Hello All,

Would like to hear from the Breakaway owners out there on their experiences with their Barth. My wife and I are considering traveling to a neighboring state to take a look at one and would like to first tap-in to the wealth of knowledge on this site. I am concerned about the 5.9 Cummins powerplant. Is anyone currently or have in the past pulled a car? Did you find the power to be adequate? I had thought that one would need at least 250 HP to adequately power a unit the size and weight of a Breakaway. 190 HP seems underpowered. Any current Breakaway owners wish they had held out for something with more HP? Are the propane fueled generators reliable? I would think they would be more desirable given the exhaust would be easier to deal with than a gasoline unit. Any other "quirks" to look-out for when considering a Breakaway?

One owner with a 28'/160 HP pulls an Outback.

The propane generators can be cantankerous; they are noisy and thirsty. I replaced mine with a Honda gaso; it's 8 db quieter with 40% of the fuel consumption.

I considered a toad, but the 28' is small enough to be its own runabout.

We have a 30" Breakaway with a 160 HP diesel. A little slow getting out of the gate and cruises at 62 MPH. I borrowed a "Toad" to see if I really wanted to invest the $ and have another car to keep at the house (limited space). Took a tad bit more to get up to speed but still held its own on the open road. Good luck in all your decisions and enjoy your BARTH.......................

We have a 93 with a Banks kit soooo about 210 hp, We have not pulled a toad but with our gearing we cruise about 60 mph @ 10 mpg. I'm not in a big hurry anyway
Wayne

I drove our coach from Wisconsin to Seattle towing a Saturn Vue, @ 60 - 65 mph @ 11 - 12 mpg.

Mike

I drove a 1992 Breakaway, with factory remanufactured 190hp Cummins 5.9 6BTA, towing a small car on an aluminum trailer from Michigan, through CO an UT and up CA to Marin County, then straight back to MI. Mostly I ran 60mph and got 10mpg. There was little or no power to spare. That is a factor more of the four-speed slushbox transmission than of the engine. The almost-same engine with a later electronic Allison six-speed is FAR superior IMHO.
As for quirks of the Breakaway, there are only a few (dozen ;^)
But seriously, the thing was built really well. The only thing better than a Spartan chassis was the Gillig chassis. But, then it wouldn't be a Breakaway. Corrosion is a common culprit. Partial useable fuel tank capacity is an idiosyncrasy (due to side-mount fuel filler hose).

Sorry, , but I just had to post this reply since we have decided Barth would build ANYTHING

quote:

Originally posted by Mogan David:

But seriously, the thing was built really well. The only thing better than a Spartan chassis was the Gillig chassis. But, then it wouldn't be a Breakaway.

9008-3687-34BG-1B

9310-3888-33XG-7C

9311-3889-30XG-18B

Three Breakaways on Gillig chassis.

Nick

my bad

Is that why I can only get 40 gal in the 60 gal tank?

My '94 28' is the prototype for post-'93 28's. It had the wretched GM 6.5L TD; oddly enough,at 190 HP, it seems to have outperformed the 160/190 Cummins in earlier 28's and 30's,and that's with an extra 7 sq.ft. of frontal area.

On level ground the original would easily do 80 mph. With the 230HP AMG engine, I hit 85 mph with about 5 psi boost and plenty of pedal to spare. This seems odd to me, as the Cummins 5.9 should be far superior to my OEM mill.

quote:

Originally posted by w&bknocke:
Is that why I can only get 40 gal in the 60 gal tank?

BINGO
Take a look at the tank. My filler hose went in about halfway up the side. I was puzzled why the consignment dealer handling the sale for the widow Yale in AZ said she wanted me to be sure and look for fuel at 400 miles. I was expecting a 600 mile range. When I ran out of fuel in IL 412 past my last fillup, the tank took 41 gallons. Another consequence was that a 'full' tank caused fuel to remain in the lower portion of the fill hose. Thus, it rotted out and had to be sectioned.
There are a couple old threads about this issue. Some have modified the tank.