Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 11, 2025 ...

New Owners

May 08, 2020, 11:37:03 am

After four years of learning and lurking on these boards, we took the plunge and purchased Aspenpilot's 1999 U270.  We are very pleased with the coach so far, following a rocky start.  Flew from Huntsville AL to Burbank CA.  Interesting traveling by air during this pandemic. Masks on the whole way. Purchased the coach Saturday.  Shout out to Craneman for setting us up with his local tire guy. Six new Toyo M170s Saturday afternoon, that Chuck personally made sure were torqued properly for us. All 40 lug nuts.
  We set sail Sunday on the journey home. Arrived in Goodyear AZ for our first stop and had troubles. I noticed a leak at the back of the coach.  Looked like oil on the ground, but wet in the area of CAPS fuel lines. Took the coach to Rocky Mountain Cummins the next morning and they diagnosed a bad accumulator. Twenty four hours and 2.8 coachbucks later we are back on the road.  Right now in Amarillo TX.  We will delay here a day due to forecast high winds. Hope to be home Sunday or Monday.  Learning as we go and trying not to break anything. 

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Re: New Owners

Reply #1 – May 08, 2020, 11:59:23 am

Navy bean congratulations on your purchase and my condolences to your long-term budget. Lol just kidding maybe. I have a 1999 u320 and I can tell you that even with good maintenance and proper care things do break after that much time. Everything has a shelf life. Many manufacturers make things to only last a certain amount of time and then be replaced. We all believe that foretravel made a quality product and with care and money they will last a long time. We hear all the time that the engines and transmissions can go for up to a million miles. I have yet to hear of a coach that has a million miles on it so that is questionable. I'm towards the end of a major refit on my coach. I've torn out and worked on pretty much everything except for engine and transmission. While I've never had another class a motorhome or any RV at that matter I've seen enough on YouTube and in real life to know that for travel is quality product. That's not to say that it is without issues. I don't think there are anything that is. As I learn more about my coach I learn more about how to take care of it. Good luck on your journey to take care of yours. Hold on it can be a wild ride at times. But know that the decades of experience on these forums will help you through the rough spots. There's some incredible people freely willing to give their knowledge and even time to make sure that you have the knowledge to succeed.
So welcome to the family.

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Re: New Owners

Reply #2 – May 08, 2020, 12:03:24 pm

Congratulations and welcome to the family. All your answers can be found here.... amazing, generous and kind members here, always willing to help. Safe travels.

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Reply #3 – May 08, 2020, 12:20:04 pm

Welcome John & Cathy ,, to the forum and to the Foretravel life.  Brakes was our first big one but the expenses involved in owning a FT hasn't dampened our spirits one bit.    No more bed bugs or food born illnesses to worry about in our travels anymore.   
      And the Foretravel group is a great group of people ready to help. We hadn't traveled in our coach 24 hrs when a member told us to check the carpet under the throttle pedal because the Allison wouldn't shift into gear ( too high idle ).      Saved a towing bill. 

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Reply #4 – May 08, 2020, 12:33:32 pm

Welcome to your life with a Foretravel!
We bought a 99 U270 last year in April and have put a fun 10,000 miles on it.
Our unit is 128 units later than yours, they were building two units a day, Monday thru Thursday. It must have been amazing to see.
It's still fun to go to Nag and visit the factory. They have a great parts dept that still has a lot of the spares you may need.
We have updated a lot of out coach and love it!
Good luck with yours, happy motoring!
David

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Reply #5 – May 08, 2020, 12:48:35 pm

Congratulations.
I have a '99 320 with almost 300,00 Miles on it, so they can go aways if maintained.
You will find things that need to be fixed or replaced, but that is to be expected.
Do the maintenance as needed and learn from others. Everyone will be happy to help.
I suggest you read the manuals that came with it.
Then in a few months re-read them.

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Reply #6 – May 08, 2020, 01:33:16 pm

John and Cathy,
Congratulations on your purchase.  Sounds like you have done your homework.  I cant think of any forum with more respectful members, and better equipped to help with any issue that might arise.  IMO there is no better way to travel. Safe travels,
Jerry

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Reply #7 – May 08, 2020, 02:19:14 pm

Congrats Navybean!  You found a good guy in Craneman, always willing to help a fellow member out!  There are great members on here and they also, are eager to help one out.  Safe travels and good luck with your new to you coach!

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Re: New Owners

Reply #8 – May 08, 2020, 02:59:49 pm

Welcome to the club Navybean.
This is a great resource to have as mentioned by others. Great people on this site always willing to help.
There is also beamalarm.com with lots of info.
I'm currently down the road at Fort Deposit.

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Reply #9 – May 08, 2020, 03:53:08 pm

Welcome, Enjoy.

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Reply #10 – May 08, 2020, 10:27:01 pm

Welcome!

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Re: New Owners

Reply #11 – May 09, 2020, 10:32:12 am

NavyBean,
Welcome to the Forum and the Foretravel Family.  You will learn a lot on these great machines through this forum.  No question is too stupid and don't be afraid to dive in and do a lot of the work yourself.
Enjoy your new to you coach,
John & Carmen

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Reply #12 – May 09, 2020, 02:16:43 pm

Welcome... Many more good times ahead than bad.

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Reply #13 – May 09, 2020, 07:05:44 pm

I am glad you guys pulled the trigger on buying your new to you Foretravel. The description of your before purchase research sounded familiar.

I thought I would share a short version of my first opportunity to take my wife on a trip in our new to us Foretravel.

Short version- 250 miles down the road and "pop" the sound of an air leak.  First instinct, blow out on rear tire.  Pulled over, tires all good.  Check VMSpc all temps etc good. (Some parameters not being used YET). Found the engine was in "limp mode" or something.

All of the experienced owners already know what the issue was.  An intercooler system clamp had snapped. 

We didn't panic. Parked for the night. Found a NAPA which had a generic clamp which got us to a Cummins dealer. There we bought a new clamp and a spare.  Very inexpensive fix.

We laughed and congratulated each other for not panicking or ruining our first night at the campground, which we found right off the highway.

Moral of the story- We try to learn more and more as we go.  I carry my hand tools.  I have started stocking up and carrying parts.  Many are really not that expensive, if you have them before you need them.

We are enjoying our new to us Foretravel very much.

Yes, that was the short version.

-FT

That is how we are going to proceed.

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Re: New Owners

Reply #14 – May 17, 2020, 11:24:49 pm

Your purchase was similar to ours in Jan 2014. We flew from NC to San Fran then up toward Yosemite to purchase an 04' 270 sight unseen. Ok so we did see pics on the internet.
Flew in at 5PM, looked it over, handed over the check and by 9PM we were on our down way thru the Sierras heading south toward Vegas with snow squals to beat the band. Glad to have all those manuals when you are 2500 miles from home.
Stopped at Nac on the way and have logged 20k miles since. Not trouble free mind you but we've learned a ton of stuff. Lots of the learning via the ForeForum.
   

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