motoyhomme

Tiki has her 4X4 Sunrader for sale on eBay. Better take a look!

Go down to near the bottom of this forum and read "Leaky 26 gal Tank and Erratic Guage". I think that will answer a lot of questions for everyone. I think a 13.5 gallon tank will hold 14.5 gallons especially if you fill up the filler hose. I can get over 5.5 gallons into a red plastic 5 gallon gas can. Allen

Did you try Camping World? I bought both items you mentioned at our local Camping World. They're not in the catalog but were lying in bins on the shelf. Allen 83 Sunrader

Hi Gerald, Don't know if you found out the information you wanted or not. When I first bought my MH in 2005 I had to get it safety inspected here in Virginia. I heard the mechanics beating on the rear brake drums as if they were stuck. I passed the inspection but they said I would need new rear brakes before the 2006 inspection. I have the 6 lug, 1-ton rear end which DOES require the axles to be pulled. New seals are needed when putting everything back together. I went out and bought everything I needed and replaced everything myself, even after finding that the rear brake shoes looked brand new with no wear. The dummies at the inspection station didn't know how to get the brake drums off so they just lied to me, just to cover their bottoms in case the shoes were really worn down. Allen 83 Sunrader

I have a 83 Sunrader 21 ft with an old Coleman 13,500 BTU air conditioner mounted on the front vent (center of MH). When I first purchased it, it had an aluminum support frame that the AC unit sat on and the frame legs went to the sides of the roof thus keeping the AC weight off the center of the roof. One of the legs broke one day and the unit shifted a little and allowed a little water to get past the seal. I removed the aluminum frame and purchased a new seal and placed the unit straight to the roof with no additional sag. I have never had a leak on the roof since installing the new gasket. The newer Coleman units may be a little lighter than the old ones. All of the Sunraders were pre-wired at one of the vents, I think. Allen 83 Sunrader

I run Yokohoma R195X14 LT all around on my 6500 lb Sunrader. I left a primitive campsite in Tennessee last year and traveled 550 miles to my home. In checking/cleaning out my rig after the trip I found that one of the inside duals was flat with the tip of a quartz arrowhead stuck in one of the grooves. So I had traveled the entire trip on 3 rear tires at an average speed of 65MPH. I don't think a passenger tire could have done that. The Yokohoma tires have shown no wear in two years and seem to be especially designed for our Toy rigs. Allen 83 Sunrader

I replaced the original 3 gallon water heater with a new Atwood LP/DSI 6 gallon unit. It was about 3 inches longer than the original but height and width were the same. It fit into the space (under the sofa), but I had to cut and add an extension to one of the plastic water lines that attached to the back of the heater. The original water heater worked fine and seemed to always have enough hot water, but one cool autumn morning I had to go out in the rain and light the pilot. Now with the flick of a switch, I have hot water in just a few minutes. Bottom line......It should fit. Allen 83 Sunrader

My oven didn't work when I first bought my Sunrader. My wife insisted that I fix or preferably replace the entire stove, which I did. I can still remember waking up one morning beside a beautiful lake with eggs being prepared on the stovetop, bacon cooking in the microwave, and fresh biscuits being baked in the oven. It was wonderful. I'm glad I replaced the whole stove. I have a portable table for more "counterspace", and I'm fixing to install a flip-up table/counter. Remember, you may want to sell your MH someday, and altered units are harder to sell. Allen 83 Sunrader

Only you can make the decision whether to upgrade to a floater or not. If your Sunrader is an 18 footer you may be OK especially with the mileage it has. The problem was so serious, it put the majority of Toyota motorhome manufacturers out of business and prompted Toyota to spend vast quantities of money for floating upgrades because they were scared of the liability issue. The 5 lug axle has the weight of the motorhome resting on the axel shaft which flexes up and down (think of a piece of copper wire between your fingers that you flex back and forth, eventually the wire will break and it will happen sooner if you flex it in a wider arc such as happens to the axel shaft as more weight is forced upon it causing it to bend further). The 6 lug floater has the weight resting on 4 sets of beefy bearings. The previous owner(s) of your rig may have always traveled light keeping your axle flex arc small. The times that the axles did break usually resulted in serious damage to the rig and sometimes the occupants were badly injured or killed. I have a 21 foot Sunrader that lost one of it's set of wheels at around 30K miles. According to the previous owner, the wheels shot out to the side (driver side) and dropped the body down to the ground which cracked and smashed parts of the bottom portion of the fiberglass. It was professionally repaired and you can't tell it ever happened. It also had the Toyota provided axle upgrade made at that point (This upgrade is no longer available). The previous owner was going about 35 mph when it happened and luckily the runaway wheels caused no damage to anyone else. He was heading out on a trip and had overloaded it. It's a tough call, but if you keep it as it is, try not to overlaod it too much.

My Sunrader has a Norcold marine reefer installed by the previous owner. I don't think I could ever go back to a propane unit. When I go on a trip, I never shut the refigerator off for any reason. The house battery keeps the unit going. I once tested it by letting it run entirely off the battery for 24 hours, without ever recharging the battery during that time. The battery held up good and has been holding good 2 years later. It's also a pleasure not to have to worry about the 3 degree leveling requirement. Of course, the pure boondocking experience would require the battery to be recharged every once in awhile, if you don't have a generator. I never ran down the road with the propane reefer on with my previous motorhome, just felt it was unsafe and that is what the 12VDC is for on the 3-way.

I had the same trouble with the oven in my 83 Sunrader. It turned out to be the thermostat which cost $130. I bought a new oven and installed it instead. Allen