Bob C

RV antifreeze costs under $3/gallon. When I bought my RV, the previous owner said that her husband blew out the lines every year However, the water heater was split because it had water in it. I will spend the money on 3 gallons of antifreeze and run it through the system because a new water heater is more expensive.

The overdrive has an altitude sensor that turns the od off at about 2500 ft. Mine turns off at about 2400 according to the altimeter on my gps. I am lucky that I found out about this before my first trip to higher elevations or I would have thought that the tranny was broken.

I have an '88 Escaper with 22Re engine. I agree with driving 55 to 60 and downshifting before the tranny decides to. I keep the rpm's up and don't worry about speed. We have been above 10,000 ft many times and have never had a problem getting up an incline. We have used first gear many times on the steep and high roads.

I have replaced all of the interior light fixtures with led fixtures. I replaced the bulb in my exterior entry fixture with an led bulb and even after it has been on for hours it stays cool. I am not saying that your lenses didn't melt, but the leds in mine stay cool. they do make high output leds that get very warm. I have led flood lights on the front of my atv and they are built with large heat sinks and get very warm. I would not want that much light in my Toyhouse though.

My father was a very frugal (more lie CHEAP) person. The only thing that he spent money on that was a necessary expenditure was to travel. My mom and he traveled all over the country all their life. That included loading 4 kids into our 60 Chevy without a/c and going from WI to Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, the east coast, Florida and many more places. Dad and Mom kept telling us that you should travel whenever possible because you never know what is coming ahead of you. All of my siblings, nephew, nieces, and my kids continue the traveling. Take you trip and think about how your wife would have enjoyed it.

That looks bigger than my 20' Escaper. I don't have the table between the captains chairs. My Escaper is very similar to the 205RK.

I have a plastic truck tool box that frequently hitchhikes on my carrier. Chairs, a small plastic table, misc stuff gets stuck in there but I keep the weight very low.

While hunting, I frequently camp in my Scamp with temps down to zero degrees (F) My furnace in the Scamp gave up the ghost about 5 years ago but I survive by adding an extra sleeping bag. I would rather wake up chilled than not wake up. Every winter here in Wisconsin, at least one or two ice fishermen or hunters end up dead from carbon monoxide poisoning due to using lp heaters in tents or ice shanties. I don't care if they have an oxygen depletion sensor or not, I believe the manufacturer when they say DO NOT USE them in an enclosed camper. Dead is dead. By the way, I am a DNR hunter education instructor and get the death announcements straight from the DNR, not from rumors.

I replaced all of my marker lights and brake/turn signals with new led fixtures. All of the connections are soldered and heat shrink tubing is installed. This got rid of all of my light problems (so far). It was worth the time and money spend. Before I changed the light fixtures, I was chasing problems all the time.

I am sure that someone that actually uses electricity other than 12 volt will step in here pretty quickly. I keep it really simple and just use 12 volts to avoid spending tons of money.

I have the springs shown in Linda's lower picture. I bought them from 3-T. I could not find the 5000 lb units shown in the upper photo. I run about 80 psi and the air suspension does a great job of raising the rear of the RV. Before installing the air suspension, I bottomed out on just about every bump and the ride reminded me of riding on a hay wagon. I love my air suspension. if this set ever wears out, I will be installing the 5000 lb units.

Prayers headed to everyone in the areas affected by these fires.

You asked about a maximum altitude for a 4 cylinder. I have an '88 Escaper with 22Re engine and automatic tranny. I have been over several passes in the Rockies, including Independence Pass-12,095 ft, Beartooth Highway-10,947 ft, Tioiga Pass-9,943 ft, and Trail Ridge Road-11,827 ft and others. The only one that gave me any problems was going up Highway 14a from the west through the Bighorn Mountains. The engine warmed up a bit but never got warm enough to cause me any concerns. The biggest thing to remember is that the 4 cylinder engines love to rev up. Install a tach and don't lug the engine.

I simply bought a hood liner from a wrecked Cadillac and slipped it under the hood of my Toyhouse. I did not do any scientific heat reading before and after installation. I think it made a difference in engine noise that gets to us in the cab. I will eventually install carpeting and a firewall mat to cut down the noise and hopefully the temp in the cab also.

I believe that you need to lubricate the connections through-out the shifting system. Spray some lube onto every connection from the steering column all the way to the transmission. I think that you have some rust or buildup on these joints and it loosens up after being moved a bit. Try unlocking the steering column and moving the shifter through all of the gear positions a couple of times to see if it gets easier after a couple times. One of my vehicles that sat for weeks without being used developed the same problem and it was resolved by lubrication.

I pull my wheel bearings out to clean, re-grease, and adjust them about every 10,000 miles. If you know how to do it yourself, it only takes about an hour. There should be a very, very small amount of play on the bearings if they are done right. My bearings on my '88 Escaper were replaced just before I bought it (receipt in hand) 5 years ago. I have repacked them 3 times over 30,000 miles and they look and feel like new. Watch youtube and you will find several videos on how to do it yourself. Even better is to have someone talk you through it so that they can let you know if they are adjusted right.

I disconnected the cooler line and ran the engine while dumping in fresh fluid at the same time. The fluid was changed just before I bought the RV 6 years ago and was still nice and clean. The old fluid did not smell any different than the new fluid. After my 7500 mile trip last year and only 3000 this year I will probably wait until spring to do it again. I can do it myself pretty cheaply. I am probably going to drop in a larger radiator next spring also.

I installed an LED volt meter under the dash that gives me the voltage that is going to the rear (coach) battery. This volt showed me that my 3 month old isolator failed on the first day of my 2 week trip. I would have not known about the failure until my coach battery was dead at the end of the day.

On our hills my speed drops off along with engine RPM's. I would rather shift it myself and not worry about burning the valves due to lugging the engine. These 22Re engines have a red line of 5500 and they love to spin. I try not to spin above about 4800 but that gives me about 45 mph in second gear.

Install a tach and learn how to drive like your Toyhouse is a semi. Keep it in the middle of the power band and don't worry about what gear you are in. I live in a hill part of Wisconsin and drive about 60 miles to my some land that I own. I have to shift the RV like it is a stick because of the constant up and down driving. You get used to it and forget that it is really an "automatic". The engine starts to get low on RPM's if I let the tranny do its own shifting and my speed drops off quickly. Our hills are only about 500 ft tall but they are steep,

What do you call "terrible on gas?" I get anywhere from 13 to 15 mpg if I drive 55 mph. My daughter drove for about 100 miles doing 65 to 70 and she got 9.5 mpg. That is not bad for a rolling house.

Please don't throw it away. There are only so many rims for these RV's. Can't someone use this? If I didn't live 1400 miles away I would come and get it. there has to be someone nearby that can use it.

I put Bilsteins all the way around on my "88" Escaper. I think they work pretty good with my T-9 air suspension. But, compared to a bottomed out suspension with blown out original shocks anything would be an improvement. When I bought the RV, it would bounce for a long time after hitting a bump.

Derek-Thanks for the information. There is a shorty Sunrader about 10 miles from where I live. i'll have to take a look at it the next time i drive by to see what he has for a rear axle.

When my kids (4 daughters) were small and we had a very tight budget, we traveled all over the country in a Chevy Caprice and Starcraft pop-up. We chose to live on a tight budget so that we could take a 2 week vacation every year. We loved the pop-up and had set up and tear down totally nailed. We could pull into a camp site and get everything set up and dinner on the table in 5 to 10 minutes. We could pack up in a rain storm and put everything away without getting the mattresses wet. We would wrap the mattress in a cheap throw away painters plastic drop cloth before removing the bungees on the ends and taking down the support poles. One of our daughters recently bought her own pop-up and has a group of women that travel with her. In June they spent a week in Yellowstone. The husbands all get left home. It is a girls only vacation.