My Itasca is dead....so we upgraded.....

[Alaskan Itasca]

It all started memorial day weekend with a quick trip to Seward, on the way back I was having problems going up hills. It would die near the top, back fire and die. then start right up and be fine until the next hill...Well we finally made it through the mountains and I got 1 block from the house and it starts clunking in the back....I park it and walk away for a while. I come back to it and try to start it and now it won't stay running without my foot on the gas. I replace the inline fuel pump booster with a new one, the same thing....I need to start it to figure out the clunk. So I have it towed (thank God for Coachnet) to the shop, they replace the seized distributer, replace the weak coil and set the timing ($550) and now it runs (yea)...so I ask them to diagnose the clunk.....it turns out to be the diff, they aren't sure what inside it'll be 3k max to fix if it's all broken including the carrier....The bad news several weeks to look at it. I had to tent camp my annual fishing trip this year, I missed my rv....

They crack into the diff and it's worse than the diff, the parts that hold the diff are shot so even if they fix it, it will wobble and break again....So I need a whole new rear end....Which of course are junkyard only items and not available in Alaska (he called all the junk yards trying to find one) SO my wife and I decide finding an axel in the lower 48, shipping it here, having it installed is one more thing we don't want to do, it's time to let it go.......SO I paid my $730.00 bill for my now dead RV and I have to figure out how to scrap it, or sell it to someone who has squirreled away a rear end or has the skill to adapt a different one to it....

Last Friday we pulled the trigger on a 1992 Pace Arrow 30E, this  one has only 2 owners before me and a complete history of maintenance from the original owner and an admission of no maintenance for the three years of the second owner outside of changing the oil. This one is so much nicer than the Itasca, It looks nice on the outside, the inside is in great shape as well. I found the original owners had put a carpet over the vinyl kitchen area so I pulled that up and found a newspaper page from 1992 under the carpet....so I have a new vinyl floor there lol.....

My son cried when he saw the Itasca yesterday as we were removing all the stuff out of it (I even got my nice dometic porcelain toilet out)....he really liked the pull down bed I built for him in there. The pace arrow does not have a pull down bed. It does have basement storage, a couch, a chair, and a bedroom with twin beds instead of a queen that is too small for the wife and I. I pulled out the square TV and VCR and installed the flat tv and Blue Ray player from the old rig, I have the stereo from the old rig to install as well. I like the new rig a bunch, but I'll always miss Bessie.

Some pictures of the new vintageish rig:

[Bnova]

Very nice, congrats.

[M & J]

When one door closes, another one opens. Congrats on the new coach sir.

[Alaskan Itasca]

This one is a 30 ft one, the Itasca was 27ft, so the extra 3 ft is really noticeable. It's a ford fuel injected 460, The Midas we had before the Itasca was a carbed 460 as well. It's very quiet, it's rides quiet, I don't have to shout to be heard........

It also seems wider on the inside and the domed ceiling defiantly makes it taller inside. I really like the underneath storage. the Itasca had none. All the stuff that clogged the drawers, overhead bins and sat under the dinette table and under the back bed is now tucked under the coach. It's nice to not have the Honda generator, case of bottled water, the fold up table etc... sitting in the floor of the rv. This one also has a 2005 model Dometic gas fridge, we can dry camp for more than a day now without having to charge the batteries. The Itasca had been replaced with an electric fridge which I ran off an invertor overnight and pretty much ran a generator all day to run the fridge and recharge the batteries. The converter was replaced in 2008. That bag on the couch next to my wife has every repair receipt and manual for the entire coach and chassis. Hopefully this one will be more trouble free than the Itasca, It does need some new headlight bulbs, the brakes were serviced 10 years ago, so that needs to be done soon, and fluid changes are past due, shocks are shot and are original (and it still rides better than the Itasca did on new shocks, airbags and springs), and the steering is loose so I have to figure that out, but other than that it all seems good at this point.  We can't wait to go camping tomorrow. The kids are so excited, we have camped 2 nights in the front yard already...(I admit I'm excited too). We haven't done much camping as a family since the Itasca has been dead all summer.....now I have a month and half to make up for it.....

[Froggy1936]

Congratulations, That is a nice looking rig, Hope you can make some money off the Itaska parting it or finding a differential They are plentiful here in the Lower 48 since the pressure is off you may have time to shop !  Frank

[Alaskan Itasca]

it's not the diff that is the problem I need the whole axel (Dana 70HD 456 gears with disc brakes, the shop has all the measurements since those came in different lengths and bracket positions depending on what it came in)...it's no longer tight I guess so the diff carrier is moving around causing the gears to break...my plan is to advertise it as a whole piece for parting or fixing I don't think I'll get much for it, I'm trying to avoid hauling it home and to junk it right from the shop. I have till the snow flies to get it out of their storage lot.

If I found an axel, shipped it here and had the shop install it, it would cost more than what I can sell it for....

Oh the coolest feature of the new rig is the automatic hydraulic levelers. I push a button, it makes a lot of noise and the rv is level when it's done. So much nicer than using the wheel blocks and a level inside trying to get it just right....

[Bnova]

Well you've definitely crossed over to the other side   Sounds really nice.

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

I remember your adventures and tribulations over the past year or so.  Sometimes you just have to move on.  That is a nice looking upgrade there and I am sure you will have many new adventures in it.  From what I have read, the Ford F53 chassis is a good chassis.

[Alaskan Itasca]

I just got all the stuff from the Itasca put away in the pace arrow, and I can still walk the aisles. I have my nice toilet installed, and all that's left is food, clothes, some firewood, and the lawn chairs. I drug out all the various seat bets, the dinette belts were still rolled up in the factory plastic bags.

I'm looking forward to camping this weekend.

Edit: turns out my son has something to do this weekend ( a party to attend), so camping will be just me and my Daughter, so we will scout out Nancy lake this weekend Next weekend we will go as a whole family to Seward, which is a favorite spot for all of us.