Anyone know this U320?

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Anyone know this U320?

November 09, 2020, 04:56:43 pm

2001 Foretravel U320 4010 | Motorhomes of Texas

Supposedly the deal fell through and it came back on the market so I'm curious if it was anyone here. I don't know Jeff Bowser well enough to know if he's a straight shooter but he says it's clean. My concern is that the sellers backed out after the PDI.

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #1 – November 09, 2020, 05:53:11 pm

Different strokes for different folks.....

Could be a great coach for you.....inspect inspect !!

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #2 – November 09, 2020, 06:18:11 pm

Quote from: Hans&Marjet – November 09, 2020, 05:53:11 pm

Different strokes for different folks.....

Could be a great coach for you.....inspect inspect !!

Fair point, there are plenty of reasons to back out I guess.

We put a deposit down on it and have an inspection scheduled with Keith Risch on Tuesday

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #3 – November 09, 2020, 06:21:00 pm

Quote from: ejbeaty – November 09, 2020, 04:56:43 pm

2001 Foretravel U320 4010 | Motorhomes of Texas

Supposedly the deal fell through and it came back on the market so I'm curious if it was anyone here. I don't know Jeff Bowser well enough to know if he's a straight shooter but he says it's clean. My concern is that the sellers backed out after the PDI.

The bulk heads are the main issue on these coaches. Nice looking coach with a new residential fridge and nice looking leather captain chairs and you have the ZipDee manual awning which is a plus. I would contact Keith Riech and see if he would do an inspection for you. He is a straight shooter, as he did ours when we purchased our 2000 last year! Don't know Jeff Bowser! Good luck on the sale.

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #4 – November 09, 2020, 06:31:50 pm

AND, if there was a previous inspection, I would ask for a copy.

They are not legally (either owner or MOT) obligated to provide it, but you may get it.

If you do get it, you can PM one of us for our e-mail address so you can forward it so someone else with "experience" who can look at it and discuss with you.

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #5 – November 09, 2020, 10:27:18 pm

Quote from: wolfe10 – November 09, 2020, 06:31:50 pm

AND, if there was a previous inspection, I would ask for a copy.

They are not legally (either owner or MOT) obligated to provide it, but you may get it.

If you do get it, you can PM one of us for our e-mail address so you can forward it so someone else with "experience" who can look at it and discuss with you.

I asked for it, so we'll see if I get lucky.

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #6 – November 10, 2020, 01:43:24 am

Purchased a 2003 U320 from Jeff Bowser at MOT a month and a half ago. He's very easy to deal with and a Straight-shooter. Our coach was priced a tad higher than others it's age and model, but Jeff took time to plow through the individual comps with us. We feel we got a great buy—have already put 3K miles on it with no surprises.

We originally had our eyes on a slightly newer Country Coach and/or Phaeton. After test driving both and almost settling on the CC I just happened to ask if there were any other rigs he might suggest over those. We had never heard of Foretravel, but he pointed out the impressive features compared to the others and, even with fewer slides than we originally wanted, we could see it was a higher quality build. Jeff openly admits he's a "Foretravel man"—for numerous reasons—so I'm betting if you drill down and ask questions after your inspection he will be able to mitigate any negatives.

Oh yeah, take a notebook on delivery day. Even though we're on our third motorhome this is our first diesel. Jeff will personally walk you through shutdown and startup, and then answer questions. I referred to my notes several times last trip...and was happy to note he had covered many of the items I was referencing.

And, if it's not in the notes, he's good about replying fairly quick.

We can't say enough good things about Jeff, or Motorhomes of Texas.

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #7 – November 13, 2020, 10:00:18 am

Nice looking coach
Don't forget to take it for a test drive

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #8 – November 20, 2020, 05:03:17 pm

So we spent about 13 hours at MOT on Tuesday and 5 of those were with Keith Risch while he was inspecting this unit. One of the slide arms is bent and the sync cylinder that keeps the two slide arms in sync needs to be replaced. The sellers aren't interested in fixing it or giving consideration for it so we ultimately ended up walking away without getting a deal done.

So, we're back on the hunt. If anyone knows of a 99-01 U320 with a slide that's for sale please let me know.

Here's a picture of the two slide arms

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #9 – November 20, 2020, 05:45:05 pm

Elliott,

You will find the right one.

How was the experience of doing a mechanical inspection with Keith?

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #10 – November 20, 2020, 06:03:40 pm

Quote from: wolfe10 – November 20, 2020, 05:45:05 pm

How was the experience of doing a mechanical inspection with Keith?

Keith was awesome; patient with my questions and a did a great job of explaining why he did things the way he did. The $700 we spent on his inspection ultimately ended up saving us many thousands and I'm much more knowledge now to boot.

Also, you were right, being there in person for the inspection was the only way to do it.

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #11 – November 20, 2020, 06:23:40 pm

Just curious as to the estimated cost of repair and if the slide needed to be removed to do the repair.

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #12 – November 20, 2020, 07:22:27 pm

The slide does have to come out so that ran about $3k and I never got a solid answer on the cost for the sync cylinder.

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #13 – November 20, 2020, 09:03:38 pm

If you pull the slide for any reason get the slide fixed too. They all had delamination on those years from a wrong mastic. Also,change the air bladder as you have to remove the slide to fix it. Finally in the single rear wheel 40 foot one slide you ar very heavy on the axles too in fact some we weighed were over weight limits. That is why they went to a tag the next year on the 40 footers.

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #14 – December 07, 2020, 01:50:14 pm

Welp, in an interesting turn of events we ended up making a deal on this unit

MOT is overnighting the paperwork to me today and we're shooting to have the slide arm/sync cylinder repaired for pick up this weekend.

Please prepare yourselves for a bombardment of questions as we begin making this "ours".

And a huge thank you to those of you that have let me bend your ear on the phone and in private messages, it's been immensely valuable

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #15 – December 07, 2020, 06:33:25 pm

Awesome! Congratulations and welcome to the family!

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #16 – December 07, 2020, 08:18:35 pm

Quote from: John S – November 20, 2020, 09:03:38 pm

If you pull the slide for any reason get the slide fixed too. They all had delamination on those years from a wrong mastic. Also,change the air bladder as you have to remove the slide to fix it. Finally in the single rear wheel 40 foot one slide you ar very heavy on the axles too in fact some we weighed were over weight limits. That is why they went to a tag the next year on the 40 footers.

John, correct me if I am wrong, but the reason they went to the tag was the additional rear bedroom slide, which put the rear axels over limit. That slide added a lot of weight and there are some out there before the tag that indeed were over with the bed slide. The 40 footer without the slide didn't have an issue, at least not in the two we owned.

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #17 – December 07, 2020, 08:34:39 pm

Congratulations! And welcome to the family!! Definitely replace the seal if the slide has to come out.. 2-2.5 CB for the parts

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #18 – December 07, 2020, 09:40:25 pm

Hey we were at MOT this past weekend and we sat in that coach. My wife really liked it. I sent you a PM about the coach.

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #19 – December 07, 2020, 10:56:43 pm

Quote from: John S – November 20, 2020, 09:03:38 pm

If you pull the slide for any reason get the slide fixed too. They all had delamination on those years from a wrong mastic. Also,change the air bladder as you have to remove the slide to fix it.

John, any idea what is involved in the delamination repair? Sound like it could really be a big job. I will be removing my slide I'm sure in the future for bladder replacement and would want to address everything at that time. Too many distractions to even look at coach this month. Great time to plan though.
Scott

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #20 – December 08, 2020, 02:17:47 am

Talk to Greg or Rance at Xtreme Paint and Graphics in NAC -

- 100% of the slides in that era had delimitation, they can tell you where to look and about it costs to repair - not awful if you have the slide out - but a pretty big job - that being said, it has gone this long without being repaired, so ask the guys at Xtreme what is the downside of leaving it "as is"

Rance did mine years ago - no issues since

FWIW, I had my 2000 4010 weighed a number of years ago at Granvention

Full with all my stuff, empty Black and Grey tanks, full fresh water tank

Front Axle - 12,925# on an axle and tires rated to 13,880# a buffer of 955 pounds on the front axle
Rear Axle - 20,250# on an axle and tires rated aaa 21,000# a buffer of 750 pounds on the rear axle

so almost 1,705# remaining load capacity on a vehicle loaded to the gills with everything needed for full timing, nascar, habitat, you name it. never was worried about overloading that machine

that being said, full black and grey tanks would add over 1,000# to that load, but there are almost no times when I have to drive very far (NASCAR?) with a lot in the grey and black tank, and if so, the Fresh tank is almost empty and offsets the weight in the black and grey tanks.

FWIW, the weights were off a total of 25 pounds left vs right side amazing engineering, lucky on the loading or both!

Love my coach, glad you found a way to yes. I suspect they called the owner and said "come and pick up your coach, we won't sell it in this condition, so it needs to get fixed or leave." I doubt they would want to waste their time showing a coach to prospects when it had that defect and the owner was unwilling to fix or discount.

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #21 – December 08, 2020, 08:01:44 am

That brings up a good point on tire loads. I've always wondered what the Class A's scaled at. You know the passenger truck manufacturers usually door sticker the axle weights at around 80% of the tire load capacity.

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #22 – December 08, 2020, 08:49:05 am

Quote from: markb – December 08, 2020, 08:01:44 am

That brings up a good point on tire loads. I've always wondered what the Class A's scaled at.

Mark,

With so many variables from coach to coach in the Foretravel line the best bet is to scale the coach you have. These are a lot different than a production class "A"

Mike

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #23 – December 08, 2020, 10:51:16 am

Quote from: juicesqueezer – December 07, 2020, 08:18:35 pm

John, correct me if I am wrong, but the reason they went to the tag was the additional rear bedroom slide, which put the rear axels over limit. That slide added a lot of weight and there are some out there before the tag that indeed were over with the bed slide. The 40 footer without the slide didn't have an issue, at least not in the two we owned.

We weighed a lot of non tag single slides and the bulk of the 40 footers were over 20k on the rear. The axle was rated higher but it was still over. The bedroom slide made it a requirement. My 01 had two slides and a tag but the 2000 and 2001 single slide did not but need it or you need to be careful where you put the weight underneath.

Re: Anyone know this U320?

Reply #24 – December 08, 2020, 10:54:02 am

Quote from: dsd – December 07, 2020, 10:56:43 pm

John, any idea what is involved in the delamination repair? Sound like it could really be a big job. I will be removing my slide I'm sure in the future for bladder replacement and would want to address everything at that time. Too many distractions to even look at coach this month. Great time to plan though.
Scott

Sent you a pm

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