Vanman

We replaced all of ours, from the Toyota dealer # 90942-05026,I think. And I had to enlarge the rear simulators cut-outs, quite a bit on the T shaped cut-out for the outer wheel, just a mild 1/2 hole shape on the other 2. I used a dremel with the older (thin) type cut-off-wheel. I had a hard time finding air chucks that would work, have quite a collection now. If I get the time I plan to relieve them more so check your work more carefully than I did!!! vanman

MAXXFabrication Hey Greg, PM me an address so I can send mine via snail mail please. old school- thats how I roll!! Could you please send me an address via e-mail, another old school ... vanman

Samatman Greetings, This is my first post here, sadly not motorhome related. I'm not seeing that , but I think I have my machine locked down ok and have Java and Javascript turned off. vanman

stamar my isolator just broke. I was testing it, with the headlights letting it go on and off really quick and it stopped working. http://www.amazon.co...463&sr=1-23' class='bbc_url' Yes that's the good one, don't get the $10.00 cheepo from some web sites. A side note to get the free shipping from amazon you must bump up the dollar value, I got the Camco ckt breakers from them also to get the free shipping.One note on that, Camco makes 2 types of the breakers and on Amazons web site the PICTURES are wrong on all their pages!!!! the description matches the Camco part#, matches what you will get but the picture on that same Amazon web page further down shows the metal cased side-mount ckt breaker but the description says"Camco 65224 30 Amp 1/Card Straight Mount Ckt Breaker". That # is the number for the plastic body straight mount type, If you search around Amazon does sell the metal cased side mount ckt breakers with a different Camco # and a picture of the plastic straight-mount kind!!! I got on of each kind 30 Amp each. The Amps for these vary from 10 to 50 in 10 Amp steps, both styles. On another note, our Dolphin's got a 4 gauge wire from the truck batt to the isolator and #4 also from the isolator to the house battery. The local auto parts stores around here don't have this size crimp connector, so I got mine from Crutchfield's web site, they are available in 2 hole sizes 5mm and 8mm, the small ones fit the #10-32 studs on the Camco's and the big ones fit the larger terminals on the isolator. vanman

Question, we missed this one, http://toyotamotorhome.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=3729 , how was that place???? vanman

waiter This is a simplified diagram for my Dolphin. John Mc...88 Dolphin 4 Auto On our 91 V6 Dolphin the relay isolator is fed from a wire on the battery lug to the left side stud. Rt side stud is to a 30 Amp ckt breaker then to the battery box where there's another ckt breaker. The PDF I downloaded from the Tekonsha web site shows a 30 Amp ckt breaker right off the truck battery wire to the isolator. I am adding this breaker to ours as I don't like unprotected wires off the hot side. It appears that this is all original from National RV??? Are any of the toyota RV's made with the feed battery side fused or ckt breakered??? The breaker is rusted a bunch so I'm gonna replace it and the lugs and keep the old unit for a spare. vanman

ILIA Before I dive into this project I wanted to seek advice from members that have succeeded with the task. We had the springs replaced also, didn't cost too much from the Toy dealer. Aftermarket will be probably be cheaper. vanman

Just today we got an e-mail from Smithwoods RV Park about a Fathers Day weekend ther'e having. Thats the RV park we have gone to late in the year the last 2 years for a Toy-in. Last years was http://toyotamotorhomes.com/california_redwood.htm . vanman

Derek up North The $4650 Dolphin is a Model 500. I have a PDF of Dolphin models, shows a 400, 500, 800, & 900 but no 3, 6, or 7 hundred. What year is that picture from ??? The model 800 is the other Dolphin with the entry door well behind the truck pass door, still looks like a closet to me instaed of the chair?? vanman

terrieo Vanman, pellandent.com has a bumper end cap for states "National 1990's Dolphin" for $185., apparently from the pictures you posted I was missing both of these so didn't even know I was suposed to have them! I'm going to have a metal bumper put on that I can store sewer hose in as my dolphin only has a small round port on side about a ft deep for hose to fit in, which it won't unless I take all the fittings off! Good luck hope you find you parts! Great !!! I'll call them tomorrow. I keep the hose that came with the Dolphin in that short tube, it will work as an extension of the standard RV dump hose which I keep in a sturdy plastic bag. Thanks ...vanman

5Toyota there is one on here on the for sale list for 46 somthing i would not pay 50 dollors for it looks awful inside and out. Amazing they didn't even clean anything before taking the pictures. But that's not a 400, the RV door is next to the passenger side truck door, on the 400 the door is 2 1/2 foot back of the pass door, as you go in the captains chair is to your right. I saw a picture of another Toy, on this board I think, that wasn't a Dolphin that had the same entry door spacing as the 400, but it had what looked like a closet where the Dolphin has the captains chair.. vanman

WME Rule 1. There are no bad Toyhome MFGs, only bad previous owners. Don't buy the P/Os problems. Rule 2. Get the floor plan you want, DON'T plan on redoing one to your tastes. Make sure its equipped the way you want it, adding a gen set is $2000 Rule 3. Make sure you check that everything works. A new refer is $800.00<br />Rule 3. No matter what you get its going to cost at least $500 to fix stuff. Rule 2. Get the floor plan you want, DON'T plan on redoing one to your tastes. Make sure its equipped the way you want it. YES !!! floor plan is crucial, search this site for PDF's of the various layouts before you go looking so you will be able to visualize the way you'll use it. We just got lucky and got a Dolphin model 400, which is a rare model looks like. Couldn't have installed the birds cage otherwise, but I do miss that captains chair!!! vanman

90toydolphin look ahead and make sure you can get it into the rig when done. bigger might be nice and fit, but if you can't get it in????? How big are there things??? I instsalled a 2' square by 3' tall birdcage in ours by taking the passenger seat out, it's easy, didn't even have to take the door off, which would have made more room. vanman

bufbooth Sorry about the late reply, yes they are Load Range C. When I brought my Toyota 5 years ago I did not know about this website and my Toyota had three brand new Goodyear Wrangler HT 185R14C tires on it and the other three were two different brands, cracking, and 10 years old so I decided to match the rest of the tires up with Goodyears. The max single load is 1710 and the max as duels is 1550. Three are now 5 years old and the other three are 6 years old with a little over 20,000 miles on them and they still look great, but will be replacing them with 195R14D in the next<br />year or two. Dennis B. The 195r14's I looked at before getting the RA08's were ok as far as the width on the real duals, but the rolling radius was larger, which would have the effect of slightly gearing the RV higher. I personally think it's too high already. First is ok but I would like the rest to be much lower, the V6 won't pull overdrive anymore. When I drove it home from Idahoe it was stripped clean and mostly downhill so it was fine. Once we loaded it up, BIG difference. If I do anything more to this thing it would be; a lotta more HP, or more realistically a lower ratio rear end with a air-locker added. vanman

Toyota' timestamp very likely with high miles the brushes are worn down and then they make interminit contac i know you know that already but some may not. Ihave taken a rubber mallet bang on alt brushes will work for a little while . I ALSO LOVED OVER HAUELING MY 74 datsun alt old Hitachi very easy to rebuild. 2 DATSUNS SEVEN TOYOTAS I had a '74 B-210, replaced more rectifier plates than brushes till the alternator shop I was buying from sold me a heavy duty rectifier plate. End of problems, never did replace the bearings, ran fine till some *** stold it '96... vanman

When I made up a tool bag for the RV of course it included a Vice Grip chain wrench, my last. Got tired of fishing a bag out of one of the vechiles when I wanted to use one, so looked on line for a while and the best price by far was Camping World $16.68, http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/campers-world/Clamp-Chain-18-In-Size/gra6C665/&?&affiliateid=3707 !! If you had a Camping World membership when they merged with Good Sam, or otherwise have a delux membership(gold card) the shipping is free, just ordered 2, one for each 6 drawer. This is the kind of tool you will not use every day, but when you need it nothing else will do. Try it you'll like it... vanman

kdr217 Hello, I am trying to find an isolator for my 86 dolphin and I cant locate one anywhere. Where is the best place to buy parts for my dolphin? Thanks for the help. Keith Like this ???? http://www.adventurerv.net/tekonsha-terminal-battery-switch-isolator-p-4040.html vanman

guitarlover519 Its been a bit since ive been by, been driving my toyhome as a daily driver. keeping my foot out of it and averaging 16.4 - 17 mpg. my only other issue is the rear inside tire has been loosing air every two days or so despite it being a brand spanking new tire. A can of fix a flat should take care of it though concidering its probably a rim leak... With modern tires it's really unusual to have a rim leak unless the tire or rim is damaged, OR you git bitt by the tire monkey. Maybe it might help to remove the tire from the rim and look for damage, while the tire is off check the valve stem collar nut, if it's loose or the O ring is damaged remember to use a wrench on the flats of the valve stem to prevent it's moving while tightening the collar nut. If you have the newer style Toyota valve stems the machined flats are not there, they machined a slot in the center for a screwdriver to hold it. Handle the stem carefully, they are made of brass so bend easily. vanman

Well it's done. What they did was to braze a threaded fitting on each end of the metal tubes and the rubber hose has threaded ends. Looks a little like the flex tube on a lever action grease gun, except the threads are coarser. Looking at it I cannot figure out how they screwed it on, almost think they brazed one end(bottom) with the hose already threaded on. If this is correct it will be a real bear to replace again, not in my time I sure hope. Anyway after spending hours with Gunk, brushes, water to clean up a lot of ATF everywhere we went for a drive and it doesn't leak Total cost $315 But one question, the wiring harness comes to the motor from the pass side fender well right to the PS pump fitting. Just before the fitting it splits into three, the main (large) goes under the hose, a small branch goes down and back amost seems it's going to the transmission, and a small short single wire thats black with a white stripe and 2 red dots goes to a grey fitting that appears to be a connector. The other side of the connector is a wire with a fiber protective sleeve that goes straight accross the motor and into the area under the black plastic cover. The grey connector has a protrusion with prongs that would appear to fit into a slot to secure it. Before the work this wire was stretched tight and you could just see the outer edge of the grey connector. Now it's loose and flappin in the breeze, which is how I can examine the connector and trace the other side as far as I can see it without disassembling everything. I would really like to know what this wire is going to and how to secure it, I have looked diligently for any slot or hole that the connector was at and have come up empty. Help?????...... Now to that leak in the roof... vanman

MikeW Thanks everyone for the information. I have installed routed new ground 8 ga. wires from the engine's ground points, the firewall, and the wheel wells to the negative side of the battery.. What a difference. The engine use to be hard to start when it's cold and now it just starts right up. I haven't taken it on a test drive yet to see if there is any other benefits. Yeah, it's unfortunatly common to find someone has disconnected, removed, or improperly connected the motor/frame grounding cable. As you have found, relying on the motor mounts doesn't work all that well. You may want to take a good look at the all the wiring you can easily get at. Just might save a lot of other troubles, some bad connections will work some of the time and flake out at inoppertune moments. Good luck... vanman

Maineah Me I would get some one to make it but your situation is a bit different then mine is in rural Maine. The pump will bleed it's self but it's a good talking point. What's this slice? Does it look like it belongs there? Yeah it's factory, is in the copies of the parts book from the Toy dealer, and in all the picts I've found on line. I was thinking it might be a check valve but I guess it's just a splice. Suprising I found a few lines supposedly for a '91 Toy pick-up that are solid metal pipe !! Never heard of that, everything connected to the motor and frame has to have a flexible part or it'll break as the motor moves in it's mounts, so that's gotta be wrong. I am gonna go with the shop to make a tube from the pump fitting to the fixed metal line going to the steering box. The low pressure return lines look great and upon close inspection are sterner stuff then any of the assortment of rubber lines I have in my garage, they are reinforced inside. You can see this at the edges. When I first looked at these return lines I thought they were bad but it wasn't cracks at all I was seeing the fibers between the outer and inner edges. I guess there is a fair amount of pressure in the return lines also??? It's raining now and will be for all this week so I'll let the shop work on the Toy monday while I try to find the a leak in the roof of the house, hoping it'l be dry sometime during the day. vanman

MikeW I have a 91 Toyota Motor Home and am in the process of cleaning up some of the rusted ground connectors. On the negative side of the battery, a cable runs to a small black rectangular box with two screws coming out. One screw holds a wire that goes to the ground on the side of the fender and the other screw holds a wire that goes to something that looks like an old starter solenoid. Can someone tell me what the small box and the other solenoid looking thing is? Mike One place to look at is the box under the couch that has your distribution panel(connections,breakers,fuses) and the converter(changes 110VAC to 12 VDC) check for loose connections. On our '91 the white bus bar had many loose, one just fell out as I was pulling and jiggling 'em to check!!! Test by gently pulling whilst jiggling the wire, do not trust the tightness of the screws. The screws on ours are too short to fully tighten the wire in the buss bar so I had to double up on the wire to get a good connection on all the screws. The rest are slugs which is what you should put into a buss bar anyway, ie a slug is a screw without a head just a grove in the top for the screwdriver so when it's tight you have a good connection mostly. I was doing this on my Mom's house breaker box and found one wire the slug would not tighten, it would not go in far enough, had to tap it with a bottom tap. Arcing is the cause of most all electrical fires so prevention is paramount. vanman

Interesting, I've not seen the copper type. I've been using this for many years, works great. Steel spark plugs into alloy heads on motorcycles a requirement. http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/4/22/269/22883/ITEM/Permatex-Anti-Seize-Lubricant.aspx?SITEID=Google_Permatex_Anti-Seize_Lubricant&WT.mc_ID=10001&WT.srch=1&esvt=GOUSE340905788&esvadt=999999-0-4000749-1&esvid=400068 ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Slzh6Lh3S.pdf vanman

I have found the entire hose assy from ACDELCO, GATES and others online for $60 to 95$. But the pictures show the metal line shaped differently, hard to say which one's correct. Also this would be a bear to change methinks. But I also find screw type compression fittings and hose by the foot. Are the metal tube parts just smooth tubing under the factory crimped fittings, and are the threaded compression fittings as reliable as the crimped compression type??? The TOY dealer parts guys are great, he printed out the parts pages for this and the hose shown has a preformed 90 degree bend at the bottom end which seems to explain the splice. But looking at ours no bend, it's all just tubing with a splice in the midddle, the metal tube that runs accross the frame has a 90 degree bend up at this junction not shown on the parts picture. All the hoses look fine, it's just leaking at the splice. A shop here will replace just the high pressure hose part and bleed out the pump for 305 $ Looking at the cost of the threaded fittings and hose I'm tempted to just let then do it. I am assuming you would have to put it on jackstands to do this, which can get you ticketed where I live, one consideration.<br What do you mechanics think ???? our appointment is for Monday @ 7:30... Thanks In Advance ... vanman

Maineah I was born and raised on the Chesapeake Bay and have been around boats most of my life and beyond a doubt the worst wiring I have ever seen was on boats not the stock wiring but what the "experts" considered proper wiring. Now gas powered boats go boom just because they can but add a little "fancy" wiring and it ups the chances by a factor of about 4 and yeah speaker wire fits right into the mix good stuff that. I think a lot of it revolves around the fact that 12 volts won't directly kill you so the fear factor just is not there. It's an epidemic, when I got my boat(used) the 8 trac was wired to the ignition, had to have it on, motor running or not, to get sounds. Fixed that and asked the seller why it was wired like that and he replied "I don't know but now that you mention it I had to replace the ignition black box a while ago" !! When we got the Toy same thing !! I changed it so the stereo, radio and cassett, fed from 3 way switch, rt is on motor batt, center off, left is to coach 12V. I like leaving it off when parked as the stereo doesn't lite up, looks like there isn't one there. vanman