How Good Does A Newell Motorcoach Look from Underneath?

well happy 2023 and I'm back here over at premium coach group here in Gilbert Arizona and we're going to do something that I swore last time was the only time we're going to do it so what we have here is a 2008 Newell motor coach and it's a beautiful coach but I have it about 23 centimeters off the ground on the lift because I've been asked to do an undercarriage inspection on this and when these things get all the way down on their airbags there's really no room for a human head let alone a human chest so I put this up here and I know I swear this is not really what I do but I'm here to help and I'm trying to help in any way possible and I thought you guys might like to see what it looks like underneath a newer motor coach built there in Oklahoma because the last one of these undercarriage inspections we did was on a Prevo H3 1996 Featherlite H3 and they're asking me to do a independent third-party undercarriage inspection on the chassis itself and they're a little bit different now on a Prevo H3 it's like this one right there or even a Prevost XL and XL2 like this one right here they are built as a stainless steel monocot Construction and so in general what that means on a Prevo is that there's not like a ladder frame rail going down the middle of it the sidewalls are load-bearing and have a lot of structure in it which does give a lot of room in the Bay Storage right there even on the XL2 chassis like you can see right there pretty wide open Bay with no cross member supports in the way on it either more like the fuselage of an airplane or the the sidewalls are actually part of the frame itself on newells like this 2008 right behind me also have a monocot construction on it so unlike a Prevo bus conversion annuals are built from the absolute ground up all the way to the roof in-house as one large superstructure one of the big differences between a newer motor coach and a Prevo bus conversion is that this chassis is welded steel not stainless steel and you can see right here how wide those basements are too not a ladder frame down the middle however you might notice that does have a frame up here now the sidewalls and the roof are painted aluminum but the load-bearing superstructure is steel now my friend Andrew Steele already put together a very comprehensive video showing the construction of a newer motor coach on his Channel rving with Andrew Steele and I will put a link to that video in the description below so I thought it might be good to see what it looks like under there just go ahead and borrow Travis's creeper at this is their Tech here and he's much better than I could ever hope to be I feel like oh we're not going nice and yes don't worry it still does terrify me to get underneath these every single time I do them even though I know they're safe all right so we're just going to do a visual inspection looking for any obvious damage I can tell you there's not a lot of room under there that's why I had to have it on the lift now one of the first things we should notice is that it looks like uh I don't know it's gross under here but that's all just spray foam insulation to help encapsulate the actual structure of it all this exhaust right there is coming from the Aqua Hot they do wrap it as it does get pretty close to the ground to kind of insulate it during at its hot points maybe to keep uh any potential fires from starting this guy right there is just the air intake for the aqua hot and right here Newell does give a port side a sewer dump that you can operate from the outside or from the dash it uses a marine style sewer hookup so you need to make sure that the cap is on which it is as we make our way forward this exhaust is the exhaust from the generator now on this coach the exhaust goes the generator is all the way at the very front and it runs all the way to the back and we'll actually go up through the engine compartment up to the roof to help keep down smoke and noise when you're using the generator again there's really not going to be too much to see right here this is all just a spray foam installation you can see a little bit of the framing right in there I'm sorry that this uh I'm sorry the creeper is a little bit uh squeaky you can see how they kind of cut it out for mounts right here and there would be amount right there for a different hookup for different options but we're looking fine here to the front we're actually getting to something uh interesting so on this nual it does have independent front suspension so you can see the lower control arm and the upper control arm there and you can also see the airbag so we want to inspect the airbags for any uh cracking on them I'm going to check the sway bar which we can see right here make sure the bushings aren't aren't damaged on them uh we're going to look at these bushings on the control arms to make sure the rubber right there is not failed or cracking or twisted of course you'll want to check all of our tie rod ends and supports to make sure that the boots aren't torn I can tell you unfortunately we'd already found something important in vital this should be in the giveaway right here is that generator exhaust it got crushed right here and it looks like this control arm got hit too so it looks like it might be bent if we compare it to the rear part of the control arm to the front part of the control arm so definitely hit something right there and it is bent uh that's extremely disappointing I was hoping not to find anything under here but I guess it's a good thing I'm inspecting it because that's what they're paying me to look for is for problems upper control arms we want to check the bushings on there too I don't see the issues there we have a right height control valve right up there all the connecting linkages look like they're intact see any problem with the harnesses here or with the airbag on this side and this is going to be the can for the this is disc brakes in the front I do like to inspect the rotors to see if they are heat checked and we'll try to check the thickness on the pads right in here so good news is I don't see any cracking on the rotors I don't see any looseness or overheating you might as well check and make sure the cotter pins are in Castle nuts there but you should definitely be able to see the uh bent control arm right there so that's an important one we found I'm concerned that they hit it here too so I think both the front lower control arms are bent this one's definitely not as bad over here looks like we have torn boot on that tie rod end right here is the steering gear box underneath I don't see any issues with that there with that and I'm not seeing a lot of rust there is a little bit of rust because this is a steel Construction you can almost see that superstructure right there for the suspension and then it drops down over here you can see that steel frame that they build everything off of so that's uh definitely disappointing bushing right there looks pretty good none of our nuts on the control linkage or the control arms look bad now we'll take a quick look here rotors are not cracked I'll look for the connection points right there and the harnesses look good and this does have abs so there's an ABS sensor right there we come right over here that weird looking fan is a condenser fan for the dash AC that's where it's located very difficult to get to unless you have this thing up in the air like I currently do that generator exhaust comes down to this Junction point right there and this is actually where the generator is located okay so they do have the uh condenser coil protected from debris in Vermin with that I haven't seen any bad issues there let's see I'm not sure maybe that hose is a little loose because that's going to be part of the steering close to the uh steering gear box right there so that's the input shaft so that whole thing does uh turn so we should probably secure that I think what that is is a coolant line from the generator uh from the generator right here so the the coolant lines right there I think we were looking at and on a new they put the radiator in a lot of different places for the generator but this one's going to be located right here and I think that's what we're looking at was one of the coolant lines so you should probably secure that on a new this is the radiator right there it goes straight underneath we'll see it from underneath but it uses a 110 blower motor that's good power from the generator when it's running I unfortunately need to write down a few things that I found before I forget them all right now since I uh since I found a torn boot on this tie rod end I feel like I should go back over to this side and verify my lazy inspection and look at that that one's torn and uh have any more torn ones oh this right there that one was torn I did see it from the other side but I didn't check on this side that one's not torn we already checked those those aren't torn and that one's not torn all our cotter pins are in place no checking on the rotors there and that airbag looks pretty good we have Road King shocks I'm not seeing any signs of leakage on that one or on this one right there so I think we pretty much have done the front half of this newel and I found a lot more than I was expecting to find but it's a good thing we're looking for things right for whatever reason even though I'm an inspector on this and I'm not buying it I'm not selling it I always hope to not find anything wrong with them because it makes my job easier even though as an inspector if I find stuff it means that I did my job now ideally if I was set up to do it I should be able to grab the wheels and check for any real implay on it but obviously I can't do that with the system that we have over here but there's one thing I do like to check on most news is they have this chrome threshold on all the compartments and it is mounted to that steel frame right there and if this fail frame gets Rusty the urethane adhesive that holds it on will pull off so if you can come up to this and pull on it and it stays on you know there's actually doing pretty well there's not rust that you have to worry about underneath there then you might also notice on the rear this is going to be the drive axle that's the tag axle this is a steerable tag and I don't have it off the ground because I don't know if this is a free-floating axle or not I don't want to damage the airbags or the steering linkages uh by lifting this too far off the ground I just need it up high enough where I can get under it safely without it crushing me go ahead and get back underneath here this is about where we started with that Aqua Hot exhaust you can see the installation it's like a plaster wrapped uh fiberglass tape this is the fuel cell right here it is a little bit Rusty and pitted but I'm not seeing anything I'm concerned about I do like to check the exhaust mounts make sure they're not torn and this whole exhaust isn't hanging loosely you know there's going to be the drive and axle check this airbag the airbag is not cracking which is nice it's difficult to see but there is a ride height control valve right up there and those are secured very well here's another one of those shocks and it is not leaking all right there's our rear sway bar the bushings look good on it I think thankfully I'm gonna have to abandon the creeper for you guys to get a little bit more room all right is that we got our rubber bushing right in there and that control arm looks on the rubber bushing right there it looks pretty good and this one right there looks good too all right into the belly of the Beast here we go all right so there's gonna be the let me try to get you guys a better view the rear differential is of course right there the engine's up there so the input is gonna be from the other side but we haven't gotten that far yet so on this upper Mount here that bushing looks good that bushing looks good and I think that one looks pretty good yeah it's not cracked okay not a lot of rust in here you can see all these tubes right there that's how they're going to run cables hoses another wiring that needs to go all the way from the front to the back you'll see it in the basement too this sway bar bushing looks pretty good and all those linkages look pretty good too Maybe a little bit is it no that one's not torn either no we're not torn there all right a rear brake can not seeing any damage to it already damaged it there hoses look pretty good see the back side of the rotors now those do look a little bit heat checked let me do this for you guys pull up inside here now we're gonna look over the top of it a little bit better View yeah I'd view all the way to the back all right so we'll move over here here we can see the differential we don't need that cover on there anymore now we can get all the information that we need off of it nothing leaking at the input seal there I don't see any leakage on the sides of it we have an air tank there an air tank there I wonder if I risk it since I'm laying underneath here but I will because you guys will call me out on it if I don't have to go get a pair of pliers hey look at that no water no moisture and we'll do the other one over here since I'm out of the way event didn't get covered with alien slime this time camera's going dead things are a little bit heat checked on that side too but everything else look good over there so let me go get you guys charged back up again now while we have it up in the air and we have a pretty good clearance between the tires and the fender here and go ahead and take a look inside so that airbag looks really good then we have our air dryer that looks like it's been fairly recently replaced and that upper control arm or that control arm bushing right there does look like it's in good shape you can see this airbag and there's that shock that you can normally see whenever you're looking at a new on the tag axle might as well see the other side too come on get over the top here no air dryer on this side that bushing that bushing looks good that airbag looks good that's a tag air bag and then on the rear suspension we have that one airbag right there if you remember correctly there was another one over on that side too so there's four airbags on the drive axle one airbag on the tag axle not completely what you might I'm not completely sure what you might call this rear axle there are no half shafts from the differential out it does have this lower arm right here that connects to these uh control arms right there so the whole thing can kind of pivot independently on this side to this side so it's not really a solid axle even though it's a solid axle but it does have rear disc brakes and the neat part is over here because we do have a tag axle of course the tag axle does not get driven by the engine whatsoever it just supports weight for steering and stabilizing but also has brakes on it this one's definitely a solid axle but there's also a steerable tag axle and if you guys can see it's got a hydraulic cylinder right there and these hoses look like they're doing pretty well you have the control for it there we have another drain here for the a little bit of moisture in that one not much so this is a powered steerable axle and we have our drag links over here looks like we got some broken tie rod ends and then the rotors on the brakes here look pretty good everything else looks like it's secured really well even have like stops right there so the wheel can't turn any further because there's no mechanical linkage to stop but they do have bump stops on there all right here we can see the rear shocks not leaking there these bushings are cracking a little bit I guess we can write that up here we can see the rear airbags of the tag axle are not cracking we have some control arm bushings there that one's definitely torn I don't know if you guys can see it or not but that one's torn I can make a note of that one that was not cracking that one is that boot is cracked rotor is not cracking it's not cracking as bad as the other one all right that's in good shape now bushing is not breaking and I would say it's safe to say that one's pretty loose up there it's a bit disappointing if not the bushings on those here's gonna be the transmission of course the engine's behind it because it's a diesel pusher pushes from behind uh I mean I'll jiggle it but even if it was at least it's gonna be there's so much weight here I'm not gonna find anything wrong with it the good news I don't see any signs of leakage is there all right now that right there is gonna be one of the valid air Leveling Sensor blocks so I know so level back here the u-bolt and drive shaft there's no grease fitting here and let's see there's one there 'll probably be staying probably could grease it would have thought you'd have a coax splitter right here I don't think it's being used to this coax what's it probably even used for what else one there come on foreign I'm not seeing any problems with that one pretty good there too and I think we just have to go look underneath the engine now so let me climb out of here we'll go ahead and take a look on the uh above the axles when we pull out and before we skip past the transmission I know the important question is what kind of transmission is it I don't really know I don't think it's an Allison transmission based on the oil pan or lack of oil pan down below but I think there is a data plate right here and it's made in Germany ZF have to get the information on that one all right now in order to verify that I don't know everything even though I call myself an expert I'm not sure if the bushings on this is on a control arm set up if we're calling it a control arm or a trailing arm I don't really know what the difference would be but I hear you guys telling me that I'm saying it wrong all right look underneath here there's going to be the starter cables are good might be something of a little bit of a leak here but I'd be hard-pressed to tell you what that actually goes to almost looks like it's the crank breather on top so that might be normal this is going to be the right there is just the filter for the power steering for the hydraulic fluid is what it looks like the frame looks okay this hanger on the exhaust looks fine and of course that's for the exhaust from the generator goes up through the engine compartment looks like we have a fuel filter located right about there this is all more accessible from the side compartment I'll show you that and then the engine block on this massive Beast doesn't really seem like it has an issue there's the engine oil filter I've not seen any issues with leakages there's our Big O Turbo looks like that's a new clamp for the turbos so if somebody did some work on it it's okay those things get pretty hot I don't think this is a twin turbo setup on this cat and I guess why we're here not that I could ever hope to do anything about it but we'll inspect the engine mounts on both sides torn just a little bit but all right a lot bit dang it okay so I have to recommend new engine mounts too all right let me make some more notes about everything I've found I'm going to crawl out I might as well take a look on the outside of the engine because we're here and as we crawl out we'll notice that Newell does give us a nice roller right there to Pivot on if we hit anything any road surfaces that way the oil pan is not going to take the brunt of it which is the bottom of the hitch there so since those uh front mounts were a little bit damaged I'm checking the engine mounts here they look intact that's good news no it's not part of the undercarriage we might as well take a look at the engine compartment they do like to hide their coolant reservoir over here now this is a pressurized vessel so if it is hot don't take that cap off they do have a sight gauge right there so if you can see coolant you're good there one thing I have been getting used to doing lately is spinning the fan looking for any broken blades on it or if they're hitting anything which I don't think we are we'll check all the hose clamps the belts make sure they're not cracking not cracking and I know what everybody wants to know is what size of the engine is this and let me try to get you the information over there C15 it's a very massive engine right there we'll go ahead and do my normal measurements there's my hand on top of the head so that's about one piston hmm it's crazy all right follow up right here it's gonna be the main grounds and they're not loose a belt um the hoses look good over here hydraulic hoses look good and this is a hydraulic Reservoir is the steering and the cooling fan are driven with hydraulic pressure but like that was looser than I thought it was going to be so I better make a note of that that doesn't seem right I promise to show you guys I'll take this engine side door open look inside to the engine starting batteries right there this is still a 12 volt chassis there's that fuel filter I promise to show you you have the manual primary right above it it's going to be the air compressor somebody's already been working on that with some new fittings engine battery disconnect and there's a better view of the engine data information right there there it was this custom-built one-of-a-kind Newell chassis is the only way you're going to get the amount of living space in any RV or any motor coach driving down the road but definitely it's nice to have these things I would not have been able to do anything I just did safely without having these it's to support it right now I have the airbags completely aired up so there's quite a bit of room right here but if I get these things out of the way the coach down off the airbags we'll be able to see just how quickly this can turn into eight inches of clearance and my head barely fits and there's absolutely no room to put your head in between the fender and the tire there now so that's why these are very important if you're ever going to get underneath a newer motor coach and it's more than dangerous it's quite deadly so be careful out there well guys there you have it we did a undercarriage inspection on this 2009 Newell uh we found a lot more than I think I was expecting to find but it's definitely a good thing to have it done uh this is a 2008 it's 2023 now so that's about 15 years of uh use on and I think we have about 118 000 miles on this coach so not a whole lot of damage other than those control arms which I think uh are indicative of something got hit or somebody did something wrong so it's a good thing we checked for that now even though I don't normally do chassis work or chassis inspections it's a service I was asked to do in order to help out premium coach group and of course the new buyer on this 2008 Newell uh it's not that I just don't like doing it but in general it can be dangerous work it's hard to pull lifts around in my Prius with me and while I didn't get too dirty today once I get dirty I can't go inside and do any other work because I can't destroy a two million dollar coach walking inside and damaging the carpet at any rate thanks a lot for watching guys uh I will remind you I I do check my emails and I do try to respond to everybody's emails uh if I'm if I haven't responded to you it's nothing personal I just get overwhelmed sometimes but again thanks a lot for following along and enjoying this with me I think we all learned a lot and we've now seen the undercarriage of a Newell thanks a lot for watching guys bye well Happy New Year guys from the tires up on their own chassis their own sidewalls their own structure they are built from the ground up the noodles are built in Oklahoma from the ground up one of their one of the bill what this is a this is mules are built mules are built in Oklahoma from the tire you can get the amount of living space possible and the motor coach of this size now this custom Newell chassis to help keep down smoke uh to help keep down snow the steering and the and the fan the steering and of course the the steering because the steering because now thanks to this custom now thanks to this custom built new CH now thanks to this custom nual now thanks to this custom-built new old chassis now because of this custom-built neutral chassis you

Channel: AZ Expert

Views: 73,403

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Id: QZCMf2PtnJQ

Length: 32min 53sec (1973 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 05 2023