nolan

I,m at a loss to say why or why not your 78's don,t have the recessed bed, possibly a 77 model titled as a 78? Your right, the 78 had 3 floor plans, the dinette, gaucho, and commercial, models, they also were made and sold under different names, the MPG being sold thru Toyota dealers, and the Gazelle being sold thru non Toyota dealers. There was no "L" shape couch setup in 78, the Gaucho model had the couch down the passenger side with no "L" at the end, the Dinette had the double smaller couches in the front on each side. I don't believe the recessed bed was a later option as the one I had experience with was a 78 Gazelle, build date on the truck of 12/77 and the camper of 3/78 so it was a early model. I have a copy of the 78 owners manual and it tells about the roof bed and how to deploy and store it, so another mystery why your 78 manual doesn't show anything. Its possible maybe the Gazelle models had them and the MPG models didn't, don't know. I do know they had them.

Your welcome, good luck with your project. I hear ya on no reason to deal with it, kinda like the optional hammocks, I have them in mine only because they were an original option, but using them is a real pain, both in the rear and the head, as I,ve banged my head on the cross bars more than once

Depending on the year and model, basically the 76-77 models, with the "L" shape couch floor plan, had the couch that made into a bed, the pull out wing over the cab that made a small bed, and the optional roll out hammocks that were mounted on each side above the side windows. In 78 they had the recessed bed that was stored into the roof, it resembled a piece of plywood with padding, when the retaining clips were undone the panel lowered down and rested on the rear cabinets, in the front I can't remember if it sat on the over cab or hung with straps? been years since I looked at one, but anyways that was the drop down bed, you gained access to it from the rear, when not in use it lifted back into the recess in the roof, was held in place with the clips, and the handles on the bottom were used to raise and lower the pop top or the bed depending on what you were doing. They were awkward to use, a bit tough to climb up into, but looked good on the spec sheet as a 72"x48" adult bunk recessed into the roof.

That's a drop down bed, stores in the roof cavity when not in use, drops down and is supported by the rear cabinets and cab over section to make a bed, sorta an awkward setup, but does work.

Your welcome, glad I could help. Having never owned any of the Toy auto trans trucks I can't say good or bad about those particular model autos, but from what I have heard and read, they are pretty decent basic old school autos, just a 3 speed non overdrive non electronic transmissionm that do a good job if taken care of and not abused.

Yes, they were an option in 75 in both the pickups and Chinooks

The R151F is a great trans, as WME noted it has a lower first gear which is great for heavier rigs, its also quite heavy duty compared to the standard 5spd used behind the 4cyl engines, but it was only used in the 4wd so has the married transfer case attached. They can be hard to find, and spendy when they are found. The W56 5spd was used in the 4cyl. 2wd trucks, mid 80's and up, its a good trans, all aluminum, and has a lower 1st gear than the ones used in the cars, and is fairly easy and reasonable to obtain. If your looking for something beefy then a R150 trans froms a V6 2wd could possibly be used, its internally as stout as the 151 but doesn't have the 4.30 1st gear, it would also need the bellhousing swapped to a 151 bellhousing so it could bolt to a 4cyl, but the bellhousings run around 400 bucks new, finding a used one is hard to do.

Stick with the 32/36 dgev you'll be much happier, the 38mm is not so user friendly on the street and your fuel mileage will suffer. You will probably gain the most with the carb swap compared to the electric fan setup, for what its worth I had an electric 14" 2600cfm "S" blade puller on mine for a short time and it ran 10-15 degrees hotter than with the stock clutch fan setup, plus if you have cab AC it needs to be wired through a relay to come on full any time the AC is turned on or you will have problems. Any tach that you like the looks of and can find a suitable mounting spot for should work, most are compatible for 4/6/8 cylinder engines, another option is to find a SR5 dash cluster with the factory tach and gauges and swap out the cluster and appropriate senders for that built-in look. As Greg mentioned a high output ignition is good but for normal use nothing wrong with the stock unit either, and cams can add some power but seem to work best as a package upgrade, the weber carb, a improved cam and some free flowing exhaust is worth a little extra go power any day if the law allows it in your area.

Hey old friends, don't get on here much anymore, don't have my Toyhouse anymore due to a mishap, but still have my Chinook playtoys, the brown one gets out now and then for weekend getaways and car shows, the blue one just runnin around and a few shows too. But anyways on to the question at hand, I have seen the Chinook adapted to many different trucks over the years, personally I like the old original body style they came stock so thats why I kept with it. You could swap it to most any later model Toy 4x4 truck or even other makes for that matter, but will need to come up with your own cosmetic seal around the cab/camper as the origianl no longer exists new. Mounting the camper is pretty straight forward but I would use a different design than the original wood block arrangement between the camper and frame, I built a steel "H" frame welded to the frame on mine and the camper sits on that, much stronger, better support, and allows more bolting options as the original floor is pretty skimpy where the bolts go through. Without getting into a long winded how to do it post I'll just say its not that difficult to pull off if you can weld, fabricate, and just do general mechanic work. I can't comment on what needs what when using a later or different truck but if you wanted to stay with the old original body style be preparred for some work as its not a bolt on affair. Heres a more recent pic of Blew,

I,ve heard tell of them Chinooks being converted to 4x4, HMMM????? where did I hear that Anythings possible with a good welder, some fabrication skills, and lots of time and ambition. The 4runner chassis could work. just have to figure out what changes it"ll need to make the Chinook fit on it. Good luck and Keep us posted.

good luck on the swap if you go that route. The floater axle will fit in with some work, like said the spring pads will need relocated to the top of the housing with the correct pinion angle, some fabbing on the ebrake connection, but nothing that is a major challenge. The key as Moosepucky said is going to be the gear ratio and tire height synched with the front so everything is the same. You said yours was an auto trans, which a lot of the auto models used a 4.30 gearing, not a real common gear set and don't even know if they are available aftermarket in that ratio, more than likely a dealer item if trying to match the front. There is a possibility, and I can't say yes it will work, but it might be worth a try to see if the rear third member from your present 4x4 axle would fit in the floater axle housing, then you would retain the same original gearing. A for what its worth note, if the junkyard motorhome was a 1 ton axle upgrade, most were until around 88, the original vin tag on the Dolphin will only show what the chassis came with originally before it was upgraded, hopefully the installer matched the original gear ratio but just a warning that the vin might not be accurate.

Greg, If its the standard 6 lug 4x4 axle they should be able to pull the brake drum off, use a drift and hammer and drive the broken studs out, slip the new stud in from the rear of the axle flange, put a couple flat washers over the stud and using the lugnut turned upside down so the flat part is against the washers tighten it down and pull the stud into place. If its the 1 ton axle, the small studs and cone washers already mentioned, those are the ones that hold the axle in the hub, need to be pulled to remove the axle, so access to the retainer nut can be had to remove the brake drum, once done the hub assembly is exposed and the studs can be accessed, I can't remember without looking, but the studs are either press fit like the stock axle above and the same removal technique is used, or might be held with a jamb nut, it should be easy enough to tell by looking. Good luck

Normally it should have a nonvented gas cap, the cap is sealed so any pressure or fumes is vented to the charcol canister. Possibly the line to the canister is plugged, or the canister itself is plugged.

Just curious if anyone has any ideas what the 1 ton floater rear axle assemblies are worth, I may be selling mine in the near future. I bought it brand new in the crate, its complete with aprox 7000 miles, it was originally for the later model chassis but had the spring pads moved inward for fitting in a 78 Odessey, plus built new lower shock/ubolt mounts, but believe I still have the new later model lower mounts and upper frame mounts for the staggered shock setup. Would appreciate any input on price range. Thanks

Hey Greg, I knew yours was a factory RET, just figured you might have upgraded the turbo by now. My engine is a late model 22R block, bored .020 over, running 7.5-1 forged blower pistons, fully balanced, ARP head studs, crankshaft windage tray, late model 22R big valve head, with bronze guides, performance springs, Schnieder camshaft, supercharger with a 500cfm holley carb, header and 2.5" exhaust system full length, a Mallory unilite ignition setup plus a remote oil cooler and dual remote oil filters pretty much round out the package. Its running 6psi boost but have been thinking of doing some playing, an 8 or 10 psi pulley is available, plus I have been toying with the idea of adapting a Holley 4bbl carb to see what improvements I can make or break. To date I haven't had a minutes problem with it, runs great, traffic and AC poses no overheating problems, no detonation or pinging, the reliabilty factor is nice but theres always the urge to tweak.

Thanks for the offer, Your right, the tuning is the key and so far I got the tuning under control, mine is a supercharged 22R that I built, couldn't be happier. Now Shoprat is the guy with the turbo monster, Greg has one too, now I can't say for sure but I think they both might be beyond help just kiddin guys Later.

It depends on which floor plan the 78 you seen had. If it has the dinette floop plan, 2 couches in the front , one on each side, the table rests on the outer lip of each couch and the cushions are layed out to cover the area wall to wall. If it had the Gaucho floor plan with a single couch down the passenger side, there are a couple support arms that slide out of the couch face below the seat cushion, has support legs that fold out from those to the floor, remove the cushions and the plywood seat area is double hinged and flips out and out again to form the bed base, then the cushions are put back to cover the area. originally they had a cushion sack to stuff the cushions in to hold them all together so they wouldn't slide around, a real joy to use, trying to wrestle the huge sack of cushions around inside the small area. If by chance it had the earlier "L" shaped floor plan couch, those have a wing that folds out at the rear of the "L" support legs fold off the wing to the floor, another small wing normally stored in the rear couch storage attaches at the front of the couch, the table sets in the center to form the bed platform, then again the cushions are rearranged to cover it up. In addition to the main couch bed some also had roll out hammocks on both sides above the side windows, and other had a double size recessed bed that stored up into the roof. I won't explain the setup on those, gotta have some fun for a new Chinook owner.

Sounds to me like you have a charging problem or battery problem, when the battery runs down on voltage the engine runs rough until it can't run any longer and dies from lack of voltage to the ignition and related systems. If you have a volt meter, charge the battery check the voltage at the posts, aprox 12.7 volts start the engine check the voltage coming out of the alternator on the single large wire, aprox 14.5 check the voltage going into the battery at the posts, aprox 13.5, those figures are just ballpark but should give an idea if the alternator is doing its thing, if so your problems are somewhere else.

I have a 4x4 Sunrader, and have come to the following conclusions, you don't need to connect the front wheels to the engine. My thoughts too Greg, kinda defeats the purpose to me, sorta like installing a 1 ton floater dual axle then running a single tire,

My question is: What would it take to convert a 2x4 to a 4x4 short of replacing the entire truck chassis ? That depends on your mechanical ability I guess, The easiest would be to jack up the camper and slide a 4x4 truck under it. Or you could cut the existing frame in half and graft the 4x4 front section on, then spend countless hours fabricating, and wrenching to mate the 2wd cab to the new 4x4 front section, little things like brake plumbing, steering, wiring, floor clearance, body mounts, bumper mounts, switching the rear axle to 4x4 configuration, E brake hookups, more than likely depending on the length, stretching the frame, then building driveshafts to fit, ect.ect.ect., Or you could start with a stripped 2wd frame and fab all your own spring mounts, steering mounts, crossmembers, followed by the items above. I,ve done all three and each has its own obstacles to deal with, but depending on what your wanting in a finished product dictates what kind of time and effort you put into it.

Hey NHC, Actually you should have a couple of DC 12 volt cigar lighter plugs built into a couple of the interior lights, they draw power from the auxillary battery, in fact, everything in the rear, interior lights, refer, if as original should be wired to draw from the aux. battery. the main truck battery is isolated so its only function is to start and operate the truck section like the camper wasn't even there. Anytime the engine is running it should be charging both batteries, anytime your plugged into outside 110volt power, the converter is turned on, it should be charging the auxillary battery. I don't have any preferences to what brand dvd or tv's work better that the others, my son has a portable dvd (Audiovox) that works off 12v or 110v it works fine in the car plugged in to the lighter plug, I have dual flat screen monitors in my 75, they work just fine too off 12 volt. Body parts for the old 72/78 body style have pretty much dried up, ocassionally you'll see someone selling some odds and ends, but most fenders and doors are wrecking yard treasure hunts. If you can find some good shape originals your way better off than the new reproductions that were around a while back, those are horrible quality and don't fit well.

Hi NHC, Thats cool you have some of the original paperwork, My auxillary battery mounting is a bit different than stock, beings I had the room both Chinooks (yeah I got 2 of em, 75/76) have the aux battery mounted underneath just behind the cab on the drivers side frame rail. The 76 has the inverter mounted in the under counter cupboard on the wall next to the refer, the 75 has the inverter mounted on the floor behind the drivers seat, both hardwired directly to the battery with a cutoff switch inline, makes it nice as both are just a short run to the battery.