zero
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BTW, the gray water lines were the subject of a class acion law suit several years back. I believe this was the result of breakage in homes. .
The law-suit, or at least the fund, is still alive. It is aout households wih polybutylene pipe and non-crimped fittings. I just redid all the plumbing in a house here in northern Michigan that had it. The polybutylene pipe itself is fine and doubt could ever be an issue in a RV with crimped fittings and low water pressure. That being said - I just replaced most of my in my 1988 Minicruiser. It had frozen and broken so many times,and had so many splices - I decided to renew it. I used PEX along with a $20 hand-held crimper. Worked fine. Easy to do in a RV IF the old plumbing is flexible poly and not copper. For hidden areas - just cut one end of an exposed pipe - and tie it to new PEX. Then just pull it through the hidden areas.
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I wonder if it would fit on a Prius. Also wonder if they can be imported.
Linda
Why would anyone want it on a Prius?? I just watched a road test of a Prius pulling a moderate load at highway speed and it got 17 MPG. Vehicle tested along side of it with a 4 liter gas engine got 19 MPG. Considering the resources used, start to finish, to build a Prius - it's probably one of the most inefficient, earth "unfriendly" cars ever made. Prius works well enough when used only for what it was made for - and gives the illusion of efficiency when all it takes to build it is not factored in - but I suspect a Toyota truck would beat it for efficiency when being worked.
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That's a Huntsman with a 'bad' 5 lug rear axle.
How can you tell for sure it is a Huntsman and not a Granville? I’m not doubting your I.D. I’m just curious how you can tell for sure. I think Huntsman and Granville were the only models made mid-80s with that sort of rear door and the twin vents on the same side - along with the front roof sloping down.
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The Wingmans are passive but it does give the antenna a bit of gain. I had an older unit and installed one it was marginally better but more directive.
Until somebody does an actual head-to-head test - it's just guesswork when trying to figure which antenna is best on an RV. Also depends on where you want to use it. Some areas have a lot of TV on VHF and small antennas of any make do poorly with long-distance VHF TV. The add-on "Wingman" for the Winegard Sensar does a good job at beefing up the UHF reception. The VHF on any Sensar is poor. I've yet to see any small antenna do well with VHF.
I tested my Winegard with and without the Wingman add-on. Adding the Wingman got me two more channels when in the eastern Upper Peninsua in Michigan. Just got done testing it yesterday. I was on a wooded shoreline on Lake Michigan maybe 30 miles west of the Mackinac Bridge. I use the signal-locating program on TV Fool. It has served me well for years. I posted the signal map showing, top to bottom, what channels should of been the strongest. With the Sensar - with or without the added UHF "Wingman" enhancer - I got NO VHF channels. I DID get these. NOTE - I am posting the make-believe "virtual" channels which is what we see on the screen when the channel identifies itself. Also the real RF channels we don't see and they are ALL that count. UHF reception was VERY impressive and I even got one from Green Bay, Wisconsin some 200 miles away.
I got:
Channel 3 WJMN (which is really UHF channel 48) and is 80 miles away.
Channel 45 WFUP (which is really UHF channel 45) and is 90 miles away
Channel 4 WTOM (which is really UHF channel 35) and is 57 miles away
Channel 27 WCMN (which is really UHF channel 17) and is 98 miles away
Channel 26 WGBA (which is really UHF channel 41) and is 200 miles away !!
I did NOT get many VHF channels that have fairly strong signals:
Channels 2, 8, 9, and 10 VHF were not received although Channel 2 is analog from Canada and did come in very snowy.
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Never seen a pulley fall off because the bolt was not tight enough.. Many old engines did not have a bolt they were hammered on.
Older engines with harmonic-balancer and pulleys that pressed on to the crankshaft end with no fastener were often a much tighter press-fit that what many newer engines have. Kind of an “apples to oranges” comparison.
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Toyota never made a rear spring pack adequate to carry the full time weight of an RV on its back. So even if you bought new springs – you’d need to add leafs to each pack or they’d just lose their arch. As I recall the 4WD spring packs have the same amount and order of leafs (as 2WD) but with a slightly higher arch than the 2WD trucks. If you want to beef up your springs – I suggest you add some new leaf stock with the proper arch. The OEM 4WD pack late 80s usually has 3 primary leafs and one secondary “overload” leaf. Of course – with a motorhome body sitting on the back – even new springs will be sitting on that overload leaf all the time unless you add some leafs to the stack. Toyota has an odd-ball leaf size so the leafs are not common. 2 3/8” wide instead of 2 ½” wide like most other small trucks. Check and see if your leafs are 5/16” thick or 3/8” thick and then get some add-on leafs to beef up each stack. You can also get what you have re-arched but now-days – that is often a waste of time and money since most shops are doing “cold-arching” that does not last. If you can find a shop that actually rearches and re-temper the springs – that’s a different story. Not many places do it anymore. Not cost-effective since brand new springs are often just as cheap or cheaper.
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Looks like a full float axle to me. If you want to use the 4x4 your supposed to have wheels and tires that match so they don't turn at different speeds and destroy your tranny or driveline. Like I said only place I know of to get the 15 inch duallies is that place in southern Cal, Custom and Commercial Wheel
Linda
Tires and wheels do NOT have to match for a good working 4WD. Just the outer diameters of the tires have to be a close match . . OR . . a total mismatch of outer diameters can be used if the gearing is tweaked. Thus the reason why there are many 4WD farm tractors with tiny front wheels and large back wheels. The ideal setup in a road truck with 4WD is to have the front wheels turning slightly faster then the back so the front pulls you instead of the back pushing you. There are plenty of 14" and 15" tires with the same outside diameters.
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ie; A well done video is put up by someone flushing a evaporator, no problem. However my condenser has an expansion valve, which many say cannot be flushed and needs to be replaced. HTH Jim SW FL
If an AC system has had a major failure like a trashed compressor - there will be bits of metal and/or teflon stuck in the condensor that is near impossible to get out in entirety. That's why . . after a failure - they are often replaced - or - flushed as best can be done and then an in-line trash filter added.
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I've done many with a torque-wrench. If the vehicle has a manual trans - just sticking it in 1st gear with the parking brake on is usually all it takes to hold the engine. If automatic - I usually take out the starter motor and lock the flywheel via the ring-gear teeth. A good hand-held 1/2" air-impact gun can make 300-400 lbs. of torque - even on a bolt on a crank with an engine that is not locked up. They work great for taking off stubborn bolts. I'd never use one to re-install one.
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The mechanic only replaced the center section. That is our original full-floating rear with 6 lug wheels. The replacement came from an assembly with 5 lug wheels, so not the same rear end you are thinking of. We are getting our original differential back and having that one serviced here in MA. Mechanic is in Columbia County...
OK. So the epoxy/JB Weld is on your original axle-housing. I misunderstood. I though the guy you hired (alleged mechanic) had installed something that had to be epoxied. I guess the area where they rust when driven on road-salt is consistent. The one I saw in the 83 Sunrader is rusted in the exact same place. So maybe this new problem wasn't his fault? Very easy to buy a used center-section and find out it makes noise after installing it. That's why I'd never do it unless it came from a rig I knew ran OK. Since you stated the pinion was loose - I wonder if he installed the pinion nut too tight and ruined the bearings. That pinion shaft has what is commonly called a "crush" collar inside. It is made to "crush" when you carefully tighten that nut. It's a cheap mode of assembly at the factory that cuts down on assembly time (instead of using shims which cannot be over-tightened). With the factory crush-collar in place - all it takes it turning that pinion nut a little to far and the bearings are ruined. I've seen it done many times when somebody tried to install a new pinion seal..
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If It was mine, I'd back off the bolt, then retighten with a torque-wrench and make sure the bolt wasn't ruined by over-tightening. If you have a manual trans - you can put the parking brake on, trans in 1st gear and then tighten the bolt. If automatic - not so easy to keep the crankshaft from moving. A bolt is just a spring and like most all springs - if it gets stretched too far -it yields and gets ruined. A high-power gun with 150 lbs. of PSI can break that bolt right off and at least that hasn't happened. I've seen many auto components get ruined with an impact gun in the hands of the wrong person. Crank-pulley bolts, pinion nuts on differentials, brake rotors, etc.
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I am very confident I can finish the re-sto. with the exception of the electrical work.
I have purchased (4) T-105's 6 volt batteries, new inverter, controller for the 300 watt solar panel, and new control panel.
I need all of the above hooked up. I can do the the wire runs with 12-volt and 110 wiring and how to hook up the batteries. But how does the solar
panel and all of it work together?
I have had mobile RV repair people come out and all they seem to want to do is talk, talk and do little else. I seriously doubted if they really knew what they were talking about. One guy wanted $14,000 to do the electrical!!
I don't understand exactly what you need to know. You say you can do the 120 VAC and the 12 VDC yourself, correct? What else is there? I assume you've got a solar panel rated at 12-18 volts so the wiring will be for 12 VDC. A 300 watt panel will rarely make more then 10 amps of charge current @ 14 volts so you just have to get the wire sizing right to avoid voltage drop. Even figuring a rare best-case scenario of a 20 amp charge output - 8 gauge copper wire is good for up to a 15 foot long wire-run (3% voltage drop). Just hook the output from the controller to the “house” battery bank and you’re done. A bigger issue is wiring the 6 volt batteries together and having big enough wire running to the inverter. Let’s say you’ve got a 3000 watt inverter. It needs have wire capable of carrying 500 amps @ 11-12 volts. That means even with just a 3 foot long wire-run, you’d need 2/0 copper cables to keep voltage drop down to 2%.
I’ve wired many houses and RVs with AC, DC, and solar. I can better answer questions if you can be more specific.
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All depends on what someone is calling a "rebuild." I put a rebuilt starter in my Chevy diesel Blazer in 1995 and it's never given me any trouble yet. At that time, the brand new Chinese clones for $99 were not available
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Hi Guys,
I have been looking at Toyota's , some with air bags and others without. If the one I get has NO airbags , can I buy airbags and install it myself, or is this a big production. Are air shocks simpler and as effective ? Any input on this appreciated.
Many of the older and smaller Toyota RVs came OEM with air-shocks. Kits are available for installing air-bag suspension into a large Toyota RV. I put a kit in my 1988 Minicruiser last year. I've got air-shocks AND ait-bags. I used the Air-Lift kit Load Lifter 5000 # 57113. Cost me $276 with a $50 rebate for a sum total of $226. Comes with Good-Year bags and fit fine. Also - their bags have a lifetime replacement warranty which is nice.
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Our new RV has a Wingard amplified TV antenna, the kind that cranks up. Anyone out there tried to receive the new digital TV channels with it? The only tuner I have for my laptop is the analog type, guess I will have to upgrade. All TV stations are set to switch to digital on Friday this week! And the analog will be a relic of the past.
I've got the crank-up Winegard on all three of my RVs. I've tested it against large full-size antennas used on houses when in fringe areas. The Winegard got maybe 2/3 of what the big antenna got (with a 30 dB preamp). There is no such thing as a "digital" antenna but . . the old Winegard Sensar RV antenna does not cover the entire UHF band that some digital channels use now. So Winegard has an add-on "Wingman" kit to update them. As I'm sure you already know, analog tuner cards in computers are kind of worthless now unless you want to watch a few analog Canadian TV stations.
Winegard "Wingman" kit is $30 and takes 10 minutes to install onto an older Sensar antenna.
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I should said that AH's statement about PAG is "incorrect" only in my opinion. I doubt there is any rock-solid proof to be found on the subject. I WILL say that good old General Motors issued a service bulletin years back that kind of disputes what most other "authorities" were saying on the subject of R12 to 134A conversions. I for one do not trust everything that once-great company has to say on such things. Maybe I'll cut them more slack if they ever pay back the billions of tax dollars they took from us tax-payers to support their mis-management.
In fact there are two key issues in conversions that were considered "common knowledge" in most if not all AC shops back in the mid-90s and are now often disputed. One is about the need for Ester oil, and Two is about the old "non-barrier" rubber hoses" not being able to properly contain 134A since it's molecular structure was smaller then R12. As to the latter? Makes me wonder why every company that makes AC hoses switched to "barrier hose" since 134A came out. Were they all misled?? I also wonder why "double-ended PAG" was developed if some "experts" say there is no need for it??
Here's the GM bulletin:
From GM TSB #33-12-26: Retrofitting R-12 Vehicles to R-134a - May 10, 1997
"RESIDUAL MINERAL OIL
"THE CONCERN THAT MINERAL OIL IS CHEMICALLY INCOMPATIBLE WITH R-134A AND/OR PAG LUBRICANT HAS BEEN PROVEN TO BE UNTRUE. A NORMAL CHARGE OF MINERAL OIL LEFT IN THE A/C SYSTEM AFTER A RETROFIT TO R-134A WILL NOT DAMAGE THE SYSTEM. MINERAL OIL, HOWEVER, DOES NOT MIX WELL WITH R- 134A, AND WILL NOT PROVIDE ADEQUATE LUBRICATION. TESTS ON BOTH THE ORIFICE TUBE AND TXV SYSTEMS SHOW THAT THE MINERAL OIL PARKS IN PLACES SUCH AS THE ACCUMULATOR, AND DOES NOT APPRECIABLY AFFECT PERFORMANCE OR DAMAGE THE SYSTEM." -
What AH says about 134A needing PAG oil is incorrect. That only applies to systems designed for 134A, or older systems with completely clean internal components which is very rare.
Condensors are near impossible to completely clean/flush out if there has been a compressor failure. That's why they either get replaced -or flushed and then aftermarket in-line filters added.
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Thanks for the heads up! I have read at least 3 hours on conversions and never seen double ended PAG mentioned. With the info available on the net I am surprised that any 134A conversion works!
So now off on another search, is double ended compatible with PAG46 or does the pre oiled compressor need to be flushed?
Jim SW FL
Yes, conventional PAG is not compatible with R12 or any residual mineral oil that will be in your system. Drain the compressor to get the PAG out. The "double-ended" PAG is something new to me. I've just heard about it this year. Back when 134A conversions were very popular, there were complete kits being sold for the changeover. They all came with "ester" oil since it is dual compatible. Seems odd now after 134A conversions are a lot less common - that someone would come up with this new PAG oil - but who the heck knows??
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One added note. There IS a newer type PAG specially formulated for older systems that have R12 and mineral oil residue in them. It's called "double end-capped" PAG. I've never used it so cannot comment on how well it works. Standard PAG cannot be used in your system.
http://www.amazon.com/Double-end-capped-PAG-oil-viscosity/dp/B00CDDIRA2
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First of all, you do NOT want to use PAG oil. That is used in systems that were made new for 134A and never had any R12 in them. For a R12 to 134A conversion - you need polyester oil. If your compressor has PAG in it, drain it out. Now, if every AC component in your system was new and had NO old residue - you could use PAG but to do so is near impossible. NAPA sells ester oil as # TWD ME18212
Second - oil capacity in a system that has already been used goes by a scale and "guess-work." Your system will already have trapped oil residue in the lines, condensor, evaporator, etc. that you cannot get out. AC charge manuals will give you info on how to make a "best guess" depending on what parts are being replaced, what sort of failure the system had previously, if it was flushed or not, etc.
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I did not see your photos until now. The rusty replacement looks like a full-floating rear with 6 lug wheels. Is that what your original was? If some so-called "mechanic" replaced a FF original with that rusty assembly - just due to a noise - he ought to be in jail. That rusty rear axle you have now looks just like the one that sat for years in a junkyard in northern NY in a 1983 Sunrader. Junkyard in Sodus NY has rust in the exact same place and the old man (Juliano) wanted $300 for the rear and four wheels. Is that the rear you wound up with? If your original was also a FF with 6 lugs - what happend to it? It is worth some money and whatever noise it was making is irrelvant. Any noise can be fixed. Besides - the entire differential from a 1/2 ton truck and 5 lug wheels is the same as the differential in the 1 ton FF with dual wheels. So used complete differential center-sections are common. Perhaps not always easy fo find one with the 4.10 to 1 ratio though. I know a lot of repair people in central and northern NY. If that's where this awful job was done - who was the criminal who did the work?
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. The inside monitor was showing 14.8v. So I unhooked it.
14.8 volts in not enough to hurt your battery unless it stays that way, non-stop for weeks. Check the specs on your controller. Many will charge at 14.4 to 14.8 volts and then taper down to a constant 13.8 volts.
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While driving over a period of a week recently I was able to run and start up my wini easily but on several occasions during the past year after the vehicle sits for a week or more it is discharging the battery. I know a voltage regulator can cause this and I will have to get it tested to check this. In my operator manual there is discussion of a dual battery switch but I do not see this switch anywhere on my unit. Would an 86 mini have this switch?
Any other thoughts concerning this problem. The battery is only one year old and has been checked and is ok.
ALL lead-acid batteries "self discharge" - even when hooked to nothing. There IS no test for that other then just charging it, and then letting it sit and see what happens when nothing is hooked to it. A good battery will only self-discharge at a rate of 5% - 10% per month and that should not be noticeable unless you don't start the vehicle for many months. Then you have the added issue of drains WHEN hooked up. Some newer vehicles with on-board alarm systems (and other gizmos) draw 150-200 millilamps ALL the time. That's why some newer cars and trucks go dead if sitting even for just one month and not run. AGAIN - this should not be an issue for your RV unless you've added something like an auto-start, alarm, etc.
Just take an amp-meter. Unhook a battery cable from one of the posts and then stick the amp-meter between the post and cable and see what the reading is. You can buy a multimeter from Harbor Freight for $5 that has a 10 amp scale and is perfect for the job. If you get a reading of over 50 milliamps - you've got someting wrong in your wiring/electric system drawing the battery down.
Back to self-discharge. There is NO test that any auto parts store can do to measure it. So what they say is kind of meaningless. A new battery has a low self-discharge rate and as it ages - it gets worse and worse.
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About angles . . we rarely if ever are able to find a flat-level camping spot and I never jack up our camper to make it level. So far, all my propane refrigerators have worked fine on slight inclines. My general rule-of-thumb has been - if the camper is level enough to sit in and sleep in, it's good enough for the refrigerator. I've never had my RVs so level that the bubble-indicators said I was "good to go." I bought my 1971 Jayco back in 1979 and it has a big Dometic three-way in it. I've had it on ground so uneven it would not cool - and I'd have to stick a board under a tire just to get the frig working. Been using that refrigerator for 35 years and haven't ruined it yet.
Plumbing Related Help Needed
in General Discussion
Posted
No laws anywhere in the USA that make polybutylene "illegal" that I am aware of. Local plumbing codes in some areas do not allow new installs of it in domestic systems. Please prove me wrong if you know of even one such Fedearl. local, or Satutory law (since you mentioned it). PolyB is still made and used in Europe and Asia. A friend of mine just bought a house here in northern Michigan that was inspected first and found to have all polybutylene that was installed in 1984. Inspection report simply says that no leaks were found. Nothing about "tearing out illegal plumbing." I've repaired many a polybutylene leak since the late 70s and all were due to connector failures - bad fittings and/or bad crimps. I've yet to see a piece of pipe go bad or get "brittle" as a few unproved reports say on the Net. The house I mention that was just inspected uses heavily chlorinated water from the City of Alpena water supply and is now 31 years old.