Skydancer2992

Currently, 5K per year, my last four rockhounding trips have been cancelled due to bad weather. First year, I headed out of Memphis through Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, NM to the Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and back home. In Dec, made a trip to FL, parked the camper at Disney World FT Wilderness. Second year, another trip to FL, Patrick Air Force base next to Cape Canaveral. I had my eyes lasered at JAX Naval Hospital. Girlfriend and I visited Sea World and Universal. Next trip to Memphis to St. Louis, Omaha, to an Air Force Base in South Dakota. Explored the Bad Lands, Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse memorial, Sturgis (week before the big rally). Headed to Cheyenne, then the Air Force Academy for a few days and headed back through Kansas, spent the night in Wichita and home. Have made numerous rockhounding trips to Hot Springs and MT Ida Arkansas for crystal, Marion KY for fluorite, Dallas Texas for ammonites, Park Hills Missouri for quartz. I often have a row of filled 5 gallon buckets in the center aisle of the camper, walking on top of them to get to the bathroom. Some day I will retire and then put some real miles on the odometer.

Doug, don't leave us hanging, let us know what you find out. We're like Stump the Chumps on Car Talk. We want to know if any of our guesses were correct.

Don't fall in love immediately but look at this camper as a learning process. If you don't buy it, you'll know more than you did before. Ask for a demo of each cabin system (water, electicity, propane, fridge, AC). Most people are glad to show what they know and it will teach you about Toyota motorhomes. See if he will take you for a test drive around the block. Listen for anything that doesn't sound right. Listen to the suspension as you drive. Check that speedometer, odometer, AC, are working. See if all the outside lights work, brake light and turn signals. Ask if there are receipts and records of maintenance - take a quick look to see if there has been a recent tuneup. Look at the tires for cracks that may indicate dry rot. Check the age of the tires. He may volunteer what he really wants for the camper. You know what you want to pay, offer less, then bargain close to where you want to be. If engine oil, the oil leak is probably an easy fix - a gasket most likely. it indicates fresh oil has been added on a regular basis. A camper that has been used regularly is better than one that has been sitting.

I have been very pleased with the Garmin Nuvi 1490 LMT. -bought from Egghead, refurbished model for about a $100. The LMT stands for Lifetime Maps and Traffic. The Traffic feature has warned me enroute when the interstate is blocked and when to divert, suggesting alternative routes. The 1490 also has a bigger screen than the other Garmin models. Sometimes I switch the voice to German or Portuguese to try to pick up some vocabulary. Helps pass the miles.

My cars are insured through USAA. When I tried to buy RV insurance, they referred me to Progressive. The first year, Progressive was almost $400 for full coverage or $100 liability only. With each year, the price has dropped and now I'm paying slightly over $300 for the year. I tried Good Sam's quote and it was above $400, so I stayed with Progressive.

I once looked inside one that didn't look too bad. Nothing. No media, no dirt. Everything had dissolved and passed through the system. I believe it was the original fuel filter (on a 76 Honda Accord that I bought in the late 80's). Carbureuters are probably more forgiving than fuel injectors.

I had a picture in my mind of running these LED's along the frame underneath the camper. Kind of like the street cruisers that float along on a cloud of light.

I just replaced my center rail of my center drawer.. Lowes had a kit that included a 24" wooden rail, drawer guide, front/back brackets for about $4. I had to cut about 6" off the rail to fit my Warrior's counter. I also have a kit to do the top drawer but will need to cut even more off the rail as that drawer is shorter and the rear mount is closer due to the room left for the fawcet connections. As I got into this project, I decided to put in a new kitchen fawcet - it will be easier without the top drawer rail.

Working underneath the motorhome to fix the exhaust is not hard if you have the tools to fall back on, like say you have to cut out a bolt or saw a pipe off. You might first look underneath and determine how corroded the bolts are that hold your exhaust system together. Or if there are any present at all. Replacing a muffler or exhaust pipe is not hard if you can break the old one apart at a bolted flange. The new one will bolt right on. However, if your system has been ad hoc 'd in the past, there might not be any flanges to crack open. You may have to work your way forward to the cat and order the appropriate parts to get there.

Why can't we all just have a group hug and forgive and forget, think positive Toyota thoughts, and appreciate the good things in life?

I'm still around but a bit more busy as I have a new job and am working longer hours. The Uni-solar glue gripped the aluminum like iron. I wanted to readjust it because a small repair in the roof caused it to change direction slightly when laying it down. There's a half inch gap between the forward aluminum gunnel and the cell. However, the glue won't budge. About a thousand miles now on the cell and no peeling. The textured surface does seem to pick up dirt and not be as easy to clean as, say, the aluminum.

Many Toyota's have a hatch just above the fuel tank that allows changing out the fuel pump and sender. Check under your rear seat or cargo area.

I have a 91 Winnebago Warrior. My cable connection is inside the generator compartment, upper right corner.

According to the service manual, Page 8-1, the engine is actually a Tecumseh TVM140 6HP.

My 91 Warrior has 230,000 miles on it. My 96 4Runner has 340,000 miles. Neither burns oil. Neither has needed any major maintenance. A few timing belts and an occasional starter or alternator. For a Do it yourselfer, the vehicles are fun to work on. With 10, 12, 14 and 16mm sockets and wrenches you can just about dismantle and reassemble the entire vehicle. The factory manuals have lots of pictures (although it helps to actually read the instructions sometimes). I've owned Toyotas since 1986. When it came time to buy an RV, the choice was obvious.

I've always heard the surefire way to get rid of an unwanted crowd is to utter: "Have you heard the good news about Amway?"

I like having internet and electricity. I've heard some truck stops have parking with service snorkles that clamp in the window - swipe a credit card and you have AC, internet and a power plug. Anyone had experience good or bad?

Looks cool and you really got a good deal. If you have the time then fixing it up could be an enjoyable process. From reading some trip reports about those, they often seem to leave folks stranded. Campers are kind of like children, they need a lot of care and feeding. However, you clean that baby up and put her on ebay, you might make 20X your investment.

The weather suddenly turned warm, in the sixties. Looking at the Warrior, the bumper was looking more rusty than I remembered. So, decided to paint it anew. However, it would be hard to paint it in place. Too many areas not to overspray, but masking would hide too much of the bumper and result in an incompleted paint job. How hard to remove the bumper. Four main bolts under and two smaller ones in the wheel wells. Two screws for the wheelwell liner. May as well take out the turn signal lamps and clean them. Rusty bumper and skirt Bolts under bumper - Four to remove Primed Bumper Nice time to clean those hard to reach places. Bumper remounted and the old girl looks like she's smiling again.

When the U-joint went bad on my 85 4Runner, it was a really bad vibration coming right through the floor boards. It became a jack hammer quality rather quickly and I was limited to about 5 MPH. I could visually see that the shaft was off center by about an inch. I had to get a tow as I was on the interstate. My 91 Warrior, the U-joint was going very subtly. A vibration about 30 MPH that disappeared around 45 MPH. I had gotten new tires around the same time so I attributed to the Goodyears. I drove for about 5000 miles ignoring the vibration. One day, I was working on the fuel filter, which is under the passenger area next to the frame and I looked over at the U-joint and it didn't look right. Normally the arms holding the bearings are spaced every 90 degrees but the angle looked more like thirty. I reached over and shook it and the shaft rotated back and forth about +- 30 degrees. One of the bearings had fallen apart. All the connicle rollers were gone and the spline was eating into the bearing housing in both directions of rotation. When I installed the new U-joint, there was no play at all. The drive shaft comes off easy enough. This job is worth taking the shaft to a shop and letting them install the new bearing. It took me about six hours because the spider refused to come free. It took a cutting wheel to convince it otherwise. So, to check your U-joints, there is one at each end of the drive shaft, put your parking brake on and transmission in neutral. Crawl on your back and and with both hands to put some force, shake each U-joint and try rotating in either direction. They should feel solid with no play. Advance auto parts had new spiders for $8.99 a piece. I'd already bought a Toyota one for $25 on Ebay.