2006 American Tradition advice?

[Ro646a]

We are looking at a beautiful
2006 American Tradition with 100,000 miles.
The coach is well maintained
and beautiful with new tires and batteries. It has a 400 hp Cat engine.
Can anyone offer any pros or cons regarding this model, and is the mileage a concern?

Thanks

[Bruce_Brown]

Check for the usuals; delamination and checking fiberglass.

[Ro646a]

Thank for all if the input regarding the American Tradition. If I go ahead with the purchase I'll update.
Roland

[timjet]

We've had our '07 40Z Tradition for a year and put 10,000 miles on it. I attended the Spartan week long class and brought the chassis up to snuff for $4000.

If the chassis and drive train are in good shape the problems we've had are mostly house related. On an older coach that is to be expected. He's what I've had to deal with in the 1st year.

Dash air - replaced compressor and dryer
Roof AC - replaced both AC capacitors and fwd AC fan
Aft furnace - replaced the power circuit board
Brake lights - replaced the bulbs, they were a pain to get to.
Steps - just broke and am in the process of diagnosing it.
Refrigerator - defrost heating element broke
Batteries - replaced due to age
Windshield washer motor replaced
Air dryers assembly replaced due to leak - by Spartan

I'm able to do most of the work so the cost was not so high, I probably would not own such a complex vehicle if I couldn't do this stuff.

[tropical36]

Ro646a wrote:
We are looking at a beautiful
2006 American Tradition with 100,000 miles.
The coach is well maintained
and beautiful with new tires and batteries. It has a 400 hp Cat engine.
Can anyone offer any pros or cons regarding this model, and is the mileage a concern?

Thanks

Should be a great coach for you and especially with the older CAT and before the last emission band-aide was put on before CAT got out of the, over-highway business.
As always, it's all about the money, which you haven't mentioned. Just saying that there all a lot of them around.

[RaenMark]

We had a 99 American Tradition. Very well made unit. As was said earlier, as long as the maintenance was done you should be good.

[JR45]

Ro646a wrote:
We are looking at a beautiful
2006 American Tradition with 100,000 miles.
The coach is well maintained
and beautiful with new tires and batteries. It has a 400 hp Cat engine.
Can anyone offer any pros or cons regarding this model, and is the mileage a concern?

Thanks

As already said nothing wrong with the Cat C-9. The big thing is to change the oil at 5 to 6000mi and fuel filters every other change because of the HEUI pump. Use only Cat Advanced High Efficiency Engine Oil Filters 1R 1808 and fuel filter Cat 1R-0749 Fuel Filter.
JR45

[johnsonbert]

Our 03 Tradition was a good coach. Help from the American Coach Tech line was super. Ours had a 350 Cummins. One thing I would verify with Spartan Chassis is that this model has the restyled front ball joints if it has the independent front suspension. They had trouble from 00 or 01 up through maybe 05 or so with ball joints wearing prematurely and they are non-greasable, and the only place to get fixed was a Spartan Dealer, and pricey. Otherwise, it was a great coach. The side radiator made it nice to work on, and everything was American Coach quality. Hope this may help. Happy Trails, Bert

[supercub]

The American Line of motor homes are very good units. As long as you like it and it's in good condition................and the price is right, I'm sure it will be a good coach for you. Make sure you like the floor plan. Assure that it's had proper mainteance too. The mileage shouldn't be an issue. Diesels are designed to run 500,00 plus miles .

[Blaster_Man]

The Tradition is a fine coach with excellent support from the AC tech line. As noted, 100k is nothing if the Cat got service regularly.

[Bill_Satellite]

The mileage should not be a concern as long as the owner has good service records. That's 12 years of driving or about 8400 miles per year. That's about right if not even slightly less than the average 10,000 miles per year.