MC-5 is Gone

[Fredward]

Sad to report that after much soul searching and nationwide research, we decided to sell the MC5 and buy a Country Coach factory built motorhome. Primarily my wife, but also I wanted slide outs and a few of the other things that come along with the high end Motorhomes. We purchased a 2000 CC Magna (sn5734) 40 footer. Very nice rig. Built on a Gillig chassis with a 10 Liter Cat.

We looked and looked and just could not find a similarly equipped conversion within our budget. And I have too many interests (not enough time) to convert one myself. We had 10 great years and about 80,000 miles with the MC-5 and now it has been purchased by a great couple in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They have lots of plans for it already.

This is a valuable forum and I'll continue to monitor and contribute, as appropriate. Lots of good friends through the years.

Fred

[Dave5Cs]

There was a 2001 Magna CC parked in the space across from us up in Lincoln city OR last week. We got a chance to look at it and a 2000 Blue Bird Wanderlodge by CC. Both impressed us. Very nice rigs.
Dave5Cs

[John316]

Fred,

Good for you all. Sounds like you all made a fun/right choice. Best of luck to you and your travels!

Cheers!

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

You just missed a great Bluebird with 3 slide outs by a few days Fred.

Check it out here: https://www.busconversions.com/bcmclassifieds/classified.php?n=2695

Click on each photo for a better view.

[Fredward]

Haha thanks Gary. That BB is about 4X what our price range was. But thanks for thinking of us!!

[luvrbus]

All that money you spent on the 5 Fred someone got a good unit enjoy the new ride my friend ? does it have the 330 hp Cummins or the 370 hp Cat  

[Scott & Heather]

Fred, I'd love to know who purchased it. We call
St Joseph home and it's close to GR and we go there all the time. Would Love to connect with them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sam 4106]

Hi Cliff,
The last few words in the first paragraph of Fred's first post says " 10 liter cat". No idea how many H.P that is. I'm not being critical of you for missing that since I miss things all the time. Especially finding tools in my shop.
Good luck, Sam

[sledhead]

congrats Fred and your wife on the new to you country coach . one of the best years both in pre egr engine and the build year of the couch .
I did the same kinda thing and feel good about it . just did not want to drop to much money into a build like I did on the mci and wanted a newer bigger engine + now I can get it worked on at most truck repair places . kind of sad to give up the mci but times have changed . time will tell how happy we will be with the featherlite after a couple of trips under our belt . good luck on your traveling

dave , karen   

[TomC]

C10 Cat will be around 370hp. Enough for motorhome, but a swap of a C12 (same block) could boost that to 500hp. Good Luck, TomC

[Fredward]

Yes Tom and Clifford the C-10 in the Gillig chassis that the CC is based on is set for 385hp. Seems to get about 8 MPG. We've put over 10,000 miles on it this season and still going. I have a buddy who just swapped a C12 in place of C10 and he's real happy with it. We really like the rig, but it's not a bus. Somebody paid $385,000.00 for it in 2000 and we paid a little over 10% of that for it with 90,000 miles on it. Always kept inside; still has a nice interior smell too.

Tom, we also looked closely at Trucks, but couldn't find anything as nice as this CC in a toter. Plus I wanted it to be a 379 Pete or something similar with that classic Class 8 look and they sell at a premium. Your idea to use the Cabover is brilliant.

Scott, the people who bought it are very talented, he's into classic car restoration and owns a company that fabricates material handling systems. So they are perfect Bus Conversion owners. I gave him a 24 month unlimited text and phone call warranty on the bus so we keep in touch. I'll ask him if he's interested in networking with busnuts.

[easystreet]

You mention that your unit has a C 10 in it. Just wanted to pass on a known issue in some engines to watch for in the C10 - 12. I haven't researched to see if it is just with higher mileage engines.
The cam follower construction consists of a the typical pivot arm with cam roller. However the roller runs on a bronze composite pin that is an interference fit to the mounting bores of the arm, instead of your typical roller with a bushing insert and steel pin passing thru the roller into the arm. Issue is that the bronze material pin loosens in the arm then wears the ends off the pin and turns the roller loose with the end result being very bad. Local cat dealer said he had seen the series with blocks / camshafts broken from this. It is the injector follower that usually fails. I had a first hand experience with this with a truck in our fleet. Mileage at failure was 560K. I don't know if failures have occurred at lower mileage.
Symptoms to listen / watch for: high pitch rattle / clanking hollow sound (coming from excess free play of injector push tube), exhaust sound denoting a non firing or weak cylinder, likely notable power loss.
I caught the one in our fleet as I walking past the truck after it had just come off the road and was idling / cool down in the yard. My immediate thought was that the overhead needed adjustment / something going on (recognized the sound of a push tube clanking) and noted faint exhaust sound of weak cylinder at idle.
Investigation: The rocker arm and adjustment screw were tight / all in order but there was excess free play. Decided to check for proper lift / travel - was slightly short of proper travel. Where did excess free play develop from? Removed push tube to investigate to see if cam could be viewed (suspecting that the lobe was failing). Reached down with a long pick and lifted cam follower (to see if I could get it high enough to view cam lobe) and heard a clunking sound when moving up and down slightly.  Roller pin turned out to worn about 1/2 way thru vertically at ends (Now souvenir on my book shelf) . Cam was junk on that lobe due to bad wear patterns on lobe face. Fortunately we avoided the big bang.

FWIW I would recommend a tow vs driving it in for repairs if you hear these symptoms. Dealer said his experience was that things degenerate at a pretty rapid rate.

[Fredward]

Good information; I'll listen closely. It seems like no matter what the engine make and model; there is something that is weak. I love this 10.3 Liter Cat so far. It's a beast.
Fred