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Bob C

Toyota Advanced Member
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Everything posted by Bob C

  1. Welcome to the forum PoetKirk. One important thing to remember about these units, none of them are built by Toyota. They are build ON Toyota chassis. Another good thing is that none of the RV appliances are specific to Toyota based RVs. You can get the parts at any RV parts place. You can download the manuals for any of the appliances such as furnaces, refrigerators, water heaters, water pumps, etc. Just Google the manufacturer with part number. I printed off all of the manuals for the stuff in my RV. All of the outlets that look like the ones in your house are 120 volt (AC current) and they work only when plugged into a 120 volt power source. The 120 volt power goes into a power converter that charges the house (RV) battery and power all 12 volt power while plugged in. Your 12 volt battery runs the 12 volt stuff when not plugged in as long as your battery is charged. The Toyota engine supplies 12 volt power to charge your house battery when the engine is running. When the engine is running, the electricity goes first to a battery isolator, it takes either the path to the truck battery or the house battery. All of this takes time to understand. The easiest way is to study one system at a time until you know how it works. The people on this forum can teach you anything you need to know. Ask questions about a specific problem to avoid information overload. My first RV was an Escaper built on a Toyota chassis and I learned so much from the great people here. remember that you are dealing with an antique. These units are easy to work on. Basic tools are required to troubleshoot each piece. Get yourself a good digital multimeter, you will need it to answer questions that the helpers will have. Enjoy you travels. Don't let the little problems ruin the fun; Bob
  2. My '88 had aluminum frame, fiberglass sides, and aluminum roof.
  3. If you were running a 1201 volt fridg on an inverter, I would first look at your battery and see if it is dead. I tried running a dorm fridg on an inverter when I first got my Escaper and found that the battery was good for about 12 hours and then it was dead. Even my 12 volt marine fridg kills the batter pretty fast.
  4. My stock converter was trashed when I bought my Escaper so I installed a Progressive Dynamics 3 staged charger. I chose a Model 9245 which is 45 amps. This converter has a multiple rate charging system so that it charges at a high rate until you get a good base charge into the batteries. It switches to a lower rate and will cycle on and off so that it does not boil your batteries dry and destroy them. If the unit is plugged in during storage it will also go through a desulfication mode that keeps your batteries topped off without cooking them. You may also want to put heavier wires in line all the way from your alternator to the isolator and then back to your batteries. My Escaper had 8 gauge wires and I added another 8 gauge wire to get a better charging rate to the coach batteries. I also added a digital volt meter in line to make sure that my isolator was working and I was charging my battery while the engine was running. I was concerned about my voltage because I had two bad isolators that I bought from O'Reily's. I now have a basic old school solinoid style isolator. It works great and I can keep an eye on my charge.
  5. You will find that many tire installers have no clue what you are looking for. I stopped at WalMart and they had no idea what tires I needed. I went to a Hankook dealer that specializes in truck tires and they got me the 185R14 tires I needed. The guy laughed when I told him about Wallworld.
  6. Here is a very basic tutorial on RV electric lights. When the engine is running, the isolator connects the alternator to the truck battery and the coach battery. When the truck is not running, the isolator disconnects the coach battery from the engine circuit so that the truck battery does not get drained by the RV (coach) lights and other power suckers in the RV. The power converter plugs into "shore" power. This is the extension cord that you plug into an outlet (120 volt) This will charge your coach battery and power your RV electrical needs while plugged in. If your coach battery is dead or discharged, it can't power anything. PM me and and I can give you my phone number so that we can talk about how to trouble shoot your system without typing for an hour with every question. Bob
  7. I have a similar console in my Toyhouse. I really like the padded pillow type cushion on the top. My wife made a padded top for ours but yours looks more comfortable. I added a three hole 12 volt outlet to the front of mine and like the added convenience. I may look into the type like you have and maybe replace mine, but then again, my wife went out of her way to modify the one I have and she may be offended. Can't have that.
  8. I had a Toyota pickup and Fred is right. I had to crawl under the truck every time I wanted to get the spare out. Eventually, I had to use an angle grinder to get the spare out. However, I live in the rusty state of Wisconsin and that truck drove through some really lousy weather.
  9. When we head west from Wisconsin, we always stay on roads such as US, US 20, & US 30. I have been looking at the trip east and it looks like US 6 through Indiana and then getting on US 20 in Ohio would work well. Like you all said, it may take longer but it makes the trip better. Many years ago, when I was single, my travels involved a motorcycle, some camping gear, and no plan of any kind. I saw parts of the US that most people never dreamed of. This trip east may evolve into that sort of thing. I just need to strap 5 gallons of gas to the rear bumper and revert to my old ways. I have some specific places that I want to see but it really doesn't matter how we get there. We have 4 weeks for this trip so we may as well just go where the Toyhouse takes us. I will take some photos and share them with everyone along the way.
  10. I am going to be travelling from Wisconsin through IL, IN, OH, and parts of NY this summer. Is it worth using an Ipass or EZpass on the tollways? I read that Indiana does not give a discount for electronic toll paying and OH does not give discount for out of state passes. With this in mind, is it worth the expense and time to get a pass? I also found that to get an Ipass, you have to go to a retail outlet because their on-line and telephone ordering do not sell RV units. I try to stay off of interstate highways but in an effort to avoid city traffic, it looks like this trip will include more Interstate driving than my western trips.
  11. When I bought my Escaper, the blower housing was packed full of crap that the mice had carried in. The cage would not even turn. I disassembled the unit and vacuumed out the mess. I used a leaf blower and blew air into the outlets and stuff came out of the ductwork. It took awhile for me to get all of the mouse house cleaned up. I had an '82 Toyota pickup that had mice in the housing when I turned on the fan. Dead mice can really stink. It took alot of cleaning to get ride of the smell.
  12. During my trip through Washington a couple of years ago, I got an oil change at Wal-Mart. They informed me that my battery needed to be replaced due to low resting voltage. I felt like telling them that they just wanted to sell a battery. I have 2 digital voltmeters mounted under the dash that I check frequently. One is the truck battery and the other is for the coach battery. I check them both before starting the engine and monitor it frequently while driving. I am paranoid about my batteries because I almost got stranded on one of my trips. I don't trust any oil change outfit, they all want to sell more batteries. I also mark my oil filters whenever I change the oil so that I can see if they actually changed the filter.
  13. I check gas buddy daily while travelling and can really save a pile of money. Sometimes you can drive a block off of the interstate and save 20 cents a gallon. While travelling through Iowa, & Nebraska, I sometimes will fill up at 100 miles and then can skip the higher priced towns.
  14. When did you get the lp tank filled? I would check to make sure that your tank actually has gas in it by loosening the spit valve. It is possible that the lp all leaked out after being filled. I would not rely on the gauge because I know that my gauge is not accurate.
  15. I wish that I would have gotten this information before it happened t me. I had to deal with it for 2000 miles before I noticed that as I tried to put fuel in, bubbles were coming out of the vent hose. After that, I never topped off the tank. When the pump turns off, I don't try to get any more in.
  16. I took the door panels off and used a plastic garbage bag to seal up the inside of the door. I used some caulk ribbon to hold the plastic in place and then added tape to make sure that everything was sealed. After putting it back together I found that I pretty much stopped the air leaks. I didn't think this up, it was factory original in my 1982 toyota SR5 pickup. I was surprised it was not in my 1987 Toyota one ton. Maybe only in the fancier SR5?
  17. I carry 2 1/2 gallon cans on the rear bumper. I have to replace the sheet metal tube 5 years ago and the machine shop that did my repairs did a great job of rebuilding the bumper and mounts. 5 gallons will get me at least 60 mies and it gets my wife to stop worrying about running out of gas (yeah right.)
  18. I replaced my all of my exterior lights with led's. I find that people give me more room while driving at night and that is a very good thing. The top marker lights on my Escaper are aimed up slightly and I can see the light output when I drive under overpasses. I have also replaced all of the brake/tail lights on all of my trailers. Same result with other drivers, they give me more room.
  19. danpty-I don't know what was wrong with your late 80's 4 cylinder Escapers but I own an 88 Escaper with a 22Re. I can easily maintain 55 mph on flat ground and I have never put my foot to the floor. I live in southwestern Wisconsin where we have some pretty steep hills. They may be only 500 feet high but they are steep and crooked. By downshifting and keeping the rpm's up, I can maintain 45 mph on even the steepest ones. While driving in the Rockies, I frequently top the hills in second gear doing 4500 rpm's doing 45 mph. I drive my RV like it has a stick and never use OD. The RV is not fast but I am able to get around at a reasonable speed. Does and extra 15 hp really make much difference in a 6000 pound vehicle?
  20. Did someone say Alaska? I am trying to convince my wife that we need to take that trip.
  21. I have heard several RV owners talk about having electric & gas water heaters. Why can't he use it with the electric element left in there and use gas when convenient?
  22. Just go out and measure the height and get it weighed. The height can vary depending on your suspension and the air conditioner mounted on the roof. Your weight can very by hundreds of pounds depending on what has been added or removed from the vehicle in the years since it was built. My height has gone up by 4 inches due to the addition of my air ride suspension.
  23. The original clearance lights will always have problems with good connections between the bulb and the socket. I replaced all of mine 3 years ago and soldered every connection and used heat shrink tubing to insulate the connections. I have not had any problems since then.
  24. I have a marine frig in my Escaper. According to the owners manual for the frig, it can be run 30 degrees from level. I think my RV would tip over before that. The frig was salvaged from a damaged sailboat. The 3 way frig is just a unit that used 3 different ways to heat the ammonia absorption crystals. There is a heating unit that runs on electricity and also a propane flame that heats it.
  25. I have an '88 Escaper built on '87 truck. The fan motor comes out without removing the glove box. My fan box was packed totally full by a bunch of mice. One mouse could not haul that amount of garbage. There where leaves, insulation, carpeting, and much more. The fan would not turn at all. After getting all of the garbage out of the fan box, I used a shop vac to clean out all of the duct work under the dash. Some of it I sucked out and some had to be blown out.
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