purplhay

Don't forget, having a full floating 1 ton rear end, as some toyota motorhomes have, is a major safety benefit. All this talk about moving/transferring the coach works over to a more worthy chassis, i.e. beefy 4X4 is fine but don't forget you will not end up with a rear full floating 1 ton axle. If the worst happens later down the road, like a broken axle, the full floating rear end leaves you sitting pretty ready for a repair. Others will break and will drop that side of your rig to the ground. At least if you don't crash and burn, your rig will most likely not be easily towable. Just saying.

I have so much information to add to doing the 4x4 conversion, it was very expensive, north of $12,000. That was using all Toyota parts that were used. There is Major engineering required and a high level of auto mechanic ability. Welding is required. Believe me when I tell you, I looked into all of the options. Starting with a donor truck and transferring the cab works over I ruled out as being too cost-prohibitive. A lot of attention needs to be paid to the weight of the vehicle. Toyota doesn't make a 1 ton truck at all (not even tundra) except for the old ones that they stuck motorhomes on, like mine. If you were to start with a Tacoma chassis, massive improvements would have to be made to the frame and drivetrain and that doesn't even put the wheelbase in the right place. I believe the most cost-effective way to get your sunrader 4x4 is to convert an existing sunrader to 4x4 and do it the way I did it. My shop, although did a great job, doesn't want to do another conversion so I won't advertise who they were. They told me that they would do another and just throw out a ridiculously high price like 15K and they might do the job for you complete. That 15K does not include Wheels, tires shocks and other things that you might think should be. A lot of the conversion was done on the Fly. For instance, the sway bar. Nobody makes a sway bar for an sas Toyota so a custom sway bar had to be discovered. We engineered a NASCAR sway bar made by Speedway engineering that ultimately ended up being an inch and 7/16 in diameter. Totally custom mounts linkages welding all had to be done to make the sway bar fit. Even with the added 9in of lift that I put on this vehicle it is as stable as it was stock traveling on the freeway at 80 miles an hour. Yes I can do 80 miles an hour on the freeway with the stock V6 engine. Although we added several hundred pounds to the front end the SAS differential and transfer case. I am experiencing No Lack of power mostly because I put a all brand new exhaust system Engine Back new catalytic converter all 3 inch diameter. 3 inch loses low end power but gains it on the high-end where I need it on the freeway. Greg

Doable. Pictures of 21 ft sunrader with an SAS front conversion, 1 ton, duellies converted to single wheel. I would only 4x4 a sunrader as the box is fiberglass and will net a tighter, non creaking, less squeaking. Lots of time and money. No instructions.

That's right. I ended up with about 2" of rim lip on the outside. Sorry for terminology mix up. If anyone wants to Order wheels? Contact me because I did a lot research and measuring and prObably have more to say about that than not. Like you, I can't afford to make expenSive mistakes.

I forgot which is which. 5.5 from back edge of rim to mounting surface. Keep in mind I reverse front to rears. This setup gives me same stance in rear and increases stance in front.

My gear change plus locker will cost about the same. Driving on road is night and day difference.I hope it doesn't give me too much confidence when negotiating ruts etc. I guess that is what the winch is for.

Wheels are 16 x 8 with 5.5 offset. Made by marsh racing wheels Alabama. Had them made with solid centers since nobody makes a center for these. Had centers machined for window access for valvestems. Wheels are reversable front to rear. Powdercoated black. All that plus shipping was 1200 for 5 wheels.

shows difference between 185R14 and the new 245/70/16

SunRoamer 2WD. 2" lift front end accomplished with new beefier torsion bars. 2" rear lift with add a leaf. New gas monroe shocks Stock Air bags Full floating 1 ton rear end. 245/70/16 Dick Cepek Trail Country Load E #2900 tires. 16 X 8 custom steel wheels powder coated black with custom offsets. Reversible front to rear wheels. 4:88 new gears rear end with locker. no clearance issues for the rear. needed to push in floor board about an 1/2", easy, sledge hammer. slightly modify plastic fender liner. Will add front flares since tires protrude about 2". Initial impression driving around town is that it has a very stout feeling. Lots of damping due to extra tire rubber. I instantly noticed the absence of abrupt shock vibrations from driving over manhole covers and other surface imperfections. Can't wait to hit the washboards. With this setup, I have more tire patch up front and wider front stability. All of this may reduce my turning radius, but I haven't noticed. Reduced MPG due to height, maybe. I'm about 4.5" taller total. But with that height, I also have 4.5" of airflow underneath as well. The rear wheel setup went from duellies to single tire with a minor loss of tire patch. The total tire patch contact area of all of the duellies is only 110% larger than this single wheel setup. In other words the new bigger tire on the rear is 90% of the total of tire patch compared to the stock duelly wheel setup. No speedo changes necessary, new gearing gets me where I was before with a slight % in my favor.

TIRES ON. VERDICT, rides better than I expected and looks amazing. I have to wait for the washboard verdict. It already has a very noticeable dampening affect. Rides much better small harsh abrupt feature in the road, i.e. manholes, speed bumps etc.. I'm re-naming my rig the SUNROAMER. Next step is to ; pound out front fender wells, tires rub on extreme turn. no biggie. front flares - tires stick out. rear end reduction with lock out.

that was a few months ago that I started that thread. Update, I just received my new custom wheels today 5 total. They fit and now I need to powdercoat and order tires. I found a 245/70/16 tire that will fit and be perfect, meet all load specs and final diameter matches the gear ratio required. Since last posting, I also raised the front end by 2 inches with a aftermarket torsion bars. That with the already beefed up rear springs made this 21' Sunrader flat and level, front to rear. My current total height of stock 14" wheels are approx. 25" total with tires. The new 16" wheels with 29.5 inch tall 3000 pound load rating tires fit in the back no problem. In the front, I will need to modify front fender well and probably add front fender flares since the tires stick out a couple inches. Better stability, worse turning radius. Next, rear end reduced to match the tires with a slight hedge in gearing towards my favor. That with a locker rear end will be quite a good off road set-up. Who needs 4X4 when you have 4500 pounds on the rear tires. 2300# on the front tires won't help that much in a 4x4 situation very well. This and my winch will assure me mobility where ever I go. Wash board ?? Still don't know how much better this setup will be. In theory it should be. I'll post pic's within the month.

I have 21 footer. Yokohama 185/14 d range tires. I have new bilsteins all around. New add a leafs in the rear all gone through professionally. All bushings good, shock good etc. It drives amazing on asphalt, hardly leans in curves and feels great everywhere except washboard. I do considerable off road with ruts, dips, rocks and it is quite stable. I need new tires now and this is why I have started this discussion to explore all of my options.

Thanks for the replies. I am on springs in the rear and not on the air bags. Speeding up to reduce the washboard works for regular vehicles but a loaded minihome with all of that cantilevered weight swaying back and forth will never balance out before ripping all of the appliances out of the cabinets first. greg

Looking for advice on doing a tire conversion from dually to single.. After just doing over 175 miles of serious washboard in Idaho backcountry, I am now considering trying to put bigger tires on this rig. I'll be doing about 10 MPH or less in order to prevent shaking this rig apart while a Dodge 2500 diesel flies by towing two trailers, one a 25'er with another trailer of two ATV's behind him. His trailers are shaking but the truck just flies by leaving me in the dust. My rig with little 14" tires just happens to fit perfectly in those washboards and just wants to tear this rig apart. If I could increase tire diameter and convert to single tires, that gives me the option to air down when hitting the washboard. When I get back to pavement, air up for safe travel. The air down plus larger diameter will allow me to roll a bit faster over the washboard. Even if I could up my speed to 20 MPH without shaking apart, that would double my travel time in the back country. I would be faced with the following to do this conversion; 1. custom wheels 5 total, 4 in use and one spare. Get custom steel wheels with same lug pattern, same offset for one side of wheel, plus 1 or 2 inches other side. 2. rear lift (already done, it was easy, beefier leaf springs, added about 3 in). 3. front end lift (2-3 inches), 4. rear end gear reduction. I already have the full float rear end but will need to reduce the gearing to compensate for the tire diameters. 5. front flares to account for the wider front tires. Some fender trimming may be necessary too. Do all of above so that I can select a common D load rated tire. All valve stems accessable for easy air up and down. The front tires will get wider and the rears will essentially get less tire patch (from dually to single) but still maintain the width stability. I considered a 4WD conversion but don't beleive the 4WD will help. This thing as it is goes just about anywhere within reason. So much weight on the rear tires, it never loses traction. Plus I have a winch if I ever can't roll over something or get stuck. What's wrong with my assessment? Is this possible? The rear end gear reduction or the front lift may be my biggest hurdles? Please any and all insight will be appreciated. Throw in estimated cost too since that is a major factor. I want to do this now since my tires need replacing. I got about 20,000 out of a new set, btw. Greg from Boise.