nibs

Christine is that miles or Kilometers? I would worry more about the wood framing on the coach if it is a coastal unit, If it has been stored outside in the rain all winter, year after year, the coach could easily have rot in the wood structure. As far as the Toyota, Mike is right that they have definite life cycles, but there are lots of Toyota Pickups touring around with 300,000 Miles on them. Our Sunrader has 120,000 Miles on it, and with good maintenance I expect it to last for years more. I would not hesitate to hop in and drive it to Central Mexico from Kelowna BC which we did last year. Get a mechanic to do a compression test, and an oil pressure test on the motor before you buy, it will tell lots about the motor. But look in all the cupboards for staining from leaking roof, look hard around the windows and around any fittings that penetrate the roof. Personally I would not touch a unit with signs of past leaks. Cheers Tony. PS If you send me your phone # to aldridgetony97@yahoo.com, I will call you if you want someone to talk to about Toyota motor homes. I can call you on Skype and it doesnt cost me, our other phone is a cell phone or I would send you my #.

Just as a reference, my temp needle points to the T except on steep hills on hot days, it might go up to the M especially if the a/c is on, I don't normally turn off the a/c unless the hill is exceptional. In an emergency, turn the heater on, full blast & hang your head out of the window. As well, these units are light and large, great sails, you will get pushed around by passing trucks and wind gusts. If you are ever in a very windy situation and do not feel safe driving, park with your nose to the wind, or tuck in behind a building. I have done both in our 5th wheel, but never needed to in the Sunrader.

We towed a small enclosed trailer for 10,000 miles behind our Sunrader last winter, the trailer weighed in at 1,000# when we left home, and in Seattle we added perhaps another 200#, the trailer was no bother at any time, except parallel parking. It was fine on all sorts of roads some as high as 12,000 ft. I did extend the tongue of the trailer an extra 12" so I could jackknife the trailer, you wont have any problems on dirt roads except if you need to turn round. If yours is an automatic, do not use top gear, unless you have a supply of trannies. Biggest problem with the extra wght is down hill, Just stay in the same gear that you used to go up when coming down. If I can afford it, I will put trailer brakes on before our next big trip. Tony

At this time of year I am using 15/40. The owners manual says the the recommended oil in operating temps from O to 100 degs, is 20/40, and shows 20/50 for the higher temp range. It also shows using 10/30 if you will be operating the rig at -10 degs. general consensus is that Synthetic oil is not a good choice for these older motors. Hope that helps.

You can make panels flat or curved by taking a sheet of formica / arborite and laying it on a table, paint the surface with PVA mould release or mold release wax, then apply gel coat and lay up a panel with glass, cut it with scissors while it is green but not fully cured, it will take a fairly sharp curve while green. You can also make filler by mixing micro ballons and or micro fibers with gel coat. That is how fiberglass boat repairs are done.

I think you are referring to a portable genset, yes you just connect the terminals on the genset to the terminals on the battery. Of course you need to check for overcharging, if you tell us the make and power of the genset you have, someone may have the same unit, and can tell you the DC output, then it is easy to know how long to leave it charging. Basically you need to be the charge regulator especially on cheaper gensets.

Buy some cut polish and try that, it wont hurt anything, you can use it on a power buffer see if that works. plan b try alcohol (on the FG only) see if that will cut the clear coat. in a spot that you won't see plan c try Paint thinner, plan d then paint remover plan e then acetone, but be very careful with acetone because it is a solvent for fiberglass. work in small areas and wipe it on with a dampened cloth & wipe it right off. experiment in an area that wont show. You might even try cooking oil smear the oil on then rub back and forth with your hand or finger. 1500 grit wet sanding by hand may work, but it will be lots of work, you bring it back to a shine with cut polish then polish. If it has made a chemical bond with the fiberglass, the only two things that will work are an abrasive - cut polish or something a bit more aggressive, 1500 grit or possibly even valve lapping compound, or acetone. You are much safer with cut polish. Acetone is horrible stuff, very flammable, I once worked with a young man who was inside a fiberglass yacht when acetone fumes ignited, he was very lucky to get out, and is scarred for life.

The op has a 4 speed, so it isnt an auto/manual swap. imo the 5 speed will be great, what some have done is lower the diff gearing a notch, so that the engine revs in 5th are the same as in the old 4th. If you do it, let us know how it went, cause I wanna do it when I find a 5spd.

Yeah, the Mercedes is still about a days work to do the valves, not difficult but quite a bit of work to get the stuff out of the way.

Come and do mine WME, and we could do the Mercedes diesel too. been putting both of them off for a while now. Did you really get them 1 thou under? ...Tony

I found an old but little used 10' AE box awning in a wrecking yard for $200, took about 3 hrs to install. With the Sunrader I used self tapping screws to hold it in place, then put 3 3/8 cariage bolts through from the inside in the upper lockers.

Friend of mine towed his Toyota behind his bus for about a year. I plan on towing my Sunrader behind my bus, when we go south this winter. brakes are no problem for the bus, even towing the Sunrader it will be lighter than a bus full of people. Havent looked at how to fasten the A frame yet, but will probably use the tow hooks on the frame of the truck. Imo with a standard you don't need to disconnect the driveshaft, my friend had an automatic so he did. Just make sure you are in neutral, guy I know took off with his toad in first gear - the result - bits of engine all over the engine compartment.

It takes quite a bit of driving to clear a flooded charcoal can. I bypassed mine for a while until the gas evaporated then hooked it back up, no worries. Only do that if you really know how. Mine got flooded from overfilling the gas tank, when the gas pump clicks off, dont try squeezing any more fuel in.

If it is for the throne, use heater hose with hose clamps, Just get a bit of copper pipe that fits tight inside the existing pipe, this keeps the plastic pipe from collapsing, then slip a length of heater hose over the whole with a hose clamp on each end, easy to work with and makes a lifetime fix, everything available at your flaps.

I went with the Carb no worries, get more power, more noise too. You need to keep the revs up especially on the hills.

Have driven our 6,000# 4 banger towing a 1,000# trailer, from Kelowna BC to South Central Mexico. Mountain passes at 12,000 ft. steep steep hills 10,000 miles round trip, no problems. Gotta be careful going down hill more than up hill.

Hello Jocko: As Maineah says adding a second coach battery is no problem, I did, but now having changed all my interior coach lighting to LED's I doubt if it is necessary. We use a lot of light, we are readers with no tv. We often skip shore power cause it is too much bother to plug in, even if we have paid for it.

I hope you got it that the bottle jacks (or what ever you try) is for a test before spending money on something fixed to the coach. I have seen people use the cheap jack stands with screw adjustment. You could probably get them for peanuts at a yard sale, but then you gotta store them someplace....Tony

Sparky, the tanks fill vertically! Also if you have trouble getting them filled because they dont have OPD valves point out that they are exempt, there are no OPD valves available for these tanks. But they do have to be certified (every 10 yrs i think). The tanks are a bit tricky because in effect you are filling them from the side, in the US the tanks get vented and filled until the propane liquid vents, not so in Canada or Mexico. Venting may leave a bit of propane liquid in the tube leading to the top of the tank, this liquid propane can cause serious trouble. When I reinstall a fresh tank, I set it on its side on the ground and crack the valve for maybe 1/2 second, this clears the liquid and leaves you good to go. One tip that I just learned is that you should open the propane valve all the way when you are using it, there is an O ring that seats to seal the valve stem......Cheers Tony

Your new battery will work, but was not designed to be a house battery. It will not last very long in house service. Deep cycle batteries are designed to be discharged more, and will live approximately 3 times longer than an ordinary car bat. Your generator starting load will be well within the limits of a good deep cycle battery, but you could hedge by installing a deep cycle starting battery..........................Tony

Assuming you have the parking brake applied as well as being in Park or a low gear (if standard) then the Toyota should not be rocking fore and aft. To stabilize the coach from up and down motion or swaying, you might try putting a couple of bottle jacks under the frame just behind the rear spring shackles, if that stabilizes the rig sufficiently for you, buy a pair of scissor jacks at any rv supply store and weld them to the frame at the rear of the coach then you can crank them down when parked, they can also be used to help level within reason. Most of us just live with it tho'...............Tony

Just ordered a set of stainless steel mirrors yesterday from John Shega Mill Supply 1-800-888-5072

Dennis, a couple of things you can do to quiet the pump; 1) cut the grey plastic pipes near the pump and put in a length of soft plastic braided tubing, that helps cut the transmission of noise along the pipes. 2) get a surge tank, and put it on the pressure side of the pump. They have an air pocket that compresses and stops the pump cycling when you just take a bit of water, these to things will help even if you buy a new pump. Dont forget that with the small water supply, it is not such a bad thing to be aware of the pump running, helps the crew conserve water...........Tony

If you are lucky it is just a line to the tranny cooler. wriggle under and have a boo.

Thats not rain - thats swimming.