gmg

Before replacing my tires, I had 195/70r14 tires on the front. I actually happened to measure the width difference under load where the bulge out and it was right around 3/4" but were slightly under inflated. It would be very close to rubbing with the duallys if they are not kept at 60 psi and your rig is heavy. If your rig is light it may be a non issue.

Good find! Definitely another option which is good when we have so few options. If anyone is going for a more aggressive tread, I would argue these are the way to go. https://simpletire.com/specialty-tires-of-america-e7814lt-lb3a5-tires I have them on my rader for a week now (thanks to soneones suggestion on here) and am seriously impressed. Mostly with the 4 ply side walls and bias ply build. This adds a lot of rigidity to the side walls which has made a HUGE difference in stability. I do have to say, they probably hurt me slightly on fuel economy and a little noise, as expected with a tread like this. Also after sitting for even an hour they will get flat spots so you get a lot of vibrations for the first few miles of driving.

That is one incredible find... I am jealous

Same kind of power could be had out of a 2.0 vw TDI for like $3k total and around 350#... Let's be real though, saying you have a Cummins powered toyhome would be dope!

I can not find it right now but someone on here fully removed and reglassed in an entire new floor. It was a lot of work but no point in skimping out now if you are willing to put in the work. I really do not see any problem with dropping the floor other then shifting your center of gravity up. It would be no worse than what I am dealing with as my reinforcement shifted the camper shell up a two inches.

I lifted my shell as well to reinforce the floor on my 79. May want to cast a critical eye on the floor. Yours looks like it has collapsed a bit like mine. While it is off you may want to check it out as now would be the time to work on it. http://toyotamotorhome.org/forums/index.php?/topic/10508-79-sunrader-cab-crack

I think the simplest and tidiest way would be to ditch the power center. Get the lead acid batteries you want. Wire a fuse box directly to your battery (+) and a ground block hooked up (-) as well. You can run all of your 12v power using the fuse box and ground block. This gives you the ability to easily and safely add whatever you want in the future, including 12v cigarette sockets, usb or fans. Added benefit you only have two wires running to your battery for all your 12v loads. Then for shore power/ac power look for a inverter/charger unit. These do most everything for you. When on battery power, you have an inverter for ac power. Shore power runs into the inverter/charger unit and has a built in transfer switch. When you are plugged in, shore power will run your ac power and charge your batteries. You can then run a line to hook up your house battery bank to the car battery. On this line I am a big fan of smart relays, which sense the voltage on both the car battery and house battery. If either of them go above a certain voltage (I think mine is 13.6v) the relay will close allowing the batteries to be connected. This is nice as it allows charging in both directions. So your car battery will get trickle charged from solar and shore power and house bank will get charged from alternator. If you want I can give you links to these different things.

I will write something up with details. But to answer your specific questions. 1. The TDI alh is found in all 1999.5-2003 Jetta/Beetle/Golf TDIs. I can help with questions on selecting a good donor. Donor car will greatly reduce costs as sourcing all of the additional parts can get expensive and time consuming. If you want to put in a fully rebuilt TDI alh engine and don't supply a donor vehicle, the swap can still be done but additional costs would be incurred as I would build a wiring harness from scratch and have to source additional parts. 2. Swap would be done on Whidbey Island in Washington. 3. I anticipate conversions taking 4-6 weeks. This is mostly due to as parts get placed, clearances can be determined then more parts can be sourced and waiting on parts takes time. Again be more time if you want to start with a new rebuilt engine with no donor vehicle. 4. If you want to keep engine stock and no tune (as I have done) you are looking at very similar performance to 22re (slightly less HP but more torque). But you will get fuel economy around 25 mpg cruising at 55mph (this drops to around 22-23 at 60-65 and hammering it up hills). Since I would have the engine out, I would do the timing belt, seals and any power upgrades for nothing more than parts cost. Injectors, vnt17 turbo and a tune can support up to 150hp and 270ftlbs of torque (aka flying up hills at 60 all day long). This kind of power would also necessitate a higher torque clutch which I can source. Lots of little things would also get done during this process. For instance engine bay would get cleaned and painted first thing. Mostly because I hate working in a rusted engine bay! I would probably not go as far as a conversion kit. The biggest ticket item, the adapter plate and flywheel, are already available. The hardest part about an engine swap is the hundreds of little details that go into it. I fabricated so many small little things that were unique to my installation. Let's just say I have a healthy respect for good car engineers who can fit so much in a small engine bay. This is a small engine in a what I thought was a large engine bay but fitting everything was a game of Tetris.

I am going to start offering my services for doing engine swaps! As I am finishing up school and going to be starting up my own software company, I am going to be starting up a side business to fund my startup costs (aka living expenses) for a couple years. I have figuring out engine work as it is a great escape from sitting in front of the computer. I want to gauge interest of individuals here who want to re-power their toy homes with diesels. At this point, I would do the same swap I did (TDI alh) or an om617. To make the swap easier for me and cheaper for you, running donor vehicle would need to be supplied. Initially will only be doing one swap per quarter. First swap would start in October. PM me to work out details and pricing.

I was wondering the same thing! I started digging and found out they still make quite a few. Mostly larger off road tires (very popular in the rock crawler crowd) and motorcycles. With the mention of bias ply tires, do you find these to make driving a little more difficult? Do you find these tires following grooves in the road creating more lateral movement going down the highway? I imagine having the duallys in the rear probably help to bridge over a lot of the uneven parts but I could imagine the front wheels having issues with this.

These are exactly what I need! How has the tread been holding up?

Not Greg, its Gabe fyi haha. I have not started seriously looking yet. Weather is pretty crummy where I am, so no swap in the near future. I think you may have more success with a gm 14 bolt as they seem to be more common. Here is some good information on 14 bolts and the dimensions. https://www.roundforge.com/articles/14-bolt-axles-differences-between-srw-drw-and-cc/ I would just be sure to look for a dually purely for the stability. Also look for dana 70 axles as these typically have disk brakes which may be nice to have.

If you went a dana or gm 14 bolt, swapping gear ratios to match would have been pretty easy. And these axles can be found every where for relatively cheap. Honestly after seeing that build, if you would have posted something on here about the handling, I would have done a swap for you in exchange for supplying me with parts and coffee. And that offer stands if Amelia ever finds her way back!

Also second the question about the sway bar. That could have been a major factor.

Was completely remodeling a sunrader to live out of at the same time you were posting your initial videos. Was definitely lusting after that 4x4. Sucks when I heard you sold it after all that impressive work. My two cents, whatever it is worth in hindsight after you sold it, is that axle was just too narrow to be running single wheels on. Any improvements to the suspension would be a band aid fix. If the stance in the rear was about 6 inches wider on each side, it would have been manageable. I know you wanted matching lug patterns. But if you rocked duallys, all that would really be needed is a spare for the front. Even though you sold it, I really appreciate you sharing your experience.