hortonma

Hey everyone, I am having a difficult time finding the correct parts for replacing the front pads and rebuilding the rear drums in my 1983 Sunrader 18ft with the foolie. Does anyone have experience with this? I am also going to bleed the brakes, so if anyone has any unforeseen advice for these models, that'd be greatly appreciated as well.

Wonderful, how are you so good at finding everything for everyone… I must enlist you for one final item. I can’t seem to find wheels for those tires. All of the wheels that seem to fit are trailer wheels and I’m guessing that won’t work. my final piece to all of this I guess will be deciding to go with helper springs or air lift after getting new leaf springs. I was able to find leaf springs for the 2wd set for $150 a piece without the bushings. Once I get new leads springs, I want to still be able to support all of this extra weight. I’ve read that you have the air lift. Is there a significant benefit? Can I even find a system that would work for the 83? the helper springs I’ve found are supposed to add 1500lbs which sounds like it could be enough. They are hellwigz i believe. The 4wd version is about half the cost of the 2wd for some reason. so new shocks, new leaf springs, helper springs, sway bar, and single wheels… I should be in good shape after that..

They seem to be completely flat. I dont even have my water tank filled either. Do you know of any sway bars that would fit a 1983. I can find some for later models but not for this one

Thank you Linda! I will definitely be going with these. I am unsure what happened with weighing the camper. I used a scale for a recycling facility that municipal trucks use. In any case, I'll see about weighing the camper. I learned about the single-wheel option after already putting tires on, which obviously is a bummer. Just to be clear, if i do this single wheel option and keep my rear load under 5k with these tires, I should be okay with my axle ( assuming my axle bearing hasn't taken too much damage already)? Also, since I have you here, I want to replace my suspension. It seems that 83 models and earlier are harder to find some parts for. I'm going to get bilstein shocks for the rear and gas a just for the front (softer ride is what I am thinking in the front). As for the leaf springs, do you think i need to replace them or could i just go for a helper spring or an air lift? thank you for all of the help you do on this forum!

I took it to my mechanic and he said it all looked fine. I put a new set of 8ply tires on it, changed the oil, changed the differential oil, transmission oil, new spark plugs, new wires, new rotor and cap. Yes, I am running duals on the foolie. I thought that was the discussion we were having. I am confused now

What would be the difference if they are the same size for the rims? I think I got these numbers from another part of the forum Edit: Okay, a quick google solved that one. Let's say I do find tires that are rated to hold more than 4k combined, would that allow me more breathing room going with the one wheel set up?

The tires I was looking at getting for this setup are apparently rated for 2800 lbs. They are FREE COUNTRY Premium Trailer Tires ST225/75R15 10PR. would this allow me to stretch it a little farther? The water tank was definitely not full and the gas tank was a little over 3/4 full.

Hi everyone, I posted about a month ago about my suspension causing damage to the vehicle. I fixed the part of the carb that had fallen off, but now the actual weber carb that is on there has wiggled loose and has created a massive vacuum leak while I was on a 1200-mile trip. I didn't have too much of a way to fix this, but now I am stationary and am going to rebuild the carb and replace the gasket. I will be using Loctite on the screws this time as well. I definitely need to do something about this ride because, even if i don't have any more issues with the carb from this, I am not enjoying the ride. Every little bump feels like a big pothole and it can make driving stressful. My question is: should I just go ahead and replace the leaf springs, add helper springs, and get new shocks, or could I just get away with helper springs and new shocks? Any combination of airbags, new shocks, new leaf springs, and helper springs I guess would be possible, but I just purchased this camper recently, so the funds are a little tight. Also, I have gathered that bilstein seems to be the way to go with shocks. Has anyone has good experience with other brands? Any specific product recommendations are welcomed Thanks!

@linda s @IdahoDoug@fred heath Thank you for the help! I love this thing and am hoping to get a lot of life out of the sunrader. I just need to get these improvements done!

So I was able to get my rig weighed. The total weight came out to 5300 lbs with a rear weight of 3800lbs. Does that seem correct? I just drove the front wheels off of the scale to make this measurement. if the total weight is 5300, it seems like the rear should actually be slightly less. That idea isn't based off anything else but what seems logical to me. If I do switch to the one-wheel set up, would I always have to maintain less than 4k? Is that 4k what the axle shafts are rated for, or is it what those tires could support with only one? what if I have some extra supplies with me on the storage rack up top, or I am sitting in the back with another person? how sensitive is this number? Has anyone in this forum actually done this? Thank you

Thank you for the thought out response. This really clears it up for me. So, for weighing it, should I just drive half of the vehicle on the scale with the rear wheels resting on the scale? As for bearings and axle shafts, would I just get ones made for a 1983 toyota 2wd pickup?

Thanks, Ill look into the torsion bars. It is 40 years old so I have to imagine that there is a lot that could be replaced in regard to these kind of parts.

Yeah, it has had me worried since I read about it. I saw conflicting information for the 18-foot sunrader. Some had said that these shorter sunraders were not affected by the recall, and others had said all of the foolies were an issue. Regardless, it has me worried, especially with how rough the ride is. I have to imagine that every time I bottom out, it causes an immense amount of stress on that axle. At the very least, every bump made me remember the constant potential for axle failure. Do you know of any resources on good ways to approach an axle swap? When I had looked previously, there weren't many direct options. Some people had luck with their local shops, others had gone to scrap yards and found an axle that worked. I really don't know anything about axle shafts and bearings but I will look into it. Are you suggesting that they can reduce stress or strengthen the axle? Thanks for getting back.

Hello everyone, I love that we have a forum just for the Toyota motorhomes. This is my first post on here. I acquired my 1983 sunrader (4-speed manual, no power steering, fake dual axle sadly ) a few weeks ago as a means of traveling from Virginia to Oregon with the intention to live in it for a couple of years. Before I left, I put a new set of 8ply tires on it, changed the transmission and differential oil as well as changing the engine oil a couple of times until it was running clean oil. The previous owner could've been better about keeping up with oil changes but it wasn't horrible. I made the first leg of my journey from Central Virginia to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan about two weeks ago. The engine is running fine. Getting out of first gear is okay, but with that 22r, it definitely could be easier than it is. All seems to be fine with the sunrader except for the suspension. The ride was bumpy as hell to say the least. Some of the highways through Indiana were so bad that i pulled off and took some sideroads because it felt as if something was going to go wrong. Well, somewhere in Wisconsin, we hit standstill traffic and once we came to a stop, the engine stalled. I was able to start it up, inch up for a while then it cut off again and wouldn't get going. It was a busy chunk of highway on a 95 degree day, no fun. A kind person stopped and gave us a tow off of the highway to a neighborhood. I eventually came to the conclusion that I had vapor lock because we had been running for 9 hours straight on a hot day. We let it rest for about 5 hours and it started up. We drove to the first stop light and it stalled. I floored the gas and popped it into 1st, engined was roaring but i was able to get going. I came to the conclusion that I just couldnt come to a stop. There were 6 more stoplights to make it through before I made it back to the highway. Some high RPMS, engine braking and a bit of luck, i never had to fully stop through those lights. I made it another 200 miles then pulled off to go to bed. Once I actually came to a stop, it shut off again. In the morning, I started trying to figure out what was going wrong because vapor lock didn't seem to fit the bill anymore, at least not the full bill. After pulling the gas line to the carb and starting the engine, I saw that the pull was still sending gas. I poked around some more and saw that the nut holding the throttle linkage on the carb had fallen off. This caused the spring on the idle control to come off. This was the issue. I luckily had some steel wire and duct tape with me and that was enough to finish the journey. The ride was so rough that it caused this to come loose. I am not saying vapor lock was not any part of the problem, but this bolt coming off certainly was the main culprit. So on to the suspension help. I need to get this suspension upgraded and it seems like there are some options, but I wanted to see what you all thought. From what I can tell, everything is original. Should I just go ahead and replace all of the shocks, leaf springs and add one of those air lift suspension helpers? I would like to not have to do everything, but I don't want to just do one of these and it not have much positive effect. If anyone has any specific parts they would recommend for 1983 models, that would be greatly appreciated. I am all ears. Thank you