Gulfstream Greg

Some time yesterday this board was hacked by someone calling them self the "Turkish Defacer". Everything should be back to normal but if you are seeing anything strange please let me know. Greg

You are welcome Nolan, thank you for sending the photo's and update. You have one (actually two) sweet machine there! For those interested go to www.toyotamotorhomes.com then to 4x4's and then look for Nolan's 75 Blew. I am unable to post the link for some reason.

Bill - I am very happy with the Parallel Power update. No longer do I have any ac on the dc side at least according to a vom. I have not put it on a scope to verify. It keeps my battery float charged at all times, It has a cooling fan which comes on only when there has been high current draw for awhile, but its barely audible. The lifeline battery seems to be very good with a lot of capacity. I plan on adding a second one in the near future for double capacity. I have another agm but its a different amp hour and I have been told they both need to be the same because of the internal battery resistance and how that affects discharge and charge rates. To discharge and charge equally they need to be the same. A rheostat in series with the "sense" input sounds like a good solution. I have an isolator between the batteries and a volt meter on the dash with a switch so that I can look at which ever battery. I find that one will be 13.8 and the other 14 + depending on their charge states. The isolator seems to be able to sense which battery needs a charge and directs the current accordingly. Greg KI6BJI

In Morro Bay Calif. there is a company that is selling a lightweight trailer that is specifically for kayaks. At one time I did have the web site brochure for the trailers but have no idea where it is now. Anyhow I have to travel down there for work in the near future and if you are interested I will get some info for you. The trailers are a bit pricey but perfect for towing many kayaks. I am looking for a used two person and dog flat bottom for lakes but have not found the one I can afford, not to mention the trailer. Any how the trailer is really nice with motorcycle style wheels (spokes) and very light weight.

I do not have the radios to contact him. His email though is ae0q@arrl.net As far as the Bronco, I was just curious. I have no plans on building or finding one. Since they were the same basic size as a Blazer I thought maybe they would have built one on the Ford also. The Bronco was basicly the short bed pickup with a full body instead of a cab and bed.

Not sure what state you are in but here in Calif under a certain age and weight, child seats are by law required to face backwards. I am assuming you are speaking of the seat belts located in the coach somewhere. Mine are at the dinette seats. As far as safety I suppose they are OK for minor crashes but with mine the occupant sits sideways and so a front impact would throw the occupant sideways. Probably not so good for the back.

Once again we are going to have our Indian Summer Rally in Felton California. Less than a month left! Go to the following page for details http://www.toyotamotorhomes.com/california_redwood.htm

Wow, I had no idea these units even existed. Were these designed specifically for the Blazer or could they fit in say a later model big Bronco?

Your description sounds like a bad ring gear and not a bearing. A bad universal joint can have the same symptom but would be more noticeable at lower speeds. If you do happen to have to change out the rear gears (actually a very easy job on full floaters) think about going to a lower gear ratio. Here is a gear ratio calculator http://www.toyotamotorhomes.com/gear_ratios.htm and here is a source for gear sets http://www.marlincrawler.com/htm/diff/pickup_diff.htm. Marlin crawler builds really strong gear sets that will not blow up. Anyhow a lower gear ratio can allow you to use overdrive, give you more power to climb hills and maybe improve your gas mileage because the engine does not lug as much.

Mikesta Welcome and glad you are here! How old are the kids and are you finding you have enough room?

My floor is delaminated more near the refer shower side, so my guess is it extends under that cabinetry. I had once considered building a support under the floor that rode on the frame of the truck. But after adding the 1/2 inch ply inside it was stiff enough to where I do not need the extra support. I wonder if there is any way to re-glue all the layers back together. Sunrader really dropped the ball when it came to the floor. If they had just added a bit more support under the floor to stop flex. Any how yours looks like a good fix. It felt real solid when I was walking on it. Did you glue anything? I elected not to use glue in case at some point I needed to remove the plywood. I used a bunch of screws spaced about 4 inches apart.

I would think that should work. As long as the scale is certified. I still question what my weight was. I plan to take it to a different scale and see if it was even close. What would really be nice is to know what each wheel is carrying.

If it is a Dolphin it could have been converted. At any rate a toyota 4x4 manual will work for the truck and for the coach you need to find manuals for the appliances for the year range they were manufactured. Toyota4x4rv - I almost have your page ready to upload. Greg

I should have written about this sooner as it happened way back in March. We were all loaded to go to the Big Sur Toy In. And so off we went. On the way down out of these mountains here the steering was feeling really weird. If any of you who have a 4x4 and have left the hubs locked in but in 2 wheel drive on the street, well thats what it felt like. So of course thats what I thought it was. I actually put it in 4x4 when I drive the toy up on my foot high leveling blocks in the driveway. So I pulled over and found that no, the hub was not locked but was it hot, really hot while the other side was cool. So we went to a grocery store and hoping for the best that the caliper would free itself up we continued on. As we approached Santa Cruz I took an off ramp and when I hit the brakes the front end started shaking violently. The caliper had not freed up and the whole assembly was smoking hot. So we returned back to Scotts Valley to an auto parts store. My intentions were to buy a rebuild kit, return home, tear it apart, fix it and then hit the road. They of course did not have a kit but their Capitola store had a complete caliper for $80.00! So back down the mountain to Capitola, but they did not have any brake pads. So then a trip to Kragen for some cheap pads. I also bought a one man brake bleeder and some brake fluid. We drove down to my work where there was a nice flat parking lot, a 3 ton floor jack and another company vehicle I could use if I had to find more parts. I pulled into the parking lot, got the floor jack under it, took the tire off and started unbolting the caliper, put the new caliper and the brake pads, bleed the thing and was back on the road in less than one hour. Moral to this story, never leave home with out your tools.

Like WME said, allot of the extensions are weak. Stand on the bumper and bounce up and down. See what kind of flex there is. Its the repeated flex that WME is talking about that is bad. Eventually the welds or the steel itself crack. A welding shop should be able to beef it up for you. The previous owner of my 18 ft Sunrader actually had the rear bumper extended and beefed up in order to protect the Sunrader storage pod. I added two cargo containers on each side of that to carry firewood and other essential gear. Eventually I will also have a spare tire mount on the rear and a bike rack. The bike and rack 50 pounds and my guess the tire rim and mount another 100 pounds plus firewood and gear another 150 pounds. Mine is strong and I even would not hesitate to pull a small trailer. As an example, someone had attached a bike rack to the rear square bumper. The extra weight and leverage of the bike and rack broke the bumper loose from the frame. It was not even welded, just bolted with some really small bolts. The bumper and bike fell off going down the road at 50 mph, not good. I would definitely visit a welding fabrication shop and get a better idea of what you have under there before adding the weight. Cost of course is dependent on what is fabricated. A hitch mount for those platform cargo haulers are nice.

That sounds right!

If when you turn the temp knob up and you can see the pilot light enlarge its flame then its probably the thermal coupler. There is an off chance its the valve but unlikely. Now if the pilot flame does not enlarge then it could be the valve. As a side note we replaced our stove oven with a new one, they are less than $300 I think. But it gets a hot spot which can burn foods directly over the pilot light. I think its due to the enlarged flame of the pilot light when in heat mode.

This document http://www.toyotamotorhomes.com/files/Axle_FAQ.pdf shows which is the good and bad. The axle you would look for I think would be from a 1988 and newer full floater. As long as its a full floater it will work. As for it beind a direct bolt up type of deal it could be but most lokely will need some type of fabrication. The drive shaft might have to be modified. Find a wrecking yard that can network to find an axle. You do not need a specific part number just a full floater. You might check with toyota on which years the axles were used as I am not sure they are still offered as an option with the new models.

My 18 footer Sunrader weighed in at 6900 pounds fully loaded. Thats as much if not more than some of the larger rigs. It is a 4x4 so your guess is as good as mine on how much the 4x4 gear weighs over a 2 wheel drive. Load it up and have it weighed so you really know if you are tempting fate. Have any idea if its ever been overloaded and how many times or how many big potholes, railroad tracks etc its taken in its past. Many times they come apart when cornering. Nothing like going into a sweeping turn at 55 and have your axle break. Its not like the axle breaks in half and you come to a skidding stop, its more like one sides wheels leave the axle and say bye bye. Not trying to scare you, just stating the facts. Get it weighed. If you are under 4000 pounds you might be ok but I am sure others might question even that weight. As a note. Mine was a recall and was replaced by Toyota according to the previous owner.

Was the main bulkhead particle board? I have heard that is what Dolphin used instead of plywood. I know someone else with the same exact damage in her Dolphin. Its now getting repaired.

Bad link!

I know there are some that run their gens so they can run the coach a/c. If you did run it for charging what actually would be doing the charging is your converter. The converter might actually have a slower charge rate than your alternator regulator charging system. As far as the engine and power I don't think you would notice a difference from the stock. The battery will only take a high current charge for a short while then taper off as it gets fuller. Where you would notice it is if you had every 12 volt accessory on at the same time, like 12 volt refer, high powered driving lights etc. That would be a constant demand and a constant load and would would pull some horse power.

Bought it thru camping world.

Here is a page I have been trying to complete for some time, its got the model numbers for both the old and new. One of the best improvements I have done to our rig. http://www.toyotamotorhomes.com/magnetek_6...es_retrofit.htm

Bill I have an isolator and a switch and voltmeter up front where I can monitor the truck or coach battery. I see 14 + volts all the time to the coach battery and starting battery. One will drop down in voltage while the other stays high so I guess the isolator is doing its job. And yes, radio gear, my reason for the second battery, receive is 1 amp. I actually got the second battery for free. The first though was almost $200 and that is expensive. My converter had burned up my lead acid battery. I have since replaced the converter with a more modern direct replacement. Besides not charging correctly the old one also was a half wave which gave out 4+ volts of ac into the dc circuit. I have graphed the charge rate and now it gives a continuous float charge so I leave the coach connected to shore power at all times. I think fluorescent lighting is perfect for energy consumption. The cold cathode system takes a lot of fabrication to get installed. As a note one of the drivers for recently burned up, had a melt down two days before a trip. And so I had to purchase another one at a local electronics store at an inflated price. I should get a couple more to keep as a spare. 73's Greg