Oldiesel

John Thanks for the reply,I should have put in this is for a 1986 4cylinder with the a43d transmission and i am trying to find out which side of the radiator the fluid flows into,at the moment the engine cannot be started. Don

I am installing a transmission cooler and dont know which way the trans fluid flows,i have tried searching and although there is alot of mention of trans cooler i could not find anything definite as to which line is which.Would be very helpful to me if someone could tell me which way the fluid flows thru the bottom of the radiator. does it go in the passenger side and come out the drivers side or the other way around.Can anyone help please! TIA Don

We have in our 86 MiniCruiser a Dometic 2400 fridge that only operates on propane,neither the 12v or 110 systems will cool.I have tested the heating elements and neither are open,both have some resistance although i do not have the correct values the fact that they do have some resistance and no voltage is getting to them leads me to suspect the switch that switches the electric power to the thermostat , i would like to check the switch.My question is can the switch be accessed without removing the fridge and if so do i start from the front or the back.I do have the booklet that came with it and it has wiring schematics and a parts breakdown drawing but of course no dissasembly instructions. TIA Don

I tried the CloroxCleanup and it really works way better than i expected.I will try to attach a couple of pictures! We have not done the whole rig yet but the spots we have done it makes the fiberglass strands almost disappear.Does not require much scrubbing as you can see in the second picture where the Clorox ran down is pretty clean with no scrubbing at all

looks like in the picture that you may have passenger car tires on both rear axles,most of the folks on here think that is a bad situation and the rear tires need to be 8 ply light truck tires,these old MHs are very heavy

Sounds to me as if your truck A/C is working OK.55 deg at the outlet on a 100deg day is pretty good,i think it just cannot cool the cab and house.When you have a curtain to separate the cab and house the truck A/C should do fine for just the cab,on 100deg days you will probably want to run it on recirculate so you are not trying to cool outside air. I have freeze 12 in one of my old Mercedes and it cools way better than the other one that has 134 in it. As for gas mileage if the oxygen sensor has not been replaced in the last couple of years you might try that or if you have a friend in the business have him connect a tester to it and verify that the O2 sensor is working properly,if it were me i would just put a new one in.The biggest thing on these rigs is speed,there is just so much frontal area and weight that even just trying to keep up with normal h,way traffic is just going to take alot of fuel. If you are driving 50-55 and still getiing 10-11 i would think there is something wrong. Don

I dont know about your Dolphin,but i am in the final stages of a complete roof replacement on my Mini Cruiser. The original roof was attached at the side walls as you describe,bent over about 2'' down the side with a moulding with square drive screws about every 3" under the plastic insert,there also appeared to be some sort of glue that almost looked like contact cement in the joint but it was not holding to the fiberglass sides very well if at all. it does not seem to me that it would be a likely place to leak unless the aluminum was cracked at the bend as mine was in a couple of places.I hope your project goes well for you,mine turned out to be about 10 times more work/expense than i expected. There is lots of onfo and warnings here too bad i didnt see them before i bought,probably would have kept me from buying this unit at all. Don

Ill watch this thread. Funny thing i am in the process of putting a new roof on our MiniCruiser and just said to the wife today ,I dont know if i will put that roof railing back on and i am still undecided. Don

Book called the "12 Volt doctor" is the best i have seen,i guess its primarily aimed at boats,but has excellent basic instructions in language anyone should understand.Clear drawings outlinig basic circuits and how to test them with a VOM and also good info on the use of the simple test light.Actually the test light can do most of the testing you need but of course one should have at least a basic digital meter. Since i used to do this stuff to earn a living i have an expensive Fluke brand meter but for the DIY person Harbor Freight sells a basic digital one that will do about every test one could use for trouble shooting basic automotive problems,it sells for about $5.oo and thats what i carry with me most of the time while the expensive one stays safely in the big tool box. Just checked Amazon.com and they have several of his books and he even wrote one for motor homes although it says "out of print limited stock" Don

Most of the "rafters" are cut from 2x4 stock so they are 1-1/2 thick and they are 7/8 thick at the ends where they are screwed to the aluminum framing and 2-1/8 thick vertically at the center.The ones that will support the A/C unit are reenforced with 3/4x3/4 steel square tube.the ones near the front and back are not as thick in the center as the roof has to transition to flat where it meets the front and rear curved panels, because they are not as thick in the center vertical dimension i made them from 2 1x4s glued together as it seemed to me they would be a little stronger than cut from a 2x4 And there is one that is just cut from a 1x4 as it only has a short unsupported span between the closet and the boxed section above the fridge. I hope to get the first 1/4" plywood panel tomorrow.there eventually will be 2 layers of fiberglass with gel coat over the plywood so i think it will be strong enough to walk on when complete,but i wont be jumping up and down on it. After the first 2 layers of fiberglass are on the vents ect that normally would be screwed to the roof will be attached with 2 more layers of FG so there will be no screws penetrating the plywood roof.I will also glass some small pieces of the grey lumber that people are building docks with on top of the first 2 layers of FG so that in the future i can mount a couple of solar panels up there, the screws that mount them will only screw into the plastic lumber on top of the fiberglass,again no screws thru the roof. I will post more pictures as i go along. Still hoping for more opinions on mounting the A/C off center! Don

The old hole is going to the dump with the rest of the old roof.The new roof will have a slight camber to it,it will be 1-1/4" higher in the center than the outside edge.I am still undecided about the off center A/C i think i will take the A/C cover over and put it up on the roof and see if it looks too strange a little off to stbd. Still would apreciate more opinions,you know everyone has an opinion lets see some more of them. Don

Vanman The A/C unit according to the manual is 85 pounds,it would only be 14" off center,i dont know how much difference that would make but it is something to consider. John I have taken some pictures,just a few i need to get them posted on here. Hopefully this coming week i will get time to figure out how to do it. Both of you guys thanks for your input Don

I am in the process of putting a complete new roof on our 22' Mini.I have it pretty well worked out and it is coming along slowly, i have the "rafters" in place and it occured to me that if i put the A/C unit off center by about 14" i could have 6' headroom all the way down the centerline. I dont need 6' as i am only about 5'9" but i was thinking that the extra headroom would be a selling point when the time comes to sell. while thinking about it i also thought it would look funny with the A/C unit sitting off to stbd on the roof from outside.So please give me your opinions of which way you think would be best from a resale point of view. TIA Don

I just bought a few sheets of the 3/4" blue at Lowes a couple of days ago

on our 1986 MiniCruiser the original roof panel was aluminum,but had been covered over with about every sealant coating known to man.We have plenty of water damage, who ever put all the stuff on the roof apparently never bothered to actually locate the leaks.The roof has 1"x 3" lumber lying flat for support with some 3/4" X 3/4" steel tubing so if it sagging down at the A/C unit as ours was there is probably hidden damage in the roof structure. One way to locate leaks is to pressurize the cabin and then go around with a spray bottle of soapy water spraying suspected places and even some that are not suspect.One way to pressirize the cabin is to use one of the large shop vacs that have a hose connection on the outlet,you need a big one! If your rig is like ours you can remove the plastic entry where the power cord goes in and tape the vacuum cleaner hose in that hole.close all the windows and every other opening you can find,put the cab a/c control on recirculate.Turn on the shop vac and spray around the cabin door if that does not show some bubbles/air leaks you probably do not have a good positive pressure yet. Once you have positive pressure start looking/spraying all over,around anything that is attached to the roof, all around window frames and all the screwed on mouldings.using that method you may be actually find and repair the real leaks some of which would not have been sealed by simply recoating the entire roof.Our worst ones were around the base of the A/C unit which had gobs of sealant plastered all around it all very sloppy and completely ineffective.Leaks in that area are best resolved by lifting the unit and after alot of cleaning of both the roof and the unit installing it with a new gasket.Hope this much longer than i expected post helps you Don .

our 86 MiniCruiser has aluminum framing in the sides of the body,also had some 3/4x3/4 square steel tube in the roof. Actually after seeing so many pictures of water damaged Toys and having to repair some damage on on our MiniCruiser i think the Mini was one of the better built ones.

Credit card!

As i am making extensive repairs to the roof of my "Mini Cruiser" i need to remove the awning. The awning is an A&E regency 7000 that winds up with a spring that is probably inside the drum the fabric rolls onto.Looks to me like the edge of the awning that is attached to the side of the house is in a track that is screwed on behind a moulding on the side of the house. How the heck am i supposed to get the awning off. Any help/advice will be greatly apreciated . TIA Don

John Yes i agree,i think someone would be able to buy that axle for very little money. He was pleased that you had posted the availability of the wheels and axle. He told me he really didnt think much of it when you told him you would post it as most people he deals with are full of BS and he was able to sell all of the wheels in a relativly short time as a direct result of your posting. Don

Following Waiters post i went to Zephyer Hills and bought the last two 6 bolt dual wheels he had. He still has the complete rear axle assy,when i was there the other day it still had the springs attached.His computer tells him the axle ratio is 3.90 ,i thought all the full floating ones were 4.10. It is at Rigsby auto salvage 1 800 231 2013 no afilliation with these folks but they wre ok to deal with. He only has the axle assy he does not have any other parts of the vehicle it came from. Don

We have used the flower pot on the stove burner many times in our sailboats,makes alot of heat. We always had a hatch at least a little bit open and would not even consider sleeping with it on.If you decide to try it make sure you use a CLAY pot! Plastic wont work LOL. Don

Most of that stuff comes under the heading of "HOMELAND STUPIDITY" And the US is the leader of it! PS i am an American

tirerack.com right now has the yokahama Y356 listed @ $92.oo they have other chouces as well,some less money ,some more money,both C & D ratings. C rating slightly cheaper. Don

If you prefer the relay type you should have no problem if you use a Cole Hersee 24059 continous duty solenoid, any decent auto parts store or marine supply should be able to get you one.There is one in my boat that has been switching my house batterys (4 Golf Cart) to the 80 amp main engine alternator for going on 20 years and still works fine.In the boat i have it connected to an oil pressure switch so it only works when the engine is running,that way if the key switch was accidently left on the house and starting batterys would be separate. Don

Derek Thanks for the link, i will give them a call when i get a chance,if i learn anything of value i will post it here. WME I have used those 3M abrasive wheels that may turn out to be a good idea i certainly try it,Thanks Don