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1983 Nissan 21' Sunrader


RHS

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On a road trip to the Olympic Peninsula in washington state Feb. 12, 2015 I saw a sunrader at an rv dealer on hwy 101 near Sequim just had to stop. It was there 1 day when we saw it. The story is the original owner had passed away in his 90s the family was trying to sell it. 1983 21' Sunrader w/manual transmission, 80,000 miles had been stored inside when not in use. It was 'AMAZING', looked almost new inside. Rear dinette & very clean. Thought seriously about buying it but have 2 sunraders now. Just giving a heads up, the dealer was asking $7,000 as I was leaving they said they might raise it to $8,000. Peninsula Rv at Sequim.

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On a road trip to the Olympic Peninsula in washington state Feb. 12, 2015 I saw a sunrader at an rv dealer on hwy 101 near Sequim just had to stop. It was there 1 day when we saw it. The story is the original owner had passed away in his 90s the family was trying to sell it. 1983 21' Sunrader w/manual transmission, 80,000 miles had been stored inside when not in use. It was 'AMAZING', looked almost new inside. Rear dinette & very clean. Thought seriously about buying it but have 2 sunraders now. Just giving a heads up, the dealer was asking $7,000 as I was leaving they said they might raise it to $8,000. Peninsula Rv at Sequim.

bad axle?

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I'd love to have one like that. I had a chance to buy an 18' Sunrader on a Datsun chassis last year for $1600. I wish now I'd bought it. That was in northern Michigan. Same seller also had a 1979 Sterner micro-RV on a Datsun. Made in New Jersey. Another one I passed on that I now wish I'd bought. He wanted $900 for it.

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I only have one so far and not a Nissan, I hate it when they are in my backyard, especially when I have an 86 that I start a total gut and rebuild on this year. Must not go see, must resist……

tomorrow is a holiday :)

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Did the nissans also have death axles?

I don't think any of the mini-trucks had "death axles." That being said, Datsun sold many small cab & chassis trucks that got used for small motorhomes with just a semi-floating rear axle like many of the pre-86 Toyotas had. Datsun/Nissan started using full-floating rear axles taken from Patrols - before Toyota did (from Dynas) in their cab & chassis rigs.

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The OP stated that he saw a 21' nissan sunrader. thats the full version that a toyota chasis would usually be part of an axle recall. I just never knew how the nissans dealt with this; did they have similar axle recalls?

OP stated the axles was good; but I am just personally curious on this; did they have axle recalls also?

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I think Nissan started using the full floating axles from their Patrols around 1984 and never authorized any heavy 21 footers with the lighter axles they used in other rigs like the Cricket or Chinook. But I'm no expert on the history of Datsun and Nissan RVs and only have the Datsun cab & chassis book from 1978.

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I have an '83 nissan shorty sunrader w/full floater not sure about history. Also have '84 toyota 21' sunrader w/full floater. Wheel patterns different wish they were the same.

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Do you know what the two wheel bolt patterns are? Just curious. Nissan/Datsun had full floating axles back to the early 1950s. Not real common in the US though until the 1980s. I've seen them in three basic sizes. C200, H233 and H260. The H233 or H233B is the Nissan equivalent to the Toyota full-floaters used in motorhomes. H233B has a 9.1" ring gear. The C200 is small and has a ring & pinion like Toyota used in pickups before 1975 with a 7.8" ring gear. H260 is huge and similar to what you find in full size 1 ton Chevy and Ford trucks (10.25" ring gear).

If you look at your rear axles - it's easy to tell a C200 from a H233. C200 is a Salisbury setup (no removeable center section). Just a tin back cover. H233 and H233B is a Hotchkiss and DOES have a removeable center-section like a Toyota.

Here's a photo of a "fake dually" setup taken out of a Datsun 18' motorhome.

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The OP stated that he saw a 21' nissan sunrader. thats the full version that a toyota chasis would usually be part of an axle recall. I just never knew how the nissans dealt with this; did they have similar axle recalls?

OP stated the axles was good; but I am just personally curious on this; did they have axle recalls also?

They did not have a recall or any other paperwork on the axle issue on the Nissan/Datsun. That information is in the archives.

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Lug pattern on the Nissan dually is 6x6.5. The front wheels are 6x5.5. Nissan never had a truck with the reversed duallies with adapters on the front. The full float cab and chassis used on motorhomes in America was only made from 1984 to 1988. A true 1983 truck if it has a full float will have been converted. There are lots of early Datsun-Nissan motorhomes out there with non full floaters and fake duallies. They can fail but I'm guessing there just weren't enough of them to issue a recall.

Linda S

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