Possible 2001 Monaco Signature Purchase? Comments and Discussion

[zmotorsports]

21 minutes ago, JohnC3 said:

Glad to hear that. I replaced mind about 2 years ago and got hold of a airbag brand cross-reference. There were 6 brands and 5 were out of stock or discontinued. I believe the place I got mine was layman bros in PA if I recall correctly. They were 125 each. 

 

That surprises me.  I replaced all 10 of my air springs in March 2021 and went to my local FleetPride and they had several in stock the remainder they had the next day from the warehouse.  I used Continental (Contitech) brand as that is what we use on our OTR trucks at work and they have held up well hauling 80k-120k pounds daily.

[Pduggs]

Check those slide bottoms for dry rot. Check the belt line for popping and caulk condition. Make sure roof is properly sealed. 

[veraken]

On 11/16/2023 at 8:37 AM, jacwjames said:

I use JG Lubrication, I sent in a Tranny oil sample in on a Monday and had the sample results back by Friday.  If you expedite shipping you could get a quicker turn around.  But you have to get the sample kit from them, which takes ~3 days, I just ordered 3 more kits to keep on the shelf.  ~$35 per sample

You may check a local service shop and see if they can turn a sample around quicker and/or see who they use for a quick turn around.

Hi Jim, just one further question.  In looking at the JG Lubricants site, I see they have a Basic, Advanced, and Ultimate Analysis Kit.  Which do you recommend/use ?

[jacwjames]

4 minutes ago, veraken said:

Hi Jim, just one further question.  In looking at the JG Lubricants site, I see they have a Basic, Advanced, and Ultimate Analysis Kit.  Which do you recommend/use ?

I went with the Advanced kit.

Since I consider my Windsor a light duty application for drive train and frequent services I didn't think the Ultimate was necessary. 

 

In the mining complex I worked at the equipment was run 24/7/365.  A new loader or truck would build about 200 hours in ~11 days, which would be equivalent to ~10K miles under very harsh conditions.  We went with full analysis to give us as much info as possible and hopefully we'd be able to catch issues prior to failure.   We'd use the analysis to determine when we'd pull a component for rebuild (engine, transmission, differentials).  All costs were tracked and based on a $/hr basis, along with the oil analysis we'd pull the component prior to failure.  It was much harder to a repair out in the mine versus a planned repair where you could have everything ready. 

[Florida Hog Man]

Pneumatic and hydraulic systems including hyd solenoid replacements and air leveling components.  From my experience (mine had not been used for +/- 4 years) these are also vulnerable areas.  maybe 2001 is more basic though

 

[Doug Hughey]

Been following this. I bought an 01 signature in February and am becoming increasingly familiar with it. Did all work myself. Took it on 1000m trip last month. Happy with results. Glad it is relatively electronics free. Also glad for the various forums and the help they provide. Live in Phx area and found my coach there too. Would be excited to see one with such low miles. Mine had 75k which I thought was good. Like those ISM engines.

[Dragracer]

I'm a new Diplomat owner & this is my first Class A. I got our 2001 Diplomat with 57,000 miles. To me I think our is real clean & in good condition for it's age. Previous owners all took good care of it & must have kept it under cover. So far the most major things I've done is residential refrigerator replacement & replaced all 8 shocks. Also changed all fluids & filters generator, engine & transmission & used factory OEM filters. Also greased the chassis & checked diff fluid. Had to repair a kitchen sink leak by removing the back out of one of the kitchen cabinets to get to a 1 1/2" flex hose that Home Depot had, $15 repair but I did it myself. Had to adjust the entry door linkage to make entry easier. Luckily I have done everything myself which has saved me a lot of money. So far we have used it quite a lot camping & pulling our 28ft enclosed race car to the dragstrip. With the colder weather I'm going to have to replace some of the gas charged cylinders that hold the storage doors open. Currently in the market for those. We love it. We also had a 45x24 RV port built to keep it under. I prefer older diesels instead of the newer ones with DPF & DEF. So far my decision to buy a older one has really paid off. In the future I will be resealing the roof, probably replacing the eternabond tape, getting new tires & replacing  the radiator & air bags.