Looking to purchase used 1992 WB40

[Pete Masterson]

Congratulations! Welcome to the BB owners club...

The chassis AC is commonly not working... and there's some debate as
to whether it's worthwhile to fix. (Mine's fixed...)

Sounds like the tires are ready to replace. Scrubbing of the tag
tires is common ... especially during tight maneuvers. It helps to
'dump' the tag axle air bags (switch on the dash) if you're doing
much low speed turning. (Keep the tag axle fully aired up while on
the road... dumping the tag axle air bags is only for low speeds.)
BTW, if your going to use your jacks, dump the suspension first --
and always start with the tag axle since you don't want to strain it
with the full weight of the rear of the coach.

Can't comment on the retarder or mud flap (my '95 is different) ...
just be real sure that the radiator is really clear. When I inspected
mine (at purchase) it looked pretty clean -- but it was _ONLY_ the
area swept by the fan. Everything outside that was totally plugged --
and near-impossible to see. The air charge radiator (made of shiny
aluminum that was spotless) is in front of the water radiator so you
can't see from the outside. The fan shroud and AC condenser on the
inside make it very hard to get a good look from the inside... The
most common source of the clogging is from the breather tubes -- they
release a fine mist of oil -- that the fan sucks under the side of
the body right back through the radiator where the resulting coating
of oil allows dust to adhere. Turns into concrete, eventually.
Relocating the breather tubes so they exhaust to the curb side would
help. (It's on my to do list. The 8v has 2 breathers ... but my
Series 60 only has one ... that some genius located on the same side
of the engine as the fan. <sigh>)

Pete Masterson
aeonix1@...
'95 Blue Bird Wanderlodge WBDA 42'
El Sobrante, CA




On Mar 11, 2007, at 6:44 PM, mbrund wrote:

> Well we went and did it now, we went from being wannabee's last week
> to a newbee this week. We looked at two WB this week, a 1994 PT40
> (well used and abused), and the white 1992 that was on Bird
> Connection. The 1992 was in great shape for its years, we end up
> purchasing the unit after going over it for 3 hours, and then 1 hour
> drive on rought roads and interstate.
>
> The only items we could find that had issues where: Front A/C was
> low on freon, the tag axle tires have scrubbed off the inner tread
> on both sides, the other tires while not dry rotted show significant
> wear, the backup monitor does not work. That was pretty much the end
> of the list of issues.
>
> One issue that concerned me during the test drive revealed itself in
> the user manual. I had the retarder in apply, and set the cruise
> control at 65mph. We happen to hit a large expansion joint in a
> bridge that gave us one heck of a jolt, and the cruise control shut
> down. We expect that the retarder might have kicked in and shut off
> the cruise when the rear axle went over the bump because we had no
> more issues with cruise other than that incident as I turned off the
> retarder after that.
>
> The prior owner removed the rear body wide mud flap, so when I
> inspected the radiator for debris I was surprised how clean it was.
> And that is when he told me he removed the mud flap because he was
> told it would cause an issue.
>
> Engine campartment was clean, batteries showed no signs of
> corrosion, no oil leaks in the under carriage other than at hose
> joint for the hyd. fluid that I believe drives the power
> steering/fan (it is a hose right under the radiator).
>
> Michael Brundridge
> 1992 WLWB PT40 - Georgetown, TX



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