My wife and I are considering buying a 1980 Newell coach that is in Lodi, CA. Does anybody know who I could hire to do a ppi on this coach? The owner of the dealership is the owner of the coach. He told me that he got it from a friend who passed away. His friend lived in it for 5 years on his property. He describes it as a running, driving coach. The generator works and it has water damage on the wood flooring by the shower. He is sending me additional photos of the engine, generator, and shower area. The owner does not know a lot about the coach, but was happy to have it inspected. He was sure it has a Cummins engine (possibly a 903?) and not a Detroit diesel. I will use the buyers checklist found on the Wanderlodge forum, when I look at the coach. I am in Idaho, so I will rely on my son looking at it (plus a ppi) before I fly to Sacramento to buy it. I would expect to replace the tires, hoses, batteries, and belts before I drive it. Any advice would be appreciated. I also posted this on the Wanderlodge forum.
Because of the year and has a Cummins it may be a 555, but I could be wrong. You will want to have all the fluids tested (oil, coolant and transmission) for both the Cummins and generator. These tests will tell you the condition of the most expensive systems in your coach (engine, transmission and cooling). Once the tests are done (does not take long) and if you decide to proceed you will probably have to replace the tires, change the oil, coolant, transmission fluid, and all the related filters. You will want to start the old girl up and see if it will build air pressure, and then hold the air pressure. You may have to replace one, or both 'six packs' in the air ride/leveling system if there are leaks. You probably have water damage around to the sub flooring around the shower since there is obvious water damage. This can be repaired with a little elbow grease. You will want to turn on the absorption fridge to see if it works. They take a while to begin cooling, but within 30-40 minutes you should be able to open the freezer and the interior should feel quite cold to the touch if it is working. Unless it was replaced in the last few years, you will probably need to source a replacement eventually. These are just a few of the things that come to my mind. I'm sure others will be able to add a few things I have neglected to mention, but these are the most important in my mind.
Clarke and Elaine Hockwald
1982 Newell Classic, 36', 6V92 TA
2001 VW Beetle Turbo
Cannondale Tandem
Cannondale Bad Boy
Haibike SDURO MTB http://whatsnewell.blogspot.com
(This post was last modified: 11-23-2018, 03:06 AM by whatsnewell.)
the ad says the air conditioners and fridge dont work. so there is another 2-3k just for those items.
fluid samples are a great idea. challenge is they take a few days or more so you would need to have your son go do them if he is closeby before you go there. that would be a great start to know if it was worth the trip. you should also read reviews on the 555 or 903 engines to see if the performance is up to what you would expect.
fluid samples can be done easily with a fluid extraction pump. so no tools required (except maybe a pliers to open the drains for the radiators). the cat lab i use even gave me one and even if you have to pay for one it is like 15-20 bucks. then 20-30 bucks for each sample to be tested. so...engine oil, coolant, tranny, plus genny oil, coolant. so you are looking at about 200 bucks for sample analysis. it is a good thing to do and seldom gives any indication of issues, but the one time there is issues (and there are a few folks here on the forum that can comment on those times) it can be more than you paid for the coach to fix if it is the coach engine or tranny that has problems.
i will be intrigued by what a ppi does for you on a coach this old. you can already expect to fix or replace alot of coach systems and the rest would be driving and how it handles. i hired an inspector to look at a wanderlodge for me before i bought my first newell. cost me over 300 bucks. after describing what i was wanting him to do, he went to the dealership, made one look at it and called me and said it would not meet my expectations. like a walk around look. that turned out to be worth 300 bucks, but he did nothing you couldnt talk your son through.
i have looked at many newells for my self and for others. common things are this....
1. pictures almost always look better than in person
2. comments from either the owner or dealer are to be taken with a grain of salt. (not always but usually)
3. often hard to check things completely out coach wise....genny may not start, no power, air issues, cant find switches....etc
4. you dont want to get underneath it to look at anything....hard to tell what shape airbags are in
5. it worked last time are famous last words
6. with no water in the tank, hard to check for water leaks.
that said, i am not trying to scare you. neither is anyone else. just go into it with eyes wide open and realize that even if the coach was free, there can be some pretty big bucks to be spent if alot of things need fixing. if you like that....and i do....good stuff.
if you are paying a shop to do it....then do some kind of personal roi on it because it will be expensive.
let us know how things turn out.
tom i also pm'd you my personal contact info
2002 45'8" Newell Coach 608 Series 60 DDEC4/Allison World 6 Speed HD4000MH
Clarke, thanks for your response. I hope the coach has the 903 instead of the 555. Based on the information posted on the Wanderlodge forum, the 555 might be a little underpowered. I am also not sure if the coach is really 40 feet long. The fluid analysis sounds like a good idea. I saw some pictures of your Classic. It is beautiful.
Ccjohnson, thanks for the information on the charger. That is not something I would have thought to replace.
Tom, thank you very much for your advice and contact information. I have restored/rebuilt a few cars as a hobby. A couple of them would have been much more difficult without forums like this. I will make sure that the ppi includes fluid analysis, if it passes the visual inspection. Thanks for the warning about crawling under the coach. I have a SUV with an air suspension. My son already offered to look under the coach for me. I reminded him of what happened to the SUV when the compressor failed. My wife and I would both enjoy bringing this coach back to life, provided the bones are good.
Thanks again guys for taking the time to offer advice. I really appreciate it. I am waiting for additional pictures of the engine, generator, and shower area. I will post updates.
I was on the phone with Don Bradner looking at images of the 555 and the 903. Based on the valve cover, he concluded the engine shown above is a 555. Three items lead us both to that conclusion: 1) vitrually all, if not all, 903's had a raised 903 stamped in the valve cover near the top, 2) the decal on the valve cover is longer and not as tall on the 903, and 3) the valve cover for the 903 has a split horizontal line below the cover bolt that then continues straight down on the ends rather than having the lip that the 555 has at the bottom of the valve cover.
