nolan

Hiya Greg, I have a few small changes planned for my 76, hopefully I'll get around to them, my main focus is working on Blew, it,s starting to show some progress, but still lots of work to do, the drivetrain is finished and driveable, the interior framing is done, except for the rear door alteration, plans for the weekend are to get the rear interior insulated and start the wiring. After that its time to start the fun job of grinding and fiberglassing to make the needed body changes on the camper shell. It,s making me itch already just thinking about it.

With over 100K miles it might not be a bad idea to at least give it a look, if you are hearing a rattle/clatter at startup then goes away after 10/15 seconds thats a good sign its in need of replacement. you can pull the valve cover and with a flashlight look down the drivers side of the chain at the chain guide rail, if its broken or deeply grooved its time to fix, with a long screwdriver you can push against the chain itself on the drivers side to see how much slack it has, it should be fairly snug with only a small amount of deflection, if it has significant slack its time to replace before it causes major problems. Once the chain stretches it will eventually wear through or break the plastic guide rail on the drivers side and then in short time it will rub through the timing cover into the water jacket behind the water pump drowning the engine in coolant, not good Good luck.

I can understand the weakest link breaking, which would be the end links on the sway bar, they are usually small 5/16 or 3/8 rod, but the main bar itself snapping would take some major tweaking. Possibly the bar itself is mounted not completely square with the axle causing twist, maybe the bar is not centered for travel and with the weight of the motorhome I could see where it could snap an end link. Could be possible on the original bar that broke someone tried to heat it to bend it into place causing a weak point in the bar, they are spring steel and designed to twist. Several possibilities could cause the failure. On Gregs setup its hard to say what swaybar was used, either aftermarket or even factory, but none of the 4x4 or even 2wd trucks I know of came factory with a rear swaybar except for the true 1 ton cab chassis units, and those were only available in 2wd versions, and then the swaybars were mounted differently than on Gregs rig, its possible they used the factory bar, built the L shape mounts and mounted it on top of the rear axle as shown in the photos and then built the frame mounts for the end links, the original factory 1ton swaybar center bushings mounted on the rear of the axle where your L brackets are attached, by doing that they were able to move the bushings to the top, most likely because of the 4x4 configuration and the need for raising the bar to keep the end links to a more natural length. Regardless of type or style the rear swaybar is a great addition for any toyhouse, now Greg you just need to upgrade those end links to some urethane pucks and you'll be set for high speed cornerin

Great pictures guys, looks like the rally was a success, maybe someday I'll make it there.

Your 83 should already have a factory prop valve installed, either mounted on the rear frame rail or possibly just under the master cylinder/ brake booster under the hood. Normally with the weight of the motorhome, duals on the rear, rear wheel lockup is not common even when the valve is adjusted to full pressure, and the brake system is operating correctly.

Never had that problem on mine, curious, you talking about a 4x4 toy motorhome? and where is the sway bar breaking at?

Best of luck Ray on your frame fix this weekend, hope all goes good. Its hard to see clearly from the picture but it appears someone has added an extension block under the rear spring mount, makes me wonder if possibly when they removed the original mount from the frame if they cut too deep and created a weak point and with the rear overhang weight over time it started cracking at that point?? just a guess. Now Greg with your latest pictures I can see more clearly the method to the madness, pretty exotic labor intensive change. They have removed both the front and rear spring hangers from the frame, added the extension blocks to lower the mounts and rehung the axle to gain the lift with the axle mounted on the top of the springs as opposed to having it mounted on the bottom of the spring pack like a normal 4x4 axle. Why it was done that way I can't say unless maybe for tank or camper body clearance. Does your camper use the standard long bed chassis wheelbase or has it also been extended midway between the cab and frong spring hangers to accomadate the camper length? I enjoy the pictures, someday maybe I'll figure out how ya do it, computer stupid toy nut, what can I say.

Greg, I might be able to do a dirty T-shirt, don't have any pink slips At this point you would have a big advantage, I still need to get the driveshafts built to make it driveable. The engine sounds great, nice lope to the idle, crisp throttle response from idle, the temperature and oil pressure are but it definately has its own distinct sound, mix between a whiney growl, but thats normal. I,m anxious to put the pedal to the metal and see how it does, it will either run or the leftovers will make a nice door stop. The work now is slowly progressing to the camper body and all the remodeling thats needed on the framework to pull off my ideas. Wish me luck, I'll probably need it.

Greg, Your 5500 GVW sounds about right with the floater axle, used to have the figures somewhere but can't find them now, the true 1ton V6 chassis was rated at 6000#, the 4cyl was 5900#. so 400 to 500 # is about right for the axle upgrade with dual wheels. A spring shop should be able to fix you up with a new set of springs or possibly even build you a set of beefier springs to support the load. I built the rear spring pack on mine using the stock 4x4 set, took another main leaf from another set, cut off the end eyes and added it to the pack, along with the adjustable overloads they have worked fine. The 4x4 conversion on mine added roughly 1000# to the total weight, amazing how much all those extra parts add up to so quickly. OH!! by the way, I got Blew running now wanna race

Hi Greg, Looking at the picture you posted of the rear spring on your 4x4 it looks as though its getting kinda weak from age and weight, they should have some positive arch to them. A couple of things I noticed from the picture was if you look closely at the center of the spring pack where the axle Ubolts and the axle pad are you can see the spring is wavey, sign its bending towards negative arch. Also noticed that apparently when they converted the floater axle assembly in that the axle housing is mounted on the top of the springs, standard for a 2wd but backwards for the 4x4's, they were mounted on the bottom of the spring pack originally. In so doing they probably added the clamp on overloads to help with not only the weight but to also help lift the rig, along with the homemade extended shackles to attempt to gain some ride height to make the rig sit semi level, the extended shackle adds to the fatigued springs because of leverage. If you were to think about changing out the springs to a new set I would consider relocating the axle mount pad to the top of the housing and go back to the standard length shackle to help in making the springs live a bit longer and possibly improve the handling a tiny bit. Just my 2 cents worth for what its worth.

Hi Mr.D, You might give this outfit a look, they can build a replacement sreen door for you beings you already have the existing hinges. I have dealt with them before several years back when I was working on my 78 Odessey and they were very good at the time. www.all-rite.com/

Oh Yeah, The same thought crossed my mind, but the cost is a bit out of my budget for the toyhouse. Luckily the one I did I just built it and didn't have to pay for it It has been a very dependable upgrade to date (30.000 miles and counting) with no problems. I haven't looked into what the cost might be to build a milder version but I,m sure it could be done somewhat cheaper. Too many other projects to go there now.

Greg, The prop valve on the frame rail has a piston that slides up and down and is connected to the rod that goes down to the rear diff. Just for explanation, under normal load and ride height the piston is centered in the valve, as you increase weight the rear drops the rod pushes the piston up and that in turn raises rear brake fluid pressure when stepping on brake pedal. Under hard braking the nose of the truck drops the rear lifts, the rod pulls the piston out and that decreases rear brake pressure to keep from having rear wheel lockup, common with an unloaded pickup, not so much a problem on a weighted down motorhome. Adjustment is normally preset at factory and to readjust is pretty much trial and error unless you have the right equipment and figures, as it requires a brake pressure gauge to check the actual line pressure. Usually on the heavy motorhome with extra rubber on the rear, rear lockup is not common so full brake pressure works fine, if you do experience some lockup under hard braking then it could be adjusted by shortening the rod adjuster on the diff or adjusting the valve upward on the frame rail if it has the slotted bracket like some I have seen.

Good question Greg, don't know if the later 1 ton's used a different prop valve or not, but from your picture it looks the same as the 81 4x4 I have, if anything I imagine it would be internal valve size that would be different if any difference at all. Looks as though yours is set where it should be from the location of the boot and rod, fully compressed for max rear brake pressure.

Your wish list sounds great WME, I did pretty much the same with the O/S valves, springs, bronze guides on project Blew. Kinda fun tweaking these little motors to see what can be gained. I have built several now using different combinations and approaches and some while back built one of the big bore 22R stroker motors for a fellow and have to say was quite impressed with the outcome,, a touch spendy but impressive.

I have one for my 78 Odessey that I purchased several years back, white vinyl custom fitted, with storage pouch, it was purchased from an RV supply outlet at the time but not sure its even available anymore. I want to say the brand name was Addco or something similar to that but I might be wrong. It wraps around the side windows and is held in place by magnets sewn into seams and a corner pocket that fits over upper back corner of doors. My 76 Chinook I made window covers that snap in place on the inside, used the same material that was used for the curtains and made patterns and had them sewn up then installed the snaps. They fit great, install easily, and look pretty good.

Sounds sweet, was the computer able to cope with the mods with no problems? I,m slowly finishing up the final details on my supercharged project, should be able to fire it off before long and see if the results were worth the effort. Fiting it all into the older chassis (78) has proven to be a challenge, worst part is working on it with the lifted 4x4 chassis, short leg syndrome Any other changes in store besides the ones you have done so far? keep up the good work.

Greg, The turbo upgrade from what I have read is a good addition as the original equipment one is a bit undersized for max performance. I bet the header would be a unique item for yours, don't see many available for that application because of the limited production of the turbo trucks. The exhaust and cam upgrades would probably spice things up a little, careful on the cam selection with the turbo, as they can defeat the purpose when running turbo's and blowers if the wrong overlap is used. I hear ya on the valve adjusting, not one of my favorites either, but its one of those jobs I try to do on a regular basis. Have fun.

Has anyone done any engine or drivetrain changes or upgrades for increased power or driveability they care to share? Good, bad or in-between, its nice to have some ideas as to what works and what doesn't. I have a 78 Odessey 20' with the 20R 4cyl, 4spd, and have installed a header with bigger exhaust system, a Weber carb and Offenhauser intake, the changes gave a nice boost in power and fuel mileage hasn't suffered any. My Chinook has had many changes and it continues to be a challenge to try different things, but I won't classify it as normal so it doesn't count. Then like Greg and his turbo Sunrader, I have a project in the works that will soon be pressurizing the cylinders and I,m anxiuos to see if it will go or blow.

From what I understand the class "A" is for the large bus style motorhomes, class "B" is the van style campers that use the van style body, class "C" is the normal motorhome camper that is like the Toyota or others, and class "D" is for the slide in campers for pickups. They should have a class "T" for us Toy fans as the Toyota is in a class of its own. Right?

Guess it depends on the classifier as I have seen them reffered to as class C's, micro's, micro minis, and mini motorhomes. I just call mine a Toyota Chinook Actually the title states MH as its classification.

Hey Greg, Was just curious with the 1ton axle upgrade on your 4x4 Sunrader, does it use 15" rear wheels with the large (budd style) 6 lug bolt patern the same as the 2wd version? I have seen a several of the 4x4 Sunraders and all I seen used the stock 15" wheel with the adapter to run the extra dual wheel on the rear. Big Memorial weekend coming up, any plans for getting away?

Hi Greg, Just surfing around and seen your new forum, nice job, hopefully I figured out how to navigate around here correctly. keep up the Toyotally awesome work.