JackP
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Posts posted by JackP
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5Toyota and 90ToyDolphin: Thanks for the replies. Looks aren't a factor for me, but water is. Still, I hate to waste that bubble as a place to put a GPS receiver. At the moment the crack's looking at Gorilla tape as a temporary fix. Gracias, Jack
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Well if the shocks are that bad then almost anything will be an improvement
WME: Understatement. I test drove it on pavement, knew it needed shocks but didn't recognize how badly. But it's a mile of sometimes 4wd road between me and the pavement and it's bad to the feel. Seems to be deteriorating fast, but maybe it's just a growing awareness.
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Bunneys - Nice job of work. Thanks for referring me to this. Gracias, Jack
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Jack, you might want to read up on the 'ZUK mod' if you want a 'down home' solution to your sagging rear end.
https://www.google.c...lient=firefox-a
Here's a direct link to one of the many, with lots of pictures:-
Thanks Derek. The shocks have moved to the forefront of my puzzlements. Already got the helper coil springs orderd from JC Whitney, so I count that one all over but the workage. Gracias, Jack
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Take the old shock down to an auto store and see if it will cross to anything.
New HD shocks for an 83 Toy pickup are hard to find.
This is about all I could come up with... http://www.shockware...ected_year=1983
Thanks WME. I'm hoping I won't have to do that because the truck is my transportation to town. Thanks for the link. I'm not certain at the moment where to go with the shock issue, but it's my next priority. I can feel the banging on the steering wheel from the lousy front shocks when I hit bumps. Gracias, Jack
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After reading what's been said on the threads about repairing the front window I've decided I'll probably go with the advice someone provided to do away with the window. It wasn't clear anyone's done that, but some said they'd choose the option if they had it to do over.
The plexiglass is crystalized and besides the spiderwebbing a person can see from the inside, one crack a knifeblade will fit into and another beginning spice up the landscape.
My tentative plan is to cut a piece of panelling the size of the channel behind the window, use an electrical plug box on the in-between side to keep as a compartment to house a GPS Earthmate reciever so's it can pick up sats and fill in the entire void between the plexiglass and panel sheet with foam. Hopefully that will provide enough stability to what remains of the plexiglass to hold it intact and stop any more ideas it has about being a Communist.
And it will offer a place for the GPS receiver to sit without forever banging and bouncing around. I like to run a laptop with Street Atlas USA [Delorme] on the long roads, and Terrain Navigator with the topos when I'm somewhere topos can be helpful. But the receiving unit's always been a Commie.
If anyone here has any experience or knows anyone who's blocked off that front window and regretted it I'd be obliged to hear about it.
Thanks, JackP
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I love the site and even though I've only been coming here a short while I figure it's already saved me a few hundred bucks and a lot of headaches on my spring issues. I expect it will save me more on other issues over time.
At the moment I'm climbing out of the hole I dug for myself buying this house on wheels, and over the next couple of months I'll be climbing harder on other issues involving it I mightn't have if I'd read here before I bought.
So when I'm back with some margin between my income and my dollar discharge in a couple of months I'm going to send a money order to support the cost of running the site. I figure it's money owed and I tend to pay my debts. I doubt a $20 bill will help you a bunch, but it can't hurt.
I'm grateful more than $20 bucks worth, but I'm a stingy cuss. JackP
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Just to let yall know the trailer hitch is used to pull a trailer too. Its sorta hard to read with all the bullet holes but the sign says "Powder River Pass Elevation 9,666 ft". Its real interesting going down
Just in case you are thinking that Toys only go to the beach, the second pic is climbing to the Gore Range cut in
Rocky Mountain National park the cut is 12,183 ft and we made it over
WME: Pure inspiration to me. After studying your overkill hitch and seeing evidence of what you're pulling on it I'll feel a lot more comfy doing some reinforcing on my existing configuration and putting together a hitch to pull a gutted out popup camper converted to a cargo trailer a couple of feet high with a snap-off roof. Something to hold a few prospecting tools, a handyman jack, clothing, and a few hundred pounds of cat food. Jack
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Don't forget the rear spring bushings while your making improvements.
Other interesting stuff http://www.rotdoctor...enetration.html.
A little modern science, treat the damaged wood, reseal the windows, seal the roof with a coating and live with the existing damage
Thanks WME. The nearest neighbor has a lathe, drillpress and a lot of bushing material left over from a lifetime maintaining heavy machinery. He's offered to let me use all to replace whatever I can get loose to replace. In fact I'll be replacing those dolly-wheels that way, too, even though they aren't badly reduced in diameter. I figure cheap and easy's too argumentative in favor of doing it.
Thanks for the information/link on the rot issue. I'll study on it. I've got ten gallons of metal roof repair cement I bought at an auction a couple of years ago for the cabin roof that's still sealed in the can, and another ten gallons of a paint-on grey/silver colored metal roof sealer. So I can go crazy on the roof.
I've also got some cans of an expanding foam crack and hole sealer I've thought I might use to fill voids where wood's rotted in the walls and the vibration caused it to collect below leaving places I wouldn't mind seeing filled in. The stuff dries hard enough to provide something a screw might hold to, thinks I. I'm trying it out on the two places where the wheel-well trim has fallen out because the screws didn't have anything special to hang onto. I figure I'll fill it with steel wool close around the opening gap, tape it to the proper width and let the foam figure out what's empty in there needs filling.
I'll landmark the rot doctor page and figure on spending a bit of time there.
Incidently, I had a friend with a credit card order the helper springs from JC Whitney for me yesterday. Any thoughts on how to figure out what sized shocks go on that thing? They don't look to be standard Toy-truck. In the pic they look huge.
Gracias, Jack
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Thanks WME. That looks as though it might be ideal. And after all, life's a temporary place for human beings, felines and vehicles. Temporary might prove to be exactly the right distance. Gracias, JackP
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Looks great. Mind sharing the cost, source, etc, of the kit? Also, how long did the installation take you? Thanks, JackP
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Any other thing to think about is razing the center of gravity they are all ready a bit top heavy.
Maineah: A worthy concern. At the moment the CG's lowered enough to drag the dolly-wheels at every opportunity. I suspect raising it, even back to the original, will make a difference I'll notice. And having those springs atop the axle, instead of below it won't add any new strength to them. They'll just be sagging from a few inches more altitude. Hopefully I'll have whatever wisdom's needed to evaluate it once I take it down the road a bit for testing, assuming the mounting project is possible.
Thanks for the observations. I welcome them all. Gracias, JackP
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I have a cat I take with me on every trip, one mind you, not 4. I have no worries with mine, as he doesn’t seem to mind, and always lays on my center console when traveling down the road. I put my litter box on the floorboard on the passenger side when traveling alone, and on the back floor if taking a friend, and move it to the floorboard when stopped at a site. I am getting a nice pop-up screen room with a floor, so when at a site, I can put my cat outside for fresh air and not have him run off into the RV park abyss. But he is comfy inside, as he doesn’t go outside due to old bad eyes. Happy traveling with your beautiful feline friends, both our black cats are sticking out their tounges!
Defiant, even when sleeping, haha!
Davidadro: Thanks. Two of these cats are what? 14 years old, 13? and one's a decade into the life adventures. They've been through a good many relocation traumas and picked up some savvy along the way, so I hope it will serve them. But they have minds of their own and we co-exist as opposed to them thinking I the king. My choices are limited and I'm having to do the brainwork to get us out of here. If at some point one of them or more than one decides there's a more favorable alternative I'll try to wish him or her well without a lot of drama or grief. Thanks for sharing your experience. JackP
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Derek and Davidadro: There's a good chance either, or both of you are correct. I hope I'll be able to get a better feel for the implications once I get it lifted for a better look. If it seems okay eyeballing and measuring I'll release the axle from the springs, reposition the springs and see what doesn't fit or geehaw. Might have to buy a different length shock, or mightn't be able to live with something else about it. Might be the ride will be compromised too much for the needle-ball-and airspeed to keep me flyng straight and level.
But my labor's cheap and the cost of a new set of springs with someone else doing the work would mean stalling things a lot waiting for the next pension check. If it doesn't work I'll just have to change things back to the original configuration, hopefully no worse for the wear.
Thanks. JackP
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For what it's worth: The good old Texas country boys who make a lifestyle of dealing with things on the cheap have suggested the first thing I ought to do is lift this thing up and do some measuring to see whether I can put the spring on top of the axle. They think I might raise it 3-4 inches that way, save a few hundred bucks and put some of it into new shock absorbers.
I'm thinking at least I'll lift it up for a look.
Thanks all for great suggestions and info. JackP
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This topic appears to have exhausted itself about 18 months ago, but the thread title seems appropriate.
Here's how someone a long while back resolved the problem of hitch recievers on the 1983. As nearly as I can discern the only price paid was possibly the rear spring issue I'm currently dealing with.
A major piece of the strength appears to rely on the welds along the tubing bumper, though there's more.
Looks as though a cutting torch was involved, though not extensively.
The person who did it must have been an accomplished welder.
But all in all it appears to me the stress on all this was the dolly-wheel banging on the ground all these years. I'm tempted to believe the fact all those welds are intact are a testimony there's a diety up there somewhere watching over things.
When I began reading about trailers and trailer hitches here I'd been thinking about getting a trashed out popup camper and reducing it to a 2' high cargo box to pull behind for extra clothing, a few tools. I thought the issue would be keeping the tongue-weight neutral and the entire thing down to a minimum weight.
But this thread inspired me to have a look at what's under there and what would be pulling any trailer of any size.
So, seems to me I'm going to have to go without changing clothes so often, or fly them behind like kites as I travel.
Thanks for opening my eyes and forcing a closer examination, reconsideration, and strange new respect.
JackP
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Someone in the past has spent a lot of money maintaining that rig. Get the new springs and shocks and see how it looks then.
Linda S
Hi Linda and thanks. It's deceptive. I mainly was thinking engine and drive train when I bought it, didn't know a thing about the things to look for on the camper part. Engine's low mileage - 73,000 miles on the 22R powerplant. Everything looked good.
The guy who owned it first got killed in a plane crash and his widow had it sitting out in the yard 15 years. Then a man whom I bought it from had it seven years, fixing it up but not using it much. His business crashed, he said, and he relocated to Arkansas and claimed that was the reason he was selling it cheap.
But after acquiring it and reading here I've learned a lot about what I should have been looking for.
Turns out there was a lot of water leakage through the rough for a long time, through the overhead. Front window's crystalized and now has a crack. And the retrofitted [what I originally thought were luggage rack bars] steel across the top are probably structural, keeping things together laterally.
I'm not complaining, though. I think it will last as long as I do, or the cats do. Gracias, JackP
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http://www.sdtrucksprings.com/
Check out all the stuff for Toyotas espically the Timbren line.
The correct thing is new spring packs the shop can add more leafs to make it ride level, they will last 20-30 years
Next is air bags they last 10-20 years.
Last choice is re-arching your springs and adding some new leafs. That lasts 2-5 years
Many times the spring bushings are just wore out and that will drop the rear end 1-2 inches.
WME: I'm obliged. Looks to be sound reasoning. Gracias, J
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Whomever asked: The AC unit on the top has a logo says, DUO-Therm by Dometic.
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I chose the motor home option when I saw this place we live drying out from under us. Examined the various options of going to live under a bridge somewhere, but I've got a contract with four cats to give them a home until I die, or they die. Decided the only way I could expect to accomplish that will be to have a place with solid walls to keep out the bears and boogers, keep them inside until they can accustom themselves to the odors, sounds and environment whatever places we end up.
I'm already feeding them inside, and as soon as I'm sleeping in there I'll bring them in to sleep there [once the nights are a smidgin cooler - they're spoiled to sleeping outdoors during the summer heat].
I'm figuring to get them all inside, start the engine and let them accustom themselves to the sound a few times, then drive it across the meadow with them inside a few days later, and so on, until they can feel it moving without going into conniption fits.
I know you folks probably have a lot of experience in these matters and anything you can offer in the way of advice and personal experiences will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance, JackP
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The generator basic job is to run the microwave and A/C, if you don't have them you sure don't need the generator.
What make is the Roof AC and the generator? Maybe we can give you a guesstimate on value.
Replacing the A/C with a powered fan vent is very usable in certain climates. Check http://www.pplmotorh...-ventilator.htm
or http://www.pplmotorh...vents/62466.htm. Think of them as examples of super plush and basic.
Adding an additional coach battery and a 100w solar set would let you operate the fan for an extended boondocking season, if you plan driving some each then just another battery would be fine.
After spending a month in MS and GA this summer, all I have to say is "Can I have more A/C please".
Good idea and info. I'm grateful and will visit the links to ponder on. At the moment I'm thinking I can't spend more money than I have already saved, which ain't a lot by modern standards. The overwhelming portion of that will vanish into the springs issue, and gas stations between here and somewhere west of here. Gracias, JackP
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ya i think it would kill us im in california.
texas is where that ac seems most valuable.
Id actually rarely use it here its more for a burning man type of thing.
actually ideally one day if I wanted to spend money Id get a 12 volt ac system , 9000 btu like is on a modern fiberglass trailer and have it run off the coach battery.
that seems like the best fit for a toyhome and its about 900 brand new.
Thanks stamar: My thought [and hope] is that the four felines and I will be spending the remainder of our lives somewhere between the Davis Mountains in Texas and not-too-far beyond the Continental Divide, in New Mexico. Evaporation AC works well in that humidity, but I've been almost 20 years without any AC, both in NM and where I am now in the Texas Hill Country. If I'm pioneer enough to keep living without AC I'd like myself better, simply because it's one more expense I hope I can manage without. Gracias, JackP
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Looks as though this has been discussed for a longish while without anything coming of it. I don't think I could afford to indulge in a trip all the way from hell to breakfast, but I spent a good many years in the area of Route 66 between Albuquerque and Arizona. Prospecting, looking for a lost gold mine [The Lost Adams Diggings] for more decades than I care to relate, buying jewelry on the rez, selling it where I could, parked midnight to dawn across from Sky City Casino listening for truckers who lost all their gas money and needed to sell anything they had of value to anyone who'd buy it, then me re-selling it to supplement my meager diet.
If anyone's interested in, say, the Zuni Mountains, the Zuni Rez, the 4-Corners country, and the country south I could probably provide some helpful info, lively stories of personal experiences, things to avoid, things worth visiting.
I gather most of you aren't much into getting into that area, however. Just offering anyway. JackP
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Im the opposite I dont have one and would buy yours for 100$
stamar: Sounds like a plan if you're in Texas nearby, or if the shipping costs wouldn't kill one of us. Gracias, JackP
A Toyota RV, Four Aging Felines and a Hermit
in Pet Zone
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Great suggestion Karin. I'd been concerned about those matters, and after I read your post I spent a lot of time studying the overhead with that in mind while I was shoring up leak damage.
I'm thinking now the overhead bed is going to be a First Class Passenger compartment for felines during travel. Might put some hideyholes up there so they don't have to look at one another constantly, but maybe not.
Thank you.
Jack P