What to do first?

[OutCole'd]

New owner here, just bought a 2017 Alante.

Reading the various forums, seems like a lot of things to do. Any particular order? I'm guessing #1 should be the Safe T Plus stabilizer.

Then what? Rear stabilizer? 5 star tune? Dual 6 volt golf cart batteries? Or just leave it alone and drive it.

What did you do?

[Dave55]

The thing to do is sanitize the fresh water tank.
2. Fully load the coach with full water,gas and propane.put all personal items on board, fully load all basement compartments with as much heavy stuff in the front bays.
3. Weight your rig on a cat scale if possible. Determine weight on each wheel.
4. Using tire manufactures tire loading charts set your tire to their reccomendations based on your tire load.
5. Have it aligned at a good truck/RV shop. Jayco might even pay for it.
6. Drive it and see how feels to you.
7. Adding a rear Trac bar will keep the back end from pushing the front around.
8. Do the CHF. It makes the front sway bar stiffer and really helps keep the coach from leaning on the curves.
9. Add a front stabilizer for safety reasons in case of a blow out.
10 . Go drive it and have fun[emoji604] [emoji2]

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk

[WDW]

Originally Posted by Dave55

The thing to do is sanitize the fresh water tank.
2. Fully load the coach with full water,gas and propane.put all personal items on board, fully load all basement compartments with as much heavy stuff in the front bays.
3. Weight your rig on a cat scale if possible. Determine weight on each wheel.
4. Using tire manufactures tire loading charts set your tire to their reccomendations based on your tire load.
5. Have it aligned at a good truck/RV shop. Jayco might even pay for it.
6. Drive it and see how feels to you.
7. Adding a rear Trac bar will keep the back end from pushing the front around.
8. Do the CHF. It makes the front sway bar stiffer and really helps keep the coach from leaning on the curves.
9. Add a front stabilizer for safety reasons in case of a blow out.
10 . Go drive it and have fun[emoji604] [emoji2]

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk

ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!

But I'd add 3 new foam fire extinguishers and buy a subscryto Coach Net.

[Allen_C]

If suggest drive it empty in the city and interstate then drive it loaded up with possessions and full gas, propane and fresh water. Compare the two feelings to know the difference, making sure you have ties inflated per Jayco as you can see on the wall to the left of the driver's seat. Chf, steering stabilizer increasing tire pressure may improve handling.

If you want to dry camp more than one day, either add another 12v deep cycle or replace the one included battery with two 6v. Go thru the couch and figure out what runs of the inverter...hint: ours is the bedroom tv outlet, living area tv outlet, passenger outlet and some lights.

If mud daubbers are an issue in your area, buy mesh covers for your frig, water heater and furnace vents.

[Vicr]

What to do first? Well the one thing that you don't do will cost you the most money. Put in an EMS FIRST. Then everything else. One bad source of power and you're out $$$$.

[chasfenwick]

Originally Posted by OutCole'd

New owner here, just bought a 2017 Alante.

Reading the various forums, seems like a lot of things to do. Any particular order? I'm guessing #1 should be the Safe T Plus stabilizer.

Then what? Rear stabilizer? 5 star tune? Dual 6 volt golf cart batteries? Or just leave it alone and drive it.

What did you do?

If those are the choices, I'd vote for "leave it alone and drive it."

The first thing I did was to have etrailer.com install valve stem extensions on the inner duals. This is absolutely essential. The second thing I did was to transfer the TPMS from my previous MH to my 2017 Precept. It boggles the mind that our two mid-size SUV's would have a TPMS as standard, factory installed, and a 22,000 lb. GVWR beast like this wouldn't.

The third thing I did was to take a 3-week, 2500 mile trip, staying in 8 different campgrounds, and taking copious notes on anything that seemed amiss.

The fourth thing I did was schedule the Precept into the Jayco Factory Service Center to work off a list of 19 squawks. They are great to work with. Most of those squawks have been resolved but a few haven't. Some kinds of problems take a while to fully recognize their nature.

The fifth thing I did was devise a temporary fix for damage caused when screws fastening the forward panel of the right rear wheel well fell out or broke off when going down the interstate.

What I did NOT do is have any weight measurements made or consider any modifications to the MH. None. The handling seems OK.

Right now I am persuaded that I should choose a battery disconnect switch and design an installation. From day one the coach batteries have drained to near dead in 3 weeks of storage, which seems like excessive phantom drain, but perhaps a disconnect switch is a more practical solution than trying to chase down the source of drainage. I see stories on here and elsewhere about the futility of doing that in some instances.

Enjoy your new Alante and deal with "issues" as they arise. At 5500 miles on our 2017 Precept 31UL, we have yet to take it to a dealer or other local service provider but will likely have to face up to that eventually. Generally speaking, the techs we've had experience with in the past at RV dealerships have not seemed very skilled or very well trained. Most likely over the next 18 months - before the warranty runs out - we will develop a new squawk list and make another trip to Middlebury.

[Allen_C]

Originally Posted by chasfenwick

If those are the choices, I'd vote for "leave it alone and drive it."

The first thing I did was to have etrailer.com install valve stem extensions on the inner duals. This is absolutely essential. The second thing I did was to transfer the TPMS from my previous MH to my 2017 Precept. It boggles the mind that our two mid-size SUV's would have a TPMS as standard, factory installed, and a 22,000 lb. GVWR beast like this wouldn't.

The third thing I did was to take a 3-week, 2500 mile trip, staying in 8 different campgrounds, and taking copious notes on anything that seemed amiss.

The fourth thing I did was schedule the Precept into the Jayco Factory Service Center to work off a list of 19 squawks. They are great to work with. Most of those squawks have been resolved but a few haven't. Some kinds of problems take a while to fully recognize their nature.

The fifth thing I did was devise a temporary fix for damage caused when screws fastening the forward panel of the right rear wheel well fell out or broke off when going down the interstate.

What I did NOT do is have any weight measurements made or consider any modifications to the MH. None. The handling seems OK.

Right now I am persuaded that I should choose a battery disconnect switch and design an installation. From day one the coach batteries have drained to near dead in 3 weeks of storage, which seems like excessive phantom drain, but perhaps a disconnect switch is a more practical solution than trying to chase down the source of drainage. I see stories on here and elsewhere about the futility of doing that in some instances.

Enjoy your new Alante and deal with "issues" as they arise. At 5500 miles on our 2017 Precept 31UL, we have yet to take it to a dealer or other local service provider but will likely have to face up to that eventually. Generally speaking, the techs we've had experience with in the past at RV dealerships have not seemed very skilled or very well trained. Most likely over the next 18 months - before the warranty runs out - we will develop a new squawk list and make another trip to Middlebury.

My 2016 Alante had the valve extenders already installed on the inside wheels. Is this NOT a standard feature of the Jayco Class A's?

[chasfenwick]

Oddly enough, no. AFAIK, no Precepts have been delivered with valve stem extenders.

[OutCole'd]

Lots of great info and opinions here. Thanks!

What is a favorite TPMS to go with?

And mine does have the valve stem extenders on the inside rears, but to check the outers looks like you need to pull the hub caps to check.

[redenbacher]

Enjoy your new purchase with family and look forward to great times!

[chasfenwick]

I have the TireSafeGuard system by HCI corp., with the flow-thru sensors. (Amazon). Very impressive. I have 3-1/2 years of use now on this system, with no failures and the original batteries. Requires no agonizing setup. Watching the readouts mile after mile over thousands of miles is an interesting education in physics. Effects of sun on one side of the coach, hot pavement, driving speed, etc. Can affect temp and pressure A LOT. But an outlier quickly stands out. Already saved my butt once, from the effects of an incompetent tech (putting metal valve stems on my previous MH). Tire was losing 1# of air every 2 miles. Otherwise, how would I get an early warning on that?! Oh, BTW, I carry a serious air compressor as part of the maintenance kit.

[RWK]

Originally Posted by OutCole'd

New owner here, just bought a 2017 Alante.

Reading the various forums, seems like a lot of things to do. Any particular order? I'm guessing #1 should be the Safe T Plus stabilizer.

Then what? Rear stabilizer? 5 star tune? Dual 6 volt golf cart batteries? Or just leave it alone and drive it.

What did you do?

Congrats on the new coach. We drove ours for a while and then figured what was most important to us at the time. Our first mod was suspension/koni shocks and add a leaf to the rear end so we would not scrape on everything on the road. Then anti-sway and steering track. (We did load it fully when we delivered it for the suspension work, they weighed it and adjusted it based on our heaviest load) Dual 6V golf cart batteries came next and an upgraded hitch to pull my wrangler unlimited properly. I agree with what others have said. Drive it and enjoy, the things you want to fix first will materialize for you.

[twdenman]

My dealer wants $250.00 to install 2 valve extensions, on my inside duals, on my 2017 Precept 31UL. (Price doesn't include extensions.) This sounds high to me.

[OutCole'd]

Originally Posted by twdenman

My dealer wants $250.00 to install 2 valve extensions, on my inside duals, on my 2017 Precept 31UL. (Price doesn't include extensions.) This sounds high to me.

I installed these myself, not sure if it’s a good way to go or not.

https://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Duali...stem+extenders

[1955farm]

Our 2018 Precept 31UL had valve extenders from the factory.

[The Logans]

Just drive and enjoy!

THEN, decide if anything is needed for your comfort and safety.

After dropping a front wheel on to a low shoulder, we added a steering stabilizer. It helps a lot recovering from a mishap like that, or if a front tire blows, etc.

After a few trips, we added a rear track bar... helps with the rear wiggle.

The only other stuff that we did was add a tall porcelain toilet, a spare tire and carrier, digital thermostats, and a thermostatically controlled roof vent fan.

Be safe, and have fun!!

[chasfenwick]

Originally Posted by twdenman

My dealer wants $250.00 to install 2 valve extensions, on my inside duals, on my 2017 Precept 31UL. (Price doesn't include extensions.) This sounds high to me.

Point of Reference: etrailer.com installed Wheel Masters WM8005 kit on my 2017 Precept 31UL, both inner duals, for $30 total, parts AND labor. That was over a year ago and I have been very pleased. Yes, the installation was FREE! That is a policy that they have on many of the things that they sell. I do have the impression that it is a very UNUSUAL policy.

[RWK]

Congratulations on the purchase! As you can see many opinions in many different orders related to your question. There is no wrong way (though some may disagree on this forum...lol)

1. I think a short light trip as is would be best. Take notes (truly nitpick, you want to get everything fixed while the warranty is still in place) But Have FUN!
2. Then like someone said, load it with your stuff for a long trip, then drive it, camp with it and yes take notes. FUN is still a must.
3. Finding a good RV/Truck (for the non ford related fixes) service center is a must. Finding a Ford service center (for the non RV related fixes) near you that can handle a Class A coach is also a must. This won't be fun.........

You can look at my previous posts on the forum, we broke down before we knew who would or could work on it. We have made extensive and expensive modifications to our coach. We did so as we went, as the problems came to light. Different characteristics of the coach bother people in different ways. So my fixes might not be your fixes......

There is no doubt you will eventually make most of the changes and fixes listed by the majority of the forum. Its a light F-53 chassis. In about a year you will be through most of the things that drive you crazy.
Its a big purchase and does function fine the way it is, you can just make it better, safer and more reliable by making improvements over time. No rush.

Again, congratulations and enjoy!
RWK