Newbie Here - Thinking of Buying

[BikerJohn]

Ok, so to make a long story short, my wife and I were looking at Class B RV's and just decided that the size was too small for our two children and ourselves (our children are in 4th grade and 1st grade). (plus the price was always too high) So we pretty much gave up looking, but then my wife ran across a 2004 Born Free 26 RB for sale. So far it looks like it pretty much fits the bill for us. We cycle a lot and will use it for short road trips to places where we haven't biked before, making the overnight trips much easier. Also we are planning a trip "out West" to Yellowstone, Tetons, and the Badlands this summer and we are hoping this will work out well for our girls to be able to see the country.

So, my real question is what do I need to look at in a 2004 to make sure it is still good quality? What have you seen fail on motor homes of this age, besides the normal stuff to look for? Is there a common problem we need to be aware of? I know we need to look for water intrusion, making sure the generator works, making sure the powertrain looks good, electrical system to look at, AC, awning functionality, etc. The brakes will probably need to be replaced soon, etc. (it does have 40,000 miles on it). Any thing in particular I need to watch out for?

Any advice will be appreciated! Thanks for helping out a hopeful new RV owner!

John

[whemme]

With on 40,000 miles on it, it sure should not need brakes yet but I would recommend that the disk brake sliders be re-lubricated as a stuck slider can cause a dragging brake and severe over-heating. The cost to fix that damage is high.

Otherwise, a close visual inspection should reveal whether the owner took good care of the coach or not. Most Born Free owners do since these are not check Class-C motor coaches to buy in the first place.

This forum has a total of 15760 posts on a total of 2258 different topics going back to year 2005 when it was started. Recommend that you search back thru appropriate topics to learn some of the maintenance issues.

Here is a clickable link to a RV pre-purchase inspection checklist posted by Roger on this forum in the past that might be helpful:

http://changingears.com/rv-checklist-inspection.shtml

[William Higbie]

When we bought our 97, 26 rsb it had 70k miles on it. We took it to the ford dealer for a engine, transmission, air cond, brakes, front end, check. Then we went to a reputable rv repair business and had the air cond, water systems, propane systems, fans, generator, and other rv systems checked. They all passed with flying colors. The interior and exterior was immaculate which showed it was well taken care of. In addition the two previous owners had complete maintenance records. We verified the age and condition of the tires. 12k miles later we are thrilled with the coach and have had no trouble. As with anything used there is always a risk you take that you are buying a lemon. After all the inspections you can still end up with a coach that gives you lots of problems but you do drastically reduce the chance of that happening with due dililgence.

[al1florida]

Tires, Tires, Tires! Check the age of the tires. Any tires over 5 years old should be replaced. You can't tell the condition by just looking at the tire.

Here is a link on how to check the date code on the tires:
http://tinyurl.com/6uj9ha7

The code is only on one side of the tire, so you may have to check the inside of the tire to find the code.

The earlier posts are right on what to do about checking the rig checked out.

[bill crommett]

What Al said about tires is right on. Consider how much damage you can incur by saving a couple of dollars on old tires ready to blow
Another thing to check is the charger-convertor system. Look up Bill Hemme's tutorial on changing out the poor factory charger for a smart charger that will maintain good battery condition.. I boiled a pair of batteries dry before I installed a smart system, and the money was some of the best spent bucks I have ever paid.

[jeffcarp]

I can't really add anything else of value in terms of things to look at to evaluate a used coach. I just wanted to say that your family sounds a lot like mine and we are infinitely happy with our decision to buy a Born Free for our family.

My kids were 9 and 6 when we bought our first RV - a Class B Roadtrek in 2008. That lasted 3 years before we learned that it just didn't meet our needs. It was financially painful to get rid of that, but you couldn't keep going with a bad decision. The saying "you get your second house right" is right on in our case. Nothing against Roadtrek at all - it just wasn't right for us.

The only advice that I will give you is to be brutaly honest with yourselves about the sleeping options. "We'll make it work" is a bad thing to say in the rush to buy something.

With a family of 4 we've been through every possible combination of sleeping arrangements, some for as little as half a night. Think through all of the options and try to find something you think makes sense for you before you buy it.

We bought 4 self-inflating camping mats from REI: http://www.rei.com/category/4500449 and put 2 on the cab-over and 2 on the jack knife sofa. It makes a world of difference for me (6'-0", about 195 lbs) to sleep in the cab over comfortably. The smallest child goes up there with me, with the larger child and my wife on the jack knife sofa. There are times when my larger child will end up on the aisle floor and with this camping mat that is a legitimate and comfortable option. Think through all of that - for example, with a kid on the floor in the aisle, can someone still get up and make it to the bathroom for example.

Good luck to you. Be glad to help with any questions you have related to using the BF with a family with young kids.

[William Higbie]

Big Amen Leaping Lizard. I am not mechanically inclined by either nature or by desire so I usually have Ford or the Local RV repair guy do all my work. I am lucky that I have a good coach, but the repair records of the previous owners show lots and lots of repairs and maintenance such as 1200 dollars for tires and it is now time for me to put on new tires. My coach also needed the fridge replaced by a prior owner and that was expensive. How about shocks, muffler and tail pipe, batteries, repairs on generator, ball joints, and many more things. These repairs and maintenance items were not cheap. When you buy a Motorhome keep your wallet open. If you buy a good coach your wallet needs to be open occasionally. If you buy a coach with problems you need to keep that wallet wide open at all times. I rationalize owning a motorhome by the fact that I get enjoyment out of it. It makes absolutely no financial sense but we have to pay for our enjoyment and I am willing to do that.

[charlesbell]

William, You are so correct. It would be cheaper to stay home, watch the grass grow, and wait for the grim reaper. We Born Free owners choose an alternative path

[Laker]

The OP mentions a 26' RB Born Free. I don't think BF built a 26' RB for many years before changing to the 24' model. What is the basic difference between these 2 models? I know the space allocated to the 2 captains chairs and pull-up table is actually SMALLER in the 26' then in the 24'

Other difference?

Any owners of 26' RB want to share their advice or experience with this model?

Thanks

Ok, so to make a long story short, my wife and I were looking at Class B RV's and just decided that the size was too small for our two children and ourselves (our children are in 4th grade and 1st grade). (plus the price was always too high) So we pretty much gave up looking, but then my wife ran across a 2004 Born Free 26 RB for sale. So far it looks like it pretty much fits the bill for us. We cycle a lot and will use it for short road trips to places where we haven't biked before, making the overnight trips much easier. Also we are planning a trip "out West" to Yellowstone, Tetons, and the Badlands this summer and we are hoping this will work out well for our girls to be able to see the country.

So, my real question is what do I need to look at in a 2004 to make sure it is still good quality? What have you seen fail on motor homes of this age, besides the normal stuff to look for? Is there a common problem we need to be aware of? I know we need to look for water intrusion, making sure the generator works, making sure the powertrain looks good, electrical system to look at, AC, awning functionality, etc. The brakes will probably need to be replaced soon, etc. (it does have 40,000 miles on it). Any thing in particular I need to watch out for?

Any advice will be appreciated! Thanks for helping out a hopeful new RV owner!

John

[Horton]

The main difference between the 24'& 26' RB is the storage closet (the best I can tell). We have decided to full time so purchased a 40' diesel pusher with two slides. I can tell you that we have had a difficult time finding room for the items we had in our 26' class C (not considering the outside storage compartments).

We love ' Lucy' and it will be hard to let her go! It's just that after two months of sitting we needed to do something! If we were going to continue to take those long road trips there is no way we'd change! Born Free's are rock solid!

We will be listing our's soon.

[docgreen]

I purchased a 2002 26RB with 112,000. This RV has been taken care of and was in great shape. New tires, 100,000 plugs, belts, hoses, etc. I purchase this because a had a boat and everytime I went to use it, sometime was WRONG. When I had it repaired they said it was a lack of use that caused the problem. RV that have low miles means it was sitting a lot and this is not good for RV or boats. I would not be afraid of high mileage if it has been serviced regularly. Ford 450 should go 200,000 miles with no trouble.