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New Member and Questions

Yahoo Message Number: 56714
Hi to everyone.

As of today I am a new member to your group and this is because my wife and I recently bought/traded our Sea Breeze for a 2005 Inspire. We've only had it two weeks but think it's the best move we've made in years. I've spent many satisfying hours reading all the manuals and paperwork from previous owners but have a few questions:-
The first question concerns a maintenance agreement - we have a couple of weeks left to decide to stay with a $6400 agreement over 4 years or cancel it. I have an engineering background and feel competent to handle any problems that may arise from the furnace, refrigerator, hydraulic jacking system and most of the electricals, but am concerned (and maybe a little too old) about working on the essentials like engine, transmission and axles. The records we have show that the RV has been fully and expensively maintained every year since birth so I have no reason to believe there's any trouble looming. I would therefore like to hear from those of you that have a similar agreement if you thintk it was worth it.
The second question concerns a few articles I've read on the net about the dual hydraulic pump PTO and its associated spline wear problems. Any links, comments or pictures on this subject would be welcomed.
Finally the third question - How the heck are we supposed to anchor the entry door in an open position when we want to use the screen door

Best Regards

Tony and Sharon - mid sixties and almost broke :-)

Re: New Member and Questions

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56715
Tony & Sharon,

Welcome! I also have an '05 Inspire and my wife and I have been very happy with it since our purchase almost three years ago. That's not to say we haven't had some issues to resolve but I think that's inherent with motorhomes. To some extent at least, the degree of problems experienced is in the opinion of the owner...your background will likely let you consider some things annoyances that might to others be more serious problems.
We have a service plan that runs about $900/year. It's paid for a repair that brought us almost even for the first two years and we feel the peace of mind is worth the expense. From my limited experience and from what I've read on this site over the last couple years I would say that the engine, transmission, and axles are relatively trouble free but obviously if there is a problem it can be a very expensive one. We just feel better knowing we have that coverage and hope it's money wasted.
You can probably find a wealth of information and differing opinions on the PTO issue. Mine is the type where the PTO mounted on the transmission drives both the hydraulic pump for the cooling fan and the power steering pump. My understanding is that if there is a PTO failure it is likely catastrophic, and in this configuration, immediately leaves you without power steering. That thought alone convinced me to put on the wet kit. I bought it from John Davis in Oregon for about $470 incl. shipping and had it installed in Dallas for $360.
Regarding your door catch...I don't have a good answer. We're very careful about not leaving the door open if there's any more than a mild breeze because the size and moment of the catch just doesn't inspire confidence. If you come up with a better system I hope you'll share your findings.

Once again, welcome to the CC group.

Tom Chesna

'05 Inspire #51334

Re: New Member and Questions

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56716
Regarding the door latch on many CC coaches :: The replacement stainless bar is a quality replacement but it does not provide a detent or holding position for the door in the open position The original holding bar is a good design but poorly tooled in manufacturing That bar can be made to last and work well but it must be done by a skilled fabricator BOB

Re: New Member and Questions

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56717
Welcome to the group and country coach ownership. I'll try and help here regarding my experience with the door latch. I purchased my 04 Inspire a couple of years ago. I noticed that when opening the entry door there seemed to be no stop. It would swing to the limit of the hinges which made me nervous because it felt like if the wind caught it the hinges would be damaged. I investigated ways of securing the door, etc. but it just seemed like there was something wrong with the slide latch. I looked on this thread at the slide bar replacment discussed but my bar did not look like that. Last summer I had the opportunity to take a factory tour at Country Coach. I had two goals in mind on that tour. 1) get a real good look at a raw chassis and take pictures of tank locations, etc. as they apply to my inspire, 2) look at the inside of a brand new door. What I discovered was that the latch slide bar has a hole in it and at the factory the doors had a roll pin in that hole which was the stop. On my door there was no roll pin installed I purchased the proper size hardened roll pin at a hardware store and installed it. The door is not difficult to take apart. Now it stops nicely at a 90 degree open position and holds on the latch. A strong wind could always be a problems but I would say everything is held nicely in a firm breeze. I do also have the cushion of an extended warranty and us U.S. Warranty. I don't recall the exact price but the price you note sounds quite high. On the subject of PTO mine has the pump attached to the front of the engine not off of the PTO so that was not an issue. Lee Zaborowski did a great job of accumulating the PTO issue documentation and compiled a summary of it. It may be in the files section or contact Lee. John Davis is the go to here on this issue for parts as well. Good luck.
Hope this may help. Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions.

Regards,
Steve

04 Inspire #51075

Re: New Member and Questions

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56719
Tony and Sharon, Steve is right on. The summary I collected should be in this Group's files or contact me directly for a copy.

--

Lee Zaborowski
07 Intrigue 12153

leezabo@...

Re: New Member and Questions

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56720
Tony and Sharon

Welcome! We have an 06 Inspire 51677. Some items may be different. Our door has a detent when in the open position and holds the door the open in moderate wind. Sounds like there could be an issue with your detent.
On the pto issue, I have ordered a wet kit and plan to install it myself in the next couple weeks. You can remove two flange bolts and one support bolt, move the pumps back, check for wear, grease it, and go on your way. Probably need to do this every 5000 miles just to be sure or install the wet kit. If you check it you will see the possible issue with spline wear and fretting corrosion. Maybe it has the wet kit already installed.
I did not have a manual shut off switch on the house batteries, which I installed to stop battery draw down during storage. You may have one. The switch inside the door does not secure the whole system.
Many Inspire owners have had radiator failures ( aluminum ). Steel replacements seem to take care of the issue. Yours may have been replaced. See what you can find in your records or check it with a magnet. Big bucks. Ours was covered by the extended warranty, $5000 a couple years ago. Your question on extended warranty.
One other semi big buck item would be the cooling coil on the reefer. Extended warranty question, pay now or later. If it happens and other items come up, the $64,000 dollar question is it covered.
We love our Inspire and can't think of a coach I'd rather have but like all motorhomes there are issues.
Ned Herrmann
06 Inspire 51677

Re: New Member and Questions

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56722
Sharon and Tony welcome to the Country Coach family!! I have had several extended service plans and now have ACC which is the one that is avalible on the CCI club web site http://www.countrycoachclub.com/ , I have uses this several times and they have paid every time. You need to call before the repair is done and Steve will give a credit card to the facality after the repair is completed. My policy is for seven years or 100,000 miles. When you buy this through the club you get a three year membership in CCI plus a prefered rate. This is trasferible if you sell or refundable if you have not used more then its face value. I have had this one for four years and am very happy. Look forward to meeting you at a CCI rally some day. What part of the country are you in? Jerry O #60473
 

Re: New Member and Questions

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56726
And another welcome from an '05 Inspire owner.
We have owned ours for 2.5 years now and even though we have had some issues, we have still thoroughly enjoyed it. Ours came with an extended warranty - 7-year coverage and we have used it since purchasing. The biggest item was a new radiator and a charge air cooler repair. The company refused to pay the full cost of the new radiator which I think is fairly common. They did pay for $3,700 of the cost which was about $3,000 short.
I mention this for 2 reasons - first, warranty plans are seldom straight-forward. They have all kinds of ways to rationalize not covering things or partially covering them and second, be aware that there are issues with radiators and intercoolers on these coaches and the replacement is costly. If you decide to keep the plan, check to see if rads are covered and be sure to keep ALL service records. If I had not been able show mine, they would have refused to pay.
By the way, your Cat and Allison warranty is 5 years so you may be coming to the end of that. To me, that's the biggest reason to keep a warranty.
We had the PTO upgrade done for obvious safety reasons. Your coach will most likely need it.
If it's REALLY windy (like right now in Palm Springs), we keep the door shut and are careful when entering or exiting.
One other caution with the Inspire is to be aware that you will have little room for loading the rear axle (after putting on the "usual" stuff) but probably plenty of room on the front. We make a conscious effort to move heavy things forward and I believe that this helps it's drivability.
All-in-all, we fully enjoy our Inspire. Here's hoping your experience is the same.

ROwen '05 Inspire DaVinci 51442