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Introduce Yourself!

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Ron Dittmer

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  • Ron and Irene
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    • My 2007 2350 Phoenix Cruiser
  • OwnPC: Yes
  • NewUsed: New
  • PurchDate: June 2007
  • Model: 2350 Ford
  • ModelYear: 2007
  • Slide: No
  • IntColor: Cherry Green&Gray
  • ExtColor: Full Body Gray
  • Location: N/E Illinois
Re: Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #60 on: May 13, 2010, 07:35:33 pm »
Wow just signed a contract for a 2010 2551....excited to start on our new journey!  Loved hearing about Karma's rennovations...especially the galley mirror!!??!! who would have needed that there?  And making a book shelf from the valance - I was wondering where to keep my books- great idea!

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Since you are placing an order on a PC, request they delete the mirror and place a couple extra valences in the RV on the side for you.  They might even do it for free given you are sacrificing the mirror.  The factory is very flexible.

We requested a few deviations too.

I asked for the ladder and roof rack be placed inside the RV.  I didn't like it so I asked for it in pieces in case I changed my mind later.  3 years later and I still love ours without it.

Given I have no slide, I requested the subwoofer be placed in the front dinette bench.  I like that deviation too.
« Last Edit: May 13, 2010, 07:37:22 pm by ron.dittmer »
Ron (& Irene) Dittmer

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mciai2000

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  • PurchDate: 09/2011
  • Model: 2552
  • ModelYear: 2012
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  • IntColor: grey
  • ExtColor: full body night shadow
  • Location: Pennsylvania
Re: Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #61 on: May 13, 2010, 10:04:35 pm »

Hello All.  Our unit arrived here in N E PA. on Tues of this week.  Our 2010 2350(Ford)with slide and air bed sits in the garage waiting for its first trip.  We are a family of four ( 2 boys age 11 and 8) and are waiting for school to end so that our adventures can continue.  We were going to wait  a little longer to purchase this unit but I sold our 2003 Winnebago Vista in 2 days!!.  Gotta love the internet. We ordered the unit with an in motion sat as we are die hard Penn State Fans and need to see the games as we travel.  Love the unit so far.  Kermit's son delivered the unit and about a 1/4 mile from our house he made  sharp turn and scratched the bumper with his toad! His toad was damaged more than the unit and he had a full size Jeep. Ah, such is life. He was upset to say the least.  Life is way too short to worry about things like that. Kermit said to have it fixed and send him the bill.  Kermit's son could not believe I was not upset. Told him I own an insurance agency and deal with this stuff on a daily basis.  Now I have to transfer the license and pay the 6% PA sales tax. Yikes!
family is a passion...work is a requirement
2012 2552 full body paint(Phoenix # 2)

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gradygal

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  • PurchDate: March 2012
  • Model: 2910
  • ModelYear: 2013
  • Slide: Yes
  • IntColor: cherry
  • ExtColor: slate gray full body paint
  • Location: Florida
Re: Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #62 on: May 14, 2010, 08:28:14 am »
I agree with both of you about the mirror in the galley. I guess it serves the purpose of taking care of cleaning any splatters from the stove but I think that something else would serve the same purpose and not look so dumb.

I would love to remove ours but don't think that is going to happen.

We have made some modifications to our 2350 Sprinter. Have tried to post pictures on the Forum to no avail.

We love our PC but sometimes I think that they could use an interior decorator.

Judi
Punta Gorda FL
Judi and George Nicholson
Punta Gorda FL

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PJ Corey

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  • PurchDate: 4/2010
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  • ModelYear: 2010
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Re: Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #63 on: May 14, 2010, 08:40:32 am »
Once we got the mirror out of there we put up a tile surround using flexible grout.  Looks very classy.  I agree.  Style is not the hallmark of rv makers but we always have to get past the nasty upholstery and valances and curtains, all made out of petroleum products that make me sneeze and give me a rash,  and look at floor plans, the reputation of the manufacturer, etc., then rip everything out and start over.  Right now the problem we are having with the coach is excessive play in the steering wheel which makes driving a chore.  Folks on another forum suggest I go to a reputable truck place and have the alignment checked and consider a steering stabilizer.  That is on tap for next week. 

Re: Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #64 on: May 14, 2010, 10:16:11 am »
Paula,

If you have Photoshop (CS or Elements), you can reduce the image size by cropping it to say 4" X 6", then reduce the dots per inch to print (240) or screen (72) resolution, then when saving reduce the quality from 10 or 12 to maybe 1-5. These steps allow to reduce a 10MB .jpg file down to ~100KB.

NC Sailor
« Last Edit: May 14, 2010, 10:18:26 am by NC Sailors »
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Ron Dittmer

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  • Ron and Irene
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    • My 2007 2350 Phoenix Cruiser
  • OwnPC: Yes
  • NewUsed: New
  • PurchDate: June 2007
  • Model: 2350 Ford
  • ModelYear: 2007
  • Slide: No
  • IntColor: Cherry Green&Gray
  • ExtColor: Full Body Gray
  • Location: N/E Illinois
Re: Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #65 on: May 14, 2010, 12:05:36 pm »
Funny I don't have a mirror behind the stove-top in our 2007 2350, wondering if your mirror would be nice.

Cound someone post some pictures of your mirror?  Maybe I'll get one.
Ron (& Irene) Dittmer

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Ron Dittmer

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  • Ron and Irene
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    • My 2007 2350 Phoenix Cruiser
  • OwnPC: Yes
  • NewUsed: New
  • PurchDate: June 2007
  • Model: 2350 Ford
  • ModelYear: 2007
  • Slide: No
  • IntColor: Cherry Green&Gray
  • ExtColor: Full Body Gray
  • Location: N/E Illinois
Re: Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #66 on: May 14, 2010, 12:07:41 pm »
Right now the problem we are having with the coach is excessive play in the steering wheel which makes driving a chore.  Folks on another forum suggest I go to a reputable truck place and have the alignment checked and consider a steering stabilizer.  That is on tap for next week.  
I replied to you on the other forum, copying it here too.

Hi Paula, It's me Ron Dittmer from the Cruisers forum.

Your Phoenix Cruiser 2551 at 26'-5" long, 93" wide, and 10'-1" to the top of a/c unit, built on an E450 chassis is a lighter weighted house on the heaviest duty chassis and drive train available anywhere. Most motor homes using the E450 chassis are taller, wider, longer, and heavier. My point being, you have a lot of margin considering weight and engine power.

As other Ford 1998-2010 E350 and E450 owners say about their own Ford V10 engine, it's strong, but it's also very noisey when going up inclines. You may think it's working hard, but by Ford's design, it spins very fast to get up hills. Do not be concerned about it. You'll simply have to get used to hearing the engine reving as a normal thing. The same when going down hill. When I do engine braking down-hill, the engine revs way up too, sometimes near red-line on the tachometer. For a little "extra" peace of mind, I now use full synthetic motor oil.

About your PC-2551 handling issues. You sound like me when we bought our PC-2350. As others above here stated, and yourself confirmed, take it to a truck suspension shop, not an automotive suspension shop. If you have limited funding for suspension upgrades, then you will want to do improvements one step at a time. I advise to consider evaluating/upgrading in this order.

1a) Tire pressure is very influential in handling and quality of ride. Tire pressure is determined by the weight on it. Ask Phoenix USA what the weight is on front and rear tires, then follow the chart in Michelan's website on pressure per weight.

1b) Front wheel alignment. Our 2007 PC-2350 alignment was off by so much that the truck shop had to use offset bushings to get the camber set properly. Phoenix USA may cover the cost of a wheel alignment. I heard them covering for another PC owner. Our front wheel alignment cost us $170 three years ago. BTW: The shop told me most motor homes require offset bushings for a proper alignment, so the Phoenix Cruiser is no exception.

When you take the RV in for a wheel alignment, fill the fresh tank with water, empty the waste tanks, and fill up the RV with a full tank of gas and propane. Also keep your gear, dishes, etc. inside. The mission is to get an alignment done with the RV weighted as it would be during a voyage. If you want to go an extra step, place weights just behind the driver and passenger seats to represent two adults in the front cab. I did that.

2) Replace your Ford steering stabilizer with a heavy duty one. We have a Safe-T-Plus and it does a great job. But there are other good brands out there too. Ours eliminates driver over-reaction and "steering wheel floaties".

3) Replace your shock absorbers with Bilsteins or Koni-RV shocks. The shocks on your E450 chassis could be the same used in the E350, and the E250 passenger and cargo van. That was the case in 2007. If true today, those shocks are not ideal for any motor home where the chassis is loaded to near capacity, 100% of the time because a house is always on it.

4) Replace your Ford rear stabilizer bar with a heavy duty one from Helwig, Roadmaster, or other brand. A heavy duty stabilizer bar significantly reduces side-to-side rocking motion like a boat on water.

5) Replace your Ford front stabilizer bar for the same reasons.

6) If you tow anything at all, you might find the rear end of your PC-2551 moving side to side horizontally, commonly referred to as "tail-wagging". If so, then consider a rear trac bar. That will eliminate that unwanted motion.

We had all this done at once, costing us $3900. It was a lot of money to spend, but given the experience addressing handling issues with our old RV of 24 years, I wasn't going to fool around this time to try and save some money. We decided to do it all at once, be done with it, and enjoy this "perfect handling" RV from DAY ONE. Our PC-2350 handles like a dream. And it tows a vehicle 100% of the time too.
Ron (& Irene) Dittmer

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PJ Corey

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  • ModelYear: 2010
  • Slide: Yes
E450
« Reply #67 on: May 14, 2010, 02:28:53 pm »
Ron, thanks for that thoughtful response.  It helped ease my mind about the noise that engine makes going up inclines.  The other add ons you suggested are already on my list of things to do down the road, as it were.  I have an appt. with a truck place down in Albuquerque to look at the play in the steering wheel.  From everything I have read on other forums it looks like this might be an alignment issue that is easily corrected.  We have had some fierce winds here in NM lately and driving the Cruiser feels like driving in jello. 

Hey, I think you should put a mirror up in the galley.  When I told Stuart it was a design flaw he told me that I was the only person who thought so and that everyone who had it loved it. So, you should definitely get the mirror as per Stuart.  ;)

Paula
Santa Fe


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Bob Mahon

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  • PurchDate: 6/2011
  • Model: 2552
  • ModelYear: 2011
  • Slide: Yes
  • IntColor: Tan/Gray/Cherry
  • ExtColor: Lower Slate Gray
  • Location: PA
Re: Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #68 on: May 17, 2010, 04:42:48 pm »
Hi all,

As you can tell, I'm new to this forum.
We decided to trade down from an Alpine Coach to a 2007 2350 with electric sofa/bed in slide.

We are quite excited and have already received help from PC.

Nice show.

Bob
Carry on, regardless..................
"In God we trust" to save our country and bring our troops safely home.

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TomHanlon

Re: Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #69 on: May 22, 2010, 06:16:34 pm »
Hello everyone,

    We are Tom and Jo Anne and we just got home yesterday with our new 2350. We live in central Maryland. We have two dogs, a 10 year old yellow lab named Bonnie and a 3 year old 124 lb German shepherd named Charlie. And you think your 2350 can get tight! This is sixth motorhome, a 26ft, 34ft, 28ft, 21ft, 35ft and now 23ft.

    I am retired from 34 years in main frame computers and 4 years selling RVs. My wife is still working as an adminstrater for a local college continuing education dept. Since I have extra time on my hands, I drove up to the factory before constuction began and again shortly after it began. I think I drove Stuart crazy asking so many questions and requesting so many little changes. Everyone seamed happy to make whatever changes I could come up with. What a great group of guys and gals working there. We finally picked up our PC on Tuesday right after lunch. What a long morning that was feeling like a little kid on Christmas morning and having to wait to get my present. We spent the night just a few miles away Shipshewana south. I tested everything I could and I could not find anything wrong. This is very unusal for any manufactures motorhome. Jo Anne was able to find that the inside cover over the mirror on the passengers door rattled. It turned out to be a broken clip, which Bobby replaced the whole cover the next day.

    We want to thank everone at the factory for all that they did for us to make this such a great experience.   We look forward to meeting some of you fellow PC owners.

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gradygal

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  • our 3rd PC--Custom 2910
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  • OwnPC: Yes
  • NewUsed: New
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  • Model: 2910
  • ModelYear: 2013
  • Slide: Yes
  • IntColor: cherry
  • ExtColor: slate gray full body paint
  • Location: Florida
Re: Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #70 on: May 22, 2010, 07:26:16 pm »
We know exactly how you feel. We took delivery of our 2350 Sprinter in January and we are now getting ready for a 3 month trip from Florida to the Canadian Maritimes (with stops along the way in Ma. and Me. to sponge off relatives for a couple of days).
Welcome to the forum!!!

Judi and George
Judi and George Nicholson
Punta Gorda FL

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mtownsen

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  • Model: 2900
  • ModelYear: 2007
  • Slide: Yes
Re: Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #71 on: May 22, 2010, 10:37:01 pm »
Just stepped up and bought a 2007 29' today, taking delivery next Friday in time for memorial weekend. Very excited, rather than downsizing we are coming up from a 22' travel trailer. Looking forward to a cross USA road trip in July.

Mark and Joy.
Cheers - Mark T

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Ron Dittmer

  • *******
  • 5621
  • Ron and Irene
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    • My 2007 2350 Phoenix Cruiser
  • OwnPC: Yes
  • NewUsed: New
  • PurchDate: June 2007
  • Model: 2350 Ford
  • ModelYear: 2007
  • Slide: No
  • IntColor: Cherry Green&Gray
  • ExtColor: Full Body Gray
  • Location: N/E Illinois
Re: Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #72 on: May 23, 2010, 05:12:32 pm »
Just stepped up and bought a 2007 29' today.......Mark and Joy.
Nice!  If a short length and slide-free was not important to me, that would be my first choice.
Ron (& Irene) Dittmer

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kevin

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  • PurchDate: 9/2010
  • Model: 3100
  • ModelYear: 2011
  • Slide: Yes
  • IntColor: Maple
  • ExtColor: White
  • Location: Michigan
Re: Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #73 on: May 23, 2010, 09:20:01 pm »
hi, my wife (Linda) & i just bought a phoenix 3100.  Or, we gave Stuart a check or two, met Kermit's son when he picked up our '97 coach house & will, in some future time & galaxy, actually have a finished Phoenix heartshower(how do I get a jumping dude instead of an underlined heartshower?)  Anyway, we live in Western Michigan and instead of downsizing, we are upsizing. 

time for popcorn & a movie with my sweetie
bye
kevin

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bobander

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  • Model: 2551
  • ModelYear: 2010
  • Slide: Yes
  • IntColor: Classic Umber
  • ExtColor: Classic Umber
  • Location: N. California
Re: Introduce Yourself!
« Reply #74 on: June 04, 2010, 05:59:27 pm »
Hi all,

We took delivery of our 2010 2551 w/slide in April.  We had two truck/campers for the last 25 years and it was time to quit climbing up and over each other getting in and out of bed, which we are doing more often at night as we age.  After lots of research we decided that we wanted to see a Phoenix Cruiser in person.  We live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe and there weren't any PCs nearby.  So in February we headed to Arizona and stopped by the PC dealer in Tempe -- Go Green RV.  We ordered our 2551 and went back to Tempe to pick it up in April.  Go Green RV is a small outfit and the owner, Kevin, is great to deal with, no pressure and lots of patience.

After we picked it up we toured around Arizona for 3 weeks to make sure everything was working before heading home.  We really enjoyed the RV, much more room than the truck/camper and plenty of power to tow our Jeep Wrangler.  We are doing some mods on the unit and I plan to share them in another post.

Looking forward to meeting other PC owners on the road,
Bob and Chris

2010  PC 2551