Diesel motorhomes revisited

Pulled the trigger on a 37' Safari Sahara this morning, with a 375 HP Cat C-12 and Allison 6 speed. Runs like a dream, drives like a car, and best of all, it was seriously underpriced. When I talked to him yesterday, he said he had guys coming at 3 and 4 this afternoon, but it was "first come, first served". So I showed up at 9:30 this morning, after 3 hour drive, and got him out of bed. First thing he said was, "I must have priced it too cheap, I've got 6 guys coming today." He has a couple of log trucks, seems like a real nice guy. He was good on his word on the price, and I gave him what he was asking, since he was about 10 grand under market, from what I've seen.

Any comments on the C-12? I know nothing about Cat engine model numbers, but it's a big sucker, and sure pulled well on the hills. He said it gets 15 MPG, which I'm assuming is downhill with a tailwind and Mama back there pushing, but anything over 10 will be fine with me. Engine looks to be easy to get to, to work on- the queen bed flips up, and you just crawl down in there with it.

Did find one scam on motorhomes on Craigslist- a 2005 Monaco 40' with 400HP, 4 slide-outs, looked like new, for 23,300. That's a $60,000 unit if its a dime. Sure enough, when I responded on it, she said her husband had been suddenly transferred to Edmonton, she just didn't have time to deal with everything and had turned the transaction over to eBay. The home was all ready for shipping from Michigan, and as soon as my arrangements were done with eBay (ie, transferring them the money), they'd ship it out. I had 5 days to test it, and if I didn't like it, she would have it shipped back at her expense. She would have eBay email me with all the details. Of course, the hook here is that the email you get from eBay looks legit, but of course it is phony, and once you put your money "in trust" with them, everybody disappears like a phart in the wind. But instead of calling her on it, I decided to change it up a little bit with "her". I responded thusly:

"DON'T DO IT! Its a fake eBay, and after I send them the money and you ship the motorhome to me, they will disappear with your money, and you're left holding the bag. I'm surprised you hadn't heard of this- the authorities have been trying to catch up with them, but haven't been able to. Its either Nigerians or Russians, and they're slippery. Don't fall for it! Hope I was able to help keep you out of a jam on this."

That should confuse Bongo Kabonga for a minute or two. . .

Good deal! Hope it gives you many years of fun memories!

We are running three farm semis here powered by cat c12. Not as big as a c15 but easy to get 385 hp. Watch the turbo waste gate, keep the antifreeze treated like cat recommends and drive the heck out of it. These trucks have electronics that control engine speed when you start up building the air and just all around have done good. I think one has about 350 thousand the other two less. Cat also can give you good information on engine oil change intervals . You will like the engine. Only draw back is cat is not really providing back up service for them as they have got out of the truck engine business, then got back in so there are some blank spots.

The C12 is a VERY good reliable engine. My tandem truck at work that is assigned to me has 13,000 hours on it, and still runs pretty strong. It also has the power sucking 6 speed Allison, which is a good cruising transmission, but not very good in a "working" truck. 3rd is too low to plow snow, revs too high and can't get be enough speed to throw the snow far enough, and 4th is too high, engine lugs too much, and unless you lock it into one or the other, it will continuously shift back and forth between 3 and 4th. If I was to leave it in 4th, it lugs down too low, and that makes the EGT'S way high. But, I doubt you'll have any problems like that, as when plowing snow your foot NEVER leaves the floor, and you weigh about 68,000 Lbs. I have had that same tandem at 83,000 lbs, and it still does fine. A little slower on the take off, and a little longer on the slow downs, but it does it without any hesitation. I believe the engine in my truck (a Sterling) is 400 or 410 HP, or somewhere in that range, I don't remember offhand. So, of 13,000 hours, about 10,000 of then are heavy, foot on the floor, working to the limit hours. They are a good combination. It has never had anything done to it. Not injectors, not a turbo, nothing. Couple of charge air coolers that cracked from vibration. Unfortunately it will be replaced by a 1,500 hour hand me down State truck, a 500 hp Detroit Diesel powered Freightliner that will have no where near the reliability of the Sterling, but they won't let me keep the old Sterling, it's getting tired all over. If you do need just a twist more power with an electronic Cat like that, you can do a little DIY project and build a couple resistor wires for it. One plugs into the fuel temp sensor and is a clean 30ish HP, and I feel it actually takes away the ratty idle of the C12's, I believe it is a 150 ohm resistor, but can't remember offhand. The other plugs in line to the boost pressure sensor and is about 40ish hp, but is a dirty boost if you hammer it before the turbo is spooling. If you take off easy it's not so bad. They can be plugged and unplugged in seconds. Almost all of the trucks I have driven have had the C series Cats in them, and I have run them for a little more juice when I was in hilly areas, heavy loads, or trying to get a bit more done in the same amount of time. I believe the boost pressure resistor is a 1500 ohm, but can't remember that for sure either. I've got a little kit here with the stuff to make them if I need it that has the labels in it. Some guys will say you shouldn't do that, but I've never had trouble in all the years I run them, and if you look online you will see OTR guys that run them for millions of miles and saw no problems. Just an idea if you needed a boost to get somewhere if you were low on power. I don't think you'll have an issue though, you should be just fine at that light weight. A C12 is pretty economical too, cruising with a normal weight my truck is pretty decent on fuel, only using 35 gallons in a 10 hour day scraping and hauling at normal capacity. Now in a 12 hour day of plowing snow all day, it will burn right at 100 gallons in a day no problem. You found a good combination I think.

Ross

Nice, have fun.

CONGRATULATIONS,,,,,,,,Ive owned motorhomes for years and enjoyed the piece of mind and comfort and freedom and visiting the National Parks and kids and grandkids (you dont wear out your welcome parked in their driveway versus someone giving up a bed and sleeping on the couch lol) AND WOULDNT EVER BE WITHOUT MINE.........

Happy safe travels

John T

Thanks, John T- I missed you last time you were out to western Washington, but let me know if you're coming by again.

Hello coshoo,

You got a beauty! A good going over its history, do what it needs to be done,then just fallow the maintenance schedule religiously. Wish you safe travels,

GUIDO.

Will do, when I visit my son in San Diego we may visit Crater Lake and Mt Ranier again

John T

375 will give you all your need to get it done.. I dont believe it ever got 15mpg.... on flat ground unless it was at 40mph...

My 300 hp got better mpg that all the higher hp models, but suffered on hills and speeds over 70... If you drive it at 63-65 you will see best mpg.. But need to have a 3 lane hyway to do it safely... I would get behind a simi and set the cruise... and do 675 mile days sunup to sundown and did not drive after dark on the long travel days due to being pretty frizzed out. The inverter meant that the microwaved worked, and wife made ice tea and even prepared meals on the fly so our rest stops were quick, and gave the pups a quick walk as well.

We ran the genset in summer to have all the ac units running as it was needed while driving down road in the deep southwest.


Do remember.. when pulling in to fuel.... TURN OFF HOT WATER HEATER AND ICE BOX!!!!!!!!! No flames allowed in filling stations... we ran the hot water heater on electric, but the ice box worked best on propane... so we had a practice ritual. Cook stove had electric pilot so no problem there.

Also... when ever the tv antenna is up, hang the ignition keys on the antenna ... you will learn why....

Any tires over 7 years old MUST go.. or you will suffer damage to the underside of the coach....

A friend of ours ran into the same type of scam on a Craigslist ad. The ad said it was in a town an hour or so drive from here. Smaller MH, low miles, cheap price. When they called she said it was out in Kansas City (they are east of Columbus, OH) but they would ship it here and if they didn't like it they would get their money back. When my wife was telling me this my hackles raised and I immediately said "SCAM" call her right away and tell them not to send any money to anyone. They figured it out before we could call. I was concerned because neither her nor him were very internet buying savvy and were being set up.