2003 Thunder Chassis

[Jerry Emert]

Its not that important but...I'm confused.   I've been told or seen on-line that my MH has an RR10S and a S series and the build sheet says it has a Magnum chassis.  Are they all the same thing?  Which is it and whats the difference?  Thanks in advance.
Jerry

[Edward Buker]

Jerry,

I think you have a Roadmaster S series in 2003. See this page. You can click on the S series and it will show some info.

http://www.roadmasterchassis.com/chassis/

[Larry Williams]

I put this in general discussion because its not that important but...I'm confused.   I've been told or seen on-line that my MH has an RR10S and a S series and the build sheet says it has a Magnum chassis.  Are they all the same thing?  Which is it and whats the difference?  Thanks in advance.
Jerry

If you have the Roadmaster chassis, which I am sure you do, there is a nameplate for the chassis behind the rear radiator cover.

The Roadmaster chassis was made by Monaco in Coberg, Or and was used in all the Monaco products (including Beaver starting in 2003).

The Magnum chassis was the chassis used in 2002 and earlier Beavers and was originally made by Safari in Harrisburg, Or.

Edit: Are you sure you have a 2003? I don't think there was a Patriot Thunder in 2003. There was in 2002. And if your build sheet says Magnum, it is probably a 2002. What engine do you have? 2003 have Cummins and 2002 have Cat. I have a 2003 and some of your earlier post descriptions did not jive with my coach. Look at the brochures and manuals here:

http://alliedrecreationgroup.com/legacy/

[Jerry Emert]

Thanks Ed, what does the Magnum mean on the build sheet?

[Jerry Emert]

If you have the Roadmaster chassis, which I am sure you do, there is a nameplate for the chassis behind the rear radiator cover.

The Roadmaster chassis was made by Monaco in Coberg, Or and was used in all the Monaco products (including Beaver starting in 2003).

The Magnum chassis was the chassis used in 2002 and earlier Beavers and was originally made by Safari in Harrisburg, Or.

Edit: Are you sure you have a 2003? I don't think there was a Patriot Thunder in 2003. There was in 2002. And if your build sheet says Magnum, it is probably a 2002. What engine do you have? 2003 have Cummins and 2002 have Cat. I have a 2003 and some of your earlier post descriptions did not jive with my coach. Look at the brochures and manuals here:

http://alliedrecreationgroup.com/legacy/

The build sheet says 2003 but it may have been made in late 2002.  It has a C-12 Cat, 505 HP.  It has 505 on the back of the coach.  That web site doesn't look very complete probably because of all the times Beaver changed hands.  I've seen Patriots in the 90s and they are not listed here.  Thank you
EDIT:  PS, I'm going for a short trip today and I'll check in the engine compartment.

[Edward Buker]

Jerry,

I do not know what the Magnum means on the build sheet given that could be misinformation left over from the embedded information on the build sheets at that time. It is confusing during the Beaver transition time. I have a 2002 Marquis with a Magnum Chassis but on the back of the frame near my engine hatch there is a metal Roadmaster plate on it. The true chassis history is as Larry pointed out but 2002 to 2003 had a transition and you would have to have someone who knows both chassis sort it out. They are different so it would not be that hard for someone at a rally to take a look. On the quality end of things they are both good chassis.

Later Ed

[Jerry Emert]

Thanks Ed.  I've been searching the web and every reference I see to a Magnum chassis relates to two axle MHs like rr8r and rr8s.  Mine has a tag axle and everywhere with the tag seems to point to an s series.  Still curious.  

[Edward Buker]

There were tag Magnum chassis in 2002. The new Monaco Roadmaster chassis I think had pass through storage in the bay from side to side and offered 3 slides. If you had three slides then I think that would seal the deal. I think the hydraulic leveling to the axle ended on the new Roadmaster chassis so that could be another clue. Others can chime in if I have this wrong.

Later Ed

[Larry Williams]

The build sheet says 2003 but it may have been made in late 2002.  It has a C-12 Cat, 505 HP.  It has 505 on the back of the coach.  That web site doesn't look very complete probably because of all the times Beaver changed hands.  I've seen Patriots in the 90s and they are not listed here.  Thank you
EDIT:  PS, I'm going for a short trip today and I'll check in the engine compartment.

You have a 2002 model year regardless of the actual production date. Monaco bought Safari/Beaver in 2001/2002 and continued to produce the Safari and Beavers for 2002 using the Magnum/Cat chassis but under the Monaco brand. It produced a 2002 Patriot Thunder. Starting with the 2003 model year they dropped the Patriot Thunder and put all of the Beavers on the Roadmaster chassis. They did not produce a Patriot Thunder again until 2007. So you have a 2002 model year.

And that legacy page only shows coaches produced under the Monaco brand. It does not have 2002 brochures since they were identical to the previous Beavers but they do have Monaco produced 2002 manuals for the Patriot Thunder. I suggest you download and use that manual for operating your coach.

EDIT: Gerald corrected me below. So you could have a 2003 Thunder with a Magnum/Cat chassis. If you look at the 2003 Patriot brochure, you can see the Thunder is an option package that year with the Cat 505 HP engine instead of the Cummins 400 HP engine. So you only need to verify that you have the Magnum chassis instead of the Roadmaster.

[Gerald Farris]

Jerry,
The tag axle Magnum chassis started with the 42 foot 2000 Marquis. The first Patriot and 40 foot Marquis with a tag axle was the 2003 model. There was a little blurring of the lines between the SMC designed Magnum chassis that was built at the plant in Harrisburg and the Roadmaster chassis that was built in Coburg as Monaco integrated the SMC purchase in 2002 into its production.  

Gerald  

[Gerald Farris]

Larry,
You are in error about Thunder production. The very popular Thunder option to the Patriot line was never stopped after it was introduced in the late 1990s until the Monaco bankruptcy in 2009. In fact there was at least one 2010 model Thunder that Navistar finished after the Monaco purchase. Towards the end of Monaco production, the Thunder was the only Patriot that was manufactured.

If you are using the Monaco website as a reference, it is very incomplete. You can find a list of all Beaver coaches that were manufactured at the Nada website under the used RV price guides.

Gerald  

[Larry Williams]

Larry,
You are in error about Thunder production. The very popular Thunder option to the Patriot line was never stopped after it was introduced in the late 1990s until the Monaco bankruptcy in 2009. In fact there was at least one 2010 model Thunder that Navistar finished after the Monaco purchase. Towards the end of Monaco production, the Thunder was the only Patriot that was manufactured.

If you are using the Monaco website as a reference, it is very incomplete. You can find a list of all Beaver coaches that were manufactured at the Nada website under the used RV price guides.

Gerald  

Thanks Gerald, I stand corrected. Looking at the 2003 Patriot brochure does show the Thunder as an option that year with the 505 HP Cat.

[Joel Ashley]

I'm not as up on this as others that have already commented, Jerry, but I was under the impression the RR stood for Roadmaster Rail and if followed by an 8 it was a coach with 8 airbags;  a 10 meant 10 airbags.  The last letter I've little clue about since you've seen "R" and "S" and mine has an "M" which I speculated meant it was based on an older Magnum design, but it was just a guess.

Joel

[Jerry Emert]

Hi Joel, I've been told the r or s at the end meant rear or side radiator. Mine does have a side radiator. Still confused but having a good time at Wekiva Falls Resort 36 miles from home anyway!

[Don Stewart]

I'm not as up on this as others that have already commented, Jerry, but I was under the impression the RR stood for Roadmaster Rail and if followed by an 8 it was a coach with 8 airbags;  a 10 meant 10 airbags.  The last letter I've little clue about since you've seen "R" and "S" and mine has an "M" which I speculated meant it was based on an older Magnum design, but it was just a guess.

Joel

I know this post is a little older, but I am confused about my chassis and I can't find any real information regarding it. Our 2002 Beaver Contessa was built in February, 2002. It has triple slides, not offered in the 2002 brochure, only in the 2003. It has a Cummins ISL engine, not the Cat. Finally, it has a Roadmaster Magnum Chassis M-3200, built in Coburg, OR? It has the SMC leveling system with 8 air bags. We will need to be replacing shocks soon as we believe they are the original Bilstein shocks with 94,000 miles on them. May be looking into a tru center system for it as well. Can anyone shed any light on this for us? Please see attached photo.