Bob C

I always thought that it was the 110 mph equivilent also. Mythbusters shows that exact cars have the result of 55 mph crash. Unfortunately. we are driving a lightly built truck that weighs 6000 pounds. We have a lot of moving energy and not much up front metal to absorb the energy in a wreck. It is like driving a stock 1/2 ton toyota pickup being pushed by a 3500 weight into a wall. No matter what the physics, in a wreck, we do not come out on the winning end.

My wife and I got to take our 2 grand kids camping without their mom for the first time this week. Our granddaughter went through the usual "I want my mommy" moments. Whenever she started this, I distracted her with something fun that she likes to do. By the end of our little trip, she said that she thought that her mom missed her. We hit every state historical site in southern Wisconsin and got a lot of comments on how good the kids were. My grandson got everyone laughing when he told an older lady that they had to behave, or Grandpa would take them to the Toyhouse for an attitude adjustment. That got a few positive comments on how more kids needed adjustment. We had everything planned for food and clothing. I kept telling my wife that if we forgot something, we could either buy it or go without. Someday she will learn that you don't need everything to have fun. The kids want to go on another trip with us next year. We may have created a monster.

I gave up last week. Today I thought that I would give it a try. It is working great.

I found out that you can use the push in connections, such as Shark-Bite, on the polybutyl pipe. For replacement connectors and pipe I switched to PEX which you can buy at any home improvement store. Replacement parts are available for polybutyl but they are hard to find. After I was told about the Shark-Bite connectors, my project was done with one trip to Menards. I forgot to say that I took the Toyhouse to Menards and went back inside about a dozen times to get all the right parts. I have been using the system with the PEX parts all summer without any problems. You are lucky to have the larger size pipes. Mine were 3/8" and the connections are more rare. Hope this helps. Bob

I understand the engine on & heater fan on & /c switch on requirement. My problem is that the voltage at the accumulator tank pressure switch is about 11.5 volts and that is not enough to engage the compressor clutch. What exactly is an "A/C AMPLIFIER"? What exactly should the voltage be when you test it at the pressure switch? I have jumped from the battery to the switch and everything engages. I have a relay that will trigger at 11.5 volts and was thinking about putting this next to the pressure switch to use the engine/heaters/ac circuit with direct battery power triggering the clutch (with an inline fuse of course.) I would love to actually be able to just repair the problem of course but I am semi-stupid about where the switches are or what an a/c amplifier is. I know the physical location of the ignition, heaters, and a/c switch but was lost as to the location of the a/c relay. I will be following the circuit in the near future and look behind the glove box for the a/c relay. Am I correct in thinking that my problem is actually just a bad connection somewhere?

On my '88 Escaper, tracing the wire from the compressor backwards it goes first to the pressure switch on the dryer/accumulator tank. The pressure switch is wired to a wire harness that goes into the firewall on the passenger side right next to the hood hinge. The problem with my A/C is that I get low voltage to the pressure switch through this harness. I am assuming a bad relay or switch somewhere in the system. The schematic shows the relay but does not give me a location. I assume that the switch they show is the one on the dash marked A/C (really bright I am.) Can someone help out this the location of the relay?

I use statewidelist.com. It works for me.

A friend of mine had an import frig that had a bad gasket that he could not find a replacement for. He wanted to use it without spending much money, so we went to a home improvement store and bought foam weatherstripping and attached it to the door. That was intended as a short term fix until he found a proper gasket. Well, short term is now 6 years and I don't think it will ever be replaced.

A friend of mine came up today to help me with a few RV projects. First we tackled the airbags. We jacked up one side of the RV, removed the rear wheels on that side and followed the 3-T directions. They were pretty good and it took us about 1 hr 15 minutes for the first side. The second side went faster at about 45 minutes. Next we pumped down the A/C system and recharged it. Last seek we flushed out the system and prepped it for today. It took about an hour and a half to draw a good vacuum and recharge with 134a. Next we built and installed a receiver hitch for a cargo rack on the back. I wanted just enough room for a couple of chairs and some spare gasoline. Well, after supper, we took the RV for a test ride. We put up a curtain behind the cab and the A/C cooled my friend and I in the cab really well. Now for the most important part. How did the RV handle with the airbags added? Talk about a night and day difference in the way the RV handled bumps. I am super happy with the improvement. I started with 70 psi on both sides and will experiment with just a bit more. I am glad that I did this job before my ever loving wife and I take off after retirement next month. I would like to thank everyone one this site that has offered help and suggestions. It has made me much bolder at tackling these jobs.

Talk about a timely posting. I received my airbag kit from 3-T yesterday. My Escaper did not have any airbags so I needed everything, including top brackets. Tina at 3-t's was very knowledgeable and got my parts to me in 6 days. The installation looks much easier than I anticipated and I will be putting everything in tomorrow while we listen to the A/C vacuum pump run for an hour and a half. I have one question about the installation. Where do your air lines run to and where do your air valves come out? Thanks again for all the help getting this rookie up to speed. Bob

My '88 Escaper has the dash speakers that aim at my knees and they sound terrible. I am considering replacing them with the best speakers that I can get. I know that they are small but anything will sound better that the tin cans that are ounted in there right now.

I did this mini-project yesterday afternoon. I was a whopping $4 for an assortment of 6 x 1 zerks and I was done in about 15 minutes including putting the garage jack away. I greased the stops and it doesn't sound like I am tearing the front end apart when I turn the wheel all the way to the stop. I forgot that when I had my '83 SR5 pickup, I had added jerks to it also at the suggestion of a mechanic.

I have not even greased the MH yet. I had a shop change the oil when I first bought it because I was not at home and wanted to get it done. I just looked under it and it does not have zerks on it. I now have another short project to do on Tuesday.

I have a 1988 Escaper. My spare tire sits on the rear bumper and is held up by a bolt that goes through the rear wall and has a large plate on the inside of the coach. My Escaper has a rear kitchen so the plate is under the sink and not visible.

I was planning a totally legal conversion. The system had a little bit of R12 left in it and I had it recovered. Next I flushed the system with the approved solvent, blew the system out with nitrogen, and was installing the dryer when I found out that the one that I bought was the wrong size. Everything was ready for attaching the vaccum pump and recharging. We added the appropriate oil and now I am setting here with a useless system. I only need the darned part and nobody can find it for me. I have one option. I can take the hoses to NAPA and they will make me new hoses with 3/8" o-ring ends on one side and the other side hooking up to my weird connsections. Sounds easy but I have to take off the grill (all of the clips are going to break), remove the transmission cooler, and a couple of brackets to get to the hose that hooks up to the condenser coil. This started out as such an easy project.

I am trying to convert my 1988 Escaper's cab air to 134a refrigerant. My only problem is that nobody can find a new accumulator tank. I have checked NAPA, O'Reily's, AutoZone, and some local shops. They all say that they proper tank has 14mm o-ring connection but I tried one and it does not fit. NAPA tried all of their metric connectors and told me that it is 16mm o-ring. The only problem is nobody seems to make one. We tried 3/8" o-ring but is is not correct. I am considering having NAPA change out the hose ends and changing to 3/8" o-ring but to get the grill off, I have to break all of the clips, they are very brittle. After removing the grill I will have to remove the tranny cooler and some other stuff and I don't want to cause any leaks.

I had an 82 Toyota P-up with 225,000 miles on it. The engine ran great but the body fell off of it. The 22R engine is one of the reasons I decided to get my Toyhouse. I live with its limitations and love the gas mileage.

Good luck finding the Escaper manual. They were made by Damon but they do not have any documentation on the Toyota based units. They still build RV's but they are all huge coaches. I have a 1988 Escaper and it seems to be built well. Most of the appliances were off the shelf stuff like Norcold or Dometic refrigerators, Atwood water heaters, Sureflo pumps, and mine has a Dometic toilet. Even the parts for the vents and doors are universal fit.

Just to avoid future confusion, try what I do. I have always written the oil capacity under the hood with a Sharpie. Our family has 5 vehicles (kids) and I forget what they all hold. It just makes it easier. I also write the belt sizes and filter number under the hood.

I forgot about using Reflectix. Very good idea. The floor does get rather warm.

I am considering adding Firestone Ride Rite airbags to the MH. I found Firestone Kit #1130 recommended for the Toyota cab and chassis. I looked at the installation instructions and it seems way to simple. You remove the rubber bumper that stops the frame from bottoming out against the axle, install the top bracket by sliding 2 u-bolts over the frame and into the bracket, install the bottom bracket with 2 u-bolts around the axle and into the bracket, tighten everything up and route the air lines. Install air and you are done. Is it possible that it is this easy? This is the instruction manual for the 1130 kit. http://www.firestoneip.com/site-resources/ride-rite/installation/1130.pdf I looked at my MH and there is clearance above the frame for the u-bolts and there is 3" of clearance between the frame and the tires. If it is really this easy, I am ordering them soon. Now I just need somewhere to lift the MH up to work on the thing. Much easier that crawling under it.

I live in a very rural area. The only time we get 5 cars backed up is when they are following a combine or four wheel drive tractor with duals all the way around. I drive 38 miles each way to work at 5:00am, I usually see 3 or 4 cars on the entire drive, and that is driving through Wisconsin Dells (tourist trap supreme. I would love a good 5 speed and shorter gears in the MH. I am afraid that if it was the same tranny that my SR-5 had, fifth gear would crap out on me again. I was told that it was a poor design.

My MH does not have any insulation on the underside of the hood and it has a plastic floor liner instead of carpet. I had a Toyota SR-5 truck about 20 years ago and it had both. I know that the carpet is nice for comfort but will it help cut down on engine noise? I am also wondering is anyone added hood insulation for the same purpose.

I have talked to the owner of a car shop that specializes in Toyotas and Honda vehicles. He told me that the sure way to end up with a Toyota 22R in his shop is to lug it under heavy load. He constantly tells people that 22R or 22RE engines love to spin up high a lot more than lug down low. I stopped in and showed him my MH and he said forget OD and consider 65 the top speed.

Greg, Was that the temp of the fluid returning from the cooler to the transmisison? Bob