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My wife and I just purchased 717, a 2005 4 slide with D60.  We previously had a 1979 Chieftan that we used to camp in practically every campground in the colorado mountains. Before the Newell, we travelled the eastern US in a 1997 Prevost Marathon.
Retired mechanical engineer, I am familiar with HVAC, electrical etc. I have performed all the maintenance on cars and coaches for the last 40 years.
Difficult decision to change from the Prevost, but a four slide Newell seemed to be a much better value and we wanted more space when parked.  
The Prevost came with a 3 inch thick binder with all the chassis maintenance and repair information. I have been able to do engine overhead, brakes, air bags etc.
Not sure what is available regarding the newell- only received a very sparse owners manual.
I have already noticed the tone on this forum is the most respectful and supportive of any forum I view/participate!

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My wife and I just purchased 717, a 2005 4 slide with D60.  We previously had a 1979 Chieftan that we used to camp in practically every campground in the colorado mountains. Before the Newell, we travelled the eastern US in a 1997 Prevost Marathon.
Retired mechanical engineer, I am familiar with HVAC, electrical etc. I have performed all the maintenance on cars and coaches for the last 40 years.
Difficult decision to change from the Prevost, but a four slide Newell seemed to be a much better value and we wanted more space when parked.  
The Prevost came with a 3 inch thick binder with all the chassis maintenance and repair information. I have been able to do engine overhead, brakes, air bags etc.
Not sure what is available regarding the newell- only received a very sparse owners manual.
I have already noticed the tone on this forum is the most respectful and supportive of any forum I view/participate!

Welcome John, I myself am also fairly new to Newell and am learning as fast as I can. I am coming from the Wanderlodge world. I would say you will be fine it sounds like. As far as maintenance manuals are concerned I think you basically have the info gathered here by other members but as far as I know there are no specific Newell chassis maintenance info to be had. I could be wrong. My coach came with a ton of manuals for each item in the coach, for example the Kohler generator manual and some other general manuals for the engine and transmission. I have several Series 60 manuals and I have also found the Allison HD4060 manual online. So I have those covered. As far as the chassis goes you’re going to have to peice together your own maintenance regime based on what components you have. I had to completely go through my front suspension as my coach wandered badly when I purchased it so I became quite familiar with my Dana UK independent front suspension, not sure what your 2005 has. The rear of my coach is ridewell components and Ridewell is still in business. You can find their diagrams on here and online as well.
I think Newell is generally set up for most of their customers to bring the coach back to them for service.

[encantotom]

john, you are right. this forum is incredibly helpful and respectful. i can tell you many many stories of people helping each other.

it is great you are able to do most things yourself as that will be an incredible asset for us and you.

thanks for joining us

tom

[Richard]

Welcome John.

Thank you for the background. I think you will fit right in with this gang.

My dream coach would be the ZF suspension coach with a S60 power plant.

Jeff King@skyking has really collected and studied a lot about the ZF suspension.

Where are you physically located?

[hbens]

Welcome Aboard John!
I look forward to reading about your adventures.

[Jack Houpe]

Howdy! Hope to meet up with you someday and swap war stories as they say, this is the place to dig deep into the mystery of the Newell coaches and you will save $$$ using the knowledge of the founders of this forum as we have.