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

Maiden Voyage

July 16, 2011, 02:05:42 pm

Off to Krause Sprongs for a one night test run this weekend.  Praying for good weather safe travels, and that the ol' Beast doesnt give us any problems!

Quote Selected

Re: Maiden Voyage

Reply #1 – July 16, 2011, 02:36:26 pm

No problems = No adventure!

Quote Selected

Re: Maiden Voyage

Reply #2 – July 16, 2011, 03:44:39 pm

Here's wishing you and your family just enough adventure to have a great trip!

Quote Selected

Re: Maiden Voyage

Reply #3 – July 17, 2011, 01:16:20 am

Well we've been having a ton of fun, but so far there has been one problem. I purchased a TST tire monitoring system (awesome so far!) this week after having traveled about 400 miles a few weeks back on what was just one inflated back tire (long story about some shoddy new tire installation).  Anyway, everything was fine until literally the last 10 ft to our final resting spot. The TST starts to beep and my right rear inside tire is showing only 80 PSI. By the time I'm finished parking it's 50 PSI and dropping fast. I can't believe I'm having another tire problem but figure it's coincidence that I must have run over a nail or something. My kids were tugging on me to go swimming so leave it and decide to deal with it later. As I was inspecting it this evening, I grabbed the stem extension and it was extremely loose. Start to tighten it and about 3 seconds into it realize this could be my problem. I tighten it but start to hear air escape even more. Pull it off and looks to me like the rubber seal is bad. Proceed to start the engine and then fill the tire off the compressor. Put the TST back on and so far we are holding steady above 90!  Will check it tomorrow but fingers crossed we are good!  Also got a chance to test out the furnaces and water heater. Everything working. Feeling better and better everyday about our purchase after a rough start. Thanks for the well wishes!

Quote Selected

Re: Maiden Voyage

Reply #4 – July 17, 2011, 07:20:08 am

Benjie,  I had the long extensions on the inside duals. Both valve stems broke just "upstream" of the threads on the main stem. Seems that all that weight of the extension tends to fatigue the main stems at their weakest point. One stem broke off at FOT and the other somewhere between Omaha and home (622 miles) First one cost $90 and second one $561. Get rid of extensions, purchase straightline air chuck and gauge if you haven't already.

Quote Selected

Re: Maiden Voyage

Reply #5 – July 17, 2011, 09:01:32 am

I removed the TST system and put in back in the box after the second failure of a stem grommet. It appears that the weight of the TST sender on the stem caused the stem to move enough that the old grommets started leaking. That was on another brand of coach with relatively old tires and grommets. I chose not to use the TST on the Foretravel with new tires and grommets. Other people have had good experiences with TPMS. My experience was not good.

Enjoy the family outing!

Quote Selected

Re: Maiden Voyage

Reply #6 – July 17, 2011, 10:52:44 am

Cmon J.D!  Don't be telling me this!  I love the idea of monitoring the tires realtime.  Ive removed the extensions and crossing my fingers the TST system doesn't create any additional problems.

Quote Selected

Re: Maiden Voyage

Reply #7 – July 17, 2011, 12:01:24 pm

It is the centrifigal force and the jolting from bumps that causes the extra weight out on the end of the valve stems to fatigue and/or crack stems and wear grommets. I have seen extensions and monitor hardware that are fastened to the "cans" that protrude from the rear axles and support the hardware. You probably have the same Alcoa aluminum wheels I do and therefore would need some type of support for the valve stem extensions in order to prevent failure of same.

Quote Selected

Re: Maiden Voyage

Reply #8 – July 17, 2011, 05:40:02 pm

I've had the TST system for over 3 years with few issues. I had one sensor go bad and read incorrectly after 2 years and one battery fail about the same time. I was on the road and had them ship a pair of new sensors to Texas for me.
No other issues. I have extensions on my inner duals. I got them soon after the company in GA became a dealer. The company in CO was a ripoff artist.

Quote Selected