Fleetwood Excursion 39S

[Prof_Turby]

Greetings All...

My wife and I are close to retirement.

We have located a 2006 Fleetwood Excursion 39S with 30K miles that is local to us. It has a Spartan chassis with a 350 Cat C7 engine. Tires look good according to the pictures as does the entire coach.

I do have some experience with coaches as my father owned over 7 different ones in his lifetime. The last ones were American Eagles on the Spartan Chassis so I am familiar with those units.

I know to look for the overall condition of tires, batteries, roof, etc...I'm really wanting any feedback from folks with any experience with these units.

Thank you for your insights.

[Prof_Turby]

Thanks for the help.

[Trackrig]

Keep looking for one, they're better than most DPs. We're from Alaska and bought ours in Colorado sight unseen but we got about a hundred pictures checking on all of the small details. Flew to CO, did the inspection and drove off in it. The seller even filled the fuel and put a case of water in the cold fridge.

[Prof_Turby]

Yes. Nice coach overall but too many small issues.

[Trackrig]

She's probably trying to get what she owes on it.

I haven't been checked lately how many hours are on our gen set, probably around 1000. Great generator, never any problems with it.

A friend had the dash air controls go bad, it was over $500 for it.

I just put two new Michelins on the front and it was over $1300 without taxes.

[Prof_Turby]

Well...
We went and looked at the coach yesterday. One of the roof air units was not working along with the front dash air. It was hot. Engine ran fine along with the generator. Generator hour meter was around 2400 hours. I asked the lady about maintenance. She knew nothing about the coaches history. Her husband bought it in Florida, drove it home, they took one trip, then he became ill and passed away. She's trying to sell it.
I just didn't have a good feeling about the unit's history. It showed well. Just didn't have anything to go on as far as maintenance. She has it priced in the upper 50's and would not budge. It will need tires since the ones on it are 2012 year models. We decided to pass on the unit.

[Trackrig]

They got rid of the geaseable fan hub because 90% of the people never greased them resulting in a lot of failures so they installed a permanently greased hub bearing. Of course they'll eventually fail but MH people don't put enough milage on them to worry about it.

If you buy it, I can give you a lot of pointers on this particular DP.

[Prof_Turby]

Thanks for the heads up Tracking. I've also read about issues with the fan blade and no way to grease the fan blade hub and also extending the slobber tube. My dad's Eagles were Spartan and had the side mounted radiator and from what I understand those are easier to maintain. The pictures showed power platform on the side with the 39s displayed but the steering wheel still had Spartan displayed along with Spartan gauges. I'm still doing research on that. Thanks again to all. I hope to update on the coach today.

[Trackrig]

Here's something you need to check if you buy it.

There were a couple of years there that the white plastic antifreeze tanks were made of bad plastic that didn't hold up the e gine heat well. They developed a lot of spider heat cracks and then started leaking.

The tank is located on top of the right corner of the radiator. If it looks new then it's probably been changed. If it has cracks, change it before you load the closet as everything has to be unloaded from it.

If you have to change it, I'd recommend having Freightliner flush the cooling system and install their long life coolant good for 6 years or 600,000 miles.

[Prof_Turby]

I called the owner today. The lady informed me that they purchased the coach last year. Her husband had cancer and they wanted to rv while he was able to. They made a couple of trips and then he took sick.

The coach has one new tire while the others were installed in 2012. The coach needs one of the AC's repaired. It is in a local facility now getting repaired.

I'm going to look at it tomorrow. My wife and I plan on making an offer if it is as clean as the pictures represent it.

[Trackrig]

It's definitely a Freightliner. On the wall to the left of the driver's seat should be a large white tag on the wall. It should include Freightliner's VIN number. It may be hidden behind the curtain.

I've been watching my roof as I plan to install solar next year. I didn't want to have to take the solar off to install a new roof. Mine is in good shape and should have a number of years left on it.

[Prof_Turby]

Thank you Tracking for the info. This unit that I am looking at is within 10 miles of my home. I'm a little confused. The gauges say Spartan but everything I've read says that the unit should be Freightliner. I don't know if this unit was built during a switch over from the Spartan chassis to the Freightliner or not. I am familiar with those units since my father ran American Eagles with the Spartan.

I figure with that low of miles if maintained it should be OK. I know what to look for. Branson mentioned tire age and I need to give the roof a look. We really prefer a fiberglass top. I've had issues with the rubber top units before.

Again any insights would be appreciated. My father had a really nice metal building built for his coaches. I have a place for a unit when we get one.

[Trackrig]

We have the 2005 39S Excursion which we bought about seven years ago and it's been a great MH. We're up to about 80,000 miles and just entered northern California headed south.

Ask any questions you would like info on or pictures of.

Bill

[Branson_N_Tucso]

Just because tires look good, do not go by that. Need to check the date on them.Is this a private sale. If so see if any service records.