Odyssey4x4

http://classifieds.toyotamotorhome.org/viewlisting.php?view=2756 Put it up for sale for the right offer. One of a kind (only 6 ever made) Toyota 4x4 Odyssey. Won't find one set up better than this... - 1999 Toyota Tacoma 3.4 V6 engine swap - 5 speed manual tranny w/ 4wd low and high - custom leaf spring suspension and nearly new E-rated off-road tires and larger rims - wood stove, TV, new fridge/freezer, custom front and rear bumpers, 3 hitch receivers for towing/hauling - custom roof rack and storage boxes, solar panels, fantastic fan - hard wood floors, custom sewn curtains for summer and winter, unique open floor plan, separate shower/bathroom - all appliances and furnace work great Building a smaller rig and a cabin this summer, entertaining cash offers... Email kayaker35@hotmail.com if interested

Hey everyone, For those that are remotely obsessed w/ Toy homes, here's my latest blog entry with some tips/tricks for my 1989 Toyota Odyssey 4x4 motorhome up here in Alaska... enjoy... www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

Hey everyone, Our band, The Shoot Dangs!, are planning to do a big tour from Alaska to the lower 48 and back this coming August in our Toyota 4x4 motorhome! We need your help to bring our unique music and energy to new people across the USA and Canada! Please visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1064978423/the-shoot-dangs-represent-true-alaskan-music-big-t And watch a 2 minute video and help if you can! A few rewards are involved! Thanks guys, -Timber

Hey everyone, I just put up a new blog entry on living "off-grid" in Alaska, year-round in my 1989 Toyota Odyssey 4x4 motorhome. www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com I'm in the process of doing the 3.4 engine swap. Has anyone else done this swap with their motorhome? How much of a difference did it make for you? Cheeeers!!!!! -Timber

Has anyone done a brake upgrade to their Toy home? I can't stop for the life of me, and I would have wrecked or driven off mountains hundreds of times if it weren't for having a manual transmission so I could downshift/use engine compression to stop/slow down. My brake pads are about gone, so I figured this might be a great time to maybe beef up the front brakes and also look into a rear brake disc conversion & get rid of the rear drums? Any ideas or advice? Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

Hi ya'll, I've done a little update on the blog. Here's my most recent post: www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com There are pointers for those that are considering living full-time in their Toy home in cold winter climates. Enjoy, Timmy

Glad to hear you're gettin' out Paul! I do the same in thing in Alaska full-time/year-round (www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com) It's always awesome to see other people going for it and realizing that its not just "not that bad" .... but pretty fun and really comfortable if it's done right! Keep gettin' some laps in!!! Timmy

A little preparation and you'll be fine for your ski trips. I'm up in Alaska living full-time in my Toyota RV and have some tips from you. Don't have time to type right now, but go to www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com http://timmystoyota.blogspot.com/ Check it out, maybe it will help you a bit. Have fun on the mountain! Timmy I added a clickable link cause everyone should read your blog Linda S

You guys should all come up and let's party!

Hey everyone, Here is a recent article that was done on living full-time in a Toyota motorhome. Thought some of you might be interested, you will see the article in the link below... http://timmystoyota.blogspot.com Enjoy! Timmy kayaker35@hotmail.com

Yo Totem, I cut a hole directly through my interior food cabinet then straight up through the roof. You need (ideally) at least 6 feet of stove pipe to get a proper "draw" from the chimney pipe, that way a backdraft of smoke won't come back down your chimney while driving around. A rotating chimney cap that dosn't inhibit the smoke from escaping (and also creates a vaccuum while driving) is key. I went through 4 different chimney caps and finally found one where i can have my fire in the wood stove cranking while I drive down the highway at 70 mph (55 mph in my RV realistically:^) A propane heater definitely works for more moderate climates. However, it creates a lot of condensation inside and it is dangerous/can deplete the oxygen in your camper if you're not careful. They do make catalytic ones that are "supposed" to be safe, but I would still be concerned. Just like John MC said, you need to treat the propane Mr Buddy like an open fire, cause it'll burn anything that touches the flame guard. I should be receiving the T.E.G. unit in January, so I'll keep everyone posted on the performance. The solar panels most definitely make a difference in charging my battery, even in the winter (provided I park facing the sun as much as possible). Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

31 years old up this way. Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

Well folks, Here's my latest entry of attempting to survive an Alaskan winter, completely off-grid in a Toyota motorhome. Check it out... http://timmystoyota.blogspot.com/2012/12/cold-is-relative.html Any advice, input, skepticism, or construtive criticism is much appreciated ;^) Cheers, Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

I have a small wood stove in my Toyota Odyssey (use it as my sole source of heat in Alaska year round). I also sell these stoves (called a Kimberly wood stove). I have info and videos on my website below www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com The inventor of the Kimberly just finished 2 thermoelectric generators (one sit-on-stove one and one clip on water cooled one, that put out 20 watts & 50 watts respectively). Timmy

I was a first time motorhome buyer, uninformed and undereducated in what Toy homes should cost. I paid $24,000 for my Toy home. Granted it is very special because of the 4 wheel drive, I paid entirely too much money. I was under the impression that everything had been completely & meticulously restored and was in excellent operating condition, when in fact, there was thousands of dollars worth of water damage and the head gasket was bad/engine block corroded. The motorhome looked really nice, but extremely expensive repairs and damage were hiding under new wall paper and freshly changed fluids. Be very wary of the condition people claim you motorhome is in. Do the research ahead of time (like you're doing now), figure out EVERYTHING you need to check before buying,a and tell the buyer you'll make an offer once you've assessed the motorhome. I wish I would have done that in hindsight. Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

Yeah, those Dickerson Newport diesel burning stainless steel stoves are about 1/2 the price of the Kimberly stove that I have in my Toy home, but there are 2 major problems... 1) It only puts out up to 8,000 BTUs... the Kimberly stove puts out up to 40,000 BTUs. 8,000 BTUs is simply not enough heat for most winter living circumstances, especially in a poorly insulated Toy home. I know this because the Kimberly is just sufficient enough to keep me comfortably warm at a medium throttle with a half-load of wood (which is about 20,000 BTU's). 2) The Dickerson stove only burns diesel fuel, which means you are reliant on the system. The Kimberly can burn wood, coal, compressed sawdust logs, charcoal, wood pellets, and fresh/saltwater driftwood. Anyhow, just thought I would point that out in case anyone was considering a Dickerson. There are about 3 other fairly decent little wood stoves out there (Marine Stoves "Sardine" and "Cod" and the Vermont Castings "mini-elm 12" stove". Although these stoves have a max BTU output of about 28,000 BTU's and can't burn all the fuels the Kimberly can. Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

I don't have the option to hook to city water. Here is what I would recommend if you want completely care-free utilities inside your Toy home this winter. 1) Forget the freshwater tank. Go buy a 4-5 gallon water jug w/ a spout and keep it in your sink. Use this for water for dishes/drinking/cooking. No frozen/cracked water pump, freshwater pipes, or freshwater tank! 2) Disconnect the plumbing under your sink, put a 5 gallon bucket under the sink, and when you wash dishes your waste water will fall directly into the 5 gallon bucket, which in turn you simply dump whenever you want, no frozen/cracked pipes or greywater tank! 3) Remove your toilet in your bathroom (super easy to do, takes less than 5 minutes... usually 2 nuts holding each side of the toilet down to the floor). Then go buy one of these portable flush toilets http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.com/sportsmans/Camco-5.3-Gallon-Portable-Toilet/productDetail/Personal-Hygiene/prod999901362588/cat110201 and put it right where your old toilet was. I've got one and it works AWESOME! I just put a tiny bit of antifreeze in the portable toilet's flushing system to prevent a freezeup. Whenever it gets full, simply walk it out your door and dump it. Only costs $80 and you won't have to worry at all about frozen piss-icles or poop-sicles in your blackwater tank (like I did, despite pouring 6 gallons of anti-freeze, 15 blocks of salt, and having heat tape & a heat pad on my tank for defrosting it). 4) Get a membership at a local gym and take showers/fill your water there. There you have it. You won't have any problems at all this way and still have use of your utilities. I attempted to use half of my utilities in Alaska this winter, but it just didn't work out (I'm living completely off-grid, so can't keep a heat pad going the whole time or keep my Toy home heated 24/7). Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

I got them from Canadian Tire when I was driving through Canada about 8 years ago. You should be able to order them online. Make sure they have the ice cleats, it makes all the difference.

I've been driving quite a bit on the snow and ice up here in Alaska in my loaded down Toy home. Traction to get moving isn't a problem at all. It's a whole nother' ball game when trying to stop. Stay away from very steep hills with snow that require stopping ON the hill (such as a stop sign in the middle of a steep hill). This is pretty much the only thing you'll have to worry about. I used to have studded tires every season for 10 years on my Toy pickup, but I didn't put them on my motorhome. I think that even if you have them, there is just too much weight pushing you. Just drive around slow, scan the road WAY ahead and react WAY ahead of time. You'll be just fine and you'll get used to pissing people off & driving very "safe" everywhere. When I get up to VERY steep mountain passes, ESPECIALLY when going down hill, I put a set of chains w/ ice cleats on my front tires and it's ULTIMATE traction... you won't slide anywhere at all, but they're a pain to put on. Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

My Toyota Odyssey won't start after sitting for 2 days. It's my daily driver, and starts just fine if I use it every day. I don't use excessive coach battery power at night (live in it full time, use LED lights). When I try to start the motor home (3.0 V6), it just "clicks" and doesn't "turn over" at all. Any ideas? Possibly a bad battery isolater? Bad starter? Not sure what to do... Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

Well, the antifreeze method is working very well so far. I just used the RV sanitation dump yesterday, and nothing was frozen up at all, the tank cleaned right on out. The temperature has been in the single digits (9 degrees yesterday) at night and above the mid-20's throughout the day, for about 1 week now... so if anything was gonna freeze, it already would have. I didn't have to turn on my heat pad or heat tape to release the valve either (I made sure antifreeze was originally flushed through it so nothing would freeze). I also hate the thought of having to buy lots of this RV antifreeze, but in all reality, I have a 15 gallon blackwater tank. I dump it when it gets to about 12 gallons. A 50% antifreeze dilution works out to be about 6 gallons of antifreeze, which costs about $40 a month (I only have to flush my tank once a month). $40 a month is what you would spend for septic/water bills at your house anyway, so I can justify buying that much antifreeze, it's really pretty reasonable to have a bathroom in your home that you're not scared to use:^) Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

The toilet should be good to go. I've got the water pump hooked directly up to a 1 gallon jug that holds -50F RV antifreeze, or -100F once the weather gets colder. When I "flush" the toilet, the waterpump draws 100% pure antifreeze from the jug, through the plumbing, and directly into the toilet. You need to mix a good bit of "whatever goes down the toilet" with antifreeze anyway, so there isn't too much dilution (over so I've read).

Here's my entry. I like it:^) Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

Hey everyone, Just finished a new blog post. It's basically an update on my attempt at surviving the Alaskan winter (already in effect) in my Toy home. http://timmystoyota.blogspot.com/2012/10/alaskan-winter-is-here-off-grid.html Enjoy! Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

All that truly matters (wish I would have known better) is: 1) Engine is running strong with no head gasket problems. 2) Axle is updated & safe. 3) NO WATER DAMAGE!!!!!!!!! Water damage is easy to hide with new wall paper. People will say they completely restored the Toy home (like I was told), not true. My Toy home came with extensive, very bad water damage/rot that was hidden behind pretty new wall paper. I didn't know any better because it was my first motorhome. I've already had to rip my overhead cab completely apart and now I have to remove my entire passenger wall next summer. SO, watch out and inspect VERY carefully for water damage! Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com