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Sunrader 4x4 Turbo 5 Speed


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Yeah, ...while some RV veterans might cringe at the price, with turbo, standard tranny and only 100K miles and  "with upgrades" @ 25K, I'm surprised it's still for sale. Pictures would tell a lot though. Wonder if it's an Xtra-cab like Greg's was.

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with the overwhelming stink of arrogance in the authors demeanor and tone of description one might think he actually does have the greatest RV in Toy history.

He must be very choosy in whom he will decide to sell to in order to get the award of course because only the very best of the sunraders would stand up to no pictures and a description worded that strongly. "no B.S."

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yeah, I got sort of the same impression.  he seems to feel it has collector value.  quien sabe.

I was more impressed by the turbo until I learned that a simple bone stock normally aspirated 3RZ swap often makes more power than a turbo 22RE.  http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=19275.0

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1 hour ago, Totem said:

i dont know... I could get a nice used tall/long sprinter and pretty it out for quite a bit less than that...

But would it be a 4x4? That's what your paying for with the Sunrader.

Linda S

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In my world. even if RARE, do I care?  No, if I want it as a user. I am not a collector per se, of vintage RVs and I suspect if there is a group of 4WD Sunrader collectors - that group is very small and esoteric.  I have not seen the photos, but if real nice - it's maybe a $5000 machine to me, solely based by what it can do and not what it might be worth to some collector somewhere.  Also, I suppose if someone wanted it AS a collector's item - wouldn't it be worth less with the updates it has had to make it unoriginal?  Plain fact is - for $5000 I can buy a used diesel 4WD truck with a camper on the back and get 16-17 MPG @ 65 MPH.  Never going to do that with this Toyota.  And yeah, I'm sure there is someone out there drooling over it and would pay $10,000 if they had it.  $25K is just plain crazy.  But some fool and his money parts company every day.  Note I sold my turbo diesel 4WD Chevy  Blazer-Hallmark RV for $3500 and it might of been the only one like it in the USA.  Still did not make it worth a small fortune just because it was rare.   And mine could pull a trailer and even had a snow plow set-up in front. 

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and it still won't have grown any more ground clearance or 4WD......i'll avoid spouting off my opinions on Toyota vs Dodge reliability

on the other hand, no matter how pristine the condition of that Rader, it still has plastics (wire insulation, among other things) that are 30 yrs old

ya pays yer $ and takes yer choice.  me, I see no use for a motor home that can't go where I want to go, which describes every sprinter conversion I've seen.  I guess I just used those as an example of the other common "small" RV 

remember the recent discussion on what would be involved to convert a Rader to 4x4 or put it on 4x4 chassis?  for the $ this guy wants, you could buy a sunrader and a Taco/tundra AND pay someone to mate the two.

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43 minutes ago, payaso del mar said:

.i'll avoid spouting off my opinions on Toyota vs Dodge reliability

 

If I had to compare reliability of my 1992 Dodge to any Toyota I've owned, I would rate them even. My 92 is pretty utilitarian.  5.9 Cummins turbo-intercooled diesel that will outlive most Toyota engines.  German Getrag five-speed trans. Cast-iron New Process NP205 transfercase. Solid front axles and manual hubs. Manual windows and door locks. No complex electronics anywhere.  Actually simpler to work on then most Toyotas . With a camper on the back it will cruise all day at 65-70 MPH and get 16-17 MPG. Not as convenient as my Toyota RV though. No pass through from the cab to the coach.  Also rides like a truck (like most 1st generation Dodge diesels do).  On the other hand, I can pull heavy trailers, and take the camper off and use it as a truck, unlike my Toyota. 

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how I wish toy would buy the rights to make a 4 cylinder version of that cummins*.......one thing that might prompt me to buy a new one.

but a modern Sprinter is worlds away from your '92 pickup, to the point that i'm not sure you could extrapolate reliability.  my folks' 06 300, which locked in Park at 26,000 miles, would be at least as representative.

*pretty easy to do and used to be common when there were more inline sixes....Volvo, BMW, Chevy (ChevyII)

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1 hour ago, payaso del mar said:

how I wish toy would buy the rights to make a 4 cylinder version of that cummins*.......one thing that might prompt me to buy a new one.

 I had one of those 3.9 liter Cummins in a Chevy Blazer.  Cummins 4BT.  They were nearly bolt-in swaps for Chevys and Fords because Cummins offered them in repower kits with adapter mounts and bellhousings.
Great engine but very heavy.  Isuzu makes one too called the 4BDT, also 3.9 liter. It is one of the longest lived engines on the planet and is also pretty heavy.  In the 1960s, CJ Jeeps were available with a four-cylinder 3.1 liter Perkins diesel that I think would be great in a Toyota.  Parts availability for those Perkins engines is still great because they are used in farm tractors too.  Only weighs 475 lbs. - 130 lbs. more then a Toyota 22RE engine.  The Cummins 3.9 liter diesel weighs 780 lbs. and is little heavy for a little Toyota.  On a side-note - I had kind of given up on diesels after living in New York state for 40 years and for the past 10 years, having diesel cost over a dollar more per gallon then gas.  When I moved from NY last year - I dumped my 1981 diesel Chevette, two 1991 diesel VW Jettas, a 1983 diesel Blazer, a 1986 turbo-diesel Blazer-Hallmark RV, along with three other diesel pickups.  I kept my 94 Ford F250 diesel along with my 1985 Isuzu 4WD diesel mini-truck.  I gave away my 92 Dodge with the 5.9 Cummins to my son in Colorado. Now - here in Michigan - diesel has been cheaper then gasoline for most of the time.  Had I known this before I moved, I might of tried harder to keep some of the other rigs. I would of kept my Dodge-Cummins instead of the Ford diesel except I've had many days I could barely drive it. That because of the stick-shift and my right should being completely worn out.  Sometimes I cannot hardly use my right arm at all.  I've been scheduled for two years to get a complete should-joint replacement.  But - I keep chickening out and putting it off.

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weight seems to be the chronic issue with diesels....luv them cast iron heads with 22:1 compression, but that 3.9 weighs more than a BBC and almost as much as an early-60s ChryHemi.  I didn't realize that they actually made a 4 cyl version of the Cummins. 

when I first moved to El Paso, diesel fuel was about 25 cents a gallon in Juarez....subsidized by Mexican govt since private citizens weren't allowed to own diesels

there are actually claims that Toy will be putting a turbodiesel in the 2017 Taco....but i'll bet it goes for close to $40K in 4WD 

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Those 4BT Cummins sell for more then the 6BTs pulled from Dodge trucks.  They were sold by Cummins for repowers into those big Frito Lay sort-of bread trucks.  Those big step-vans came new with Chevy 6.2 diesels, 350 gassers, or Ford 300 sixes.  The 3.9 Cummins was a bolt-in swap and made the same HP and TQ as a 6.2 liter Chevy V8.

Weight and parts available are two big issues.  Low power also used to be one.  A diesel always makes less HP and TQ then a gas engine with the same bore and stroke and aspiration.  Many new diesel owners do not realize that.  There ARE some turbo-diesels now with awesome power and torque.  But if we had gas engines built the same way, they'd have even more.  There are big-rigs being built now that run on spark ignition and natural gas.  If things keep going like they are and gasoline gets much cheaper then diesel - you might start seeing more high-boost gas engines around.

In 1980, in New York, Agway has their "spring diesel sale" and I bought a 1000 gallons of diesel for 13 cents a gallon.   I guess those days are long gone.  Every spring, Agway would have a sale to get rid of its leftover winter-diesel that was cut with around 30% kerosene.  I used it in everything.  Tractors in the field and cars and trucks on the highway.  That was before there were fuel cops dipping tanks to check for dye in the fuel.

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I've thought about putting a 5 cylinder Mercedes turbo-diesel into a Toyota RV. Model OM617 with 3 liters. Those Mercedes engines are extremely rugged, have great parts availability, and are dirt cheap.  I've had many chances to buy them for $300-$400.    Unlike the Cummins 3.9 liter that rarely goes for less then $3000.  I know several people have installed them into Toyota trucks.  What I do NOT find is results at the end.  I find many posts about the installs but little about how well it worked when done.  I would hate to go through all the work and then have a disappointment.  I am getting old and beat up enough that I don't have many such projects left in me.

Here is one such project that a college kid (not a prof. mechanic) did.  He did some excellent work.  I do not know how it worked out in the end.

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OM617 is a nice engine for sure. OM606 maybe even better and a straight 6 taboot. Personally I get skittish on 5 cylinder motors; it was the downfall on the gen1 sprinters and had issues Ive read; now they use a 6.

My 1998 e300td has the 606 and its running great now with only 5 glow plugs and one broken off from a shadey dealership mech.

"Now - here in Michigan - diesel has been cheaper then gasoline for most of the time.  Had I known this before I moved, I might of tried harder to keep some of the other rigs"

Ive been in Michigan for over 20 years and no matter what if you have the right motors (ALH TDI, 12 valve cummins, OM606 etc) you will always come out on top cost wise on operating costs.

Weve had that argument before in here but I still stand by it; you should have kept those diesels.

 

Edited by Totem
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