MontanaChinook

Yep, just any old garage/shop. Nothing different about your vehicle other than its size. Some smaller shops might not be able to get it up on their lift, so let them know what you have. I avoid the dealership like the plague. Rear bearings won't be cheap. I don't remember what I paid exactly, but I had my front and rear bearings replaced, and it was a lot. I almost think $600-ish, but I'd have to look back at receipts. One of those things, though...If you can't do it yourself, you're stuck paying, and this is not something to neglect.

Well it's left there now. I really didn't have time to do much; just dropped it off and quickly unloaded anything I thought I'd need before I figure out how to get it to my house. We put a couple mouse traps around the engine bay, pepperment oil in the coach, and the hood is propped up. Your camper might only have a few places to get in...maybe mine does too, but it's really not so easy as crawling under the camper and looking around. Under my camper is about 6 inches of space, which makes it pretty hard to get under there, especially on dirt and not pavement, and my camper, anyways, has all sorts of different surfaces sticking out, cracks between them, bulges and boxes and places I can't see into. I was half way under there earlier this spring trying to figure out where all the dust was coming from, since clearly there's a direct path from the rear wheel wells into the coach. One really dusty road and I'm cleaning a thick layer of sand/dirt off every surface of my coach, shaking it off clothes, cleaning it off forks & spoons... My camper has holes in places other than just the holes they cut. All sorts of places are separating from each other and leaving gaps. And they aren't places you can see. They're tucked up in between areas. I tried to get expanding foam into them, but I still get a crazy amount of road dust inside if I drive down really dusty roads. Anyway, it is what it is for now. I'm not stressing about it, or I would have just left it in front of someone's house in town. But this place is the one place I know it won't annoy anyone's neighbors, so I'm just chancing the mice, and wanting to do whatever llitle quick things I can to help keep them out while I work out a way to get it down with me.

If it were in the 17-18' range, I would go for it!

I read something about peppermint oil on cotton balls around the camper, and keeping the hood open. I'm going to start there and see what happens. I have a Weber carb so my air inlet is non-existant. Sounds like the best method is putting up a barrier around the entire vehicle of maybe 1' tall metal sheeting, because the mice can't climb it. But that'll require material and construction, and I'm just planning to drop the camper off this afternoon and leave it without spending much time. I'll see if my friend has some metal mesh though. That seems like a good idea. But honestly, spark plug wires are replaceable. If they make a home in some hidden hollow of my camper...that's what I'm more concerned about.

Alright, I'll look into that stuff. Thanks

I'll be parking my camper at a friend's house while I figure out how to get it and a car to where I'm living for the summer. Might be up to a month. He's out in the mountains a bit and has had a problem with mice chewing through spark plug wires in cars that sit there. I'm getting nervous about an infestation in the Chinook. This thing is full of nooks & crannies. Any advice on how to help keep them out? Poison is not an option.

The rear axle should be fine, but absolutely have it checked out. I just had a mechanic put new rear wheel bearings on mine before I took it on too many trips, so I knew they were in good shape. They can inspect the axle shaft while they're there. Just don't load it down more than is reasonable, considering it's alreaded loaded to capacity. Pack light. Don't rip out anything more than the carpet unless you plan to gut it. It's kind of all connected, and once you get started, you won't stop till everything is out. Which is cool...but if you're not prepared for gutting and rebuilding, don't go down that road. I gutted mine and have done a ton of work. I'm no expert or skilled mechanic/carpenter/electrician etc, but I've definitely been there and done that, so if you have any specific questions, just ask. I'm around enough to answer but a bit too busy right now to think up the million little things you might run into. So specific questions are good Have fun! They're cool vehicles. Not built as well as some other makes, but considering they've held together this long, they must not be too bad.

Which is funny cause if you look at some Toyota parts from back in the 80s, they say Toyoda...

Is your welder a frame/hitch guy/gal, or just a general welder? Best bet when working with someone like that is to bring the camper to them so they can measure, then look at hitches together. I'm betting you could make almost anything work, but you'd want their approval before ordering something. Personally I think the best bet with these old vehicles is to fabricate something completely, then just weld the hitch attachment to it.

Yeah I figure a person could make a tilt frame a lot cheaper than any commercial product, and fairly easily. But notice I say "a person", not "I".

Yeah, you're one of the "people who prefer that setup", then. If I had more than myself and one other person, I would sure want a bigger camper than the one pictured. For me, that truck/camper combo is an inefficient use of space. 3 more feet of camper and no double cab makes more sense. I would assume a family would want a much bigger camper than that, double cab or not. So I'm definitely only making that statement in regards to this particular camper. But yeah, for a minimalist family who just wants the camper for the stove, bathroom and place to eat out of the elements if it gets nasty, but wants everyone in a true car seat with seatbelts, that camper would work alright. As it is, it just seems like way too small a camper to justify a quad cab. It's the size camper a single person or a couple without children would typically want.

Nice. Not sure that I agree with the concept of putting space into passenger vehicle use over using that space for camper/coach space, but I'm sure there are people that prefer that setup. I'd rather have 3 more feet of camper and get rid of the double cab. Pretty cool, though.

Ok, thanks! Donnie, I'll at least spray around and see if I can find a vacuum leak that way. And I'll check the valves when I get a chance. Drove about 200 miles today, completely trouble free. Drove great... But then felt like it was doing it again when I got into town. Either way (fingers crossed) I think it's going to get me where I need to go. Then I can work on it more when I'm not traveling. Just to be clear, the miss happens at idle, but not ONLY at idle. It happens under acceleration, too. Thanks everyone.

I've got a photo on my computer of a Tiger I took last spring, and I think I saw the same one again this spring. I'll post it. Probably just like yours.

Only time I've had an ignitor go out it just went out, dead, no start, so I don't have experience with it just starting to get weak. I hope it's not that. $400 on Rock Auto right now... Weber does not have a sight glass, unfortunately. I think my truck only has one fuel filter, and I replaced it. It does miss at idle, also. The fuel pump is inline, bolted to the frame in front of the gas tank, where the fuel filters for carbed Toyotas usually are. I'm guessing someone changed to that from the original in-tank pump at some point. You can see aftermarket wiring connectors and stuff. But yeah, it comes and goes, though it was there more than not yesterday. My EGR is removed. I'll look and see if google images has anything for "carbon tracking", as I don't know if I'd know it if I saw it, but the cap and rotor looked ok to me when I looked at them a couple days ago. At this point I'm just hoping it makes it until I'm stationary. My job starts May 4th so I'll have a place where I'm not moving around all the time and am allowed to work on vehicles, instead of sneaking around parking lots. Only problem is the 600 mile drive between here and there, which I plan on starting this morning... Thanks for the ideas. I'll try the water when I get somewhere else. If I make it there

I've seen a couple older Tigers around this spring. They look really good from the outside. But I still haven't seen them on a vehicle that gets better than probably 9mpg yet.

Interesting. Ok. Since this started happening, no, I have only replaced the fuel filter. Yes, I'm not assuming that just because all the other parts are new, means they can't possibly be causing this. But I am looking into other stuff first since I feel it's less likely to be the things I've recently replaced.

Ah, no, but thanks! I was thinking of heading that way when I was looking for propane parts, but I got those parts. I'm in Moab still. It drives fine, other than the hesitation/sputtering. I've been on the highway. I'm just worried that depending on what it is, it could leave me stranded. But if I don't figure anything out and it doesn't get worse...I'm just going to drive it until I have paychecks coming in and can pay someone to look at it

I wondered. It didn't start right after I filled in a tiny Utah town, but maybe 1/2 way through the tank. Which is why I changed the fuel filter. I also poured a can of seafoam in. Will that do the same as heat? I've put another tank or two of gas in there since this started. Any chance of the fuel pump causing it? I ask because it's one of the few parts of my ignition/fuel system which hasn't been replaced since I bought the camper, and I happen to have one with me, and of course if it goes out completely I'm stranded for a bit, where if I get to it now, I'll save myself that hassle. But I'm not too motivated to find a quiet place where I won't get harrassed working on my vehicle and deal with gas and all that if there's really no way this could be a pump.

78, 20R, de-smogged, Weber 32/36 one year old, plugs wires cap & rotor a couple months old, distributor two years old, coil one year old. One morning pulling out of a road, onto the highway, I had serious hesitation/stumbling. It was a little jerky accelerating, but I got up to highway speeds and was fine. Has been a little jerky/sputtery driving down the road here and there since then, but it's always so hard to tell what's my engine and what's just a rough road. Yesterday I put in a new fuel filter, sprayed carb cleaner in the carb and checked all the plugs. Plugs all look the same as each other, and look good. I thought maybe that fixed it, but then this morning, after washing it and getting an oil change, it was back and worse than ever. Even stalled once (I was parking, on a backward slant), but started right back up. Any ideas? It jerks a little going down the road sometimes, but is most noticeable from a stop, and when I first touch the gas after shifting. There's an occasional miss at idle. High rpms don't seem to cause it, but may not get rid of it, either.

Good point. Still, I was nice to the cop and I'm sure he was only there because someone called and complained. A guy I met who lives in the house less than a block from where I was parked lived in his van for a while when he first moved to town. He said the only time the police ever bothered him, he was brushing his teeth with his sliding door wide open after getting back from the bar, late-night. And they cop was more concerned with making sure he was the owner of the van, not breaking in, than anything. So I'll keep on their good side and just hang around town during the day and head out a little ways at night. I'm actually ready to head north anyways, just hanging around town till tomorrow night to meet a friend who will be down here for business. Otherwise I would have just skipped town this morning. If I'm around next spring, I'll stick to the grocery store and stay out of the neighborhoods when I'm in town.

Sort of I've been spending a LOT of time around the town. I read on some free camping site that it's actually legal to camp on the streets of Moab, and you definitely see a ton of RVs in the grocery store parking lot, and streets around downtown. Because of that, I've been spending one or two nights a week there, then heading out into the desert the rest of the time. I've been around a lot. And my camper sticks out, even in Moab. I tried to get out of town yesterday but all the rain has the dirt roads turned to mud and slick, so I stayed in town. Got a knock on the side of the camper around 10:30pm from a police officer. "You can't camp here". Where can I camp? "In a campground". Are all the people parked in the grocery store parking lot getting knocks on their doors tonight? "As many as I can - you just worry about yourself, not them". He had a little stumble before saying "as many as I can", and was clearly lying. Oh well. I'll admit I overstayed my welcome, though I'm quiet, respectful, and don't leave trash. Somebody must have gotten sick of seeing my camper. Probably if I stuck with the grocery store parking lot I'd have been ok, but it's loud, busy and bright, so I was around the corner in a little park/urban trail system parking lot which is dark and quiet, but definitely has people parked at all hours. So, no more urban camping in Moab for me, at least not this year. I'm sure they know the looks of my camper now, so I probably can't get away with anywhere in town for the time being. Camped at a pull-out to a dirt road, going just far enough to get off the highway but not get stuck in the mud, then drove back into town early this morning. The RVs that were in the grocery store parking lot last night were still there, un-harrassed. On the plus side, I've seen a ton of Toyhomes. I met a couple traveling in their 83 Sunrader, another couple in the 92 Warrior, another in a 90-something 4x4 Odyssey, then a bunch of other sightings...early 80's shorty Sunrader, later 80s Sunraders, and a lot of other makes. Plus plenty of other crazy campers, new and old.

Yep, mobility helps quite a bit, though that means you need to store them somewhere. Tradeoff is worth it to me. Though at this time I don't have a way to charge both batteries at the same time. Realistically I'm not parked for more than four days at a time, so I'm ok. And I can always just switch back & forth manually.

Panels are nice. I too take care of the electrical issue by just having really low power use. But I know some people like all the comforts of home, which is why we have RVs in the first place. I have two 45 Watt panels. I just use them because I know that the less I discharge my battery, the longer it will last. It would be a really rare thing for me to go through all my battery charge, with my LED lights...and almost no other power draw, other than charging my laptop and cell phone. I have a 12V fan that gets used when it's really hot; furnace fan when it's really cold. So the panels just give me peace of mind that there's really no way I'll draw my battery down dangerously low. But I'm always camping in the sunny west.

That makes sense then. I didn't see a single small RV that I'd rather have over my Chinook. Which seems kinda sad. But yeah, give me the vehicle with the camper shell built onto it, empty inside, and I'll make something I like!