monty

I don't know what kind of awning you are looking for but if you aren't looking to spend too much you can get a rope and pole awning. The only part you have to mount to the motorhome is a channel that the awning slides into. I bought one for my sunrader last year and it works great. The best price I found on one was through JC Whitney.

I had a similar problem with mine once. I had bumped it and bent the posts where the wires hook onto the pressure switch causing the switch to be bypassed. I don't know if that is your problem but if its not that I would just take it apart and clean everything. The switch mechanism is pretty simple.

That is similar to my brothers. It is a long wheelbase truck. Not as long as the one ton chassis, but if you are talking about a standard Toyota pickup it would have to be a long bed.

I couldn't open the pics for some reason.

I am assumming it is similar to the mirages that I have seen. They were on a long bed chassis. Do you have any pics of it? I would estimate the camper part of my sunrader to be around 1500 pounds. I would guess that yours is close to that but maybe a bit lighter.

I did a chassis swap last year with an older sunrader. For me it was a huge project because I stripped the new chassis down to the frame and built it up from there. Plus I had to extend my frame. If you started with a newer model long bed Toyota that was in nice shape it shouldn't be too bad as long as it is a long bed so you dont have to mess with lengthening the frame. Start off by removing the camper from the old motorhome and take a look at the frame. most likely there was a subframe welded to it to support the camper. Then find yourself a truck and remove the box. Just build a new subframe to match up exactly with the old one and it should go on without too much work. On mine i had to sit the camper slightly higher so that the newer style doors would open without hitting it but on a mirage I think you will be alright. The cab should be about the right height from the frame if it is an 89 to 94. Not sure about the other years. You will also have to add some leafs to your suspension. It would be nice if you could find a 4 wheel drive. Might be kinda tough with long bed though.

I had a piece of frame from another Toyota truck. I added 12 inches just in front of where the frame starts to curve upwards. I then welded in a longer piece of 1/8 in steel along the inside of the frame to add more strength.

I found the axle at a junkyard. Any Tundra axle should work fine. You will just have to change the gearing in it. The spring saddles also have to be cut off and rewelded to the correct width. Other than that it wasn't too bad. I do think I had to cut off the mounts for the parking brake and reverse them so that the cable would go to the right side of the truck, but it hooked up nice to the truck once I did that. The 2500 pounds was the weight on the new chassis. If I remember right the total weight was about 5100 and it was about half and half between the axles. There were a few things that I added to it since then though so Im sure the weight is up some.

If you are noticing this noise when you are driving check where the steering shaft goes through the firewall. There is a seal on the shaft and it is common for that seal to fall apart with age. When it does you will hear a ticking sound from the motor. I have owned alot of 3.0's and they all had a bit of a tic to them. It is just amplified alot coming through the firewall.

Here are some pics of the swap. I have a loader that i used to lift the camper off. For the springs i used the stock pickup leafs and added 2 3/8 inch thick leaves into the stack. I had a spring shop cut and bend them for me. It rides great and i have had it loaded heavy with no bottoming. By using the Tundra axle and single rear wheels it also allowed me enough room between the frame and tire to mount the shocks outside of the frame rails. I just had to cut the shock mounts off the frame and reweld them to the outside. Then flip the lower brackets around the other way. I believe this helped with the handling and it also made some extra room inside the frame for an auxillary fuel tank. I also installed an antisway bar off from a 94 Toyota 4runner. The dirveshaft from the 4runner also was just the right length for the frame which I lengthened 12 inches. The tires I used are just standard load 31 inch tires. They are rated for approximately 2200 pounds each. When I weighed the rear of the sunrader, it was approximately 2500 pounds so these tires should handle the load easily.

I was just reading this thread and saw that you were interested in swapping your sunrader camper over to a newer chassis. I actually have done this. i put an older 18' camper onto a newer generation 4wd extra cab pickup. i lengthened the frame to do so and kept the extracab. For the rear axle i used an axle form a Toyota Tundra and run 31 inch tires all the way around. The Tundra axle is a nice width and offers a weight capacity close to that of a full floater. It also uses the same bolt pattern as all the older Toyota 4x4's so one spare will fit everywhere. The truck rides and handles great. It worked out far better than i ever imagined. If you have any questions let me know. I also have several pics from the swap.