Trav's 86' Sunrader Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 Hello, I have just purchased a 1986 Sunrrader 2wd, does anyone have any experince driving these on mild back country dirt roads? Does anyone know what kind of differential is in the rear end? This is the 21' model which has the obvious disadvantage over the 18' of a longer rear overhang. Would air bags help this? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtle Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I take both of my Toyota motor homes on dirt roads all the time. I prefer camping in National Forest campgrounds and just about all of them are out of the way and on dirt roads (my avatar is of my diesel on a forest service road in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan). Just use caution on very uneven roads and at creek crossings as the weigh of the motor home body will cause the frame to flex a LOT if you get in a very uneven road situation. "Most" Toyota RVs will have 4.10:1 gears in the diff if that is what you are asking. All 1986 models came with light duty rear ends and you should look at yours to make sure that it has been updated to a heavy duty 1 ton rear. The easiest way to tell is to count your lug nuts. If there are only 5 you have a dangerous situation. All Toyota RVs made between 1978 and 1988 were recalled by the NHTSA for rear end replacements. Unfortunately this was several decades ago and you can no longer get one replaced under this recall and you will have to cover the expense yourself. Adding extra ride springs and air bags will help greatly. My 1991 had air bags and I added an additional leaf to the spring sets (it has 6 now from the stock 5 springs). http://www.toymike.com/sunrader/pics/rearSprings.jpg My 1981 has 9 springs and is just fine that way. http://www.toymike.com/diesel/pics/rearSprings.jpg You can add skid wheels to the rear if you find that you are dragging. I have a set of Pako HD skid wheels that are an "extra set". http://www.toymike.com/forSale/skidWheels1.jpg http://www.toymike.com/forSale/skidWheels2.jpg If you are interested you can contact me off list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trav's 86' Sunrader Posted July 22, 2008 Author Share Posted July 22, 2008 Hey Thanks for the great reply, I will look into all your sugestions. Lucky for me the camper does have the Six Lug rear axel, so now all I need to focus on is adding extra springs and/or air bags to have a great little dirt road camper. Thanks, Trav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.