Motorhome purchase

[Wildman]

You'll need to spend $2500 for a proper tow bar and supplemetal braking.

Yep this was one of the reasons why I just bought a trailer. Granted my STaK's t-case wouldn't allow me to flat tow so I needed the trailer. And this way also if you break something that requires it to not be abled to be flat towed I can still get it home on the trailer.

 

[bobthetj03]

Went to check on my RV tonight. House batteries are dead, and they should be charging with the solar charger. Yep, get a RV, they are fun!

 

[Wildman]

Well you guys are making me think I should just rent one now also. Do you know if rental places will let you tow a jeep behind a rental unit ?

If you are seriously considering a MH I would suggest finding a GOOD RV repair shop and have them go thru any units you are considering before buying. Paying $200-300 for and inspection could save you a TON of money in the long run.
The MH my ex-FIL bought my ex & me had a bad inner-cooler plus some other issues that weren't found until the first time I used it. It wouldn't build any boost because the inner-cooler core was shot. Plus is had a Aqua Hot that was bad and the dealer we bought it from wouldn't warranty any of the stuff that was bad.

If you have a family and are getting a MH I strongly suggest you find a MH that has a slide because if you have anyone sleeping on the couch you can't get out without having to climb over them. After my experiance with that MH I NEVER want to own another one.
I want a truck camper instead.

 

[Viking Jeeper]

If it flys, floats, fucks OR (here is a new addition to a old saying) is a RV, it’s cheaper to rent them.

I've used that saying, without the RV part, many times.

 

[mxz800]

Motorhomes = money pit.

 

[Brianj5600]

What about a motorhome for someone about to retire? Spending months on the road? With decent mechanical, plumbing and electrical ability? Asking for a friend with nephews that are diesel mechanics.

 

[LarryTJ]

I appreciate the info and opinions and I have decided a motorhome is not a good fit for my family. I will look into travel trailers but am going to wait until things get back to normal. We have some close friends that bought a brand new travel trailer last year and haven't had it out yet this year. I asked them why and they said because they didn't make reservations earlier that every site is booked through the season...so to buy something now doesn't make sense anyways.

You can camp on most BLM land at zero cost, & no reservations.

 

[LarryTJ]

Not necessarily a motor home but I have owned a 2 truck campers (Lance) for the past 13 years. I recently researched purchasing a motor home (Phoenix cruiser 2551, Tiffin wayfararer 24TW, Class “C” Winnebago & Forest River Sunseeker 2250) for my significant other and I, however, in the back of my mind purchasing a quality motor home to only use it 5-7 times a year and watch it depreciate (more than a truck camper) was one factor not to buy. Also, since I had a reliable truck and a great experience with our first Lance so we decided to stick with a truck camper with more amenities than our first one. The motor homes we looked at were NOT very compact (we didn’t won’t to be restricted by size in camping @ NPs) & my truck with the Lance (Model 971) is 24’ long. Therefore, I’ve never ran into size restrictions at camp sites throughout all the NPs in UT, CO, AZ, CA, WY, or OR (there is a size limit to motor homes in certain NPs) and with prior experience with Lance Truck camper decided to upgrade Lance with the amenities we were looking at in a motor home (Dry shower, larger bath room, microwave/convection oven, generator, solar, twin 5 gallon propane tanks, external propane connection point for your outside grill, AC, slide out, hydraulic jacks & larger black and gray holding tanks).

Background. I purchased a 2004 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 (Cummins 5.9 Diesel engine) 6 Speed manual 13 years ago for 16K (right place right time I suppose) and I could probably re-sale it today for 16K. At purchase it had 110K miles when purchased, now 175K miles (this is not a daily driver, so 65K miles of camping/traveling). DIY truck upgrades since I purchased (made a huge difference in camper stability and ride comfort): TOYO Open Country tires which were wider than the OEM, Firestone Air Bags, Hellwig Big Wig Rear sway bar, & Bilstein shocks. DIY basic maintenance over the years: oil changes, batteries, my son and I pulled the rear drive line and replaced U-joints and carrier support bearing. Professional shop Maintenance: Clutch replacement (@ 170K miles), Happijak truck-mounted tie-downs. We get 19MPG with no camper loaded (Home Depot or Lowes runs), with camper loaded 16MPG, with camper and towing TJ 11MPG (truck with camper and TJ in tow had ZERO issues dropping it into 5th gear climbing any and all highway mountain grades at 55MPH). Our purpose for purchasing a truck and camper was to stay small and compact to get into small camp sites which you couldn’t with a 30’ motor home OR bumper pull travel trailer. Our first lance could comfortably sleep two adults in the queen bed up front and the kitchen table folded down into a bed which my son slept in from age 9-14, at age 15 thru 17 he bought a tent and slept outside. The first Lance (2001 model 870) purchased for $6500K and sold for $4500. Our second Lance is a 2008 971 which we paid 18K (second owner). Only repairs I had to DIY with my first camper was: replace the water pump, 3-4 roof vent/doom covers (sun baked them which made them brittle), & toilet valve. The 2008 971 camper after a shake down camping trip had to replace a gasket in the connection point to the water pump, & toilet valve. We use a brake assist in the TJ (RVI) when we tow it.

In summary, my recommendation is go Diesel in a motor home (significantly more torque for pulling, better gas mileage, hold there valve) identify your planned use and wish list in amenities and if you have deep pockets probably there is a significant amount of great quality motor homes that are small and mega big with all the bells and whistles for full time traveling life. One of my pet peeves not upgrading my truck to a newer model Diesel engine was this crazy emission control blue-def which for me just adds another layer/something that can go wrong and add to cost in the long run. My 2004 Dodge RAM 2500 has no blue-def due to age but has no mods that would blow soot, so I’m gtg.

After I read your thread regarding your minimal use you might start smaller/less expensive and pick up a higher mileage Dodge Ram 2500 (12K-15K – if you purchase one that has had regular oil changes the engines can go 300K miles. If you look at a manual find out when the clutch was changed out) and used Lance truck camper (5K). For instance, my lance I just sold was in tip-top shape, zero leaks (had a one-piece roof), & zero issues. Two doctors bought it and they had 3 small kids (there was a bunk bed fold down above the dinning room table I forgot to mention). So, if you have $25-28K available your golden to purchase a used Dodge Ram 2500 with a 5.9 Cummins and basic camper and it can tow your TJ.

 

[LarryTJ]

Here is exterior and interior pics of our first rig.

 

[LarryTJ]

Pics of second rig.

 

[P man]

Here is exterior and interior pics of our first rig.

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My concern with a pickup camper is the stairs..my wife has a bum back and doesn't do well with stairs. Are the stairs significantly taller than a travel trailer?

 

[Rick Flair]

My concern with a pickup camper is the stairs..my wife has a bum back and doesn't do well with stairs. Are the stairs significantly taller than a travel trailer?

They can be.


Arctic Fox has the Fox Landing which we had on our truck camper. A larger and much easier platform to ingress and egress with.


And if you pull a Jeep, a must have for a rear entrance.


Arctic Fox and Wolf Creek are both built in Oregon by Nash. Great quality and if you go new, Thunder RV has the best prices but Apache RV in Washington carries the brand for good prices too.

 

[Rick Flair]

FYI, I’d only own a truck camper or MAYBE a 4x4 Class B at this point.


Truck campers aren’t cheap or big in the grand scheme. But you have a truck to use everyday unlike a motorhome.


PM me if you want truck camper details. I’ve owned three and setup trucks for them.

 

[LarryTJ]

My concern with a pickup camper is the stairs..my wife has a bum back and doesn't do well with stairs. Are the stairs significantly taller than a travel trailer?

There are so many aftermarket toys/extras you can purchase to add onto rigs. Yes, my camper sits up higher for two reasons, one its a 4x4 and the other I have 75-80 psi in the air bags to level the rig. I have degrative disk in my back but can manage it via Tylenol.

https://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-RV_and_Camper_Steps-sf-Truck_Camper.aspx
I would recommend you and your family (if you haven't done it yet) is go to 2-3 RV shows, and go look at truck campers for sale, yes it will take up some time but its well worth the time and effort.

For example my significant other and I (our first purchase) must have looked at 5-8 truck campers over a span of months on the weekends. There was so much junk out there. Guys had truck campers for sale with water stains on the inside roof, I would ask the guy "looks like you have a leak", his reply "that wasn't caused from a leak" WTF, this guy must of thinking I'm an idiot. We walked away from so many and finally found a first owner surfer family who took care of what they owned. The used campers & RVs that are turn key & priced to sale sale fast, so once your dialed in on what you won't be ready to make a down payment or purchase on the spot. You will know when you find the right one from doing your research and shopping around.

 

[Grant Lasson]

I've owned a 41 ft class A diesel for 12 years. It's everything that's been said here. I barely got it home and had a $10K repair bill.

I keep a list of all the items that need some repair work or upgrading. That list never seems to get shorter even though I do check off items. I don't pay others to do the repair work or maintenance unless I really can't do it.

I have a few reasons that I prefer the MH to a hotel. The first one is sleep. My bed is tuned perfectly to what I like. I sleep better in the MH than I do at home. The second reason is food. I've got a pellet wood smoker in the belly of the MH. Smoked brisket? Ribs? Pineapple? All unbelievably delicious. When we were in Kanab this spring it was so busy that we couldn't get into a restaurant when we wanted to. Finally, schedule flexibility. We roll when we are ready. No plane schedules, etc.

Before I bought it I made a list of all the places I wanted to go in it. We've done a pretty good job on it overall and have had some very memorable times as a family. I don't think we'd have done nearly as many if we had planned to "hotel" it or camp. Just my nature, I guess.

All things considered, I'm happy I have it. As I get closer to retirement, I'm even happier that I have it. I wouldn't be happy if it was a financial stresser for me--I wrote off the investment as a loss when I bought it and I keep the annual ownership/maintenance expenses pretty low. I bought it used at a good price for the quality.

I don't think I'd buy new. My grandfather who was a rancher used to tell me that, "the only thing worse than an old tractor is a new tractor." I'm pretty sure that applies to motorhomes. Ideally, buy a used MH from an owner that is a maintenance freak.

Unfortunately, it's been impossible to use this summer. No vacancies at the RV parks/resorts. If you don't plan way ahead, this may not be a good time to buy.

 

[P man]

I've owned a 41 ft class A diesel for 12 years. It's everything that's been said here. I barely got it home and had a $10K repair bill.

I keep a list of all the items that need some repair work or upgrading. That list never seems to get shorter even though I do check off items. I don't pay others to do the repair work or maintenance unless I really can't do it.

I have a few reasons that I prefer the MH to a hotel. The first one is sleep. My bed is tuned perfectly to what I like. I sleep better in the MH than I do at home. The second reason is food. I've got a pellet wood smoker in the belly of the MH. Smoked brisket? Ribs? Pineapple? All unbelievably delicious. When we were in Kanab this spring it was so busy that we couldn't get into a restaurant when we wanted to. Finally, schedule flexibility. We roll when we are ready. No plane schedules, etc.

Before I bought it I made a list of all the places I wanted to go in it. We've done a pretty good job on it overall and have had some very memorable times as a family. I don't think we'd have done nearly as many if we had planned to "hotel" it or camp. Just my nature, I guess.

All things considered, I'm happy I have it. As I get closer to retirement, I'm even happier that I have it. I wouldn't be happy if it was a financial stresser for me--I wrote off the investment as a loss when I bought it and I keep the annual ownership/maintenance expenses pretty low. I bought it used at a good price for the quality.

I don't think I'd buy new. My grandfather who was a rancher used to tell me that, "the only thing worse than an old tractor is a new tractor." I'm pretty sure that applies to motorhomes. Ideally, buy a used MH from an owner that is a maintenance freak.

Unfortunately, it's been impossible to use this summer. No vacancies at the RV parks/resorts. If you don't plan way ahead, this may not be a good time to buy.

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To be honest if I were to buy a motorhome that needed 10k of maintenance and repairs I would have to let it go back to the bank because of my personal finances (not a dig at you). I have come to realize I am not in a good place for a motorhome and am looking at other options. I will keep the motorhome in mind when I get close to retirement years. You have a beautiful setup though

 

[mxz800]

You can camp on most BLM land at zero cost, & no reservations.

I don't think Black Lives Matters owns land in Maine.

 

[alittleoff]

One of the main reasons that we are selling our Class A Winnie is the fact that my Wife has a very hard time climbing the four steps to enter and exit the Moho because of her crummy knees. And riding in the Jeep is a thing of the past.
I can and have dealt with the maintenance issues of TT's and Moho's. But if she can't enjoy it, there's no sense in keeping it.

As we move forward from this, I'll be the one who will eventually buy an older (pre 80's) Chevy or GMC P/U project truck and build a simple above cab shell and trailer my Jeep.

 

[ATCKIP]

This set up works well for me! We left Atlanta the middle of last month for Cheyenne, Wy and are checking out ND now

 

[Bobsled84790]

This set up works well for me! We left Atlanta the middle of last month for Cheyenne, Wy and are checking out ND nowView attachment 269013

Goat rails