77 Travco 320, any good?

[fasteddie313]

This is for sale locally https://nmi.craigslist.org/rvs/5189121909.html

Only 8,173 miles on her!! Wow low miles and cheap at $1250..

Is it worth looking at? Are these any good? Junk?
They seem to be kinda rare.. Just curious, looking around at what else is out there..

[legomybago]

Id jump all over that. but it's probably 108,000 miles. don't buy into the 8k miles unless their is proven documentation of it. If it only had 8 thousand miles, they wouldn't be selling it so cheap, unless they are dumbys...

[fasteddie313]

Well can this one pull a decent trailer? What are the problem areas on this type of coach that I should really look at if I go check it out?

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I would jump all over that at that price!  Damn good coach!  You'll still run into the same towing problems though...and would be better off towing a truck or van behind you, 4 wheels down.

Kev

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

TRAVCO was a good brand.  All fiberglass construction body.  Price for a quick sale as a 320 would normally would go for a round $5000 to $6000 for fair condition.  Might be an estate sale. TRAVCO 320
It will be based on M600 chassis with 8R x 19.5" tires.  Tires may be weather checked.
Check condition of the glass (curved pieces can be expensive)

[fasteddie313]

Thank you for your great answers dave!

Sadly travco dude isn't answering his phone or returning my message...

There are also a couple of holiday ramblers that have caught my eye. I did a bit of searching on them and I find they are well made of aluminum coach construction and aluminum wrapped. Also there big chrome grills in the 80's years have my attention among other great attributes like big generators, 454's, etc..

What is the general consensus on those? They have my interest.. I've been doing insane amounts of RV reading/searching..

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

I will let our resident Holiday Rambler owners answer that one.  They seem to be very satisfied with their rigs from what I have perceived.    About the only thing I see of concern is for those with tag axles is to make sure the Mor-Ryde suspension and tag brakes are in good shape.  Other wise, it is P30 based chassis.  HR was a higher end product so quality is good.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Yep.  LOVE our Holiday Rambler...although the shear springs are a pain to replace yourself, and can get expensive.  They don't make rear tag axle brake parts for direct replacement anymore, or the proportioning valve for the tag axle...but Mor Ryde does offer an aftermarket electric brake conversion kit for the rear tag axle if yours goes kaput.

Kev

[legomybago]

That Travco was a "jump on it that day deal". Someone got a good buy.

[fasteddie313]

How would something like this compare to a normal class A motorhome?
https://grandrapids.craigslist.org/rvd/5190152482.html
85 prevost coach


As far as maintenance cost and complication to work on, fuel mileage, cruising speed, durability etc?

[legomybago]

I wouldn't worry about that one, the guy already sold it....hahahahaahaha. just kidding


Cost difference is huge compared to an old standard RV. Parts, fuel, tires...Mechanic with big enough tools to work on a buss. There is a lot of differences. Your not allowed in a lot of parks with the big beasts either....too big. I'd still like to have one myself someday and try out though.

[fasteddie313]

No, I'm not going to go buy that bus, lol..

I'm just trying to wrap my head around the different makes of class A's like winnebago, travco, holiday rambler, tiffen/allegro?, GMC etc. etc. so I can make sense of them and compare them as Honda, BMW, Chevy, Porsche, Rolls Royce if that makes any sense..

What are some makes to stay away from? Or models/configurations? Like I think fiberglass skin is something to stay away from, IDK.
Any chassis that should be avoided? Like john deere or ford, toyota?

I don't know much about what's up with the tiffin allegro machines, what's up with them?

The FMC like yours is a diesel pusher similar to the beavers correct?

What I think I want, BIG (why not?), and solid, strong, as beastly as possible because it will be loaded heavy in one shape or form and also will pull a car at least.

Older so as to be cheaper and easier to work on, on the road chassis parts availability is pretty important, I think the Chevy p30's are strong here, idk you tell me..
It also seems any rig I like that I see will need tires immediately so tire availability and cost are important, also such things as air rides/rubber rides..

Gotta say I like the smooth sided rigs rather than the ribbed ones, big mean looking front ends are also preferable, not so retro as to have very outdated colors and fabrics though..  I think I can spend up to $5k for a great machine at a great deal but would be much more comfortable around $3k or as little as possible obviously..  I think I am leaning toward the holiday ramblers, 85-89 preferred but possibly 80-89 I don't know, they are a fine looking machine IMO, maybe looks are biasing my thinking more than they should but man what sexy machines!

Another point is that I will have to really like it, If I don't like the way it looks or it's makeup it may be a better functional choice but it will have to be appealing to me in order for me to have good ambition to do a massive amount of work on it.  I do massive amounts of work on my stuff I like, like my 80 turbo Porsche is very modified, stupid amounts of work, If I could get half that ambition to put toward a MH I believe I would do well.

What's the best platforms out there for under $5k with an emphasis on being maintainable/fixable VS being very nice in the first place but not so fixable later on(like wood rot, rust, and fiberglass craziness)?

[legomybago]

Your best bet is to kick tires. Anything 5k or less that was built in the 80's is going to have a possibility of having some sort of wood issues, or delamination?? hard to say...A lot of these rigs were manufactured with light weight = cheap materials, and experimental eco friendlier glues in the 80's....most 80's rigs use the same appliances, faucets, electrical. Any rig you buy for 5k or less is going to cost you more money to get it in shape, their is ALWAYS something wrong, I don't care who is selling it, or what they say. Im not a super huge fan of the p30 chassi, but Ive owned two of them?? I would prefer a straight axle dodge chassi class a. The old dodges seem to drive better I think. P30's can have a lot of wandering issues with the independent front end. Its a pick your poison deal my friend.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

One thing you never have to worry about with older Holiday Ramblers is wood rot or delamination.  They are not panel constructed, but rather are fully framed in welded box aluminum, with the skins riveted to the framing.  Stuffed with insulation, and then fiberboard on the inside to make the walls look nice.  Even if the fiberboard is damaged or needs replaced, or even if the floors get wet and damaged, the repair is still WAY easier and less structural than other coaches.

Kev

[DRMousseau]

In need of a home,.... I found this and tried SO DANG hard to find it and contact the owners. Located within 20mi from me,.. I have exhausted every manner and resource in my attempts. Phone calls ring a bit, then busy signal, no email reply, and found the phone number to be a cell phone,... but no replys to text msg's. Sounds too good to be true, but ya never really know.

While I much prefer the early Dodge base, I'm really not prejudiced in such matters. Soooooooo,... looks like I'VE jus settled on another great local buy, that the current owner offered for $2500 to me after hearing various media of my recent accident and current circumstances.

A 1987 Georgie Boy, Cruise Air II,... about 30some bigfoot long and majorly needing only a tune-up and some trans servicing. Very nice, looks warm, and cleanly comfortable, requiring very little work actually, the current owner only uses it to park at the local fair grounds once a year to accommodate his family for a week, so it has rather low mileage. He reduced his price to $2000 as I was leaving to confer with my daughters. Later,.. he texted me that his wife and him had further discussions too,... said to use $500 for the needed tune-up and servicing, and jus pay him $1500!!! Looks like my next home will rather nice!

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Nice!!!

[Elandan2]

Just when things are the darkest...  Sounds great!!

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

87 Georgie Boy Owners Manual

[M & J]

Pictures man..... Where are the pictures?!

[fasteddie313]

Local junkyard (swains between mancelona and bellaire) says they have a pretty nice big 76 class A on a dodge coming in at the end of the week that they bought and they say I should look at it when it gets here.. No way it could be that travco, the odds..

Anyway  DRMousseau, if you don't know swains on m88 between mancy and bellair you should check them out, they have many RVs including an old winny indian and a pace arrow etc... I enquired with bobby, the guy you want to talk to, and he sayd he has parts for all the older chassis's and tires etc..

[fasteddie313]

Can anyone tell me the actual differences between the 80's standard Holiday Rambler class A's (usually imperials) and the later 80's through earlier 90's Holiday Rambler Aluma Lite class A rigs?

Also I keep seeing that the 85/86-89 HR "imperial" motor homes seem to be preferred over the earlier 80's ones that look pretty much the same.. What was changed to make them more desirable? Are the early 80's ones still all aluminum construction or did they have fiberglass sides or something?

And I believe that the 80's Monaco executives and diplomats are pretty much the same thing as the same year Ramblers correct? Also having all aluminum construction?

I am pretty hung up on the aluminum construction thing..
Unless I wind up with a deal on some random rig I just can't refuse then I believe I will be going after an HR or Monaco of the 80's vintage for these reasons..

Sorry about all the noob questions but this will be quite an investment for us and an important decision so I want to get my facts straight. I figure that any one will need a lot of fixing no matter how good they look or what the seller says, so I think that choosing the best, most solid, base/platform would be the wise thing for us to do..

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Monaco sucks, so stay away from them.  They offer no support for their old rigs, or any of the rigs they bought up like ravenous hyenas.  That said, the main difference between an Imperial like mine and the older ones is basement storage.  The main difference between the Imperials and Alumilites is the attention to detail given to the interior and the cabinetry and whatnot.

Kev

[M & J]

Allegros of the same vintage are also aluminum framed and aluminum skinned. May not be as nicely equipped as an HR, but possibly an option for you.

[Rickf1985]

Keep in mind, ALL of the ones you are looking at will have the same limitations I mentioned way back in the beginning of this thread about weight limitations and trailer limitations. That bus you were joking about is exactly what you need for what you are wanting to do, or at least a smaller bus. You need a full commercial truck frame and a commercial truck rear end. Not a modified bread truck frame with a 1 ton pick up truck rear. And that is exactly what all of these motor homes are.

[TripleJ]

This is just my opinion regarding the chassis brand question, but I avoided Chrysler chassis because everything mopar is more expensive and harder to find.  I fell in love with a couple different old Winnys and Travcos until I started looking into things like brake system parts.  From my perspective at the time, it was unnecessarily complicated to even bleed the rear brakes, not to mention find some of the more obscure brake parts.

Ford chassis I didn't actively avoid, however my experience with older ford big blocks is that most of them carried design flaws like badly drilled oil passages (FE big blocks) or like the 460 were simply underperformers in general.  Plus I don't trust Ford transmissions any closer than I can throw them.  Ford just happens to be the minority when it comes to 70s motorhomes, so it didn't come up very often.

On to the P30... GM has a couple things goin for it here from my mechanics background.  The mark 4 454 engine has been around since forever, pretty much unchanged and they made a billion of em.  Same with the transmission, the TH400HD.  Both known bulletproof and both a dime a dozen.  Parts are almost always cheaper for GM big blocks.  And the brake system couldn't be simpler.  Basic hydroboost, 4 wheel disc with the parking brake on the driveshaft.

I think every factory replacement part Ive had to get, with the exception of the radiator, has literally been on the shelf at oreillys, or available overnight from oreillys...

and holiday rambler in general...  You've already heard that HRs are aluminum (skin) over aluminum (frame), which is pretty confidence inspiring to me, because all of these things leak - the only question is where and for how long.  Aside from that, to me, no brand coach maker carries any advantage over another.  They all use pretty much the same methods and materials to outfit the box

I actually prefer the older more exotic looking rigs, and I think travcos are works of art, but I know Im the one that's gonna be working on this thing, and it might be happening in a parking lot in Kukamunga.  Your mileage may vary.