Shoprat

Howdy Cap. New Toy owner , huh? Mountains, how to handle. Do downshifting. A lot ! As you know from your truck experience, if you keep the rig 55 m.p.h. or a little below, the gas mileage improves. Use the cruise on flat ground. I checked out the pic of your rig. I would check out the attachment of the platform to the trucks chassis. Somefolks just attached the trailor hitch to the frame extensions. They are very light, and so could cause problems. By the way, do you rent out the Lab. I could use him next Waterfowl Season.

Sorry I didn't catch this sooner. Go to an auto parts store and buy a chiltons manual for your year Toyota truck chassis. The manual should have a wiring diagram in it. Dissconnect the Positive battery cable at the battery and install a 12 volt test light between the cable end and battery post. If there is a draw, the test light will light. Pull fuses untill the test light goes out. That circuit has the draw. Use your diagrams to further refine the search until the light goes out. I have had to cut wires sometimes to do this. You can also buy into alldata on the internet and download diagrams from them at about 20 bucks a year. Hope this helps some. And good luck.

Shoprats' jaw hits floor as he sees Futars response. Futar is awe inspiring, and a durn gud all round guy! I think I'm doin' sumpin' if I put up a sticky stink pretty in the bathroom. Whoooo ! This place rocks.

Blink...blink...blink.. HooBoy ! I thought I had read just about everything, but nope. Son, I say Go For It. Ya never know what will work till you try it. Just one thing, if we're ever in the same RV park, go a ways downwind till ya work the bugs otta that thing, ok ? P. S. Now I feel like I gotta take a shower.

I haven't gotten into the rear springs yet. But, I'm thinking that a rebuilt spring would probably be the way to go. If you get a good rebuilder, the springs are as good as new. I would check with trucking companies and school bus fleets in your area for reccomendations to a good rebuilder.

Howdy James. All the seats on my 86 Sunrader have belts. This includes the swivels and the bench. Always check the rear axle for 6 lugnut dual wheels. This is the heavy duty version which is what you need. My Sunrader weighs around 5800 pounds, so you can see the need for the heavy duty rear axle. I strongly suggest you bounce on the floors in the house part and rap on the walls. This checks for rot. Also watch for water stain areas any where. Most of all read here religiously, the Dudes and Dudettes here answer a lot ofoff the wall stuff, plus read the archives. Lots of info there. P.S. Wanna run for pinks ?

There are a number of V6 and V8 engines that can be swapped into a Toyota. Some of these are discussed in the following link http://www.mindspring.com/~jayk3/toyota/swaps.htm#Engine

No prob, Doode. Will do.

Say Greg. I am getting ready to clean out my bookmarks. One of them has info on engine and tranny swaps possible in a Toyota. Would you like this one to sticky, or can I just delete it. Lemme know.

Howdy , GregAlbert. Try dropping the speed down to 50 - 55 m.p.h. At 60 mph a wall of air developes in front of the vehicle so that your trying to move 4 times the air volume than you do at 50. Can make a real difference !

Merry Christmas right back at'cha Nolan. And the same to all the regulars here.

Ok- where to start ? After mulling over ideas on proper pistons to install from here and other locations, I decided to go with Keith Black Hyperutectic pistons in the stock configuration resulting in a 9.5 to 1 compression ratio. Why do this in a Turbo when most people with good sense lower compression ratio to accomodate the boost? I was going on what I observered before the stock pistons collasped due to too much timing. I was running almost NO boost pressure at the 55 mph speed rate. If I went with the dished pistons, I would lose power when the engine was in normal asperation mode. So, I went the higher compression way. Keith Black reccomends a drop of 2 to 4 degrees of timing for their hyperutectic pistons . Seems they run coooler than stock pistons and so this is necessary. So, I got the MH running and was finally able to take it down to Backwoods Racing to have the new configuration mapped into the SDS Fuel System computer. This time, Don ( the mapper), said it would probably be done more quickly if a fellow named Andy did the driving as he was familiar with the area and what they were trying to accomplish. I considered this request, and figured that I must have really scared Don the last time . I said ," Sure, go ahead." I guess I should also mention that my heater blower wasn't working and it was 35 degrees . So it was kinda chilly in the MH. I accompianed them in the Gramma seat in the back as they drove the MH around Midland under road conditions. So, the two of them went at it. It was fun to watch these guys work together. Seemed like they had the same procedures running through their heads at the same time. Comments of , "Thats enough"- "More there"-" Still doggy"-" Dead spot"- " Hows that"- "Zero to one negative map dont happen-I know that"-back and forth. All in all, kinda like watching a football game in an open air stadium, temperature and all. Well , they got it mapped. Don told me that I should go to premium gas to be on the safe side. And should also go one or two heat ranges colder on the plugs. Said to try it for a while and see how it suits me. Possibly would have to do some more tweaking to really lock it in. I agreed and he presented me with his bill, 2 1/2 hours mapping= $106 . I looked at him in disbelief. That sounded too darn CHEAP ! I told him he was working with the MH for at least 3 1/2 hours anyway. He informed me that the first hour, they were just getting their equipment set up correctly for the road testing- no charge for that ! Criminey. Well, anyway. I drove it home and filled it full of premium fuel. I drove it 50 miles and refilled it. 5 gallons of gas. A little dissapointed in the mileage. Power seems good, but maybe could be improved some. Doesn't seem to want to accelerate at full throttle and 5 pounds of boost. I have thought about this, did some checking on the internet, and found very valuable info. Keith Black has a site where you can figure your total compression ratio using static compression and boost. Going with the info from my piston number and my engine head c.c., I came up with 12.1 to 1 . This is just below the ratio they consider max for Premium pump gas. Cross checking with the LC Engineering site, at this comp. ratio, they recommend a 7 heat range NGK plug, I am running the stock 5 heat range plug. Also, on another turbo site, they recommend going down thinner on the spark plug gap- from the stock .032 to .025 or even .022 at up to 20 psi boost. The boost has a habit of blowing out the spark at wider gaps. Could be where my lack of power on acceleration comes from. Also the cooler plug allows you to up the timing some without detonation. So, I ordered some NGK BKR7E spark plugs and will gap them at .025 and see where that leads. So, all in all, this MH upgrade has been a VERY interesting experience. Expensive, but interesting. The looks I get when I tell people I put a turbo in a mini-motor home are priceless. They invariably ask me why, and I answer that I want to enter it in a drifting contest.

Question for the board. What items do you consider essential to take along on a long trip. I want to take 1- A gallon of pre-mixed anti-freeze/coolant. 2- A quart of engine oil and a quart of tranny fluid. 3 - A hatchet/ splittin wedge/ 4 pound hammer for fire wood. 5- A very good first aid kit- any brand name suggestions/home made kit suggestions. 6-Cable ties. 7- A roll of mechanics wire. 8-Electrical connectors and a roll of electricians tape. 9- Light bulbs to replace any bulbs in the vehicle. 10- Multi-meter. 11- Wire. 12- Last but not least- tool kit. Any other suggestions ?

After I've put in all this work on this Toys' engine, I've got to wondering if it could legaly travel in California. I mean, after all, a few of them funny engine systems got lost somewhere in the transition . The mechanic that did the work - cough,cough- left without re-connecting 'em. What say Ye, West Coasters ?

Yo Nolan. " Toyotally?"---ARGH ! Thanks for the good wishes. Hope you and the other posters here have a safe, peacefull, and Happy Thanksgiving also. I fully intend to become a well rounded pile of digesting food as I doze by the glow of the t.v.s' football game . Ahhhhh ! Life is good!

Yo Pickle. As far as to how often to repack wheel bearings, I would say you could do it every 60-70 thousand miles. I have seen bearings go 100 thousand with no trouble. Frankly, just pack 'em every brake job, they'll probably be fine. As far as the inspection port thingy, I don't remember seeing one on my Sunrader either.

Yo Nolan. I rolled the same question about the axle shaft seal / no oil bearings around in my head while I was packing the rear wheel bearings also. And I think came up with two answers. (1) If the inner hub seal fails with an oil lubed bearing, it goes directly into the brake area. I used to work on school buses and they had the oil lubed bearings. The main reason the inner hub seal failed was the rear axle vent would plug from road dirt and not allow the air expansion from heat to escape. The resulting pressure would blow the seal, and Voila, oil saturated brakes. (2) The axle shaft seal also acts as an insurance policy to keep water out of the differential area. Just a couple thoughts .

Yo Pickle. I hear you on that proportioning valve thing. Mine was leaking so I decided to just remove the stinking thing. I removed the valve and put a connector between the Prop valve supply line and the rear axle supply line. I then went up front and removed the "T" connection in the line at the right front wheel supply. I then connected the right front supply line to the rubber hose to the right front caliper. I just left the rear to front brake vent line from the Prop valve in the vehicle. Nothing in it. I was worried that the rear brakes would lock up before the fronts after the repair, so I panic stopped the vehicle from about 35-40 miles per hour on a gravel road. No loss of control, no rear wheel lockup. You don't want them to lock up ! On the rear axle question, the rear wheel bearings need to be packed like the fronts. The axle shafts do have a seal around them installed in the outboard end of the differential tube , sealing the differential lube in the rear axle housing. No lube from the differential is possible. Takes about a good 1/2 pound of grease per side in my experience to adequately pack the rear wheel bearings.

Yo Bindy. Guess I should have posted the full name, Carquest Auto Parts. My bad. It is national. About 3500 stores I guess. They do have a web site, but, if you have a phone book, you can probably find a store near you. Give 'em a try.

Yo Bindy. Have ya tried Carquest Auto ? Thats where I got mine.

Hey alla'ya. Check this out ! http://www.mindspring.com/~jayk3/toyota/swaps.htm#Engine I think it answers alot of questions.

Oh Yeah- pistons. After talking to you guys, and a couple more guys I know that builds race cars, I decided togo with some Keith Black Hypereutectic pistons in the stoch configuration. We'll see if these hold up better. Got 'em for 188 bucks. Not too bad, cheaper than forged, lot more than stock cast.

Well Guys, Ol' Shoprat finally made it ! I retired yesterday. I thought I would croak long before I reached this milestone. I am extremely happy. I pulled the hitchpin and walked away from the load. When I finally get this kick-a$$ motorhome done , I hope to travel to your Toy-Ins and show her off with pride ! I warn you now, I will talk a lot, grin a lot, give oodles of unwanted recommendations, and generally be an all around pest. P.S. I like DARK beer.

Hey there Nolan. You said it better than I did. I would also suggest a collapsed throw out bearing as a possibility . Ah yaaas- you be GOOD in the clutch, Boy.

Howdy anna. Your problem could be caused by a clutch linkage problem if the linkage is mechanical, or possibly a hydraulic leak if the clutch is operated by a hydraulic cylinder . If thats fine then it is an internal clutch problem and that can run a few hundred dollars. Let us know what'cha find out .