george101

Any words of wisdom for full-timing it? Think in the next couple months I'm gonna head out. Through Canada and then down to the West coast. May hang out in Oregon/upper-Cali for a couple months. Was talking to some other full timers. They were saying it pays to keep your gear pretty well organized inside the camper. I guess it can get outta control pretty quick if you don't have a system in place.. Especially in a Chinook! Was thinking about getting a dog for the trip. But had second thoughts about that.

Oh man, the alternator light! haha. I was having the same problem with my chinookster. I put in two new alternators trying to fix the problem and had the guy down at advanced auto parts pull out his fancy machine to check to see if electricity was getting drained. Eventually I came to the conclusion that the alt light just kind of glows all the time. haha. I guess you can fix that with a bit of electrical tape. The other problem I was having was with the water coming in on the driver's side. Whenever it would rain you'd feel a methodical drop of water hit your big toe. The fenders seem to get plugged up with leaves and stuff, but you can unscrew them pretty easily and remove the built up waste that has accumulated over the past 30+ years, and that at least "helps". It didn't entirely fix my problem, but it doesn't seem to leak quite as much any more.

Also, can try crazedlist.org Can search entire country and different countries. That's how I found my chinookster a couple years back.

Nice dude! Corey is the man. I ordered some fiberglass parts for my 84 4runner last year. What year is your green truck in the pic?

Thanks man, I was thinking about maybe having the holes welded up. That might be easier actually. Yeah, but I would be interested to see what your comparison seems to come up with. Also, I found a bunch of junkyards on the yotatech.com forum: http://www.yotatech.com/f114/parts-sources-used-parts-bumpers-etc-221643/ http://www.jimsgotparts.com/Yoda_Jims/Home.html

Radiant heat! Man, you put me to shame. I did gut the inside of mine and tried to keep with the classic look (shag carpet, ect). However, my layout for the original Chinook was like the one you provided in the pics in the brochure. But there is an earlier model that has a slightly different layout which has a bed going the length of the cab instead of going across the cab. I had the "across the cab" layout at first, but I found it was very difficult to get any sleep cause you had to crunch up your legs, and couldn't stretch out fully. That really bugged me, specially if you have a gf w/you or something, it's really annoying. So, when I gutted and remodeled I went for the long bed layout from the older model. I am REALLY glad I went with this layout. I have another buddy of mine who owns a Chinook and he has the older model layout and he said he just couldn't swing it with the layout that I have. If you have the long bed layout, you can also pull out another board and have a very cumfy queen size (or maybe even small king size) bed. Good luck on the remodeling. Looking great! Really like the insulation idea. Cheers!

Is it a Toyota Chinook? If so, you can expect pretty darn good gas mileage. Similar to that of a 78 pickup. Haven't calculated it exactly tho, sorry.

Hi y'all, I was wondering if anyone on this forum might know of a junkyard with Toyota Chinook parts. I am looking for the metal gas filler piece for a 78 Chinook. It's that part where you directly insert the gas nossle. Mine has a hole in it and it's letting out gas fumes. Thanks!! George

Hi y'all, I was wondering if anyone on this forum might know of a junkyard with Toyota Chinook parts. I am looking for the metal gas filler piece for a 78 Chinook. It's that part where you directly insert the gas nossle. Mine has a hole in it and it's letting out gas fumes. Thanks!! George

Ok, so I think I figured out why it's leaking. So, I believe it's meant to drain in two places. It drains inside the door and in heavy rains, if the drainage through the door backs up, it drains out of the hinge for the hood. So, if you let leaves and other misc junk build up in there then it will mainly drain out of the hinge. So when it drains out of the hinge there's a spot for a wire entrance into the dash directly below the hinge. If this is not sealed tight, then the water drains through the opening for the wires and directly into you dash. Awesome. But it's an easy fix. Just cock up that spot where the wires enter. Also, on my chinook, on the side where the wiper motor was, there was a drilled hole for another wire. So cock that as well. However, be VERY careful when you take out the piece on the left side where the wind shield wiper motor is. Because, you could be an idiot like me and accidentally drop the motor and snap off the little plastic connector piece to the wind shield wipers. Then you've got a whole new problem.

Are you looking for specific information about engine repair? If so, you can just pick up the shop manual at any autoparts store. Just go in and ask them where the shop manuals are located and pick up a shop manual for a 1977 Toyota Pickup, cause the Chinook is just mounted on the pickup's frame. Essentially, what you've got yourself is a 77 Toyota Pickup, just with the chinook camper on the back. If you're looking for the actual Chinook User Guide that came with the Chinook, there are .pdfs of the entire book floating around on this site somewherez. If you can't find it, let me know and I'll send you mine in a zip file. -George

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has experience with leaks under the dashboard of a 78 Chinook. I was driving yesterday and we had a pretty good rain coming down. A consistent drip started hitting my foot by the driver's pedal. So, I narrowed the leak area down to that little vent area in front of the wind shield by the wind shield wipers. I found this little square compartment that you can unscrew from the engine compartment. You can stick your hand into the square compartment and reach the vent area. There I found enough soil to plant a tree. I guess leaves and stuff have been piling up there since 1978 and just have been deteriorating there. SO I presumed if I just removed all the soil, or as much as I could get, then this would unclog some sort of drainage hole and fix my problem. But I removed as much of the dirt as I could get and then sprayed it with a hose, but still had leakage. I guess there's a possibility that I just didn't get enough of the dirt out to clear the drainage hole?? But, feeling around in there I didn't actually feel anything that I would say would be a drainage hole for sure. Has anyone had this problem before? If so, did you find a solution? Thanks, George

try it on for size. that's the only way to know for sure. Chinooks all the way man! They're the best.

Hi Marbo, I also had a leak in my Chinook. Have you figured out where it is leaking from? I found my leak by staying inside my chinook and having someone spray it with a hose to isolate the spot where it was leaking. It turned out that my leak was coming from the back tail light. It wasn't attached firmly so I just rescrewed the light back on and put clear cocking around the light. That fixed the leak and it's dry as a bone now. Concerning the carpeting, I had ripped up my old shag carpet too. It gets a little stinky and dusty after 30 years. It took a little doing, but I was able to get it up. Maybe a weekend or two worth of work. You can unscrew the beds in the front, just enough to get them up so you can pull the carpet out. You don't need to totally take them out. Then, I personally like the original burnt orange shag carpet look. Totally 70's. Hells ya. So I went on a wild goose chase looking for burnt orange shag carpet in 2009, which apparently isn't a high demand item. Took me about a month to locate some new carpet, but eventually I did. It looks pretty close to the original, of course not an exact match. I like it though. So them you need to measure the inside dimentions of your chinook, cut carpet to fit (incorporating about an inch and a half to fit underneath bed/cabinets so that it is seemless when you drill it back in). Then tap down carpet and drill beds back in and you're good to go.

Ok, maybe I should go the flea bomb route. So you're saying it might be a bit stinky afterwards though?

Hi, So I may be paranoid, but I just took a nap in my chinook and was a bit itchy. Has anyone ever had fleas in their chinook/toyota rig? If so, how'd you get rid of them? This could possibly be my worst nightmare. It might be the only thing capable of bringing down my chinook other than rust. Thanks, George

congrats on the rig man!! Advice: DO NOT spray paint it. I am fanatical about stopping rust. Get POR-15: http://www.por15.com/ This is the only stuff worth using. It stops rust the rust. Painted the entire underbelly of my chinookster last summer. No rust.

Dude, you got the right idea for sure. Chinooks got it all and more. Good gas mileage (essentially the same for a small truck/car). Propane heater, sink, refrig or icebox, sink, electricity unit, mine had a toilet which I took out cause was kinda gross. The two child thing, well, I suppose you could fit an infant above the drivers seat in that part that sticks out, but might fall out, which would obviously be not so ideal. The good thing about Chinooks is that you can rig up (almost) anything you can dream up. So if you wanted to put an infant up there, there'd be not too much of a problem of putting up an infant barrier so the little guy didn't take a dive. Also, in my chinook, I had the main bed and then there were two bunk beds on either side spanning the width of the chinook. This was actually an "upgrade" high end feature in some chinooks. You could opt for this bunk bed situation. If you buy a chinook it'll likely not have this option. However, the Turkey Hunter who owned it before me hired a professional carpenter to install bunk beds essentially consisting of to slabs of wood by drivers seat and back of chinook. On the slates of wood rests a long peice of plywood that is your bunk bed. Toss on a piece of foam and you're good to go. Again, would probably want to add barrier there so you're little guys don't take a plunge. Well, happy Chinook hunting. It'll be the best investment you've ever made. Try crazedlist. peace.

Thanks Maineah. It sounds like the vacuum line could be the likely culprit then. I'll have to look into that. So is the vacuum line found within the air pump or does it just connect to the air pump somehow?

hmm... Interesting. I'll have to check to see if my Chinook is a non-cat. Thanks for the tip about the sticker. I'm not really sure if it was ever in Cali or not. It has a sticker from Oregon on the bumper, so it was apparently around the West Coast at some point. I picked it up from Minnesota from a Turkey hunter. He said a lady owned it before him from Minnesota. Ya, I think I'll climb underneath and check to see if it needs a new muffler and if it might have had a cat installed. This whole air pump system thing is new to me but it sounds kind of interesting. It would probably be a pretty big pain to need to replace that thing I'd imagine. Not sure if you could just get it at an auto store, or need to get at auto parts store. I wonder if my rig is backfiring. Maybe I should get it looked at. Probably wouldn't hurt. Not sure if that could mess up the engine or something. Cool - well thanks for the tips man! I'll check it out and let you know what I find.

Hello, I was wondering if anyone with a 78 Chinook has ever had a funny noise coming from their exhaust. It only happens when I take my foot off of the accelerator going at high speeds (upwards of 40 mph). It sounds like something strange is going on inside my exhaust. It makes this "wuuuuZUP thud" noise. It's pretty weird. I wasn't sure if it might have something to do with either the muffler or the catalytic converter. Does anyone even know if 78 Chinooks had cats? Thanks, George

Longwater, my 78 chinook had the same issue. You might as well just rip off the hose and put a brand new one on. It's actually quite simple procedure. Rubber just deteriorates after awhile. :\ So it goes.

Here is link to pics: http://toyotamotorho...album&album=193

Well, if I can get this operation up and running I'll make sure to document it with pictures. That way, if anyone else at some point needs to do this, they'll be able to see some pics of what the operation looks like. My buddy is a plumber, and he has hooked up LP piping for houses so he might be able to provide me with some useful tips for the RV re-piping. I really have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm sure I'll gain some valuable knowledge if I don't blow myself up first. So, Maineah, is this black steel piping a particular type of piping? Is it different than regular piping? I know at some point the regular piping turns to copper piping. At least, that's what it looked like happened in an episode of This Old House (http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,20176436,00.html). So, perhaps that's what happens with Chinooks as well?? The other thing I suppose I'll have to do is cap the end of the propane pipe going to the refrigerator. I am going to remove the refrigerator all together, but the refrigerator takes both electric and propane. So it will require me capping off the propane pipe going to the refrig and disconnecting the electrical unit going to the frig as well.