Gulfstream Greg

I can not see why not. Check with Toyota on the 1 ton Prop valve. Have no idea how much. The only problems I could see is mounting holes and maybe the size of the brake lines. Which wheels are locking up? The way the valve works is when you break the front of the truck dives down and the rear raises. The rod on the Prop valve moves with the rear axle, as the axle becomes farther away from the truck the valve is supposed to apply more braking power to the front and less to the back. You need to get a chiltons or toyota service manual to find out where its supposed to be adjusted to. From what I have learned mine was upgraded to the 1 ton valve but only because my rear axle has larger brake drums and cylinders for the 15 inch wheels. Hope that helps. Greg

We had a great time at the Toy In Rally. 440 miles round trip. Averaged 60 to 65 mph the whole way, well almost. The toy ran great but did have an idle problem one time. The new rear neoprene bushings made a huge difference in handiling! Only had one problem on the trip to the rally. I run my refer on 12vdc and I found that in stop and go traffic there is not enough altinator spin to keep the battery charged. I will be installing a switch to cut the power when in traffic. I will be replacing my power converter with a new modern one. It fails to charge the battery to full charge. It also has allot of A/C leakage because of its 1/2 wave rectorfier circuit. I think it burned out the auto switch light on my Northern Breeze fan. Met allot of great folks! Hope to see everyone agin soon. Greg

Howdy all We will be ariving Friday some time, staying thru Sunday. Hope to see a bunch of you there. Rig is ready to be packed and gassssed up... ... Greg

A royal pain in the . I had called a local RV dealer for a price. $440 . So I decided I would have to do it myself. I left the wheels on to support the axle. Getting the old out was a breeze. I positioned a screw type house jack under the frame to the rear of the spring. Then placed a 5 ton bottle jack on top of the spring so that I could jack against the frame. My shackles are longer than most because of the 4x4 and are basicly a welded box. The hinge pins only have a nut on one side, the other end (head) is pressed (hammered) into the shackle assembly. So I had to pound out the pins. Once I got it all apart I placed the neoprene bushings into their positions. Big problem here, the width of the bushings in place is 1/4 inch wider than the shackle assembly. I looked at that and said "there is no way I am going to get that shackle on". Neoprene does not compress like rubber. I came up with a plan . I ground the ends of the shackle mounts so that they were wider at the very edges. I then used the weight of the rv to press them over and onto the spring and frame mounts containing the bushings. The bushings really did not like it though. They deformed a bit but seem to be ok. Took about 6 hours total to do both rear shackles. Now for the front mounts. The rears have the frame horizontal above the spring. The frame above the front end of the spring though is on a angle with no where to place the bottle jack. My conclusion is the the entire frame must be supported and the axle dropped from below with jacks. I gave up the idea for now of doing the front of the springs. Those might be best to have done at a shop that can raise the entire rig up. I hope to have a plan sometime later in order to do the fronts. I will need to support in front and behind the spring mounts and remove the wheels so that the axle will drop. My guess is the frame is strong enough to be supported just behind the rear spring but that seems like a lot of weight to place at one point. Any how another days project. One of my biggest problems is I do not have a flat driveway. I have a tilty gravel driveway. Flat concrete would be the place do do this work. Besides the work involved the body suffers, crawling around under, swinging sledge hammers in bad positions. Did I mention the upper 90 temps. So my suggestion to anyone who would like to replace the rear spring bushings, Don't try this at home unless you have the equipment. My rig weighs 7000 pounds. Thats a lot of weight to be jacking around and supporting with jack stands. Greg

Richard, I would like to know that answer also. I recently went to the good year tire site. They say that rv tires only last 7 years no matter how much tread is left. I think they were talking about big big tires but rubber is rubber right? It is a big question regarding safety. Its doughtful that any of us will wear out a set of tires in 7 years. So are we in danger? Greg

Wow, 16 nights. Our max so far is 3 nights. Ours is alot smaller inside than yours but doable for the two of us. Sounds like you saw some great sights. I really like the ability to just pull over and take a look at something. As easy as driving a big van. We are going on a trip this weekend up to Oleama Ranch RV park near Point Reys. Got the rig almost packed and ready to go. My refer started off running cold, down in the low 30's but today it was at 44 degrees. Outside temp was in the 90's. I had just installed another cooling fan for the rear coils that runs directly from 12 volts, it seemed to help at first. Not much in the refer except some bottles of water so hopefully when it has more it will stabalize. I have had other times though when it would gradually rise in temp. I may have to break down and have to rebuild it. Is your rig a V6? I have the ect also but allways run in the pwr setting. I can use over drive as long as I am running around 60 mph plus. I think I tach at around 4400 rpm at 50 mph in 2nd gear. I really don't like running it that high and will usually back it off to 47 to 48 mph in 2nd. Some folks say you can tell the rpm by the way the engine sounds, ya right. I think getting a tach is a wise idea. On mountin roads I will often drop it into 2nd manually and leave it there, only moving into 3rd when the road flattens out. A transmission temp gauge is handy also. It gets hot in a hurry. I eventually plan on removing my clutch fan and replacing it with an electric fan. The clutch fan kicks in when things get hot but boy is it loud. Some of the electric fans move as much and more air without all the noise, at least thats what I have heard. Well I might check in tomarrow night if not to busy, if not , later until we get back. I will post that trip report. Glad to hear your trip went well Greg

Looking forward to hearing more, glad all went well! Nothing like having to rest up after a trip. Tika is now taking reservations for the rally. Greg

I don't know much about the Sunland models. All Toys have related things to look for. The biggest is the rear axle. If your rig is 1997 or newer you may have the bad axle. In the forum here look at the engines and transmissions section. Look at the axle facts thread, there you will find a link to some of the best information about the bad and good axles. Water damage and leaks are another problem as with all RV's. Once a coach starts to have internal rot its a big problem and difficult to repair. Water stians on the inside are tell tales but not allways visible. Transmissions are the other big concern. They tend to run hot because of the load on them. Most everyone feels ots best not to use overdrive. Having a complete fluid change is benificial. A machine is hooked up and as the old flows out the new flows in. If its never been done it should be. I plan to have mine done soon. I may be the only toy motorhome owner though that has a A340H transmission. I also have a temp gauge on the tranny and can see that the temps can get up in the high 280's. These temps destroy the fluid, end result the tranny blows up at some point. Greg

WOW that sounds like a great trip. Have any pictures you could post? Greg

I'll contact Tika about Labor Day and see whats going on. Enjoy the trip! Greg

Mr.D Sure wish it was me going on your trip, sounds great. Enjoy and may the road gods watch over you! Greg

I think my 26 gallon tank would fit any toy truck of the same year range. As for the frame flexing and breaking the tanks or falling out that seems not true for the sunrader tanks. My tank is bolted to two large welded a frame brackets which are attatched to the side of the frame. I will get a photo and post it. Sunrader offered the larger tanks for all sizes of ite MH's.

Just put some lights inside my kitchen cabinets. Got tired of using a flash light everytime we needed something. Thought some of you might be interested. Use the link below for the full story and more pictures. Cabinet Light Project Here is a photo with the lights on. No flash was used for the photo.

Over on the Yahoo group there is a thread about an rv which the propane tank exploded while they were driving down the road. The discussion evolved into should or should you not use propane to power your refrigerator while driving down the road. Probably would be a good idea to close the valve while traveling. I run my refer on 12 vdc when moving but I have never turned off the gas, perhaps I will from now on. I freeze water bottles and keep them in the refer and freezer. I also get the contents cold in the house refer before the trip. I found that propane was not cooling very well while on the road and that?s why I switched to 12 vdc. !2v uses allot of battery so its necessary to turn it off every time you stop. So I rigged up a relay that does that for me. Ignition on refer on, ign off refer off. You can use an auxiliary lighting relay that can be purchased from just about any auto parts store. I have drawn up a schematic and posted the pics below. There are also plug on wiring harnesses available which is great. I carry an extra relay in case the in use one fails. At some point I plan to run a wire up to my dash board and power a small led. It will be on the refer side of the relay to let me know power is being supplied to the refer in case the relay fails.

Nolan I will have to crawl under and see about any extensions. I will measure the wheel base tonight when I get home. To post a picture you must first have some sort of online service to store your pics. Then when you post a message just above the text box are the code buttons. The one that says "IMG" is the one for adding an image. its then just a matter of entering the URL of where the pic is stored such as http://www.toyotamotorhomes.com/technicald...s/og_ff_800.jpg Thats the location of the pic that apears below.

Ok here are some frame pics. My frame has the extension below the level of the truck frame rail. I do not like the design though. It looks weak. Extending the rail and putting reinforcment along side would be stronger. I have considered pulling a very small trailer but the frame would need to be beefed up. Note the steel block sitting on top of the added rail which the coach sits on. I realize mine might be different because its a 4x4. The spring mounts seem to be custom, made bigger. This is a 1986 18 foot 4x4 sunrader. Note that my extension also begins just past the rear spring mount. It may be in my case that there was not a 4x4 1 ton chassis so the standard 4x4 was used and modified to make the chassis. That would account for the 5080 lb GVWR sticker instead of the 5500 lb 1 ton GVWR rating. Look at your stickers and see what it says. You may also have a modified chassis instead of the 1 ton.

Nolan do you want to race for pink slips? I'm afraid I will have to pass this offer up as you would blow my doors off! Glad to hear you got it running! Send me some updated photos and info when you get time and I will add them to ypur pages. And how is it running? Are you happy with it? Maybe I am in the ball park for weight in a 4x4. I will weigh it again at a different scale. This time I will do three weights, front, all and rear. Greg

Hi Ray, thanks for joining the board here. If your rig was weighing 4400 I can not imagine mine at 7000. I think I better get it weighed again at a different scale. I suppose its possible for the 4x4 gear to raise it 800 to 1000 pounds. The rear pods I have are just extra storage, probably no more than 300 to 400 pounds if even that and maybe 200 pounds for the frame that was extended to put the bumper out past the pod. Took the roof air off and have no generator. As you know it would be really hard to add 1600 plus pounds of gear inside. Wait, how many cases of beer would weigh 1600 pounds, just kidding. I made a mistake on the previous post the actual GVWR is 5500 pounds for the 1 ton chassis with the early dual axle. The standard 2 wheel drive pickup is 4400 GVWR. 4X4 Is 5080 GVWR, And The 1 Ton Is 5500 GVWR. Greg

I wonder if Dolphin ever had a recall for that. My 1986 Toyota truck brochure boasts about the 1 ton chassis for RV's and the RV picture, a Dolphin! Greg

That crack definitly looks bad. Would it be possible to jack up the rear frame assembly and then weld the crack back together on the sides and bottom. I would then weld some frame size c channel on the side of the frame rail (drivers side and passenger side) maybe a couple of feet exstending on both sides of the crack. If you can not weld the top of the c channel to the frame you can drill 1/2 inch or larger holes along the top of the c channel and weld the holes to the frame. Greg

Nolan You may be correct. I found out for sure that the GVWR is 5080 lbs. for a 1 ton chassis. But there are no 4x4 1 tons offered in 1986 unless they were custom orders. I know the axle is the upgrade as the previous owner told me Toyota had installed it. It?s hard to tell from the photo but I question if there is enough room for the anti-sway bar if the axle is sitting under the spring. I will have to crawl under and take a closer look. I think you are correct that these springs are worn out. I would expect them to have an arch to them. At some point I do want to replace them. Just not sure who to get them from and how to order them. Guessing I would need to know how much weight is actually sitting on each wheel or axle. Greg

Question, where would you locate the extra tank? Putting it on the other side would create filling problems as not all gas pump lines are long enough to reach the other side. Greg

Here is a photo of my left rear spring. The previous owner or someone installed some sort of helper springs on both sides of the axle (front and rear part of the spring). I have considered installing some air bags but because of the distance between the frame and axle I would have to do some sort of custom fabrication. That anti-sway bar running over the top of the axle might be a problem also for an air bag. My springs appear to be almost flat across. Is everyone's springs flat across or is it just me?

That sounds like it will be a great trip. We want to do a cross country sometime in the near future, maybe next summer. As for duals on the 4x4's I have never seen one except the motorhomes. So maybe thats it. The Gardner Pacific tag does have dual on it. Toyota may be the only ones with the answer. My guess is they supplied the 4x4 to Gardner Pacific with the duals. There is allways the possibility that someone else built the truck in between toyota and gardner. Greg

MR D You are probably on your trip, hope it is a great one. Catch ya when you get back. The GVWR still makes no sense to me. As I said my truck manual has a 5080 GVWR for a single wheel rear axle and that's what the sticker says on the truck. Its got to be higher for the full floating rear dual wheel axle. Greg