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Officially a new Newell owner
#1

On Wednesday October 18th my family and I are official Newell owners! I flew to California to meet Ron and Susan over there, went through the entire coach and decided to drive it back to Sarasota, FL. Yeah, that was 2475 miles home.....as a first time driver of an RV or a Diesel engine, ever. Except downtown Phoenix (AZ), but mostly Houston (TX), everything else went absolutely great, I don't like downtown traffic at all!. 

I've been learning to drive it, how it responded (I've been sweating my whole drive home). I was particularly impressed during the mountain passes over Texas (from Fredericksburg to San Antonio) as there were some nice inclines but didn't have a single issue with them.

I left Palm Springs on Wednesday 18th at 6:30PM(PST) and arrived home on Saturday 21st at 12:00PM (EST) all in all, loved it. rested and fueled diesel a couple of times (didn't want to fill up because I was concerned that a full tank(weight wise) will be an issue while climbing mountains! Also, I was concerned with the engine overheating (no history of it as far as I know) but after being stuck in heavy traffic in a few places and climbing lake Charles bridge at a speed of 10-20 miles per hour and absolutely no signs of overheating left me with a happy feeling I can't describe Smile, it never reached 190f 90% of the time the needle was stuck at the middle position of the gauge, 170f perhaps?) 

So I've been stripping some things already as we want to modernize the interior a little bit (new flooring, new curtains, new wallpaper, etc.)

Really happy and excited about what is to come with an RV in the family!!!


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1988 40ft Newell Classic
8V92 TA Mechanic
Allison 740 (4 speed)
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#2

Congratulations on your acquisition!! Glad you made it home without incident. Keep us up to date on the improvements you make.

Michael Day
1992 Newell 43.5' #281
NewellOwner.com
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#3

that is a cool coach. i remember when i saw it in colorado many years ago after ron and susan had gotten it

congrats. sorry you didnt have time to stop by when you were in phoenix

tom

2002 45'8" Newell Coach 608  Series 60 DDEC4/Allison World 6 Speed HD4000MH

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#4

(10-23-2017, 12:00 PM)Fulltiming Wrote:  Congratulations on your acquisition!!  Glad you made it home without incident. Keep us up to date on the improvements you make.

Thank you!! I definitely will keep the group updated on the things we will be updating.

1988 40ft Newell Classic
8V92 TA Mechanic
Allison 740 (4 speed)
Reply
#5

(10-23-2017, 12:54 PM)encantotom Wrote:  that is a cool coach.  i remember when i saw it in colorado many years ago after ron and susan had gotten it

congrats.  sorry you didnt have time to stop by when you were in phoenix

tom

Yes, it is. I haven't seen any other newell but I can say that for an almost 30 year old coach it is in GREAT condition. Ron did an amazing job at keeping it up. I have TONS of spare parts I can use.

Honestly I thought I was going to be flying by Phoenix but the first 400 miles were terrifying for me (too many semis going much faster than 70 and to me they were passing by EXTREMELY closely so I was so nervous I needed to stop very often. By the time I realized that I was near your place it was like 7-8AM and I got stuck in traffic and I thought it was very disrespectful to call you that early to stop by. Anyway, I really hope is not going to be the last time I cross by Phoenix.

A funny thing that happened while I was stuck in the middle of Phoenix downtown traffic was that a lady in a black sedan yelled at me "Newell's Boss!" but by the time I found the horn the car was long gone! Smile

1988 40ft Newell Classic
8V92 TA Mechanic
Allison 740 (4 speed)
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#6

Welcome aboard.

Rhonda and I are up the road in Inverness, HWY 44 off I-75.

If the engine is DDEC controlled, I strongly recommend that you fit the coach with VMSPc, from Silverleaf. The gauges are notoriously inaccurate.

Richard and Rhonda Entrekin
99 Newell, 512
Maverick Hybrid Toad
Inverness, FL (when we're home Cool )
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#7

(10-23-2017, 03:34 PM)Richard Wrote:  Welcome aboard.

Rhonda and I are up the road in Inverness, HWY 44 off I-75.

If the engine is DDEC controlled, I strongly recommend that you fit the coach with VMSPc, from Silverleaf. The gauges are notoriously inaccurate.

Thank you!

You are pretty close, I wish I had space and a hook up! (now I know what they are for! Wink ) I work closer to were you guys are (North Tampa Area)

I have all the component and designed a circuit board to read the DDEC but it turns out that it is not DDEC, I was told that the engine is probably a year older and it is entirely mechanical so I'm researching on how to add sensors and get some digital readings instead of analog ones. Every 10-15 minutes, for the first 1000 miles, I will scan all the gauges looking of ANY change in them, on top of that the dashboard is not designed to be user friendly and the "backlights" are not helping read them at night (the needles are white and the marks are also white so it is difficult to read them unless you really pay attention to each one and the are inclined facing upwards to make it more difficult. I have plans to fix that and make it mostly digital.

Some of those sensors are going to be really easy to do, like reading cooling temps, but other ones I have NO clue how to read, like RPM, torque, turbo pressure, temp, etc. I'll eventually find out how it works because I don't want to miss a read on the temp gauge, for example, and ride with a hot engine for 1 more second than needed.

Anyway, I'll keep the group posted of this changes as I do them.

1988 40ft Newell Classic
8V92 TA Mechanic
Allison 740 (4 speed)
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#8

Your tach and turbo gauge are your best friends if you aren't sure your temperature gauge is working properly. On hills, keep the tach up around 2000 rpms to keep the fan blowing as much air as possible across the radiator and keep the turbo boost as low as possible if the engine temperature starts climbing. Past about 12-14 lbs of boost will really start adding heat loading on a long steep grade.

Michael Day
1992 Newell 43.5' #281
NewellOwner.com
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#9

Shy Can't tell by your signature in this forum the year coach, or engine, but we have an 8V82 Detroit Diesel that is pre computer. The prior owner, Todd Fickema added a DIGI-PANEL. I really like it. We use it along with the original gauges that are known the be slow to respond and inaccurate at best. The the DIGI-PANEL reads coolant temp, trans temp, oil pressure and battery voltage, has adjustable high and low limits with an audible alarm.  It give us some additional security.

I think you will find that these coaches do not respond like a conventional vehicle to overheating. When pulling a long steep  grade with high ambient temps, if we pull off the highway and let it idle at approx 1000 rpm min, the temp will drop 20 degrees or more in about ten minutes. Heavy traffic at low speed actually results in a dramatic temp drop after running on the expressway at cruising speed.

Your new coach is beautiful! Nothing like a "trial by fire trip" to get you used to your coach.   You will get lots of compliments on that one. Not far from Tom's area in Arizona at a border check point, the officer just wanted us to hold up so that he could tell us  'that thing is bad a**.
Can't wait to see your improvements.  Enjoy !

Guy & Sue
1984 Classic 40' #59
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#10

Nice rig!
Somewhere in the paperwork that came with mine that includes technical bulletins. One of them was from Newell that said if the cooling system was working as it should - at maximum engine load, the coolant temperature would stabilize at 125F above ambient.

Mine seems to be a late '87. It looks lots like yours. Would love to see more pictures - especially inside.

Our bathroom wall paper matches the bed comforter - not my first choice, but it is there & usable & in good shape -- so, it will stay for now.

1987 classic #159
8V92 MUI , Allison 740
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