Gulfstream Greg

Nolan is the guy who has done it with the early toys (solid front axle). The vintage you are looking for has a IFS front end. If you go with a solid front axle you will have to do some fabrication. Lets start over. You will need a doner truck of the same year and engine. You want the trans and transfer case from a V6 setup. If you stay with IFS then you have all that also. The computer might be different so that needs to be swapped also. Wireing should all be in place as long as you stay with the same year. You will probably need to have a rear drive shaft built. Probably need to have some rear springs built also. I think its 100% possible.

Buy a Chiltons manual for that year Toyota Pickup that will also give you all the other specs you need for that year. The truck chassis, engine and transmission is the same for pickup or motorhome. Does it have the full floating rear axle or the bad rear axle? The good axle wll have 6 lugs with a protrusion thru the wheel hole and the bad axle will have 5 lugs and no protrusion. And yes the lug nuts might be a different size depending on which rear axle you have. And welcome to the group!

I have seen a V6 18 footer but it was not for sale. I can not recall seeing one for sale. You might have to wait a long time but then one might pop up tomarrow. I think they are as rare as a 4x4.

I think most mount them on the roof. Storage and theft are the biggest reasons. I would not want to have set them up every time nor do I have the room to store them. So on the roof they will be when money allows. Go to www.costco.com and do a search for solar. I think they all come with some sort of mounting system.

The gaskets at the bottom can leak. Mine did but I simply sealed them, no more problem. I know of two sources for windows. One is the original manufacturer now a different RV dealer. They kept the molds for the windows and make them up. The other is RV Doctor George. He has a stock of used windows. There are maybe 5 different sizes.

Most cd radio devices have two power wires. One goes to the ignition (usually yellow) so when you turn on or off the ignition the player follows. The other wire goes to the battery directly (thru a fuse). It supplies the main power to the unit and also keeps the unit energized so that it does not loose any of its radio station and option presets. When the unit is in the off position it should draw a small amount of current. Its enough that after a couple of weeks or more it could drain the battery low enough to not start. A solution is a solar battery charger that sits on your dash. It supplies enough current to help keep the battery charged and the cd units computer happy.

Definitely buyer beware on eBay. a lot of sellers hope on the ignorance of the buyer and apparently do really well with their sales. I see small stuff all the time on eBay that is selling for more than what I would have to pay for it in a local store and then some tack on 20, 30 and more dollars in shipping! But there is another angle to the story. Many who have Internet service and the world of online shopping in front of them do not have a local store within 100 miles so that extra 20 bucks might be OK. research research is the key to cyberspace happiness! There are good deals to be had on eBay also. I once bought a ham radio a HT (walki talkie) that retails for over 300 dollars. Bought it for under $100 because the seller stated the battery was dead and he did not have the charger so he could not verify it still worked even though it did the last time he used it. Works perfectly. The percentage of people who get burned on eBay is very low. I did buy a radio one time from a guy who never shipped it. Turns out he was dead and someone hacked into his account. PayPal refunded my money!!!

Here is the main link to the gallery folder where they are. You should be able to get them all there, if you have a problem PM me. As of right now I was able to download them with no problems. The links in the previous posts went bad as I had to re upload the files due to a gallery problem. http://www.toyotamotorhome.org/forums/inde...q=sc&cat=56

They can be very difficult to find. If you do not have one I suggest buying a Digital VOM test meter (like this one http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.js...rentPage=family ), one that is capable of at least reading 10 amps. You will have to insert it between one of the battery poles and cable to verify you do have a drain. If so, start pulling fuses and disconnecting stuff. The process of elimination is key. Find a chilton's with a wiring diagram for that year so you know what is there to check. As a side note you did mention that the battery was checked. I got a battery check one place and their machine said it was bad then took it to Sears and their machine said it was good. The ammeter between the pole and cable is the only way to tell for sure. The drain may be in milliamps, enough to drain it down after a few days. Good luck and keep us posted.

Make sure your gear ratios are the same in the front and back. If your front wheels are 15 inch you may have to have some 15 inch duals built for the rear. Same tire size and gear ratios are required if you do not want to blow something up when in 4 wheel drive. I would take some measurements of the donor truck and try and match the placement of the mounts. I might be wrong but spring geometry might be a factor. Question I would have is do you use the springs from the two wheel drive truck or the springs from the four wheel drive truck?

There are some componant manuals here in the gallery http://www.toyotamotorhome.org/forums/inde...q=sc&cat=48 Exactly what type and for what are you looking for. Refer, stove, water heater? A lot of these componants are generic between all coach builders.

I would get the system hooked up to the gauges when you first turn it on and verify right then that its got pressure. Your right the odds are against it still having enough freon. Two years ago I had our system recharged using the r-134. Now supposedly you are supposed to do some major component changes but in our case the system was evacuated and then a new special oil was introduced into the system that can blend with the old r12 oil and recharged all for $100. Adapters, oil and r-134. The r12 is really outrageously expensive per pound. So far its been fine. But then again we have probably only put about 2000 miles on the truck and far less on the A/C. As far as reducing the efficiency I can not say as ours really cooled badly in the first place. Driving west bound on a 100 degree day with the sun shining directly into the cab is when it really has a hard time but then again maybe any A/C would be stressed. Any how the oil that blends with the old seems to be the trick. As far as running the coach air with an inverter I think most will agree with me that its not really feasible. It would have to be a big inverter and a really big alternator to do the job. Some though do run their generators to power the coach a/c.

See whee it says "Newbie" on the left. After five posts you can change it!

Its something that only admin can do. You should see a change now. Greg

That was a good price for a 4x4. Could have sold quickly. Keep looking as it may reappear if he had to drop the ad for some reason other than selling it. I can change your Display name, PM me what you want. Your title can be changed by you after 5 posts but the display name is separate. Greg

Some have taken out the toilet and put in a self contained toilet. Why do I bring that up? Our little 18 ft Sunrader dumps the shower water into the black water tank which is a peasley 8 gallons. I have heard some real nasty stories about filling the black tank to way to full while taking a shower. I have not done that yet. I removed the stock shower head and installed one of those kitchen sink dish rinser sprayers. Puts out just enough water at high velocity and shuts off instantly. At some point in time I plan to disconnect the shower drain from the black tank and re-route it to a small holding tank with a boat bilge pump and pump it over to the grey water tank. I might also install a valve so that I might do a grey water disposal into the woods when boon-docking. Anyhow the portable toilets sound like a good idea as you just dump them into the nearest toilet or even a waste station. Not to mention while boon-docking you could take it out in the woods, dig a hole and dump it.

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Ya send me the link and I will put it up or you can post the link in the tran drive train section and I will make it a sticky. Thanks Greg

Welcome to the forums here. There are a couple of places the Sunraders leak. The roof vents or A/C, the side, rear and front windows with the front being #1. The way the ceiling is constructed is with solid plywood then fiber glass. Probably why it feels like solid oak. There are some manuals etc in the gallery. Here is a link for the Sunrader brochure which shows some construction detail. http://toyotamotorhome.org/forums/uploads/...1_48_201768.pdf Some of the Sunrader floor plans have the shower drain dump into the black water tank. Might be why it was removed. The floors are hard to repair because of the way they are constructed. Under the shower can be difficult. It might be possible to inject foam from the underside into between the tub and floor. That might help bond it all back together and stiffen it up. Sounds like you got a good deal. You will certainly enjoy the Sunrader! Greg

Try this guy http://www.rvdoctorgeorge.com/ Greg