Bob C

We just got back from our first trip with our new to us Toyhouse. My wife and I traveled extensively pulling a pop-up and by comparison, the Toyhouse was so easy. I had to keep telling her that they really do sell groceries along the way, and if we forgot something, we will do without it. After a 4 day trip, she realized that she does not need half of the stuff that she took with the old camper. I think that this is going to work out really well.

I entered this report in the wrong section first. Sorry On Thursday, Sept 29, Door County was hit by a wind storm that did alot of damage. Most of the county was without power for several days. This county gets about 90% of its income from the tourist industry from campers, hotels, bed & breakfasts, and resorts. Emergency workers had to use endloaders to push hundreds of trees off the roads so that people could leave the area. Electrical crews from all over the state and Illinois worked almost around the clock for 6 days to get everything up and running again. My wife and I had reservations at Peninsula State Park starting on Thursday, Oct 6. We found out that everything would be reopened at 8:00am on Oct 6 so we decided to see how bad it was. I could not believe the amount of work that went into getting the damage repaired and roads opened. Every road was cleared, every trail in the park was repaired and cleared. The shower building in our campground had the roof repaired and every campsite was beautiful. The leaves were just past their peak color but it sure was pretty. This is the first time that my wife has camped since she had a stroke 10 years ago (at age 43.) The Toy House was bought specfically to allow her to camp again. We had a great time camping and the weather was probably the best of the entire year. Highs in the 70's, lows in the 50's. Yes, those are the right temps. Had to believe for October in Wisconsin. My wife was crying when we got home yesterday because she had such a great time and did not think that she would every be able to camp again with her limitations. Even if I only got to use the Toy house this one weekend, it would have been worth the price to see her enjoying everything this much. She wants to go out a couple of more times before we winterize the MH and put it away. Dawn is already planning some camping trips for next summer and a really long trip for 2013 (after I am forced to retire, at age 57.) I wrote a letter of appreciation to the staff at Peninsula State Park thanking them for all the work thaqt they did to get this beautiful park repaired and back in service.

I attached a stainless steel fishing leader to the gas cap with a po rivet and attached the other end to one of the screws next to the gas fill.

I think that he is referring to the cut outs in the wheels. My 6 bolt wheels have 3 large cut outs that lighten the wheel and make if so that you can get to the rear stem.

Wisconsin RV Supply in Madison, WI has the old style sitting on the shelf. I was also able to find a couple of the old style window latches (single panes glass.) they have a large supply of obsolete parts that they let me go through.

On Thursday, Sept 29, Door County was hit by a wind storm that did alot of damage. Most of the county was without power for several days. This county gets about 90% of its income from the tourist industry from campers, hotels, bed & breakfasts, and resorts. Emergency workers had to use endloaders to push hundreds of trees off the roads so that people could leave the area. Electrical crews from all over the state and Illinois worked almost around the clock for 6 days to get everything up and running again. My wife and I had reservations at Peninsula State Park starting on Thursday, Oct 6. We found out that everything would be reopened at 8:00am on Oct 6 so we decided to see how bad it was. I could not believe the amount of work that went into getting the damage repaired and roads opened. Every road was cleared, every trail in the park was repaired and cleared. The shower building in our campground had the roof repaired and every campsite was beautiful. The leaves were just past their peak color but it sure was pretty. This is the first time that my wife has camped since she had a stroke 10 years ago (at age 43.) The Toy House was bought specfically to allow her to camp again. We had a great time camping and the weather was probably the best of the entire year. Highs in the 70's, lows in the 50's. Yes, those are the right temps. Had to believe for October in Wisconsin. My wife was crying when we got home yesterday because she had such a great time and did not think that she would every be able to camp again with her limitations. Even if I only got to use the Toy house this one weekend, it would have been worth the price to see her enjoying everything this much. She wants to go out a couple of more times before we winterize the MH and put it away. Dawn is already planning some camping trips for next summer and a really long trip for 2013 (after I am forced to retire, at age 57.) I wrote a letter of appreciation to the staff at Peninsula State Park thanking them for all the work thaqt they did to get this beautiful park repaired and back in service.

Vanman, I intentionally wired my stereo into the ignition hot line. I have a portable radio that can run for days on 4 AA batteries and I do not want to power up a 100 watt stereo for background music. the truck stereo is for driving down the road.

I have an '88 Escaper and love it. I think taht the quality of the Escaper is really good. My Tonka House has 4 cyland auto transmission and I have been getting about 15 mpg. I drive about 55 mph. I bought it about 6 weeks ago and have used it for 2 long weekends. I knew about several mechanical problems and have fixed most of them. I bought a new water heater from Camping World for $330 with electronic ignition and installed it in about 1/2 hour. the nice thing about these MH's is that the parts are interchangable with the current model monsgter RV's. I think that the price that you are looking at is pretty fair.

If someone organizes a rally for enxt summer there is a very good possbility that my wife and I would be there. My schedule for this summer is about full.

I drive through Wisconsin Dells twice a day. I have yet to figure out why people drive hundreds of miles to a giant tourist trap. Nobody even looks at the river and the great scenery. they all hang out at the water parks and junk shops. But if you are into water parks, it is the place to go. Be careful driving through the area, most people leave their brains at home when they travel. A couple of pedestrians are killed every year in the Dells along a 5 mile strip of 4 lane, 35 mph road..

Wisconsin State Parks are $12 to $15 with $5 for electricity. Unfortunately, they are always full n the weekends. we still have some state forests that have nice camping but they fill up fast also.

Welcome to the group. I am sure that someone with experience at rebuilds will be along soon.

I would make sure that the axle has been replaced with the full floating 1 ton. Get the floor plan that you are happy with. Check for water damage.

Is it the pipe and socket type or folding leg? If you are missing the pipes (leg) and/or top or bottom brackets? I have some spare stuff in the garage that you could have for the price of shipping. Let me know what you need.

I just finsihed installing a new Atwood water heater in my MH and did not know how to open tose valves. I kept turning them and nothing happened. Out of frustration I decided to just pull the t-handle and found out that I should have pulled it instead of turning. Easy leasson learned. My MH has the waterheater next to the door at the rear of the house opposite of the holding tank.

I agree with the comment about poor traction. Last weekend we had about 2" of rain and in the morning all that all that I did was did was throw some mud under the frame. I must admit that the ground was very soft. I had to be towed out by a mini van and about 30 ft of chain so that he could reach the pavement.

Long stead grades are not my problem here in Wisconsin's hills. We have short steep hills with corners all over them. Last weekend I ended up in second gear on the way down to make the 30 mph corner at the half-way point. We may only loose 600 feet in elevation but it will happen in about 3/4 mile but there may be a couple of 45 degree curves thrown in to keep us awake.

I was trouble shooting my isolator today and found the following: Voltage from alt to isolator was good. Power from switch to isolator good. Power from isolator to coach battery zero. I disconnected everything and as directed by the instructions that I posted, I disconnected the two battery terminals and energized the system. I used an ohm meter to see if I had a connection through the isolator between the two battery terminals and found an open circuit. I cleaned every connection really good and still got nothing. I figured that since everything was 23 years old it was easier to gut the system and start over. O'Reily's auto -parts had a new isolator for $30 so I got one. I am also installing new circuit breakers on everything and putting in 4 ga wires to the coach battery. This should give me alot more capacity to the coach battery. Thankfully I have a friend that is good with electrical stuff and he is confirming everything before I screw up and but the Toy down. So far he told me that everything is being done properly. I'll let you know how everything turns out.

The resistor is on the firewall, in the cab, behind the blower motor. I found mine while trying to determine why the blower would not work. It turns out the blower motor had been used as a mouse condo and the mice packed the blower cage with mouse next. I cleaned it out and it worked again.

It does look like a truck slide in. Behind the driver's door it looks like you can see the bottom edge of the camper.

If you want decent gas mileage with a Toy RV, expect to drive at 55 mph. Anything faster and the mileage is going downhill fast. I have been going about 55 mph since I got my Toy and have gotten about 17 mph except for the 200 mile trip pulling a 1200 pd trailer in the SW Wisconsin hill, on that trip I got 14.9. Slow down, enjoy the trip, let everyone else worry about going fast. Today I was topping off the tank and a BIG RV pulled into the gas station. The guy made a comment about settling for what one can afford. I informed him that I could pay cash for his rig if I chose to and informed him that I don't take everything from the house with me when I travel. He freaked out when I put less than 7.5 gallons into it and I told him that we had put 200 miles on with that much gas.

Is there a way to find out what state people are from on the forum? I am from WI near Baraboo (Wisc Dells for tourists) I love this state but also love traveling around the country and enjoying it all. I will be going to Danbury, WI to do a volunteer siding job on a church this weekend but without the MH. Too many people going.

I was checking out the isolator on my MH and found a very basic, easy to understand article on troubleshooting a battery isolator. A battery isolator is an important part of a multi-battery electrical system. When it is operating properly, it ensures that both vehicle batteries are charging when they should be, and that the vehicle's main battery will have enough juice to start the car in the event that the accessory battery has been drained. If the isolator is not operating properly, a number of problems can occur. Being able to troubleshoot an isolator may be the difference between your car starting or not starting at all. Difficulty:Moderately Easy Instructions Things You'll Need Digital multi-meter or a volt ohm meter Alligator clips Electrical tape Sockets 1 Understand that a standard battery isolator has four contacts, two large contacts and two smaller ones. To start, disconnect the large gauge cables from the larger contacts. These cables lead to each battery's positive terminal, so care must be taken to keep the end of the cables from grounding out on the exposed metal of the engine compartment. Use the electrical tape to cover these ends. 2 Place your meter leads on the large contacts that were previously attached to the batteries. Trigger the isolator to engage. Most triggers come from a switch or from the vehicle's ignition. Set your meter to ohms. A reading of 0 ohms indicates that the isolator is working. An open load reading indicates that it is not working. 3 If an open load is observed, test the triggers by disconnecting the wires going to them. Place an alligator clip on one trigger and connect the free end to ground. Connect the other alligator clip to the remaining trigger, and place its free end on a 12V source. You should feel and hear the isolator click and the meter should read 0 ohms. If there is no click, or if the meter still reads open load, replace the isolator. 4 If the isolator passes the test but you are still experiencing problems, you may have more serious electrical issues.

My Dad would kick my butt if he heard that I was going fast on a downhill. I was pulling a 2500 lb pop-up behind my Chevy Caprice coming out of the Bighorn Mtns headed toward Cody WY and never heated the brakes. I ended up going down in secon gear and occassionally had to go to first due to the drop. In first gear I had no problem keeping the speed down around 25. I pulled into a service station in Cody to fill with gas and the mechanic came out to the pump and told me what the price was for a brake job. I told him that I never heated the brakes up and he did not believe it. That guy is getting rich because people never learned how to downshift. My daughter was taking drivers education and the instructor told her not to downshift on the hills. She informed him that her dad told her how to properly drive in hills and that if the instructor wanted to argue, argue with dad. The guy called me and I asked him if he ever drove a truck. He informed me that he had not. After a little discussion, he agreed to leave my daughter alone about it. the next year, the same daughter was driving down a very steep grade pulling the 2500 lb trailer and the brand new brakes on my Chevy Astro blew a line (improperly installed by the dealer.) She just kept downshifting and got around the corner at the bottom. She was sure glad that she learned to use the tranny.

I hope that you have good luck in your hunt. I received some exellent advice here about looking for a new Toy. I test drove several with different floor plans. For my needs, I found that a rear kitchen, front seating set-up worked the best. I quickly figured this out while driving a unit with a rear dinette. My buddy was sitting in the dinette while the owner and I were up front. I asked my friend a question and had to yell for him to hear me. Since we will be traveling with our 2 grandkids once in awhile, that would not work out.