Taking over my parent's coach #254

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Taking over my parent's coach #254 - ToddandJB - 02-13-2023

Greetings all!

My parents owned an RV for my entire life. My dad's dream was to have a Newell and that was realized in 1994 when they bought coach #254, a 1991 model, one of Bill Kroft's "Kroft Lofts". We began traveling in it immediately and had so many fun times, including many Newell Rallies in it over the years. My husband and our two boys became addicted to the Newell life as well traveled many places with my parents. Over the past few years, my dad and mom's heath has prohibited them from enjoying the Newell. My husband and I could not help them keep it up, as we were been busy with the lives of our teenage kids. My dad passed away this past November, and we are currently trying to ready #254 for a long-overdue trip to Florida with my mom and our family to some of our favorite places. Although I know a great deal about the coach, my husband and I feel overwhelmed at the knowledge my dad had about it that we are missing in his absence. We want to bring it back to life and to it's full potential as we move into our retirement years as a means to create our own memories, as well as travel with my mom. We look forward to any help we can get from this forum!

RE: Taking over my parent's coach #254 - Jack Houpe - 02-14-2023

I'm a newbie here also and you've come to the right place, if your a hands on person then your definitely at the right place. I see your not far from where we live in NW Arkansas and also Newell, hope you get your Dads coach up and on its way to continue your journeys in his honor.

Make sure your tires are up to date, when we bought our coach they looked new but the date codes where on the inside and the drivers were 16 years old, thus a blow out and many headaches on the first day out. Have someone check the engine and all the coolant lines, oil levels, batteries and connections so on.

RE: Taking over my parent's coach #254 - Richard - 02-14-2023

Ask away, specific questions get better answers than generic ones. Try not to clump questions about different issues in the same thread because the replies get muddy quickly.

Use the search engine. The magic advice on the search engine is to separate the words with capital AND. For example “toilet air leaks” will produce every thread with toilet, every thread with air, and every thread with leaks in the results. Toilet AND air AND leaks places the threads with all three words first in the results sequence.

This forum is happy to help, and we are pleased to welcome you aboard. You have good bones to work with, and you know the history. Sounds like a worthwhile effort.

RE: Taking over my parent's coach #254 - ToddandJB - 02-14-2023

(02-14-2023, 04:34 AM)Jack Houpe Wrote: I'm a newbie here also and you've come to the right place, if your a hands on person then your definitely at the right place. I see your not far from where we live in NW Arkansas and also Newell, hope you get your Dads coach up and on its way to continue your journeys in his honor.

Make sure your tires are up to date, when we bought our coach they looked new but the date codes where on the inside and the drivers were 16 years old, thus a blow out and many headaches on the first day out. Have someone check the engine and all the coolant lines, oil levels, batteries and connections so on.

Thank you so much for your response. The tires all around are 2 years old and it is garaged, so we should be good there - but will have them checked before we head out. We have had all of the engine items you mentioned checked as well. We will need to replace the engine batteries soon, we think as we sometimes need to give them some help. She fires every time if we use the switch in the back. We haven't been able to start her from the front in several years, but we are not concerned about that right now.

Regards,

RE: Taking over my parent's coach #254 - Latitude 28 - 02-14-2023

Welcome Todd and Jo Beth,
Welcome to the Newell Gurus....you have come to the right place for your vintage coach. Some really nice folks here that love to help out where they can. Since your Dad has owned the coach since 1994 did he keep receipts and work orders of the different things he had done to the coach? That would give you a good idea were you stand operationally.

RE: Taking over my parent's coach #254 - encantotom - 02-14-2023

welcome, my first newell was a 90 coach 236. loved it

tom

RE: Taking over my parent's coach #254 - Doug Musick - 02-16-2023

I have a 94 no slide and I think they are similar in body style and quite likely some of the systems.
I'm in Manhattan KS and I see you're near Lake of the Ozarks. Since you've experience with RV's already you should be able to figure most of it out but if you're feeling overwhelmed I may be able to come do a walk around/through with you.
Also don't forget the Newell Factory isn't all that far from you (relatively speaking). If the coach really hasn't been used much for a few years you will of course want the oil and filters changed, lube job and generator serviced. I would encourage a check of the suspension, cooling system and brakes before you embark on a long trip to FL and to run and check the systems such as compressed air, leveling, AC's, water heater, etc. to make sure they're working. Newell can help with all those things but it will cost so the more you feel comfortable doing yourself the better. Some local shops can do parts of it too but probably not everything.
Make sure the batteries have a good charge and will hold it. If they're over 5 years old probably budget for new ones. Same with the tires. There is no universal hard line for the tires but most folks will replace them when the date codes show they are between 5 and 7 years old.
I would fill the black tank with fresh water and let it sit overnight to see if any leaks develop. Those sewer valves can dry out and can get the drips overtime, more so without use. And I would fill the fresh water tank and add some bleach, let it sit overnight as well, and then run lots of water through all your water fixtures if they sat empty quite awhile.
There's much more but those things are a good start.
Yours will probably be a 2 stroke Detroit engine, and most likely has a propane tank.
Good luck! I'm sure your dad is smiling.

RE: Taking over my parent's coach #254 - ToddandJB - 02-20-2023

(02-14-2023, 09:38 AM)Latitude 28 Wrote: Thanks so much! We look forward to be a part of this forum!

RE: Taking over my parent's coach #254 - ToddandJB - 02-21-2023

(02-16-2023, 03:39 PM)Doug Musick Wrote: I have a 94 no slide and I think they are similar in body style and quite likely some of the systems.
I'm in Manhattan KS and I see you're near Lake of the Ozarks. Since you've experience with RV's already you should be able to figure most of it out but if you're feeling overwhelmed I may be able to come do a walk around/through with you.
Also don't forget the Newell Factory isn't all that far from you (relatively speaking). If the coach really hasn't been used much for a few years you will of course want the oil and filters changed, lube job and generator serviced. I would encourage a check of the suspension, cooling system and brakes before you embark on a long trip to FL and to run and check the systems such as compressed air, leveling, AC's, water heater, etc. to make sure they're working. Newell can help with all those things but it will cost so the more you feel comfortable doing yourself the better. Some local shops can do parts of it too but probably not everything.
Make sure the batteries have a good charge and will hold it. If they're over 5 years old probably budget for new ones. Same with the tires. There is no universal hard line for the tires but most folks will replace them when the date codes show they are between 5 and 7 years old.
I would fill the black tank with fresh water and let it sit overnight to see if any leaks develop. Those sewer valves can dry out and can get the drips overtime, more so without use. And I would fill the fresh water tank and add some bleach, let it sit overnight as well, and then run lots of water through all your water fixtures if they sat empty quite awhile.
There's much more but those things are a good start.
Yours will probably be a 2 stroke Detroit engine, and most likely has a propane tank.
Good luck! I'm sure your dad is smiling.

Thank you! We are trying to do most of the work ourselves or have it done locally. Tires are good, just put new ones on last year. Batteries have also been changed out last year. We dumped and flushed the black tan and the fresh tank and did a run through of all of the water valves and drew a diagram noting what each are for. We plan on cleaning things up and clearly labeling them. In the process, we found a crack in the water pump, so we will order a new one from Amazon. Water heater works well and lines going from city water allowed us to test everything inside and we found everything working well. Generator is in excellent working condition and we took her out on the highway last night and she did well, however after running for a bit each time we start her, the check engine light comes on but all gauges seem to reflect all is well and she runs just as she should down the road. We would love for you to come over sometime and take a look. We have been to the factory many times over the years for various upgrades and overhauls, but are trying to be a bit more conservative at this point. We will take it there if we absolutely need to. We are trying to acquire some glass replacements from them but will have them installed here at the lake.

I have posted a photo of the gauges to see what you think.

RE: Taking over my parent's coach #254 - Richard - 02-21-2023

Does the coach have a Detroit Diesel Prodriver Panel that you can see?

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