07 Journey on Order

Pusherman · 10-18-2006, 02:19 PM

I am new to this forum, but not as a reader or as a coach owner. I have owned a 2000 Journey for over 5 years, and finally took the plunge and ordered an '07. Dealer tells me it should be delivered any day now.

I ordered the same floorplan (34H) as our current coach as we love the maneuverability of the shorter coaches, as we do a lot of camping in the state parks.

07 Journey 34H
Full Body Paint- Red Maple
CAT C-7 / Allison 6 Speed
Misc. Accessories

We have loved our 2000 but I wanted to upgrade to the larger engine and transmission, and get one before the new "Green Diesels" begin shipping. I will be happy to have others learn the maintenance nuances of those engines - not to mention the additional $5-6K in price.

Will let everyone know when it arrives and how the delivery process goes. I am somewhat reluctant as I have spent years debugging my 2000 coach.

I opted to sell my coach outright instead of trading - at a $15K savings.

Will let you all know how it goes.

Pusherman · 10-18-2006, 02:19 PM

I am new to this forum, but not as a reader or as a coach owner. I have owned a 2000 Journey for over 5 years, and finally took the plunge and ordered an '07. Dealer tells me it should be delivered any day now.

I ordered the same floorplan (34H) as our current coach as we love the maneuverability of the shorter coaches, as we do a lot of camping in the state parks.

07 Journey 34H
Full Body Paint- Red Maple
CAT C-7 / Allison 6 Speed
Misc. Accessories

We have loved our 2000 but I wanted to upgrade to the larger engine and transmission, and get one before the new "Green Diesels" begin shipping. I will be happy to have others learn the maintenance nuances of those engines - not to mention the additional $5-6K in price.

Will let everyone know when it arrives and how the delivery process goes. I am somewhat reluctant as I have spent years debugging my 2000 coach.

I opted to sell my coach outright instead of trading - at a $15K savings.

Will let you all know how it goes.

"007" · 10-18-2006, 02:50 PM

Welcome to the forum and congrats

on the purchase of a new Journey. Hope you have less problems than the 2000 many happy miles ahead.

Enjoy the forums and post often.

Joe-K · 10-18-2006, 03:37 PM

Welcome aboard Pusherman and congratulations on the new Journey. It's no surprise to me that you held on to your old one for so long. We still like ours and like you said, once they are debugged and tweaked to be just the way we like, it's hard to get rid of them.

smlranger · 10-18-2006, 04:20 PM

Pusherman:

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new Journey. The rig we have is our first DP and the more we use it, the more we like it. The more I tweak it, the better I get to know it, and the more likely I am to just keep it. The Journeys are just a lot of coach for the money.

Gary CA · 10-19-2006, 06:01 AM

Pusherman: Congratulations on your purchase. We have the 34H and really like the floorplan. My next venture is to change out my head-knocker tube TV in the bedroom for the flat LCD you have. Pound for pound with the 350 HP CAT the coach runs strong and handles nice in tight access areas.

Pusherman · 10-19-2006, 12:48 PM

Thanks to all for the 'welcome's'.

We love our 2000 coach with its many upgrades over time: Central vac, surround sound, new carpet and flexsteel captain's chairs, etc. We also love the 34H layout, and ordered the same floorplan.

We also love the upgrades made over the years to the Jourey, such as the auto well cover, dual fuel fill, commode closet, etc.

The 275 hp was adequate but just a little under powered, so this was the primary reason for opting for the 350hp CAT C7 and 6speed Allison.

The flat panel TV in the bedroom is a plus as well.

We had the factory add the oven, as this was not an option in 2007. The Customer Relations group where they do custom handicap coaches did this work -- for a fee.

Still anxiously awaiting delivery -- like an expectant parent.

jtharley · 10-20-2006, 03:42 AM

Welcome, lots of good info here and VERY helpful folks. Quite a statement for winnie that after 6 years of motoring you chose another Journey!

We love ours too.....

afrank1971 · 11-05-2006, 06:37 AM

Pusherman,
We ordered our Journey on September 13th and just took delivery last Thursday, November 2nd. So far, so good. Looks like we ordered the same rig, same color, same engine, etc... I'm still trying to figure out where the pre-wired wires or for the trailer brake controller, and how to get the dash apart to install my XM Radio in the dash radio Auxiliary port. But so far the thing is perfect with no problems. Our first trip is this weekend so we'll see if it's still perfect after that. Anyway, hope you will be as happy with yours as we are with ours. Happy DP'ing...
Alan

"007" · 11-05-2006, 11:40 AM

Alan Frank welcome to the forum

Congrats on your new Journey

Many happy and safe miles ahead.

Enjoy the forums and post often

If you want to be a member of Winne forum let us know.

afrank1971 · 11-06-2006, 05:02 AM

Yeah, sign me up. I didn't realize there was an official membership status to the Winnie forum. Thanks!

Pusherman · 11-07-2006, 11:22 AM

Alan,

We ordered ours on August 28th, and took delivery of the new coach last Saturday, November 4th. About 8+ weeks of waiting. But it was worth it. The anticipation was excrutiating!

Haven't driven it any further than from the dealer to my barn yet, as I have identified 2 problems which may be either Winnebago's or Freightliner's. It's going to the dealer (per their request) first. They are:

- The air system leaks down to '0' pressure in less than 12 hours. Freightliner says this is not right. My old coach kept air for weeks.

- The engine brake does not operate; nor does the indicator light when switched on. Electrical?

We plan on driving down to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving, barring no salt on the roads. So I hope that my dealer can figure out what's going on. Their service is quite good.

Otherwise we love it!

I sold my 2000 Journey outright, for a $15K gain over what the dealer would provide on trade. Only negative was losing the sales tax credit on the trade, but I still came out $10K ahead. I actually closed on the old coach the same day I picked up the new one. I was quite busy unloading the old coach at the last minute, as we used it the weekend prior. Otherwise everything worked out perfect.

We're still quite excited about the new one.

afrank1971 · 11-08-2006, 09:29 AM

Bummer to hear about the couple problems you've found. Ours I have so far been unable to detect any problems, other than the little wood buttons that they use to cover screw holes, they are falling out all over the place. Most of them I have found and can replace, but will need to contact Winnebago for extras as some have wandered off to unkown places. We are headed out for our first trip tomorrow morning, out to Death Valley from the LA area. We'll see if my "no problems" status remains unchanged. Good luck on your trip, and it's good to have contact with someone that has the exact coach.
Thanks,
Alan

afrank1971 · 11-21-2006, 04:25 AM

Don,

Well our first trip out was overall a success, however, my "no problems" status is of course no longer "no problems".

First, my exhaust brake is also in-operative. Trouble is, I didn't realize this until heading down a 9% 10 mile grade through Towne Pass on the west side of Death Valley pulling a Chevy Blazer. Needless to say we made a couple brake cool down stops along the way down and it was pretty exciting!

I also had trouble one day in camp where the motorhome would not start. Tightened all the batteries and that seemed to do the trick. However, just a couple days ago it wouldn't start again. Jiggling a tiny wire on the starter did the trick (I believe it is the ignition relay wire).

The coach is at LA Freightliner right now, they have confirmed the starter wires were loose and tightened everything up, so starting should no longer be a problem. They have not gotten back to me on the exhaust brake. Do you know yet what was/is wrong with yours? Mine seems like it simply isn't connected.

The other excitment I had was trying to install a brake controller. The pre-wired wire drop was no where near where Winnebago said it should be. Ended up finding it under the dash shroud, behind the instrument panel. I have a previous post with pictures if that's something you need to do, perhaps it will help.

And last, which you, as a more experienced motorhome owner, should already know, don't put heavier items in the upper cabinets. The last turn on our way home we went through a cross gutter that rocked the motorhome side to side and threw the liquor bottle out of the upper cabinet above the sink. Broke one of the sink covers, but other than that, luckily caused no damage.

All in all, I'd still say it is an overall good experience. Our next trip is the second weekend of December and I'm hoping to have all these bugs worked out by then. We'll see.

PS: Winnebago customer service has been superb (despite their diagram of the wire drop location being inaccurate). They have been very responsive to all of my email questions, and have sent me replacement wood buttons for the cabinetry as I requested and have even sent me a replacement sink cover despite that not being (by any stretch of the imagination) a warranty issue.

Savannah · 11-21-2006, 05:25 AM

Alan and Don, we also have a Journey albeit an 04 but we also had the problem of stuff leaping from the upper cabinets. I now use curtain rods in ALL upper cabinets where there are breakable/spillables. Works perfectly for us.

Enjoy your new Journeys. We love ours.

Pusherman · 11-21-2006, 08:45 AM

Well here is the current list of things which were fixed and in the process of being fixed:

Exhaust brake inoperative - connector behind switch was disconnected.

Leak in air system - Freightliner found 2 leaks in the air lines - fixed both

Minor adjustment of door to bathroom - would come open while driving.

Here is the worst one -- the coach is 'squirrely' when driving -- the steering wheel actually moves back and forth with no hands on it. The Freightliner service writer drove it and it scared him - white knuckels and all. It is currently being aligned, but I don't think it will be out in time for us to use for Thanksgiving (was going to go to Pa).

Glad to hear your other problems were minor (but still a pain).

afrank1971 · 11-21-2006, 09:17 AM

Wow! That doesn't sound like fun at all. Mine has a slight shimmey from time to time, and so I'm having them check out the alignment. But it certainly was not scary, nor did it ever feel unsafe. I hope they can get it fixed for you, and I hope mine doesn't ever develop the same situation. Your bathroom door reminded me of one other thing, my outside electrical compartment door came open twice on the trip. I have adjusted the lock catch, so hopefully that will cure that. Hopefully you'll get the bugs worked out and still be happy with the purchase.

Pusherman · 11-21-2006, 03:31 PM

Got the coach back today. The alignment shop went throuth it with a fine tooth comb. They said "this was the most square frame they had ever seen". No alignment problems.

Freightliner asked me to load the coach as they felt there wasn't enough weight on the front axle to make it track smoothly as I have yet to load the coach (been in the shop since we got it).

I will also adjust the tire pressures as I believe the factory loads the tire pressure to maximum. I will check the pressures tomorrow and adjust them accordingly. Freightliner weighed the coach, so I have unloaded weights, and I have weights from my '00 Journey; I will adjust for what I think the loaded weight will be. Not to worry; once I get it fully loaded, I will get actual weights for the future. My guess is that the tire pressure is significantly high.

Wish me luck, as we leave for Pa. tomorrow!

vicsryd · 12-03-2006, 04:16 PM

Pusherman,

Speaking from our experience...

Loaded and after a 4 wheel weigh we run 85/95 for tire pressure.

Weight on the front axle is everything in the 34H. It will always ride truer and better with a full tank of fuel and at least half a tank of fresh water.

This is due to the fact the 34H carries less than half of it's total weight on the front axle and has a 50/50 ration of wheelbase to overall lenght (i.e. it's tail happy).

Also, put your heaviest stuff in the front compartments, expecially the front right which is far lighter than the left due to lack of a slide.

Tru-Center or similar helps.

Jon

Pusherman · 12-04-2006, 05:33 AM

On our trip back from Pa with the coach fully loaded (full fuel and water, etc.) I got the coach weighted. Per the Michelin tire guide I am now running 90/90 (includes a little margin on both axles).

The steering feel is significantly improved, as it was delivered with 110/95 front/rear psi.

The coach still has some vibration in the front, and still wanders somewhat. Also, still when I take my hands off the wheel, the steering wheel will move left-to-right.

I have now had the alignment re-checked (dead-on) and the front tires balanced (they were off by 6/8 oz.). The mechanic swopped the left and right front wheels/tires as it also has a slight pull to the right. Did not help the steering feel.

When doing this work the mechanic told me that both front tires were 'out of round', one worse than the other, and the wheels were true. So my next challenge is to get the tires replaced with new ones. Michelin has said they will provide new tires. I am waiting out the weather at this point, as I don't want to get salt on my new clean coach (which is sitting in my barn). Hopefully we'll get a break in the weather (lake effect snow all this week) soon and I will get the tires taken care of.

Thanks for the info regarding weight on the front axle. It makes a lot of sense, and with the front tire pressure adjusted down the steering feel is significantly better (though not to my complete satisfaction (maybe due to the out of round tires?)).

Here are my weights:

Empty: Front = 6560 lbs Rear = 15180 lbs
Loaded: Front = 7860 lbs Rear = 16140 lbs
GVWR: Front = 10,410 lbs Rear = 17,500 lbs