Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Class C Motorhomes: B+ motorhomes

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Topic: B+ motorhomes

Posted By: cheeze1 on 05/26/10 06:12pm

Pretty good old friend!
We were going to attempt a trip for this weekend but some family arrangements we were counting on were not final until it was too late. In addition, Annie, our big pup, who has diabetes, was kind of sick a couple of weeks ago and is now fully recovered. We couldn't plan a trip without knowing if she was going to be ok. We are going to wait until my daughter, who's baby we take care of twice a week, is done with teaching for the year so we can plan to go someplace.
I'm in landscape mode right now, and have 10 yards of mulch coming tomorrow. I also am planning some minor modifications to my Honda Element to snazz it up a bit, perhaps mild graphics, wheel paint, billet grill, etc.

Chas Morristown, NJ
Trail Lite
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Posted By: rvhunting on 06/01/10 12:54am

Hi, Everyone!

My wife and I are kicking around the idea of getting an RV, and the Trail Lite 21 B+ looks perfect for us.
I see used 2004 for sale close by us, but the catch is that it has 150K miles on it already!
Of course it's at an great price, but I'm wondering can the engine on this one possibly still in working shape after all those miles? I know many of you have had your Trail-lite's for a few years now, so I'm hoping to get some wisdom/opinions after long-term use.

Thanks for any/all info!

Posted By: happyjack2 on 06/01/10 04:47pm

150K is a lot of miles on a RV. Our 03 now has 57K and it only had 33K when we bought it in 2007. I was thinking we were putting a lot of miles on ours. The rig you are looking at has three times as much and a year newer.

Do you have any maintenance records on the rig? At the least I would have a trusted mechanic give it complete going over. The 6.0L / 460 LE tranny are a great drive train but that would be an expensive replacement if they fail. The nice thing about the T/L is their light weight ( ours is 9K ) so the drivetrain should not have been abused like a big class C with the same set up.

If it way below book and I was going to stay local ( a few states in any direction ) it might be a great deal. I would really wonder about a cross country trip with that high of mileage. I would definately look into emergency break down / towing service if I bought it.

Bill & Maggie
LT USNR Ret.
2003 Trail Lite 211 B+
Chevy 6.0L

Posted By: TMBLSN on 06/01/10 06:00pm

happyjack2 wrote:

... and I was going to stay local ( a few states in any direction ) ...

Spoken like a true East-Coaster. [emoticon]

'A few' states would get rvhunting from CA to WA to the Dakotas and down to Texas, with OR, ID, MT, UT, NE, CO, WY, NM, KS, OK and AZ in between. Only 16 states, but nearly 2/3 the land mass of the lower 48.

For a central California perspective, he's probably not recommending going farther than Oregon, Nevada of Arizona. And, from an east-coast perspective, that might even be too far.

"A few states in any direction", that's just funny. [emoticon]

Lee

Posted By: happyjack2 on 06/01/10 07:04pm

You got me. From Winchester I can drive to places in WV,MD,PA,DC all in an easy day. Most of the states in my visited states map were one day drives. Left coasties have a whole different distance thing. I remember driving to San Diego for duty and TX was almost a thousand miles long from Texarkana to El Paso and I drove it in a 100K miles car. That's all I had. Wouldn't do it again. [emoticon]

Posted By: Artum Snowbird on 06/01/10 09:45pm

It's an interesting amount of miles... it could come from a couple that retired, and decided to see the limit of their travels in every way. In reality, it's just over 20K per year, but if that includes a few trips to Alaska, and some winter travelling with salted roads, well... do inspect carefully.

Mike
2012 Winnebago Impulse Silver 26QP
2005 16.6 Double Eagle
2018 Jeep Wrangler JK
previously Snowbird Campers,
Triple E Motorhome and Fifth Wheel

Posted By: Gene in NE on 06/01/10 10:10pm

rvhunting - I tend to agree with "happyjack2" that the engine and transmission is not nearly as stressed with these short Class C's. A lot of miles do not have to be a death knell, however. If a mechanic of your choosing could do a compression test, it would give you a vote of confidence in the condition of the insides. Checking for oil leaks would be another valuable indication. The transmission fluid could be analyzed by a testing lab to indicate unusual happenings. The balance of the mechanicals are more routine maintenance items like brakes, hoses, belts, batteries, alternators, starters etc. A couple tests by a good mechanic can detect the difference between an engine about to give major problems and one that is still in solid condition.

I have seen some very high mileage internal combustion engines that just seem to run and run. I personally know of one two cylinder air cooled motorcycle with an excess of 500,000 miles that is still going strong.

2002 Trail-Lite Model 211-S w/5.7 Chevy (click View Profile)
Gene

Posted By: rvhunting on 06/07/10 06:30pm

Thanks for the feedback so far!

The unit I found is at a dealership about 45 minutes from us. Not sure they have the maintenance records for it. We wouldn't be going cross-country, but maybe just a couple of states over (ie Washington/Oregon) at most. Probably mostly just exploring all the sights around Northern CA. We have AAA membership, so we'd be covered by emergency towing etc. I unfortunately have had to use it quite a bit a few years ago!

My family had a TT while I was a kid, so I'd like to share that experience with my kids now, but without all the overheating tow vehicle problems we had back then. We have 2 boys, age 10 and 7. Do you think we can all fit comfortably in the Trail-lite for the next 3-4 years?

Thanks again!

* This post was edited 06/07/10 06:37pm by rvhunting *

Posted By: Teacher's Pet on 06/07/10 06:59pm

rvhunting wrote:

Unless you upgrade the AAA to RV coverage they will not tow a Class B. We had a hard time with them even finding a towing service we would pay for when we lost a water pump on our Class B on I75 in FL. Our insurance paid us back, we didn't renew AAA and switched to Coachnet.

'06 Phaeton 40' QSH
'14 Ford Flex SEL AWD Toad
'04 R-Vision Trail-Lite 213
Scottiemom's Pet or husband to Dale
RV.net Rallies 13, Other Rallies 21, Escapades 7
Fulltimers since 2005, Where are we?
Our Travel Blog

Posted By: B-Plus on 06/07/10 09:47pm

I had triple AAA RV service and found out that AAA was not available in every state, When I questioned AAA I was told that they would pay me back for any service if I had to be towed . That means that I would have to contact a tow service if I broke down in some back county " NO Thanks " That's what I really want to do is start calling around for a tow service in the middle of the night that's has a tow vehical capable of towing my Rig
Then I went with Coach Net and found out while I was on RV trip ( by phone call from them ) that my 2nd RV that I was driving was not covered because they will only cover one RV. So I went with Good Sams Platinum RV service and it makes no difference how many RV's you own.

2003 6.0 Chev Trail-lite B-Plus 225
2007 6.0 Chev 170 Roadtrek ( Daily Driver )
1976 Corvette

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