Buying Advice - BF 26’ Rear Bed President from 1990-2000

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Dude
Posts: 368
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 9:21 pm

Post by Dude »

I LOVE the bunk beds. That was an option?
Matt
1989 26 foot Rear Side Bed
The Libals

Post by The Libals »

Apparently so, but it's the only one like it I've ever seen that is factory. Works extremely well for us. :)
CHARLOTTE

Post by CHARLOTTE »

Wow ! Never seen a bunk bed in a BF.....what a great idea... thanks for sharing....
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Dallas Baillio
Posts: 1181
Joined: Sun Jul 02, 2006 10:52 pm

Post by Dallas Baillio »

For information there was a period of time when BF offered three sizes of beds in the 26 rear bed model. Twin, 3/4 and full. In Dude's photo that may be a 3/4 bed.
Dallas Baillio
2001 26RSB
Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club Member
pglover19

Post by pglover19 »

Dallas Baillio wrote:For information there was a period of time when BF offered three sizes of beds in the 26 rear bed model. Twin, 3/4 and full. In Dude's photo that may be a 3/4 bed.
Which one is the largest? Is it able to accomodate an adult 6'3/210 lbs?
The Libals

Post by The Libals »

pglover19 wrote:
Dallas Baillio wrote:For information there was a period of time when BF offered three sizes of beds in the 26 rear bed model. Twin, 3/4 and full. In Dude's photo that may be a 3/4 bed.
Which one is the largest? Is it able to accomodate an adult 6'3/210 lbs?
Probably by yourself, but it's still going to be as short as a twin, so you will have to lay at a bit of an angle if you want to stretch out. The cabover is where it's at unfortunately for guys our size. It's really not bad though. Headroom is pretty tight once you get towards the front of the cab, but it's quite large and lengthy otherwise.
Dude
Posts: 368
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 9:21 pm

Post by Dude »

Calling mine a 3/4 makes lots of sense. The person I bought it off of, and the way I always described it, "bigger than a twin yet smaller than a double".

I checked the brochure to see if they listed the dimensions in the 1989 Brochure. The 2 twin beds were 32x76 each, my 3/4 is 46x76 and the double bed is 53x75.

Being 6'3" you would have .03 of an inch room in the twin or 3/4 bed :lol:
Matt
1989 26 foot Rear Side Bed
The Libals

Post by The Libals »

How did your fuel tank rust out?? That's definitely a first that I've seen. Makes me worry about my 40 gallon tank... The only one I know I'm going to need to replace is my 29 gallon propane tank in 2018 when it hits 25 years old. There are definitely no "trouble-free" RV's in existence. Born Free's in my humble opinion just happen to have less problems than a lot of others. Just this weekend, I forgot that my charger/converter is on the fritz and it fried for the second time my Dinosaur board on my Dometic fridge. So now I'm looking at a 200+ dollar charger/converter and a 100 dollar Dinosaur board and my fridge will only run on gas in the meantime. BUT, since I installed the extra trans cooler and gauge, my climb over the Santiam Pass and back yielded no more than 160 degrees in the transmission. So hopefully I just extended the trans life by a whole bunch. :)
bigdipper
Posts: 353
Joined: Thu May 27, 2010 3:13 pm

Post by bigdipper »

Sam Ryan wrote:
The Libals wrote:How did your fuel tank rust out?? That's definitely a first that I've seen. Makes me worry about my 40 gallon tank...
There's an entire thread I authored about the rusted out fuel tank in late 2008 here on-forum.

If Ford knew why, they weren't saying. One possibility is that something may have been left partially unscrewed or open, if you will, on the top side of the tank, thereby allowing atmosphere and even water in. Another possibility is defective coating or material(s) used in some fuel tanks used. It was a rare occurence, but not the only one known to Ford.
Don't know about diesels, but I have heard that emission system warranty, which is fairly long, maybe 10 years, has come into play with rust in gasoline tanks. IMO rusting gas tanks are not rare on Ford E series. Store them full!
Ralph
Ralph
2011 24RB
Former 2001 23RK
The Libals

Post by The Libals »

See I always figured that coaches came with their own custom tanks based on the configuration of the coach. Mine looks like a big box underneath the coach, where my pickup tanks looked completely different. What I see under there is a ton of room to double the size of my tank. I'd love to have an 80 or 100 gallon tank under there though!
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whemme
Posts: 2110
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:05 pm

Post by whemme »

The Libals wrote:Just this weekend, I forgot that my charger/converter is on the fritz and it fried for the second time my Dinosaur board on my Dometic fridge. So now I'm looking at a 200+ dollar charger/converter and a 100 dollar Dinosaur board and my fridge will only run on gas in the meantime.
The Libals,

Your charger/converter converts 120 vac to 12 vdc. That 12 vdc is used to power the control circuitry in your Dometic fridge whether you are using 120 VAC to run your fridge or whether you are using propane to run you fridge. What I am saying is that if you fridge's 12 vdc control circuits were damaged by a defective charger/converter, then your fridge would suffer the same operational problems when being run from either 120 VAC or propane.
Bill Hemme - Spencer, Iowa
E-mail: whemme@earthlink.net
2002 Born Free (Ford E-450 V10) 26' RSB
2016 VW Golf GTI - toad
The Libals

Post by The Libals »

Sam Ryan wrote:
The Libals wrote:See I always figured that coaches came with their own custom tanks based on the configuration of the coach. Mine looks like a big box underneath the coach, where my pickup tanks looked completely different. What I see under there is a ton of room to double the size of my tank. I'd love to have an 80 or 100 gallon tank under there though!
What??????

I'm puzzled by this post....?

Do you have any examples Born Free has used, utilizing; "own custom tanks based on the configuration of the coach?"

My 2002 Born Free 24' RB coach was built on the E450 Ford SuperDuty truck chassis, with the 7.3 liter PowerStroke diesel as it's powerplant.

To my knowledge, there is no difference in; "configuration of coach." EVERY Born Free coach configuration utilized the identical engine powerplants......in my coach's case, the 7.3 liter PowerStroke diesel.


.
What I meant is that every Ford van comes in as a cab and chassis and gets a coach built onto it, yes? Then they have to add everything to it to make it all work. To my knowledge, a regular Ford E350 van does not have a 40 gallon box underneath it for fuel, the same way my Grandpa's old 36' Dolphin Class A running on a Ford chassis with a 460 didn't come with a 110 gallon fuel tank from Ford. The manufacturer of the Dolphin coach put that in when they built it. That's all I was thinking is that Born Free may not utilize the factory Ford tank when building the coach because it may not work with the configuration. Of course the powerplants are the same, in my case a Factory 7.3L Turbo IDI w/ an E4OD and a Dana 70 rear. I hope I've clarified what I meant to say. Sorry about that..
The Libals

Post by The Libals »

whemme wrote:
The Libals wrote:Just this weekend, I forgot that my charger/converter is on the fritz and it fried for the second time my Dinosaur board on my Dometic fridge. So now I'm looking at a 200+ dollar charger/converter and a 100 dollar Dinosaur board and my fridge will only run on gas in the meantime.
The Libals,

Your charger/converter converts 120 vac to 12 vdc. That 12 vdc is used to power the control circuitry in your Dometic fridge whether you are using 120 VAC to run your fridge or whether you are using propane to run you fridge. What I am saying is that if you fridge's 12 vdc control circuits were damaged by a defective charger/converter, then your fridge would suffer the same operational problems when being run from either 120 VAC or propane.
What my charger/converter is doing is pushing about 7VAC creep onto my 12VDC line, causing my Voltage spread on the DC to change to about 19VDC+ and 5VDC-. I forgot last weekend to make sure I shut my fridge off for a couple hours when I want to charge the batteries because I haven't bought a new converter yet and sure enough, it fried the relay that controls the electric heating element. It's a different circuit path for the gas solenoid, so that continues to work, although the solenoid will chatter like mad when the gas turns on if this POS converter of mine is running. It's a simple fix of a new C/C. I just need to buy it...And it cost me an extra hundred bucks because I haven't done it yet...
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whemme
Posts: 2110
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:05 pm

Post by whemme »

The Libals,

Actually, when the Ford E350 and E450 cut off chassis are delivered to the coach manufacturer, they are delivered with the fuel tank already installed by Ford. E350 chassis for model years 2009 were equipped with a 37 gallon fuel tank and model years 2010 and later came equipped with 40 gallon tanks. E450 chassis came equipped with 55 gallon tanks.

While attending the Born Free factory rally in Humboldt, IA recently, there was a lineup of perhaps a dozen E450 chassis waiting to be converted to complete Born Free motorcoaches. All of these cutoff chassis were sitting there with 55 gallon fuel tanks already delivered that way from Ford.
Bill Hemme - Spencer, Iowa
E-mail: whemme@earthlink.net
2002 Born Free (Ford E-450 V10) 26' RSB
2016 VW Golf GTI - toad
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