Bob C

I bought that 36 7/8" belt over the counter at O'Reilly's. If they don't have one in stock they can get them quickly. When I buy a vehicle, I use a Sharpie to write all of the belt sizes, oil capacity, oil filter number, air filter number, and radiator capacity on the frame that holds the radiator in place. All I have to do is pop the hood and I can get the information I need to get replacements.

jemaris-you are correct about the name of the island. It is Drummond, I had looked at the map a couple of months ago and got it wrong this time. I thought it looked like a good place to wander around for a couple of hours.

I also use a wireless thermometer when checking the frig temp. I also use the same one when parked to see what the outdoor temp is.

I had the same problem with my '88 Escaper 22Re, auto. I tried several belts and ended up parked in an O'Reilly's parking lot trying on several belts. I ended up with a 1/2" x 36 7/8" belt. Yes, they make belts that vary by 1/8". This belt works good. There is not much adjustment in the belt adjuster on this engine.

I went to Yellowstone last summer from Wisconsin and as far as Devil's Tower 3 years ago. On the first trip my wife and I stayed off the interstate and went through Minnesota and South Dakota on US 14. We enjoyed the slower pace and nice little towns. Last summer we were traveling with our daughters and grandkids with a second vehicle pulling a pop-up, due to time constraints, we took the interstate. Get used to people flying by unless you don't care about gas mileage. We hit the Badlands, Black Hills highlights, Devil's Tower, Bighorn Mountains on 14A. 14A is a very scenic road but it is steep and crooked. We had no problem with the road, I just watched the tach and used whatever gear was required. Going west on 14A the descent from the top of the Bighorns can be hard on the brakes, just downshift and keep your speed under control. I cam down in first and second gear and rarely hit the brakes. I wanted to enter Yellowstone on the Beartooth Highway, said to be the most scenic road in the US, due to an early summer snow storm, the Beartooth was closed.

I have been thinking about that also. I missed a good buy at Farm & Fleet last summer when they changed product lines and were dumping some stuff. They had a rear view camera with 4" monitor for $40 on the dump it table. A gentleman picked up the last one just as I got there. Even if it would have been a cheapy, I would have known if I wanted to invest in a higher qualty unit.

I am headed up to that area next month. I called that same ferry company about the tolls and they said $24 no matter what size RV. I was going to give up but now I will try arguing with them. They also own the ferry to De Tour Island east of St Ignac, near Machinac Island. I am going to try getting to both islands if possible. I like going to out of the way places & my wife quit arguing with me about it a long time ago. We did have to back up almost 2 milles once due to a VERY NARROW road and downed trees. She somehow can't seem to forget that & keeps reminding me of it when the roads start to look questionable. We plan on a 10 day wandering trip throughout the entire UP (Upper Penninsula of Michigan for non-Midwesterners.) I have 3 cans of bug juice and can always buy more if need be. Do you think the RV weighs enough so that the black flies and mosquitoes can't carry it away? I can always throw in a couple hundred punds of rock for ballast if I have to.

I installed a SunPro in my Escaper. 5000 is not high enough. There are several threads on here that discussed this issue including installation. I mounted mine on the left side of the instrument cluster so that I can see it without looking away from the road. I use the tach all the time when driving in the mountains. One important thing to remember about Toyota 22Re engines, do not lug them, spin up the rpm's and the engines will last a very long time.

I put Bilstein shocks on the front of my 21 ft Escaper. It made a huge difference in the way the RV handled. the front end felt like I was driving the RV instead of the road bouncing the rig wherever it wanted.

I just finished replacing the tail light assemblies, rear marker lights, and license plate light assembly with new led units. It is much brighter and they now all work as they should. The old units were causing a major pain in the bumper because the light sockets had some serious corrosion, after all, they were 27 years old and the fixtures all leaked. The led lights are all sealed in epoxy so they should last pretty good. I also installed the lights by soldering the wires and used heat shrink tubing. Next will be the front marker lights.

I guess that is one that I have never seen. Most of the Toyhouses we see in WI were stick built (or aluminum frame) from Indiana. Sorry for the misinformation on my part.

Before you buy it, you must realize that even with the 6 cylinder engine, they are slow and underpowered by todays standards. You also need to check it to see if it has a 5 or 6 lug rear axle. If it has 5 lugs, it need to have the rear axle replaced because the 5 lug axles are not safe with the loads that are put on the backs of that 1/2 ton truck. I have an '88 Escaper that weights in at about 5800 pounds. It has a 22Re with automatic tranny, I average 14 mpg while driving 55 mph. If the seller tells you that he is getting 20 mpg, he just lied to you. I have never run out of power on hills but I have topped many hills in first gear with the engine spinning at 4500 rpm's. The first modification I did to my RV was to add a tachometer. I was also the best mod that I did.

If you are pretty sure that you are going to paint it, don't wax it because the wax will have to get stripped off before it can be painted.

I put new Bilstein shocks on the front of my '88 Escaper. It did make a difference in handling on winding roads or in the wind. Next will be new rears when my wife lets me spend some more money.

How about posting some photos so that we can see the unit?

I would think that the case is required to move the air around the generator for proper cooling of the motor and the gen coil. Removing the case may result in a very short life of the unit.

It seems as though everyone wants to talk to you when you are at a gas station with a Toy RV. My daughters said that it adds 10 minutes to every gas stop.

I would question the idea of having the rear window open while moving. I have been in station wagons with the rear window open and the exhaust gets sucked into the open window. I don't know if that would happen on an RV because I believe that most of the exhaust systems exit the side of the vehicle. I do know that the rear of my RV is always the dirtiest part of the RV and I would not want any of that dirt inside.

I HAD a roof ac on my Escaper but removed it because it was so loud that there was no way anyone could sleep in the RV with it running. You could not even have a conversation. When I did try to use it, I had to have it hooked up to my 30 amp outlet, the 20 amp breaker would trip occasionally on startup. We also rarely camp where there is electricity anyway.

I am going to have to try one of those. We have a very tall mulberry tree located on a steep hill that makes using a ladder impossible. That looks like a good solution to a good tasting problem.

jjrbus-Are you sure about the rear weights? I have a 21' Escaper and my rear weight is under 4000 pounds.

If you are driving with your foot smashed to the floor and the engine is not accelerating, you need to shift to a lower gear. Coming off of a stop I don't think I have every put the pedal all the way to the floor. For the most part, you are just dumping fuel out of the tailpipe without getting any extra go. Watch the tach, temp gauge, and listen to the 4 cylinder band play its song, Going south out of Rapid City SD is a very long steep grade with a stop sign at the bottom, trucks frequently top that hill at 20 mph, I went over it at 45 without a problem and never mashed the pedal to the floor.

I drive an '88 Escaper with 22Re and auto. The first modification I did was to install a tach. I drive on the highway at 55 mph and I take the hills at whatever speed the engine is comfortable with. If I didn't have my tach, I would never rev the engine to the speeds that I do. I took a trip through the Rockies last summer and went over several passes over 9000 ft with steep grades. The steepest grades required first gear and some time. Most of the grades were in second gear, 4500 rpm's and if I remember correctly, about 45 to 50 mph. I never came close to stalling out. Even while spinning at those speeds, my engine temp stayed well within safe operating temps, never got hot. If I start to get a train of cars behind me due to my speed, I will pull over at the first safe spot and let them go by. I drive mostly state roads and stay off of the interstate unless I want to get someplace fast (remember, this is a Toyota RV.) My suggestion, install a tach and use it. Shift when the rpm's start to drop and DO NOT LUG THE ENGINE. The 22 Re is build to spin, make it happy and rev it up.

I am going to add an outdoor shower to my Escaper. You have to check your local regulations about using the outdoor shower because in places such as Yellowstone, Badlands, and Glacier, you are not allowed to dump any water in your campsite, including dishwater. Yellowstone and Glacier do it to keep bears from looking for an easy meal when they smell the food scraps. In Wisconsin State parks it is not allowed but I have never seen a park ranger give anybody any grief over dumping water. I will be primarily using it on my own property to clean up after working in the woods.

I have a Norcold DE 251D installed in my Escaper. The label says that it draws 5.5 amps and I would guess that it runs about 40% of the time. When I installed the unit, I added 2" of styro on the sides and top. My solar equipment should arrive in the next day or so and I hope to have it installed this week. The solar controller has a display that shows how much power is produced and also what the power usage has been since the panel was reset last. I will find out what my power consumption of the fridge is when I get the equipment installed. When I replaced the fridge, I would rather have bought a propane fridge but I could not find one at a reasonable price at the time. The RV had a dorm style fridge in it when I bought it and it would not run on my inverter, it might have worked on a pure sine wave inverter but I did not have one.