Odyssey4x4

Larger diameter wheels will disperse the pressure over a larger area, so it will smooth bumps out a bit. The problem with washboards is the suspension. A soft leaf spring pack will allow you to ralley through the washboards, but will not support the weight of a Toy home safely without bad sway problems. The fact of the matter is, it's a motorhome and you're just gonna have to go slow & piss people off, that's part of the game. I've got a 4 wheel drive Toy home and even with larger diameter tires (non-dually too) and 4" custom lifted suspension I still choose to go "stupid slow" over washboards so it doesn't unglue & unscrew the Toyhome apart. Sure, that 3/4 ton Dodge pickup w/ a camper gets there faster, but just remember who is WAY more comfortable when they get to their destination! haha Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

Just like everyone said. Lean kayak against ladder, climb to the roof & pull it up. Reverse the order going down. It's not bad at all. I do this every 3-4 days with several of my whitewater kayaks. I've put up to 7 kayaks on my roof at one time, and this is definitely the best method. I've found that mounting a ladder on the side of your RV makes it much easier for loading/tying boats down. Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

Thanks Steve. I've hit several good test bumps/potholes on purpose to see how the overcab flexes. It has the slighest flex, but is otherwise rock solid. Using shocks on the support rods would not have worked, as the rod on the passenger side is literally supporting the bed high enough where the door can open. The driver's side door opened just fine before the support rod, I just wanted to take precautions before the sag began. It seems as though you wouldn't want your overcab to flex at all. Accounting for physics, the bouncing of the overcab bed area when going over bumps is worse than not having the overcab bounce at all. The solid support rods eliminate the potential energy from a big bounce that would damage the overcab area. It seems solid enough to where the truck and overcab area move as a unit. I'll be ripping out the entire passenger wall next year (it is bowed out REALLY bad, maybe 3 to 4 inches where the oven & refrigerator are pushing out on the wall), so I'll address the rotten plywood on the overcab bed at that point. Thanks for the beta guys. Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

Hey everyone. I recently fixed my sagging overcab bed area on my 1990 Toyota Odyssey 4x4. It wasn't too bad, and I can open my doors again! Here's the post. http://timmystoyota.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-to-build-over-cab-bed-supports.html I know a lot of you have this problem, and this a great solution. Enjoy. Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

Well, I can honestly say that I've never paid for a single night of camping with my Toy home. There is ALWAYS somewhere to sleep for free, you just have to keep your common sense about you, respect property owners and businesses, and keep your home moving around so you don't piss anyone off. After all, you're supposed to be living "life on the road" anyway, right? Most large businesses don't mind parking overnight, or at least won't mess with you unless you push your luck. There are always backroads, sidestreets, parks, forest service roads, rest stops, etc. I've parked downtown a lot in many cities because parking downtown in between the hours of 6pm and 8am is typically free and legal. But then again, I've always been one to not pay for camping, even when I was tenting. I think I've paid for camping a total of 3 times my entire life, and the only reason was to meet other whitewater kayakers at the camp ground in New Zealand and snag a hot shower & free breakfast:^) Just wanted to put the vibe out there that free camping in your Toy home is most definitely feasible, and I haven't been bothered a single time over the last 5 months, not one time. Good luck everyone! Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

I'm in your club Stamar! I've been living full-time in my RV for a little over 5 months now up in Alaska, and it's been awesome! The true reality of living hard is about to kick in though, as the winter is well on its way. There is snow creeping 1/2 way down the mountains already, and the temperature is already dipping to right around freezing at night-time. I've been using my wood stove every night already to stay warm, and MAN that stove keeps it nice & cozy in my home, with no insulation to boot. I typically go through my 6 gallon propane cylinder every 3 weeks (this includes the refrigerator running 24/7 for the past 5 months, running the oven & cooking range, and taking the occasional hot shower. I typically dump the tanks once every three weeks as well. I just finished rerouting my plumbing so I can still use my sink and toilet in the winter. I simply winterized the water heater tank and lines with RV antifreeze, then I put a 5 gallon bucket under the sink to catch all the sink water, and just dump it out at an RV sanitation dump wheneve it gets full. I put heat tape and a 12 volt heat pad on the black water tank and toilet plumbing, and hooked the waterpump up to a container of RV antifreeze, so the toilet flushes antifreeze and keeps the tank from freezing. I still need to cut styrofoam insulation for the windows, but that's about it! I'm excited and ready to start skiing, snowmachining, and speed flyin' this winter! I'll start keeping up with the challenges of Alaskan winter full-timing on my blog once the snow hits the ground in the city. Might drive down to the lower 48 next summer to check out Burning Man too. Who knows, I love that little Toy home! Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

You can definitely live out an Oregon winter. I'm up here in Alaska and I'll be living full-time for at least the next 3 years in my little Toy motorhome (including in the winter). I'm completely off-grid and plan to stay that way. The way I plan on surviving: 1) my wood stove 2) heat pads & heat tape, along with RV antifreeze, will allow continued use of my toilet 3) I winterizied the rest of my plumbing (waterpump, water heater tank, lines, etc) 4) I rerouted my sink plumbing to fall directly into a 5 gallon bucket under the sink, so I can still use the sink to wash dishes, etc. 5) To recharge my single 12 volt, 85 amp hour coach battery... I simply drive every day (the little Toy home is my daily driver), have two 30 watt solar panels (for a total of 60 watts of solar energy), and have a 35 watt thermo-electric generator that creates electricity from the heat my wood stove gives off. 6) I have Reflectix foil-bubble covering, along with 1" styrofoam panels, covering my overcab bed area windows to keep my sleeping area warm (I still like to have my other windows clear because I enjoy sunlight:^) I have a blog www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com if you wanna see how I've done a few things. I'll be making A LOT more posts & how-to's as the winter progresses. It's already getting down to freezing at night around here! I also have information on the wood stove I have in my rig on my website, in case you want a wood stove for your rig (HIGHLY recommended over a propane furnace, because the wood stove will get rid of condensation with its nice, dry heat... AND it's free heat! free cooking! free electricity! and soon to be free hot water!, pretty cool). Cheers, Timmy

So sorry to see that. Really unfortunate. Yep, these are tiny little guys with a lot of weight pushing them around. I would highly recommend looking into an aftermarket bull bar or extra strong bumper for extra protection. I had a heavy duty offroad bumper fabbed up for my Toy home for this exact reason, because I assumed the brakes weren't that great and these little rigs need something to protect you up front. I've attached a picture of the bumper on my rig. There is a company called Badland Bumpers that makes awesome bull bars and prerunner bars. I would highly recommend looking in to getting one for your rig, or at least something more than the flimsy stock front bumper. Timmy

A question for you guys: When I open my passenger door, the top of the door hits the sagging overhead bunk. It's been sagging worse & worse since the day I bought it (from a crack/seam separation). I posted a video of my fix for the seam/"wall-to-overhead bunk floor" separation, and the fix worked awesome, but now I've run into a much bigger problem. The plywood (1" thick) that supports the entire overhead bunk area is bowed down on the passenger side. This is why the door is hitting. I tried lifted the passenger side up w/ a jack and tried reconstructing everything to "pull" the sag up, but it didn't work. I then began to rip everything completely apart, and when I finally got to the part where the main 1" plywood sheet is ready to be pulled out... I found that the plywood sheet is actually GLUED to the external fiberglass shell of the motorhome. Yipe. I tried using a crow bar to separate the fiberglass shell from the plywood, but it's not working very well at all. How do I get that plywood out of there without damaging my fiberglass shell? Are there any other fixes for "lifting" a sagging overcab bunk area away from the doors (so the doors won't contact the roof?) that doesn't involve removing the bottom plywood support? Help! I was told the motorhome was completely restored, but this thing has had water damage throughout it's entirety for a very long time like you wouldn't believe (the passenger wall all the way back is bowing out really bad too, as in a 0.5 ft. bow out in middle of the wall where the fridge & oven are located) & drivers side is bowing bad too. I wish I would've known that I'd have to restore the entire frame of the motorhome before I bought it, but I have way too much $$$ invested & I have to fix it now before the Alaskan winter gets here (1 month). Help guys! Maybe someone knows something:^) Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

I am in the same boat as John. I am always over the GWVR of 6,000 lbs. My rig with all my stuff is somewhere around 7,000 lbs or slightly more loaded down with people. While some people think it is very careless to do this, it can be done in a safe manner provided you know what to do. There are precautions you should take if you are going to load it down like this... 1) Keep your speed SLOW (this will keep your tires & bearings cool) 2) Stop often and feel your tires, especially your rear tires where the majority of your weight is. If they are cool to warm, you're fine. If they feel very warm, you need to slow down more. 3) Put your hands on your hub caps of your rear axle and feel for warmth, same thing as above. Cool to warm you're good. If you can't hold your hand to it for more than a second, you have too much weight or you need to slow way down. Also, make sure you have your axle bearings examined & greased annually to prevent heat build-up. Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

If you don't care about getting around fast, I would stick with the 4 cylinder 22-RE engine. It doesn't have as much power, but it will get better gas mileage and should have less problems than the V6. If you can get a V6 that had the head gasket replaced already, then I would suggest getting a V6. The 3.0 V6 is extremely underpowered for a V6 and the 3.0 has lots of problems that the later 3.4 didn't have (head gasket issues due to too much heat on the 6th cylinder from the exhaust manifold). The 3.4 is much more powerful too (an additional 40hp for a total of 190 hp. The 4 cylinder has 113 hp and the V6 3.0 has 150 hp (but it sure doesn't feel like it). Too bad they stopped making the motorhome before the 3.4's were released in 1995. The V6 gets an honest 12.5 - 14 mpg no matter how much it's loaded down, no matter if you're on the highway or in the city. I'd imagine the 4 cylinder (I have a 4 cylinder toyota pickup that gets about 20 mpg highway) would get about 14-16 mpg city/highway. As far as models, I would recommend the Sunrader for it's 1 piece construction (leak proof compared to the stick-frame models). I live in an Odyssey full-time, which is an awesome floor plan with plenty of room. I use the shower all of the time, totally off-grid, and it works just fine. I run the fridge/freezer 24/7, use the propane stove nearly every day, and occasionally turn the furnace on for heat. I only have to fill my tiny propane bottle about once a month at most (that will change in the winter once it cools off and I start using the furnace more). The water tank is easy to fill up for free at practically any gas station, and dumping sewage and sink/shower water is also free at most gas stations & easy to do (do that about once a month also). Good luck finding a 4x4. I looked long and hard for mine, they are very difficult to come by. Someone is selling a really nice 21 ft. 4 cylinder Sunrader on the Toyota motorhomes site (not this site). You should check that one out. Good luck and keep questions coming as you think of them! Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

Here is my latest blog entry on how much weight your Toyota motorhome can actually support (with pictures)... http://www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com Enjoy! Timmy

Man, I think I'll just deal with the passenger door barely touching (in one small spot) for a while, I hate to rip all that apart again after I just repaired the leak and wall separation. BUT, thanks for the advice guys. I had a feeling that the only way to fix the "sag" was to put new wood on the floor over the overcab bed area. A few questions though: 1) How do you get that huge sheet of plywood into the motorhome? (I had trouble getting a much smaller plywood sheet in that supports the mattress. I don't think I could actually fit a full sheet in there wide enough to reach the outside walls of the camper). 2) How is that plywood attached to the "top" of the cab? I'm assuming it must be bolted somewhere, or else the camper would just slide around all over the cab. Thanks guys, Timmy

My passenger door hits/makes contact with the overhead cab when it opens. Is there any fix to this besides taking apart the overhead cab area and building it higher? Maybe remounting door hinges? Help if you know & thanks guys, Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

No particular reason, Luan was just all the hardware store had:^) Besides, my banjo and guitar rest on the overhead cab floor at the foot of my mattress, perfectly covering that whole area anyway. Hopefully I shouldn't have to worry about water damage for some time to come (in that part of the camper). Timmy

Hi everyone, I recently put together a "How-to" blog page on restoring the over cab bunk area of my Toyota motorhome. Here it is: http://timmystoyota.blogspot.com/p/how-to-restore-your-over-cab-camper.html Enjoy, Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

Hi everyone, I recently put together a "How-to" blog page on restoring the over cab bunk area of my Toyota motorhome. Here it is: http://timmystoyota.blogspot.com/p/how-to-restore-your-over-cab-camper.html Enjoy, Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

I found that beefing up your rear bumper/frame and adding a diamond plate tool chest is the best solution. Also adding a roof rack and Yakima boxes REALLY allows you to actually bring things with you. I keep my firewood, chainsaw, propane grill, and wet kayaking gear in the diamond plate tool chest and it works awesome. The tool chest must be a 48 inch wide chest to fit inbetween the brake lights (brake lights are 50 inches apart). My diamond plate chest is 48x20x20, perfect size to hold everything. Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

I ran into the same issue. Most coffee makers require 900watts of power, much more than those little 12V plugs are meant to put out. It's amazing how much energy is required to boil water! The solution: go to Walmart and pick up a Coleman propane powered coffee maker ($45.00). The coffee maker hooks up to a small standard propane bottle, and get the job done much more efficiently and cheaper than trying to use electricity. I'm going to get one really soon. Currently, I have to pull out my little Honda EU2000 generator and fire it up just to make coffee. Timmy www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

Full-timer living in/around Anchorage, Alaska 1990 Toyota Odyssey Newport 4x4 * 4 wheel drive! * V6, 5 speed manual transmission * Kimberly wood burning stove * 60 watt solar panels * Badland Bumpers front winch bumper w/ Procomp lights * 2 custom kayak racks w/ Yakima rocket boxes * diamond plate chest storage on rear bumper * interior garden (lettuce, spinach, dill, rosemary, basil, etc) * custom 12" sub, amp, & surround sound system * custom 4" heavy duty lift springs Still have lots of projects. Currently renovating interior walls, putting in hardwood floor. Would like to do a 3.4 engine swap eventually and get some real tires:^) www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

ps: Any advice for ripping out the interior wall to repair water damage? The overhead cab wall has separated from the overhead cab floor on the passenger side of the vehicle. I'm going to dive head first into this project and document everything in the next few weeks...

Just letting you guys know I've started a new blog www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com Check it out:^) I'll be living full-time in this little 4x4 for at least the next few years. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Timmy