futar
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Posts posted by futar
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One or two manufacturers make the batteries for most brands.
The biggest manufacturer that re-brands is Johnson Controls.
What this means is that Walmart Everstart brand costs twice as much under someone else brand name.
Walmart has the lowest price and the best warranty for deep cycle batteries.
I paid about $65 for a size 29 deep cycle at Walmart.
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I had a class A. I will never ever,ever,ever get one again. Servicing the engine is a nightmare. The gas mileage is terrible. Don't make same the mistake I made.
I notice that there are a bunch of new medium size motor homes with truck fronts and diesels. They used to be called chassis mounts.
The problem is poor layouts. The Europeans have it all over us in efficient use of space.
One thing I would get rid of is the couch. Like who needs sleeping for six in a small motor home. Can you imagine just two barrel chairs and a table with no dinette and couch. Think of all the storage room that would add. Adding a nice big two door fridge would not take away much room. Increasing propane capacity would help. I would love to design and build a small one from scratch.
I would add the Cummings 3.8 liter diesel and a six speed manual transmission. I would install a marine 12 volt air conditioner plumbed in to ducting. No generator but two size 29 deep cycle batteries to run the air when camping and a 2,000 watt inverter for a good sized microwave. I better stop there.
Hello Futar: I purchased my ToyHome this past July to see if I enjoy single life on the road. I have only taken short trips with it to date, repairing, maintaining, and modifying it slightly to carry my Cannondale Mountain Bike inside. My initial assessment is that these ToyHomes are too small for a serious nomadic life. Too little storage space for long term living. I have too much baggage which I need to carry, which also includes tools for those occasional mechanical repairs while on the road.
So if I were to think about spending additional dollars it certainly would not be for an expensive engine swap. I would sell my Old 87 Conquest ToyHome and look to upgrade to a Class A Motorhome such as at an Airstream or Fleetwood Bounder Turbo Diesel to purchase. Yes, they are more expensive, and Yes, they are safer. Safer always wins out with me.
These ToyHomes are great recreation vehicles, with many limitations. Fuel prices being most people's concerns these days, a used Class A Motorhome can currently be purchased for well below book. You seem to enjoy traveling in yours, picture yourself driving a Class A unit. Living out of a Class A unit. Then make your choice.
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I once met someone in a Toyhome traveling through this area that replaced the 3 liter with the 3.4 liter. He maintained a fleet of one ton Toyota trucks and had a great knowledge of them. Anyway, he said it drove much better with the 3.4 liter. Anyone done this? I'm curious what the gas mileage is.
I also would like to know what the performance and gas mileage is with the GM 4.3 liter V6 swap. Any one have one of these swaps?
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I have a 91 Winny. First is the ladder. There aren't enough spots to mount to the steel cage and clear the lights. Here's what I did. You need to buy the universal ladder type that has a pivot in it and the bottom support bracket swivels. I marked off where I wanted it mounted. You'll have to cut it shorter. I drilled through to the inside which is where the closet is. I used thick aircraft washers on the inside. Those are the ones that are very wide. It distributes the weight so that it doesn't rip through the wall and fiber glass. I attached the bottom swivel to the box bumper. Be careful of the rounded fiber glass on the rear. It can split if you step on it. I hope you don't weigh too much, no offense meant.
I attached a picture of mine.
One thing to avoid on a roof rack is one that has an open protruding bar in front. It can catch tree branches and rip the roof apart. Get one where the bar in front bends down to and attaches to the roof.
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What happened to my pictures? I'll try again.
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Well, we finally made it to Loeb State park east of Brookings. Phil, Arlene and Ronnie(the dog) came with me. They had separate tents. We got a primo site by the river. We checked out the USFS sites in the area. Words can't describe how awesome the place is. The weather was perfect, clear skies and full moon nights. Nice hiking weather. They let us have camp fires.
We roughed it with filet mignon, chops, fresh corn, etc. We went in to Brookings to have great fish and chips at the Hungry Clam restaurant.
It's open year round so I think I'll arrange a winter trip.
A couple of Toy owners stopped by. One was Nate from the Yahoo group.
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There are cases where storage of the hose in the rear box bumper will rot them out.
I've seen people make holders out of PVC pipe with cap ends. Drill the cap ends through the PVC pipe on top to put a nail or cotter pin in so it won't fall off.
I have a 1993 Toyota Dolphin. It has a built in sewer hose storage container on the front drivers side. Unfortunately it doesn't really fit any of todays hoses (length) especially with the sewer connectors installed. Has anyone come up with something more practical in the way of storage. I keep it in the generator compartment right now but would like to put that space to better use. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
thanks
Barb
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I have a Filipino cousin. I guess America left a gajillion tons of Spam in the Philippines during WWII. He had endless recipes for Spam. I was surprised how he could make Spam taste good.
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You need what's called a basin wrench. They're cheap at Wallyworld or Harbor Freight.
http://theheadlemur.typepad.com/remodeling_for_geeks/2006/10/orphan_tools_ba.html
When I had to repair a toilet on one of my motorhomes, I installed a shut off valve closer to the floor so I could isolate the toilet.
Another option is a union fitting http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/248553024/plastic_union_union_ppr_plastic_union.html
I swear some of the MH manufacturers built the MHs around the commode so that you have to discard the MH when the toilet fails.
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I have both in my present MH. I have been using the roof mounted "swamp" coolers for over 30 years. Being in the Mojave is where it shines. When it's real dry and hot, it's amazing how cold the air comes out. If you're going to travel in a humid climate forget it. One asset of the Turbocool is that you can reverse the fan for venting.
The Turbocool has three speeds using from 2.2 to 4.6 amps. Running on a good heavy coach battery has never been an issue for me of running the battery down.
On high it's noisy but doesn't compare to a regular air conditioner or a generator. It's a fan noise not a compressor plus fan noise.
It can use a fair amount of water. Some MH water pumps have to lug to pump the water up to the roof. I "souped up" my first water pump. I would even consider a separate heavy duty 12v water pump. That way you can get one of those six gallon plastic water jugs and use either or water tanks. I have a six gallon tank behind the drivers seat.
I had no dash air on my first Toyhome. I had the cooler mounted on the front roof vent. I had to use flexible ducting to vent it down to the drivers area. There was a technique to this as the built in fan is not high pressure. You can't open the front vents as it will work against the cooler air pressure. If you open slightly the rear bathroom vent or a side window, it will help the flow over the front seating
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It was about 15-16 years ago. It was in Iowa after the Mississippi flooded. It uncovered fossil beds at the ACE lake and campground.
The cost was very low and the campground was beautiful. What we remember most was the fireflies. There were jillions of them. It was like computer generated graphics.
Sorry I can't remember the name of the place.
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Whatever you do, do not use solvent based glues or adhesives. It will dissolve the Styrofoam. 3M makes a spray adhesive for Styrofoam.
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Thank you futar for your reply as well as your 3 attachments. I say three because on the photo of your motorhome is the exact style of mirror bracket I am looking for. I can always add the extra support arm. The other styles pictured are indeed very nice alternatives. You mentioned a MH of yours had flat metal stock for mirror brackets which were attached to the overhead. This surely seems to be a solution, but I am 6' tall and I envision myself getting caught up in this arrangement on a moonless night. Or were they mounted all the way forward on the overhang? Since your MH has the style of mirror brackets I "think" I desire, you are knowledgeable about their strengths and weaknesses. If you were to purchase another MH which was not supplied with suitable mirror brackets which style would you personally select to install? Thanks, Michael
You asked about measurements for using the Ford swing out mirrors. Sorry, but that was my first Toyhome 18 years ago. That was in New England where road salts dissolve vehicles and people. I'm sure it is now in that great camp ground in the sky.
If I had to do a replacement it would be any one that swings out of the way.
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Be prepared for the paint under the tape to be nice and new and un-oxidized. I buffed the area to get it to blend in.
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Recair was the original name until the Bachmans who now own it changed it to Turbocool.
http://www.turbokool.com/aboutus.html
You can probably get spare parts through them.
I seem to remember a nut that be removed to drain the unit for the winter.
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There's a couple of other options for the mirrors. One of my Toyhomes had flat metal stock attached to the camper overhead. The mirrors hung down from these.
On my first Toyhome, I had a very narrow driveway and the tripod mounted mirrors had nearly torn the door panels out. I bought old swing away Ford style truck mirrors.
I drilled the side and reattached the mirror. I used an extension nut to secure it. This gave me swing away mirrors.
There are also small versions of the west coast style truck mirrors which also swing away.
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I haven't seen a Regenair. Do you have a web reference? I am curious.
I have the old Bycool. You can see it in the top front picture on my profile. It has it's own pump to pump up the water to the unit. A cylinder with media rotates in a trough to keep the media wet. There is no internal sprayer. There is a scoop in front that has to be opened. I have the manual model which is a pain in the butt to get on the roof to open the scoop.
The main brand sold now is the Turbocool. I had one of those. It has a conical sprayer to spray the water over a circular media. It requires your MH water pump to pump up the water to a sump in the unit. A float opens and closes the water feed. I had to super charge my water pump with a bigger motor to get it to pump to the roof efficiently. The Turbocool is over priced but works good and is reliable.
There used to be a brand called Playcool which was real neat.
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Here's what the Sunrader ones look like.
http://www.suspensionconnection.com/cgi-bi...con/2116T1.html
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One thing to remember is that the older ones have the old freon in them in case it needs to be recharged. The new freon requires higher pressures although I did a conversion in a car and it worked okay. Don't let a service person fool you. There's plenty of the old freon available from Mexico and it is inexpensive.
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I was heading up I5 north in Oregon last weekend in my Toy. I spotted a very slow moving camper in the right lane. It looked like one of the older 1970's Toyotas from the rear. As I passed it, I was surprised at what I saw. It was a vintage Volkswagen bus front with a full blown camper on the back. This looked like a professional installation. This was not a camper van.
Anyone who was ever in the old Vdub buses knows that they could barely climb a hill. I can't imagine how it was moving with a full camper on the back. Although it was lumbering in the right lane pretty slow. It made our Toyhomes look like semis.
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I'm assuming you live in OR. You may want to consider a State parks pass. The Federal parks pass gets you half price at their camp grounds. If you're senior or disabled you can get a lifetime Golden Pass for free. Both of them have a gajillion places and the best sites in Oregon.
Here on the coast, you can camp year round.
I was up your way last weekend to see Dick Dale in concert at Dante's in Portland. I left the MH at the Gateway Elks camp ground. The Elks is also something to look in to. Most of them have camp grounds. Full hookup with WIFI was $12/night.
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That's a Playcool evaporative cooler on the roof. Make sure the water line is filtered. The only problem they had is the spray nozzle getting plugged. Other than that, they worked great and were far less expensive than the overpriced unit now available.
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Thanks, you're the second one that's told me that. . My new lap has Vista. Hate it. It took me a week to disarm all the tard popups and purge the trial ware. They wouldn't let me retro to XP without voiding the warranty but they do it for businesses. Too bad, because I have a gutted XP 64 via Nlite on my desk puter and it works slick.
Hopefully HP will let me upgrade to 7.
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I had an insidious leak on my last four cylinder Toy. Turns out the valve cover wasn't tightened down.
Pacific NW ToyHome Get together/Rally?
in Rallies & Toy Ins
Posted
I'm interested. I have been hitting the central and south coast of Oregon. I just finished a campout on the Chetco River by Brookings. Met some Toyhomers there. I haven't done the north coast in a while. I usually take some tenters with me.
Here's the site for Oregon State parks on the north coast.
http://www.oregonstateparks.org/searchpark.php?region=north_coast
There's US Forest service campgrounds if you don't mind primitive sites.
If there's a hiking interest Cape Perpetua is the mother load
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/siuslaw/recreation/tripplanning/capeperpetua/index.shtml
There's loads of places near me in Florence