former owner Custom Satellite home/RV satellites 
Former owner Vans LTD  van conversions
Unemployed, panhandler, drag racer NHRA #6348

Re: New to the FT world any advice

Reply #7 –
Mike.  Oshkosh painted the assembled chassis with 2 coats of polyurethane paint,  no motor
"Riding and rejoicing"
Bob
1997 U320 40' Mid entry, build 5132,  wtbi ce27, 4th owner
2007 Solara convertible
2 prodeco tech outlaw ss electric bikes

1095 watts solar
08 Ls 460 and a sc430
2000 Ford F-250 superduty 4x4

Re: New to the FT world any advice

Reply #8 –
Cajun you are right in asking these questions. They are all very important ones. Do not go into a purchase of a class a diesel motor coach without your eyes wide open. You're looking at a 30-year-old coach. First of all stop. Do not look at just one coach. It may be something that is easy for you to see, or easy for you to buy, like from a relative. That doesn't mean it's the right coachsl to buy.
But you did indicate that you want to travel in a motorhome.
Foretravels are great for that. But anything 30 years old is going to need some work. The older it is the less maintained it is the more that work it's going to need.
First decide what you and your wife can spend. and I'm not talking about just what the coach cost. But also some money sit back for repairs. Has already been suggested $20,000 is a good start.these things cost close to a half a million dollars when new and you can buy a new foretravel for a half a million to several million dollars. So the old ones can be a real bargain. But they  do need some upgrades.
Well I don't know the engine that you're the coach you're looking at has, the engines and transmissions and these coaches can last well over a half a million to a million miles, if well maintained. And that really is to kicker. If the coache is not well maintain walk away. It's better to spend 10- 20,000 or more for a  well-maintained coach, then and try to save 10 or 20,000 and having to spend twice that to get it up to the shape it should be in. however I guarantee you that even if you buy a well-maintained coach that has a lot of the parts replaced that tend to go out after time, that they're still going to be things that it's going to need. They are ongoing maintenance issues. They are unexpected things. If you like to tinker, repair, upgrade, then this is the coach for you. If you don't like to do those things, that's okay. But just be prepared to spend a whole lot more money. These shops charge $125 to $150 an hour to work on these things. Not trying to scare you, or talk you out of it, just open your eyes a little bit to some of the things that we've all figured out over time.
Many of us had a experience foretravelers inspect our coaches before purchase. I paid a small amount of money relatively to have someone look it over. It was very insightful. I've had to do quite a few repairs and upgrade since then most of which did not show up on a survey. Some things were a surprise. A survey will not find everything. It's like that in boats too. I've owned several sailboats all professionally surveyed, and all need things that didn't show up on the survey. That's just the way it is. And just if posts like this will talk you out of buying an older coach, just remember that buying a new coach is not always ideal. They're multiple stories of people buying new coaches or RVs and having a long laundry list of items needing repair fixing and general upgrades. it seems quality is going down quite a bit since these older ones were built. When I was looking what I've read was a 1996 to 2000 or the best ones for the money. And while I can't say that it's true since I've only owned one I can say that the coach is built fairly well. There were some dumb things done, which we can only now say in retrospect. At the time I'm sure that they were very good decisions. Like the wet step, or the water tank overflow on a bulkhead.
You're doing the right thing though. Reading asking questions. I joined these forums several years before I bought mine. I read through a lot of different things, some of which I had no understanding of until I had it. Like a aquahot.
One thing we can say for certainty. If you do buy a foretravel, you will find in these forums no better place to learn, to repair, to maintain, and to travel with.
Good luck and see you down the road.
Bob
'99 U320 40 WTFE
Build #5462,
1500 Watts Solar 600 amp Victron lithium
2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Hemi
Instagram bobfnbw
Retired
 

Re: New to the FT world any advice

Reply #9 –
Cajun, our experience is fairly typical of what you can expect. We purchased our coach in 2013, so it was 20 years old. We are the third owners. The second owners had it the longest, but the last couple of years they didn't drive it much. It was in good condition, but there were some areas that weren't up to snuff. Over the past seven years we've spent over $25,000 in repairs and upgrades. Notice the last three words: repairs and upgrades. Some of what we did was simply maintenance (replacing tires). Some what because we wanted to change something (MCD shades). Some was because something no longer worked (refrigerator). I suppose that we could have done all of the upgrades at once, and replaced some things that weren't dead yet, but we chose to do things a little at a time.

We also had a couple of rather expensive repairs over the years. Once a radiator fan locked up, which caused a hydraulic hose to break, which took out the other fan and very quickly we were pulling over to the side of the road. Several thousand dollars later repairs were completed and we were on our way. A couple of years ago an o-ring cracked, and after $25,000 and six weeks we had a rebuilt engine. Yes, the engines in our coaches are the same ones that the over-the-road trucks of that day used, and they do get a million miles out of them. The difference is that they put those million miles on in a few years. Our coach won't get to 200,000 miles for a few more years yet at the rate we are going now.

If you are expecting to buy an old coach that doesn't need work you will be greatly disappointed. Even if you buy a brand new one you will still have maintenance costs, and you may well want to change a few things to make it your own. If you buy an older coach that has been maintained and is regularly used, you will still have things that need work, but nothing that you can't deal with as things come up.

We've got our coach for sale, and whoever buys it will get a classic coach that has lots of life left in it, and at a fraction of what it cost new. Until that happens, though, we're enjoying it.