Question Class A maintenance - self or no?

[Neal]

Who does your own engine/chassis maintenance on a Class A motorhome? What do you do? What don't you do? If you do your own maintenance, do you still take it to your chassis vendor for programmed/annual maintenance?

 

[MapNerd]

I have tried twice to get into Gaffney and both times had to cancel and go elsewhere due to unexpected scheduling conflicts that arose last minute. I went to the Newmar Service Center, wasn’t impressed just recently went to a dealer - which I may be posting about in the near future once I get a grip on a possible situation I have with them.

I don’t think I’ll be cancelling my Gaffney appointments anymore. Schedule be damned.

 

[Neemer]

I’m reasonably handy, but as long as a warranty is in effect, it will go to Freightliner or Cummins. After that, I will work on anything I feel competent to do.

 

[redbaron]

I have done oil changes and general maintenance. I usually replace my own air filter and fuel filters. I have a local guy that charges $250 to change the oil and lube the chassis .. ONSITE at my house, so I have him do that part. I supply the filters, he supplies the oil.

I do my generator and oasis, brakes, and hubs.

On my freightliner, I did the fan gear oil myself too. Looking forward to not having that required anymore.

 

[KR1973]

I will do my own maintenance on my gas A. Warranty wont be an issue doing my own. To do your own you just have to save receipts and journal all the records. They cant deny warranties for home maintenance unless the maintenance causes it. IE: put coolant where the oil goes and blew the motor or something similar

 

[GypsyR]

I bought vintage coach with the expectation that there would be no part of it I would have to pay anyone else to work. Not one part of it. Getting ready to pull the broken transmission out of it and give it a seeing to.

Not everyone's cup of tea. There's folks that have no interest in even checking their own tire pressures and sometimes I can see how that can be a smarter way to go for repairs and maintenance. I don't blame them. I get through some of my repair projects sometimes more with an excess of stubborness than skill.

 

[Voyageurs]

We did most of our own maintenance and repairs during the 18 years of owning our coach. I think our Teardrop trailer we have on order will be easier to maintain. And the tow vehicle is electric so not much to do on it. Washer fluid etc. .

 

[Scooterfan]

Oil changes, filter changes (oil and transmission), and routine stuff I do. Plus, I'll do what I can. Just changed out spark plugs and wires, replaced an ABS sensor, getting ready to change out black tank dump valve (ugh). But I need a cracked windshield replaced and although I can buy one for a reasonable price ($700 for split glass), I am not competent to install it. So to answer your question, it depends. If I'm able I'll do it, if not, then I'll try to find the best price ?

 

[dave sunstar]

I do oil filters fluids etc just changed out bath fan and replaced front corner clearance lights with led, s

 

[Joe Hogan]

generally I do whatever I can at the storage facility parking lot. Engine Oil Change, filters, generator service. chassis lubrication. Also, as basic maintenance items arise, I try to take care of them.

 

[Russsilber90]

Who does your own engine/chassis maintenance on a Class A motorhome? What do you do? What don't you do? If you do your own maintenance, do you still take it to your chassis vendor for programmed/annual maintenance?

I do all general maintenance. Oil, gas, air filters and radiator fluids. Air up tires regularly. Grease fittings. Roof maintenance. Air filters in ceiling vents. Marker and head light changes. Highdraulic Jack maintenance.
O2 sensor changes etc. All engine, brakes, transmission and mechanical repairs I leave to my trusted mechanic.

 

[Orrin]

I used to own a trucking company (semis) and we performed all of our own maintenance including rebuilding engines and transmissions. I don't have the space or the equipment any longer nor do I really have the desire to perform those duties. I will however do the smaller stuff as necessary on our coach. I very much like tinkering with it and making sure each mechanism works as it should. Just my .02 cents.

 

[FloridaSon]

Agree with you, there is satisfaction in knowing each mechanism and maintenance is a great way to understand it.

 

[JRS]

Being full timers, unable to work on the Chassis. First year went back to Newmar and combined with warranty work. Been going to Freightliner Oasis Dealer in Rochester, NY last 2 seasons. Might go with Gaffney next fall on way to Florida.

 

[ARD]

I take it to Spartan and let them do a full inspection and maintenance work. Expensive, but they have found things that I wouldn't have otherwise known about and replaced under warranty.

 

[turbopilot]

I just sold my New Aire but during 4 years of ownership I did all the coach maintenance. It had never been to a dealer for coach maintenance. I made some trips to FreightLiner for chassis maintenance but it was such an awful experience I began using mobile lube services for the chassis.

 

[FLSteve]

I have always had Freightliner chassis' and tried to get them up to Gaffney for all the annual services. I really like that place. I normally take care of all the generator service work myself here at the house and have even done chassis engine oil and filter changes on several occasions when I could not make Gaffney work in time. Now that I am getting a Spartan chassis I have not figured out where to get the annual service work done as it's a long way up to the Starting service center but may still try and do that and just work it in on trips if possible. If not, maybe get it back to NIRVC Atlanta where I am buying the coach. I only live 10 minutes from NorthTrail RV but don't see them real excited for me to bring in an NIRVC bought coach for service work even though I have bought all my previous coaches from them.

FLSteve

 

[MapNerd]

I just had chassis service done at NIRVC Atlanta. The only problem I had was that there were so many coaches there that the place was overflowing. The overnight service spots only have electric hookups which wasn’t a big deal, but our service took almost a week to complete as we had some other issues addressed as well. I was quite surprised by how small the place was. I was expecting it to be the size of a Carmax, it was half that.

 

[FL-JOE]

When we had our Newmar I went to Freightliner/Cummins service center for all oil and fuel filter maintenance. I did most of the other stuff. Prior to that we had a gas Class A and I did everything on that, including the oil changes.

 

[Neemer]

I just had chassis service done at NIRVC Atlanta. The only problem I had was that there were so many coaches there that the place was overflowing. The overnight service spots only have electric hookups which wasn’t a big deal, but our service took almost a week to complete as we had some other issues addressed as well. I was quite surprised by how small the place was. I was expecting it to be the size of a Carmax, it was half that.

@MapNerd, how did you find their pricing on annual service items? I was looking at a NIRVC pricing schedule someone posted a while ago and it appeared to me their pricing for annual service was pretty steep compared to Freightliner’s.