tjZ06

Super-bitchen.  722 is stout for a NA motor too, I assume that's at the flywheel? 

-TJ

32 minutes ago, ChEFF said:

 

Great Info TJ. I've yet to see the London Aire's in person. Although they have caught my eye. So the 5th wheel experience was NOT a good experience I take it? I have looked at a Newell and they are extremely NICE. Have yet to drive a 600hp rig, but know it's going to be good. I've always liked the Essex and King Aire. They seem like the same Coach. And you're right, the interior finish is that good. Appreciate the feedback. Peace 

I do a lot with my RVs other than Glamis, and that's where the 5'er experience really falls down for me.  Of course, I've moved to smaller RVs at this point (current is 30' 11" tip to tip) so it's just much more pleasant to get into smaller parks for non-toy trips.  Heck, even a 45' pusher itself is shorter than just about any truck + 5'er setup.  But there's other things like towing something that doesn't fit *in* your Toy Hauler that come to mind.  Also bathroom/food while still rolling.  I always had open floorplan Toy Haulers, so another big thing with an RV + trailer was the separation and the ability to be all packed up other than just hitting a few buttons and driving away the day before you go home (vs. spending all morning reconfiguring from "living" to "road" mode in a 5'er and stuffing the toys and all your camping stuff into it).  When it comes to the Newmars, the quality was just on a whole other level, but like I said I'd say the interior of my Nexus is "toy hauler quality" so no big improvement there.  I've found RVs are better insulated, and are generally less volume to heat/cool than cavernous toy haulers too (and my Mountain Aire had heated floors, which rules when you're on hookups ;) ).  

As for the 600, I've driven them and honestly they don't feel "fast"... but it all depends on what the rig is.  They just feel effortless,   A lot of friends assumed my 40' Dutch Star with the 450hp would be "fast."  But at 40k lbs it out-weighed most of their 45' coaches.  My current RV is "just" a D'max and Allison 1750, but it only weighs about 18k lbs... with my loaded trailer behind it I scaled at 29k combined... still like 13-14k lbs *less* than my Dutch Star and stacker combo... 

-TJ

On 11/21/2023 at 11:42 AM, ChEFF said:

Peace

Used 2020 Newmar King Aire 4549 Motor Home Class A - Diesel at Transwest Kansas City | Belton, MO | #17U232360 (transwestrv.com)

I've owned 2 Newmars; a 2017 Dutch Star 4018 (450/1250 HP/TQ 8.9L ISL) that I bought new, and a 2019 Mountain Aire 4018 (500/1695 11.9L ISX) that I bought about a year old.  Nothing touches the Newmars for interior quality, the way they drive (with their exclusive Comfort Drive) etc. until you get into the $2M+ range of Newells and various Prevosts. 

The King Aire is, or course, the King.  However, like most things you pay the biggest premium at the top-top end.  If you want a 45' Newmar with the big 14.9L 605/1950 HP/TQ ISX then I'd look at London Aires.  You'd be hard-pressed to really pick up on the minor differences, and if you want a little nicer than a LA but still under the KA could go with an Essex (the lineup goes King Aire > Essex > London Aire > Mountain Aire > New Aire in the Luxury line). 

When I got my Dutch Star, which isn't even a Luxury Coach in their book, I was super happy with everything in terms of decor/fit/finish etc.  Yes, it had little problems to work out but I was never left for wanting more build quality or anything "fancier."  I really loved it being a 40' coach with a (passively steered) tag axle, something larger than the typical 6.7s you find in shorter As, and Newmar quality, but it could have used a little more power.  I weighed in one time on the way to Idaho with the coach and my 20' stacker with my Potter and a 2 seat RZR along with tools/spares/camping stuff whatever but I had *not* yet filled up the stacker's fuel/water and IIRC I was around 53k lbs.  450/1250 sounds like a lot for "just" a 40' coach, but not so much when the coach itself was over 40k lbs. 

I sold the DS because I thought I could go back to a 5th wheel, that lasted less than a year I think?  Then I went to that Magnitude I mentioned, and I really did like it but the interior quality and fit/finish are "toy hauler quality" not anything like the Newmars (same is true for my current Nexus, it's maybe even a hair worse than the Thor was, but better in other areas like the chassis itself and metal "house" construction).  When I decided to buy at the Motorcoach Country Club I "needed" a Class A again. 

I always loved the size and floorplan of my DS, and form 2018+ Newmar started offering that exact floorplan on a Mountain Aire.  With the DS you get a Freightliner or a Spartan K2 chassis (mine DS was on the FL).  With the MA you get the full-on Spartan K3 that everything up to and including the King Aire uses.  You also get the "small" 11.9L ISX at 500/1695, and you get the Allison 4000 (the DS was the 3000).  The MA gets you into Silverleaf and a bunch of other cool stuff too, and only weighed a little bit more (1-2k lbs IIRC) than the DS in the same floorplan, so the power difference *was* noticeable.  

Anyway, not saying I wouldn't rock a KA... and as weird as it sounds they are sort of a bargain compared to spending $2-3M on a Newell (though, Newells are next-next level... Newell had 2 new units on display every year at MCC and wow, when you walk them you "get it"), but if you're serious about Newmars I'd check out some of the "lower" models. 

-TJ

On 11/22/2023 at 6:40 AM, Kraut_n_Rice said:

 

Going back to an old thread of @tjZ06s. where he had to sell a very nice MH on a 4x4 Ford chassis.....would the Renegade lineup be allowed into "Class A only" parks?

The Moho I had before was a 2020 Thor Magnitude (specifically SV34) on the F550 4x4 platform.  I now have a 2023 Nexus Rebel 30R on the International (aka, GM/Chevy/whatever) 6500 4x4 platform.  

On 11/22/2023 at 6:41 AM, ChEFF said:

 

It would have to be allowed. RV parks won't keep out MONEY! That Renegade Screams MONEY! Peace

Sorry, I disagree. 

I owned a spot at the Motorcoach Country Club in Indio, and have stayed at several other high-end parks, I've never once seen a Toterhome (or any non-A) in them, and I've never once seen those parks bend their rules *especially* for a renter (vs. an owner).  There is absolutely no wiggle-room in the bylaws of the MCC for a non-A, whereas there *is* wiggle-room for the "10 years old or newer" rule.  Coaches over 10 years old can be approved by the board, and you do see that exception made often for things like Newells and Prevosts.  

I'll try to find some pics, my spot was pretty bitchen with a huge outdoor kitchen, spa, casita, and the whole back was gated in so the dogs could be off-leash. 

-TJ

Do you know the empty/dry weight? 

-TJ

3 hours ago, J Alper said:

To be considered local status, for a Vegan you have to make it to Buggy Roundup at Dumont. 

See you there this year? 

Hey, I ain't no dang Vegan!

What's the latest on Buggy Roundup, did they end up moving the dates? 

-TJ

As a somewhat n00b to Vegas I'm really glad it went off well.  I remember when San Jose had a F1 GP back when I lived in neighboring Santa Clara... it didn't go as well, and SJ didn't have the money and resources to keep F1 coming back.  I think Vegas did an amazing job for their first attempt, and I hope to see it continue.  It's awesome seeing stuff like this.  From the Raiders moving here (even as a life-long, and still, '9ers fan), the Knights having huge success (even as a Sharks fan from their first season... though TBH I'm about to be a turncoat, and not because the Knights won the Cup last year, because I don't believe in what the Sharks are doing in the front office and their focus on LBGTQXYZ#hockeyisforeveryone instead of finding ways to win), and now the A's heading this way (as a life-long Giants fan) it's really exciting.  I just hope Vegas and NV at large can turn back to voting read and do a bit more about the stupid Dem policies that are making NV just CA2.0. 

-TJ

Damn that's purdy!!!!!

-TJ

33 minutes ago, AndyORRN said:

GTJ? I haven't heard of that model. Nevertheless, she's a beaut!!!

It's a joke... my name is TJ.  My car is a G52 that has been fully remodeled.  The body is King Adam with paint by @PainterJoe but there isn't another identical car to mine, so it's a GTJ. ;)  Thanks though! 

-TJ

Favorite Funco..?

GTJ of course:

-TJ

On 11/13/2023 at 9:55 PM, L.R.S. said:

10 families in our group have Starlink and I have passwords to 5 of them. I'll have the rest by next week. @CHRIS Jhook a brother up! Already have Frick's.

I think you got mine, right?

To the OP, "hotspots" are still just dependent on mobile coverage (aka 4/5G).  They tend to have more powerful receivers and get better signal than a mobile phone, but they aren't going to do anything when there is no signal or do much better in situations like G where alllllllllll the phones are hitting one tower.  There are things like WeBoost that have WAY more power and will get you signal much further from good coverage, some of my Broverland buddies use them.  But you're still just riding the mobile networks.  As for Wifi boosters, those do work well but all you're doing there is making your Wifi network more reachable, if the Wifi network isn't backed by a solid internet connection that does nothing.  

Starlink or other satellite internet services are really the only solution.  I had the RV unit hard-mounted on my RV, and it works in motion too.  It's awesome.  The only downside is I'm paying a monthly fee and can't use it at home since I park the RV in the garage.  I hope someday Starlink makes it easy to have multiple devices and swap your "service" between them.  I'd like to have one on the house, or at least a portable one I setup a permanent stand and hard-wire (with quick-connects) that I could also swap onto my truck and Four Wheel Camper for Broverlanding.  But I don't really want to pay for a whole 2nd subscription (and continue to pay my home internet, because I need that online at all times even if I'm off RV'in or Broverlanding for my security system and other things).  

-TJ

Awesome and well deserved! 

-TJ

14 minutes ago, L.R.S. said:

Why? Because TJ

That basically sums up the thread... 

-TJ

10 hours ago, CHRIS J said:

My Dude!!  So rad

see you Thursday!

Hell yeah, see you then! 

1 hour ago, EmpirE231 said:

Well done! Car looks great! 

Thanks!

-TJ

4 hours ago, L.R.S. said:

I have about 1000 pics of this car and everything I did to it over the past few years.  I'll make some time to add to the thread.

Somewhere I have pics of all the AL work at King Adam's too... looking forward to what you have! 

4 hours ago, FENDERFAB said:

this car is beautiful, really nice job.

Thank you, though if I'm honest I can hardly take any credit.  The craftsmen involved really deserve all of the props. 

4 hours ago, SandTrap said:

Beautiful

Thanks! 

-TJ

1 hour ago, Cookie said:

Thanks for taking the time to show us, love your posts.  Car is amazing.

Thanks, I'm super happy with how it came out.  Huge credit to King Adam, @PainterJoe, @L.R.S., Desert Performance, Twisted Stitch etc. and of course @Grant@Funco and the crew for building it in the first place.  

-TJ

On 10/30/2023 at 11:01 AM, acefuture said:

Bringing back trip reports! I've been itching to drive my new to me car since I bought it before summer, but just about everyone in our group was out for halloween. Some of our gecko friends weren't getting in til Friday night or Saturday, and with the winds scheduled for Sunday I wanted to get in on Thursday and out on Saturday. So @Reece Pettersen and I decided to hook up the flatbeds, bring a tent, and go camp in the middle of nowhere. Keep it simple with tons of fuel, hot dogs & pb&j, and dune all day. Reece just finished the build of his new race car and threw a set of paddles on it, so we were both very eager to drive our new cars. We pulled into Gordon's Thursday afternoon and decided to go super deep. We were basically where sand highway meets the canal, and decided to call it home for the weekend. Pitched the tents and went duning. We tore up the virgin dunes from set 4 to test hill and back. Car ran well, but felt like it had some bad gas, so was popping and stuttering. I figured i'd just continue to run through it and I should be good. Had 35 fresh gallons in it and about 5 of older gas it in so thought it would run through. Watched the sunset and did a short night cruise and headed in to lead another buddy in. Deleted several adult soda pops at the fire and retreated to our Marriott accommodations around midnight. It was awesome being out that deep with no one in sight. 

Friday we woke up and went to the Diner to meet a buddy in the morning, then packed up for a full day of duning with no intentions to be back at any specific time. Full of 40 gallons of fuel, food and drinks we set out with the intentions of hanging in glamis. Hit the fast line we've done for years that flirts with the west side of the dunes and cooked our way up to the end of the closures on the Glamis side and jumped in once we were in the green zone. Crushed a good amount of great dunes up to RRE and then turned in to head to swing set. Drank a water and kept going. My car started to pop and sputter again so gave it a minute to try and blow through what seemed to be bad fuel, then continued the duning til we ended up at Olds. Once there I decided to pull fuel filters to see if I had something clogging them. Nada, looked perfect. Reece ran to Joe Fabs for me to see if he had a bosch pump, he did but was 4x the cost, and I said i'd rather drive sand highway home popping and sputtering than pay that price. I put it all back together and cruised around the Olds valley and noticed that when it was falling on it's face all of the gauges were dropping. Had to be a voltage issue. My voltmeter was still reading 14.2v so it was a bit confusing, but figured it was a ground problem. Checked all grounds and leads and everything looked great. I mentioned that I had replaced 1 of my two batteries because one of them died over summer, so we switched my battery switch to the good battery only instead of both, and it seemed to immediately solve it. Off we went to dig more trenches in the sand. The car felt like it wasn't getting all the power it wanted, but I was still blown away with the capability of the car. You can drive this thing through a brick wall and the wall would apologize. Ripped up a good section of the big dunes and ended up at the ledge. Hung there for quite some time catching up with some friends until way after sun down. Boogied back down towards RRE, bummed some gas off of @Nickc313 for my buddies car with a 12 gallon tank, and off we went back down south. Popped into the campground to say hello to some friends and ripped the open desert back to camp. Didn't get back to camp until 9:45pm. Spent over 12 hours in the dunes that day. Epic day.

Saturday we woke up and decided to find more virgin dunes in Gordon's. Reece found (knew of) a couple great lines through set 3 and 4 and we ended up at Patton with not a soul there for a good hour. My car once again was popping and sputtering, but after about 5 minutes of run time, it would wake back up and go. So now i'm thinking its a computer voltage issue. It seemed as though the computer wasn't getting the voltage it needed and was "re-learning" mapping and would all of sudden figure it out and the car would run. Frustrating the say the least. Duned a bit more and ran into some friends, so posted up and had lunch with them in one of the valleys. Tore up a handful more dunes and decided that after about 50+ gallons of fuel we had our fill and it was time to head. Drove back to camp, rolled the cars on the trailer and hit the road. Home at 7pm.

All in all it was an incredible way to start the season. Really fun going back to simple camping with the guys, no frills, no worries. Weather was warm during the day and perfect at night. Glamis was packed at the main sights and sounds, but the dunes were pretty much empty. PLENTY of virgin dunes out there. Dumped 70 gallons into the car and burned at least 2/3rds of it if not more. Although the car didn't perform the way i'd hoped, it was an absolute blast to be able to get to drive a car like this one with the capabilities it has. Truly mind blowing how well this car is built. Reeces new race car didn't have a single hiccup all weekend, and neither did our buddies Raw car. Can't wait to get the car dialed in and back in the sand box soon.

Make Trip Reports Great Again! 

Seriously though, I love a good trip report and that sounds like an epic trip.  12+hrs in the dunes in one day is more than a lot of us get in a full trip (unfortunately).  Also, there's something amazing about seeing those two cars and you're staying in a tent on the flatbed.  Effin' rad.

-TJ

9 minutes ago, Wash 10 Crew said:

Can we ask, what were the dyno numbers?
 

Certified

 

It only put down a bit over 700 RWHP, on what is said to be a stingy dyno.  That's plenty for this car (and me) but I know it's nothing by today's standards. ;) 

-TJ

6 minutes ago, ElCaminoManT said:

I don't want to take this thread too far off course, still working on the Hemi swap.

-TJ

3 hours ago, ElCaminoManT said:

Welcome back 

Thanks... the WJ still doesn't run, so not much has changed! ;) 

-TJ

34 minutes ago, URCLEVER said:

I love the car and really like without the wing, but you need a new steering wheel homie! See you in a few days!

Haha, they all fade after the 1st day anyway...

-TJ

24 minutes ago, J Alper said:

It looks 100% better without the wing, super smooth body line,  

Thanks.  I debated it, but my racing background wouldn't let me do a non-functional wing (or, I should see a counter-productive, but functional at speed wing) and I wanted the clean lines.  

-TJ

RIP Duner.  

-TJ

I thought for sure I had a thread on here about the car, but I guess not.  I don't have a ton of pics/vids on this computer, so I'll make this a quick one (well, by TJ standards ;) ).  I bought the car at the start of the '20/21 season, and it looked like this (complete with two-story roofline and idler chirp): 

FWIW I got it with the trailer in the vid which it drives right in on the paddles.  This car is an original Funco built/titled G52, and as such is the "narrow" car.  Still, both paddles touch the door-seals as you bring it in on a 96-97" door.  The car actually first hit the sand sometime in '15, and was only used 'til about '17 when the original owner ran into health issues and it was basically parked.  The basic specs are:

• Funco built/titled G52 (IIRC it's a 2014)
• 440cui LS7 (true GM LS7 block/heads) with 4.0L Whipple 
• Albins transaxle
• Updated Funco Billet Beadlocks
• Small Stereo
• All the FUN

I had a pretty short season with it, but definitely loved ripping the car.  I managed to break the left trailing arm.  The weld/tube broke where the outer tube is notched/welded to the little section of perpendicular tube that makes the suspension mount:

(NOTE: these are NOT my arms, just a pic I was able to find to demonstrate where it broke)

This caused the rear tire to kick in, and get into the bypass, bend the shock shaft, slam the shock into the body panel, and destroy the CV.  Funco now does a fishplate/strap around that point, and Grant got me a new set of arms double-ASAP.  In fact, the very first ride I bent a tie-rod a bit (still totally dune-able) and Grant had replacements out to me *that day* in G.  Yes, I go a little hard, but really neither incident was anything I would have expected to hurt parts.  When we looked closely at the trailing arm where it broke it showed a little rust, indicating it had been cracked for awhile.  As I said, the new design is sturdier there, and we all see how these things get driven in the UAE and how much power people are making with them here... so I'm confident it will be fine in the future.  Towards the end of the season I started hearing a little noise in 3rd, and I broke a CV, so I sent the car back to @L.R.S. for all new CVs and a refresh on the Albins.  IIRC that was the end of of the season for me, so it didn't come back out. 

Then the snowball got rolling...

Ever since I got the car I wanted to lower the roofline.  I sent it to King Adam and we started making plans which initially were just lowering the roof and blending it back into the existing body, maybe a dash change to go with a change to Holley EFI.  Well, that all went out the window.  Usually when Adam changes the roofline of a car he can hide all of the new joints/welding behind body panels.  However, I love the visibility in this car (I always describe it like putting on your favorite sunglasses: you may notice the edge of the frame when you first put them on/get in the car but soon they just disappear and you forget they're there) so I wanted to keep the set-back roof and no windshield.  That meant there'd be a highly-visible blend, and I don't think the best painter could perfectly match a red metallic frame with a few seasons of sun-fade and sand blasting so the call was made to go down to a bare frame.  That opened up a lot of options to do more with the body, so basically every panel is new now.  It went from a flat-side G52 to a full 3D body.  One thing I especially love is how Adam raided the "belt line" and blended the door into the dash much more cleanly than you typically see on these cars.  

Besides the body, the whole dash was reworked and I ended up returning my Holley parts and going full Motec, with a complete front-to-back rewire.  Generally you see a big screen right behind the steering wheel on these cars, but if you've ever driven one with that setup, you can only see maybe 40% of the screen.  So I decided we'd do a smaller screen (with built-in shift lights in the bezel) directly behind the wheel, but do a big screen in the middle.  We also went all Motec PDMs for solid state control (and logging) of all functions of the car (outside of the stereo, which is triggered from the Motec keypads but has traditional dedicated power wiring to the amps).  

Some other things we did at the same time:

• Chrome delete 
• New Funco Billet A-Arms (my car had the tube front arms, as you can see in the "before" vids)
• All new tie rods and spindles (IMHO better than stripping the chrome of the original ones)
• All new bushings/heims everywhere 
• Rebuilt the Midboards
• Aforementioned new 300M axles/CVs
• Aforementioned refresh on the Albins 
• ATI Damper (pinned)
• 100% new Interior 
• Absolutely stunning @PainterJoe paintjob (he absolutely killed it, I gave him a rough idea what I wanted to do, and he just knocked it out of the park)
• Full PPF

Now, on to the good stuff, pics/vids:

@L.R.S. is finishing up a few last things (including lining the front tin so the sub doesn't rattle it, I know y'all will catch that) and I hope to be in the sand with it this Thurs!!!

-TJ

On 12/3/2022 at 10:59 AM, Rockwood said:

https://www.trailforged.com/product/wj-complete-front-to-rear-4-link-with-flat-belly-skid/

That’s what TJ went with as a base. IRO has a long arm setup, but front only. Rear is stock length. 

From there, either Fox reservoirs (Factory, not the cheaper line) shocks or bypasses if you’re willing. 

Otherwise, a standard lift kit of your choice and a set of hood shocks will go a long way, just not gonna hit 40 in the whoops without long arms

Right... of course we did triple bypasses, bumps etc. on mine.  This vid was meant to show the fender cut, but sort of shows some of the susp:

A good bit has changed since then (bumpers, GenIII 426cui Hemi, big brakes, different wheels/tires, stereo, etc.) but that will give you an idea.  

-TJ