Rigmaster APU problems

[Daffyduck528]

You're supposed to put a smiley face when being sarcastic.

Ex: Onan/espar better than tripak ?

Lol. Sadly all I have experience with is tripak. None with onan... And tripak uses espar and I'm a true believer in the espar product. Kept us nice and warm up in Edmonton late last year.

 

[zorry]

I have no tripak experience.
I think DaveKC has run both.

The espar/webastco style heater is unbeatable. Particularly if you have an autostart APU.

The Onan is very smooth/quiet.
Dependable and long lasting.

 

[Daffyduck528]

How are the maint intervals on the onan?

 

[zorry]

Worst feature. 150 hrs.

I have a plastic tote that has filter wrench, homemade funnel , knife, and ratchet with 10mm socket if I remember right.

Throw cardboard on ground, pull exposed oil plug, and let drain into pan.
Go to toolbox 3 and get filter, 3qts of oil.
Replace plug, open trap door, pull front cover off, no tools.

Change filter, add 3 gts oil,test run. Start switch and hourmeter on unit.

Put cover on, tools away, update maint file.
About 30 minutes.

Every third change do fuel and air filters. 10 minutes each.

If too cold, Speedco does it for $29.99 plus tax, my filters.

 

[Daffyduck528]

At first I was thinking that was crazy expensive because a new tripak Evo has a 1500 maint interval, but it's $300 at thermoking so 1500/150=10 and 10x$29.99= 299.99 so it comes to about the same. Plus I'm guessing no new alternator in the onan every 2,000 hours.

 

[zorry]

3021 hrs and nothing but routine maint.
Going to have to pull out book and see if I need to do anything else.
I did clean the spark arrestor once. Pull a 1/2" pipe plug out. Run at high load 10-15 minutes and replace plug.
No parts. Glad I didn't pay $125 per hour for that repair.

 

[Jenny]

Looks like low coolant was the problem. This unit has almost 12,000 hours on it.

When we had the tripak Nick used to change the oil and the filters himself. It was pretty easy, took about 1/2 hr or so to do.

Sent from my VS870 4G using Xparent Pink Tapatalk 2

 

[zorry]

If you have a plastic overflow tank you can upgrade it to a metal tank. This eliminates a lot of the coolant loss issues.

 

[zorry]

One of my truck hauling buddies got 16000 hrs on his Rigmaster.
He bought a new Rigmaster.

 

[Daffyduck528]

Hmmm. I guess I need to try and do that. I am used to going to tk to get it done but it can't be more difficult than changing the oil on my f150. 21,170 hours on this tripak. Engine and cover are original everything else has been replaced once or twice or six times.

 

[Dynamite 1]

Bout 30 minutes to change oil and filters on rigmaster also! Change air and fuel while oil is draining then go back and do the oil filter and oil. If yours has the bigger oil pan { a little over 3 qts. } then you can go 800 to 1000 hours between changes. Won't hurt it at all. We have been going that long since warranty ran out and I have almost 21,000 hours on mine. Pretty much all original. Just normal replacement stuff. Alt., glow plugs, belts, timing sensor and we put in a reman gen last spring but we use the heck out of this thing and it runs everything on the inside on 110 when we are stopped. Brian@ Espar will tell you, run the thing and leave it running when you need it don't be letting it shutdown and restart all the time on the auto temp feature. It's a diesel and it likes to run. You will have less problems.

 

[zorry]

We've been doing the same thing, running our Onan. Turn it on and let it run. Much better for your batteries, too.
Rigmaster, people either love them or hate them.
Glad to hear you're having success with yours.
Thinking of switching to syn oil and extending our drain interval. It's just so easy to do the oil change, I just ask myself, why bother ?

 

[highway star]

19,911 on my Rigmaster as I type this. It has cost some money to get to this point, more than I'd like, but the Perkins engine is a solid little horse. I saw Brian a couple of times this week and he's impressed that I'm still on the original generator. The bearings are shot in it, but it's still working. I just let mine run as well. I did the auto-start temp deal once and said that's enough of that crap.

800 or more on oil? Wow, I never considered going that far, I don't usually even go to the 500. Maybe I should rethink that.

 

[zorry]

I'd rather change the oil too early than too late.
We're only talking 3 qts.

 

[davekc]

My take as a fleet owner on APU's. We have had a bunch with mixed results. Newer Rigmasters are better (serpentine belts) that older ones. Numerous adjustments and brackets breaking are a aggravation. Not bad overall, limited repair service and availability of parts. Not a fleet owners best friend with teams that aren't familiar with them. Biggest drawback is they don't have a self priming system like others.

Tri-Pac and Proheat/Comfort pro are basically the same other than the Proheat heat has a generator and Tripac doesn't. Application would be the determining factor of which is better.
Both have quick service at Speedco and quite a few service points. Big plus is the newer ones because of a much needed upgrade on the AC. Switch from R12 was a huge improvement. Shared cooling capacity with engine is a plus and a minus. Recommend shut off valves with these in case of a leak.

Onans are a mixed bag depending on whether it is a 5k or a 6k or larger. Service is very spotting unless you are doing it yourself. Some Speedcos will do them, a small handful of TA's and that is about it. Must usually carry your own filters. Cummins aren't exactly speed demons on service or repair. Expect to pay a higher than average labor rate as well. They do have their pluses when
running on a large sleeper and ones with roof air.
I recommend a 6k or higher because the 5k has smaller brushes which require a replacement at 3k hours. Expensive repair of about 2 to 3k. We have one at its second round and Cummins is recommending replacing the whole thing at 7k hours. So, just that on its face is a dollar per hour of run time not counting the original purchase price and previous repairs. Hardly a bargain. Add in the other costs and short of saving wear and tear on the engine, not the greatest of investments. Unless you do your own work, I wouldn't recommend them in a fleet owner setting. Again, application would be the deciding factor as to whether they are worth considering.
In summary, no right or wrong answers on some of them but here is my penny in the pond.

 

[zorry]

One thing that I considered when shopping was the amount of storage space lost. The Rigmaster beat Carrier and TK at the time.

There's a large APU shop on 35 in Fort Worth Tx. He works on all kinds.

Does anybody have any experience with them ?

 

[davekc]

One thing that I considered when shopping was the amount of storage space lost. The Rigmaster beat Carrier and TK at the time.

There's a large APU shop on 35 in Fort Worth Tx. He works on all kinds.

Does anybody have any experience with them ?

Not familiar with them. There is a decent place north of San Antonio but he is often pretty busy but does have a good parts selection. One thing comparing a Rigmaster to the others is the noise. Rigmasters seemed to be fairly load but do use less space in the sleeper.

 

[zorry]

New Braunfals ?
If so, Rigmaster experts. They do work on/sell others. Sister shop in Gretna, Ne.
They only have 2 techs any time I've been there.

The guy in DFW has about an eight bay shop. I think he advertises in the back pages of Landline. I believe he does APU work only.

 

[davekc]

Not sure on the Dallas one. New Braunfels is the one I was talking about. Like I said, good supply of parts and do fairly good work IF you can get in. That is their biggest downfall. Sometimes we have been told they had a three day wait. That is insane.

 

[Dynamite 1]

While per say there is no " self prime " on the rigmaster there is the little hand primer on the fuel line. The easiest way is to fill the filter, start it then crack open the two screws on the front of the filter housing till they weep fuel and wala, primed and no air. As far as noise goes the horizontal muffler upgrade helps but a tailpipe works the best. I've had one on mine since day one. Dumps out just in front of rear tires. 2 1/8 works best.