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Purchased a Toyota Sunrader several months ago.  

Part of the floor did have slight sag when i bought it.

Was thinking that, at worst, it would be a bit of dry-rot that i would fix.  

Once i got it in my hands, i removed the carpet preparing to tackle the issue with the floor right off.

Lo' and behold, the flooring material appears to be fine.  Even took a 'core sample' to see how the foam was, and if there was separation.  That looks fine also.  

What i did discover is that the floor appears to have been bent upwards just under the refrigerator and appears to sag beneath the shower-room.  This is all on the driver's side of the coach.  The sag under the shower appears to be near 1/2 inch or so.  

Furthermore, it also appears as though there are some missing carriage bolts in the floor.  Are there missing cross members underneath???  This i do not know.  The holes (presumably missing bolts) are near the rear wells.  There are two of these.

Toward the rear of the coach, there are two sets of carriage bolts in the floor that go down and fasten to a cross member that itself is attached to the chassis frame.  

Have Toyota pickup chassis diagram from Toyota.  Yet, that does not show me the layout of the supporting structural members and how the Sunrader was attached to frame.

Is this rig safe to drive?  

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I not sure, but I don't think there were crossbars the full width. The completed Raider shell was bolt to the normal truck frame. Over time the weight of the shell on outer edge of the flooring causes it to bend down and the floor sags.

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What is a remedy for this?  Has anyone attempted to install framing reinforcements to counter this issue?

Have not had it on a lift yet.  Once i do, i will look to see the feasibility of perhaps jacking the lower spot up a bit (1/2"),

To then have someone weld in some steel in order to allow for a more supportive base.

Hoping that there is someone who has real good pictures of structural members supporting the Sunrader's floor.  

Perhaps someone has taken the coach off the chassis, and has referencable pictures of chassis with coach freshly removed???  

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Here's a diagram of the coach construction. Held in place only by fiberglassing the coach to the floor and then attached to the frame with only 4 carriage bolts. I don't think there are any cross beams that go all the way to the sides of the shell. Most people have managed to correct any sag by just reinforcing the floor. You say your floor looks fine but if it was fine it wouldn't be bending. I do have a little droop in the back corner of mine. Has never effected drivability in any way and hasn't gotten any worse in the last 14 years. Maybe if you could show us some pics

Linda S

new system wouldn't let me just post the pic. Just scroll down to construction pic

 

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Welcome aboard Mister Blu, I have the Sunrader FG-210 RD Rear dine 21' refer & bath on driver side, sink and stove on passenger side. I had a little sponginess in the floor standing at the kitchen sink and some sag by the refer/bath area. I stripped the floor down to the plywood and it was fine everywhere, but as you can see in Linda's Brochure

on page 5, there is pretty thin 3/8" plywood over 3/4" foam, over 1/8" plywood over some nice aluminum pan on the road (bottom) side. The fiberglass body is laminated to the wood/foam/wood/ aluminum floor around the edges. So the weight of the body is pushing down on the edges of the floor. I think there is a grid work of small square tubing under the floor that rides over the trucks frame extensions. I noticed some de-lamination of the fiberglass shell to floor joint which I did patch somewhat. I pulled off the linoleum and ground my way down (through the glue residue to the plywood which was in fine shape.  I "glued and screwed" some really nice stiff Mahogany thin plywood down to the original plywood, then put T&G oak laminate flooring glued and air gun tacked over that. It did not make things a lot less springy but its a damn nice looking floor. I have never heard of a Sunrader body coming off the floor or it being unsafe to drive ? so I have just not worried about it, am I wrong?

 

Edited by Lee & Joan
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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you all for your replies.  

Linda, i will see about getting a couple of pics if i can get some that will clarify the issue a bit.  

Lee and Joan... sound familiar. 

One of my concerns is that i may be missing a couple of the square metal tubing that runs perpendicular to the chassis frame.  i.e. potentially the same cross members that the more forward carriage bolt would fasten to.

It also appears as though someone has done some reinforcing of the two primary frame members (forward the rear axle). The welds on these steel plates look pretty novice.  Was this done after leaving the factory, or is this the original frame extention?  My thinking is that it is the former.

Is there a trick to telling if the frame is straight?  Was this rig's frame damaged?  Or is this all normal sunrader stuff?

Again... 

Thank you.

 

 

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In 1986 Toyota came out with the extra long wheel base of 137". The full sized rigs were built on this chassis and the only changes to the frame were behind the rear axle where they added extensions to support the coach. 1985 and older the frames had to be altered to accommodate the full sized rig and there would be visible welds on each side. My friends 1984 was extended so long he has a 142 inch wheel base. I have never seen shoddy frame alterations or weak looking rear extensions on a Sunrader. My rear extensions look stronger than the frame itself. I don't have a 21 footer though so I can't compare the metal crossbeams though. Without being there to look at it there isn't much more I can tell you.

Try putting your vin in here like you were looking for parts. It will tell you the year. Lots of these coaches are dated the year after the truck was built because of the time it make to manufacture the motorhome

https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/toyota-pickup-parts.html

Linda S

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There were originally carriage bolts in my floor, but without the correct washers, 2 of them had torn through the rear plywood flooring in mine. With no pictures, I don't know your rig size, but it seems to me there will be welding traces if there were lateral braces previously installed/removed.  It also seems to me, if you have a  friend who welds, or a friend who is restoring an old car they may be of help, but, either way, someone will have to spend some time under there figuring out what mods have been tried.I took lots of pictures to explain stuff. ( wish I still had them all)  I can only reply from the  perspective of an '84 18' Sunrader, but these old pictures of my rig may be of interest. The first shows how much distortion the floor can suffer from weight and the continuing shock of travel and vibration. Picture number 2 shows how much the rear support had bent down at the ends . Picture number 3 shows the size of the floor joists in an '84 18 footer. I feel they were vastly over-estimating the load-bearing capabilities of common fir or pine lumber.<_< Picture number 4 shows a cut-away of the floor material and 1/16" steel tubing for the cross braces. (Mine never had the 1/8" luan laminated at the bottom, just aluminum road barrier,( musta been Friday). Picture 6 shows the location of the 2 back lateral supports, on an 18 ft  '84, that is. (back on left, front next to wheel well, on right) What it doesn't show is how they terminated about 6" short of the perimeter of the coach-walls and were actually penetrating the aluminum road barrier and insulation at the ends. Picture 5 shows one member's (YostFMX, I believe) answer to the issue you're describing, lateral "wings" welded to the sides of the frame. I would not recommend replacing the floor like me, it was a very long term project and, for me, necessitated rebuilding the whole interior of the coach to get the build quality I wanted, but.... it can be done.  Remaining pictures show some frame reinforcing and finished floor.  Welcome to the site, download some pix, if you can.

BR, TG

high center floor.jpg

bent floor brace.JPG

floor joists.JPG

84 Rader floor.JPG

Keith under.jpg

lateral supports.JPG

floorless.jpg

Extension Re-Fab.JPG

gusset (1).jpg

New Floor.JPG

Coving FG.JPG

Edited by ToyoGuy
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  • 6 years later...
On 2/22/2017 at 9:15 PM, linda s said:

In 1986 Toyota came out with the extra long wheel base of 137". The full sized rigs were built on this chassis and the only changes to the frame were behind the rear axle where they added extensions to support the coach. 1985 and older the frames had to be altered to accommodate the full sized rig and there would be visible welds on each side. My friends 1984 was extended so long he has a 142 inch wheel base. I have never seen shoddy frame alterations or weak looking rear extensions on a Sunrader. My rear extensions look stronger than the frame itself. I don't have a 21 footer though so I can't compare the metal crossbeams though. Without being there to look at it there isn't much more I can tell you.

Try putting your vin in here like you were looking for parts. It will tell you the year. Lots of these coaches are dated the year after the truck was built because of the time it make to manufacture the motorhome

https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/toyota-pickup-parts.html

Linda S

Linda, I have a 1988 sunder 21' with the 142" wheelbase. is that the stock wheelbase or did they move the rear axle back? Just trying to get an idea. I have found a 1988 4WD Toyota pickup (Terrible body, solid frame) that i was considering swapping over. Just don't know if it will fit, without measuring the 4wd frame. All the diagrams i have looked at list the wheelbase shorter than that. 

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I really don't think Gardner Pacific altered any frames after 1986 to make yours be 142 inch wheelbase. I know they extended earlier ones because they had to, to accommodate the larger size campers. Your never going to find any Toyota truck that will fit your camper without frame extensions. Maybe a Tundra with an 8ft bed. Wheelbase on them is something like 140 inches. I'm not there so it's hard to give you simple answers.

Linda S

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