Vanman

5Toyota AS for myself i Hate those blinding blue lights . Icant figer out why they allow those. they willprobly allow them until somebody is sued. Maybe those aren't adjusted properly, or they'e not dimming. On my Subaru I can see the cut off at the top of the low beams and they seem too low to me to be a problem. The high beams are really bright and no cut off. vanman

linda s Most of these rigs have 3 way fridges. If yours does you can put it on 12 volt while on the road. Standard alternator would probably not be enough to run ridge on AC while on the road and you would not have full charge on coach battery when you stop. I run propane but do check it from time to time to make sure pilot is still lit. Yes you are supposed to turn off propane when you refuel but I'm not so good about that and I haven't blown up yet Linda S Being an old geeser I remember the days when gas vapors abounded around any running pump/tank being filled and venting the displaced air. Most places I've been to lately have vapor recovery systems on the pumps and I think there's been design improvements in the Vehicles a well ??? vanman

Maybe I'm spoiled by the headlights in my newer Vehicles but I have so far avoided driving the TOY at night till I up-date the lites. So has anyone put in either the hi output lites or the really brite blue lites like on my 2008 Subaru, don't know what ther'e called but they are SUPER!! even at speed you think you don't need to go to the hi beams but when you do it's almost like daylight in front. You can change these from inside the enging compartment. vanman

fred heath Vanman, this could be your problem as well. Worth a look. Thanks again to all that responded. fred Thanks, I don't remember looking at that, I was cleaning the carb/float bowl/filter. vanman

Derek up North I seem to remember that test. Might be illegal to drive with none, but no legal requirement for them to be huge, flat 6x12 cookie sheet sized like we use. Not that I'd want to try driving without them! When I got the van in 1970 it came with what they called "West Coast Mirrors" which were required for towing, or if the center rear view mirror was blocked. I seem to remember when we first got this Toy someone telling me that standard also applied to RV's here. I don't know about RV laws but I do know towing laws vary from state to state. Wonder how having a full time wide view rear camera might affect the mirror regs. vanman

Derek up North Unless 'time is money', the best way to save on fuel bills is to slow down a bit. Resign yourself to life in the slow lane or pay the price. When the first gas crunch hit a van magazine tested all the products on the market at the time and found differences hard to measure with all of 'em. But they did find one thing that worked every time, removing the side mirrors!!! not legal but works. vanman

La Tortuga Vieja Howdy Toyota lovers! I am new to this site not to my 1988 Toyota Winnebago. I have a question if anyone can tell me whether or not there is more then just one vin on the chassis of the truck. I need two for California DMV to "verify" the vehicle. One number starting with "JT" (the number I need to verify) is visible through the windshield on the dash but I can't find another------I hope someone knows the second location! Thank you for your help----and I am excited to be a member of this site----as my life very much revolves around my camper! I have wondered about this since we got ours, no trbl re-registering at Ca DMV, but like many of the Toys I've looked at the black vin# plate on the dash(drivers side) is blank, ours has a series of the name toyota striped accross it, nothing more. The only place I could find was the sticker behind the drivers seat on the RV put by National RV with all the data. Didn't know about the wheel well, will check . vanman

C-Russ Or your TOP 3 things? Toolbag with parts 5 gal gascan almost full good shovel vanman

red heath Finally got the generator up and running. Having never owned this model, I'm not sure if this is normal behavior or not.The engine surges at idle. There is no load applied and I have the 120 volt breaker shut off at the generator. When I power up the mh the a/c and outlets work fine. It appeared that even with a load on, the idle speed of the generator never increased, and the throbing remains constant. Any suggestions or help greatly appreciated. fred Check the voltage with a meter, if it's going up and down with the surging of the gen don't use appliances, the surging voltages will damage them. Ours does this and I am not able to fix it yet. vanman

I would for sure replace the actuating cylinders ANY time you replace shoes and espically on one of these Toyota's. Last time I had the shoes replaced on my Ford I told the guy to just replace them even if he thought they were still ok, because that's just how it's done. A week after getting it back I find a puddle of brake fluid under thr drivers side rear. He said " sorry but they looked so good I didn't change them". Not worth the chance as they will be a small part of the total cost/labor of the job, which will have to be re-done when they start leaking. Vanman

Merry Christmas from SF and happy new years to all. John & Mary

linda s Tire rack has warehouses in Connecticut, Indiana and some other places. You only pay shipping from the closest warehouse. Bus Depot is in Pa. Linda S When we got our tires Tire Rack didn't have the Hankook's so we ordered from a local independent tire shop. I would assume most can order these tires. Shop around for the best price OTD, ie. including mount & balance. vanman

I have mounted the 2 left side wheel covers and they look GREAT. The front fits fine, the 3 cutouts match the wheel. But on the rear the 3 cutouts are too small. The 2 triangulars are much smaller than the wheel so I can just barely get the RV pressure gage in there but none of the several fittings I've got will get in there to add air. The third cutout is T shaped and nothing fits in there, not even the gage. What fittings/gages are those of you who have these Eagle Flight sims using??? Removing the cover to check/add air isn't gonna fly. I'm now thinking I will have to enlarge the cutouts, not an easy task with stainless steel, I had a time just removing the sharp edges from the stamping manufacturing process and had to use a Dremel on one of the lugnut holes on the rear. I have only done the 2 left wheels so far, will hold off to see what I'm gonna have to do. I'll call the supplier tomorrow but wondered what others have done????? vanman

Oh boy !! Reading brake08.pdf made me realize for sure what I've been thinking about the rear brakes. I have watched the body rise/fall as I varied the pressure in the air bags. As the axel does not move the valve adjustment must surely change. Not only do we have a whole lotta weight on these rigs but we also have much much more overhang beyond the rear axel than Toyota designed for. I don't think I'm getting much from the rears now, braking while backing downhill is a joke , the fronts lock easily and just slide. I have learned to apply the rears with the hand brake to get it to stop, now I see why. so I'm gonna set that thing to perment max braking and see how well that works. vanman

waiter We got this one at Walmart (I think it was about $8), Also got a couple of the seat back pouch things for maps, camaras, jelly beans, etc, etc John Mc 88 Dolphin 4 Auto That looks like the same one we've got in ours except it's grey and mounted where your shifter is, our shifter is on the steering wheel assy. Love those adjustable holders too !!! vanman

Is anyone using or have looked at a brake controller??? Subaru says I am supposed to use one for any load over 1000 # , and this on a 3 liter 6 cylinder American made Outback rated to tow 3500#, 200# max tongue weight here in US. The real 6's Outbacks sold everywhere else in the world are made in Japan are rated to tow 4500# but are also required to use brake controllers above a limit. They are supposed to help a lot with the braking. Our 91 Dolphin V6 came to us with an apparently well used hitch and towing plug for lights only. I asked a friend who is an expert welder( certified) to look at our rig, the frame extensions, and the welded hitch and he thought the frame extensions were just fine, but the length of the extensions/hitch combo was only good for no more that 200# tongue weight and no more than around 1000# trailer. I was planing to put a small rack on the hitch but will take it to a RV shop for expert advise on how much weight I can put on it, counting the box of course. I have seen these small rear racks on several Winnabagos at Felton. Vanman

Picked up the last NUT , HUB (# 90942-01055 ) from Toyota dealer, UPS says wheel covers arrive Thursday, can't wait. . vanman

MAXXFabrication' I do love when someone brings a knife to a gun fight............... I'll love to do the Lexus swap, wouldn't you get more enging braking from the V8 ?? on the other hand don't the newer cars seem to get much better braking from about the same size brakes ??? It seems to me I am not getting much braking from the rears from our Dolphin. We replaced all the brakes, seals and front hoses. Maybe should'a replaced the rear hose also (forgot) and just bypass the valve?? vanman

TMHolley Nothing happens, fan does not blow. I manually pushed the sail switch to the contact and it sparks tries to light, but doesn't. That tells you 2 things, one no power to fan motor or bad motor, two if it sparks when you make the sail micro you have power to the control board. Check with a voltmeter for 12 VDC to the motor, go from there. Wait; maybe stuck motor , if 12 VDC to motor use something other than a body part to spin it a little see if it takes off. It seems like most of there motors bearings fail ( makes whining noise) before the brushes need replacement. vanman

TMHolley tried both. If you power it up the first thing that should happen is the fan comes on, next the controller will know this as the blowing air will push a small vane tied to a microswitch, refered to as a sail switch on the schematic, then the pilot will try to lite if it's an auto-pilot type. What does happen when you turn it on with the on/off switch at the thermostat and then turn the temperature control up above the indicated temperature on the thermometer?? vanman

twoblocked Anyone know of a source for the bent brass valve stem and o-ring found on the 1 ton 6 lug wheel? I just had one break off at the cap end. I was at the dealer to pick up the last lugnut and after thinking about it I decided to order a new stem to replace the one the dealer barfed up,(I had a tire shop replace the new one with one of the original ones). I will try to get them to cover the cost, $13.99, as I paid for 7 new ones and installation of same!!!!! Anyway I asked him to look up my old invoices to get the number and he said it was 90942-05026, hope this helps, btw I did not dig up my copies of the invoice to verify this, but he was sure it's the correct#, we will C. vanman...to be changed to RVman in the future....

twoblocked Yeah, I thought of that. But I think there might be an issue with sealing against a diminished area.Here's a few shots to explain.Notice Toyota already had to dimple the wheel to make the 9.7mm stem fit properly inside.Do you think a 7/16" would fit? I would not drill that fitting. The 7 I got from Toyota have a slot cut in the center to retain the stem when tightening the collar nut, the old type have flats machined on the sides which I prefered to the slot which requires use of a screwdriver. vanman

Tristan Hey. I've been reading these forums for a few months now, but this is my first time posting. I have a 1986 dolphin which I've renovated quite a bit. I was just thinking about what my ideal setup would be, and it got be curious about what other people are striving for. I'm an electrician and a carpenter, so my needs obviously sway that way. Car stereo wired to house batteries, not truck battery. I put a fused wire on each side of the battery isolator run to a 3 way switch I installed in dash to the left ot the hand brake. Left is on coach batt, center is off so no lites lit on dash, right is on truck battery.Leave the small fuse to the truck battery alone so you will hold all your presets,clock settings up. vanman

twoblocked Anyone know of a source for the bent brass valve stem and o-ring found on the 1 ton 6 lug wheel?I just had one break off at the cap end. I had a time finding replacements for ours, ended up buying fron the local Toyota dealer. Brass is the same, O ring slightly different. vanman

Derek up North href='http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160688050283&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123#ht_748wt_905' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.ebay.com/...23#ht<br /> I do not use that outfit anymore too many times bad things happen. vanman