Maineah

The nice thing about the Toyota pickup is ever thing is there that I need pedals, fly wheel, all the hyd plumbing, nuts bolts and washers. The floor is all ready plated for either trans the only possible issue I can think of is drive shaft length. I have only owned automatic cars/trucks briefly (and boy I have had a ton of them) so I’m having a hard time adjusting keep looking for the damn pedal! Now all I need is some one to talk me out of it! I should look on the bright side it’s easier to tune the radio with out having to shift gears.

At the top of this forum page ( Engine , trans, suspension..etc.) are three subjects that are pinned. These pins are also called stickies by some.There is one on tranny overhauls, one on engine/tranny swaps, and another one I can't think of the title. The are the first things you see.. I'lll try a link http://www.toyotamotorhome.org/forums/inde...p?showtopic=413 hope it works for ya... Thank you I stand enlightened. I was the service manager for a large transmission shop years ago and the write up for the trans overhaul is spot on. Now I know what I read was a sticky!

Guess I don’t see a sticky or know what I am looking for either. The auto in 3rd gear is direct and the 5 spd is direct in 4th. (1 to 1 ratio) You are right about final drives generally automatics are geared slightly higher because the torque converter acts as a torque amplifier how ever I would think A: it probably is the same for the truck and B: it probably will not matter if it is a little higher. I am trying to weigh the options I’m thinking getting the thing moving is going to make the clutch ware faster then normal and would be a bit more difficult to maneuver at slow speeds (backing up etc.). So do I take great care of the automatic and figure a 100,000 mile overhaul? Or put the 5 spd in because I prefer a stick? It would also give me a broader range of ratios probably better on the hills. I don’t see any real gain in road speed but maybe a slight gain in mileage. So if some one has tried a swap maybe they could give me the pros and cons. I don’t know why I think I need another project but I can buy the pickup so cheap! Oh it also has a SR5 dash with all the gauges too.

Boy you are right about the plastic guides ToyoGuy I have seen Nissan engines (much longer guides) trash the engines with plastic bits plugging up the oil pick up screen. You know it’s was too late to do your chain in a Toyota when your oil pan fills up with antifreeze seen more then a few timing cases cut right through to the water pump jacket. The rubber backed guides really are the way to go. Wonder why Toyota dropped the two roller chain? Cost I guess, they out lasted the engine.

Any one out there ever done a automatic to 5 spd swap? I found a 2wd pickup cheap with a 5 spd so I'll have all parts.

Mine works fine on gas when I'm driving. It also works fine on 12 volts wonder if you have a problem with the 12 volt feed? The wiring is in the compartment behind the fridg be sure you check for power across both the ground and positive and it should be 12 volts or better. You do need to be sure you shut off the gas before you refuel! I try to remember to switch to 12 volts before I leave the camp site.

Mine is behind a cabinet door in the coach. It usually has the 120 volt breakers in it and a 12 volt fuse panel of some nature. They pretty much work by them self’s, if you plug the camper in it will make 12 volt from the mains for your lights and charge the battery. Be advised if it is the original they make pretty poor battery chargers and will boil the water out of your battery if you leave it plugged in all the time.

You can try nada.com it might work I'm not sure how far back the motor homes go as far as age. My Nova Star New Horizon was all most $23,000 new in 1987 dollars I think I found that in a motor home dealers book.

I think you’ll find the problem was broken axles out side of the bearings generally and the wheels and brake drums coming off together. A standard axle is basically supported only at a single point, the bearing. The differential end carries no weight to speak of unless it is overloaded. Overloading the axle bends it and it no longer spins on center because of the fact it is only supported at one point. Yes this is very hard on bearings also. The floating hub runs on two bearings and the axle “floats” inside the hub there are no bearings attached to the axe it can not flex. If you overload the assembly it will fail the single bearing axle was never intended to carry that kind of weight. If you have a truck with out a floating axle you need to investigate the manufactures weight limitations and be sure it is not overloaded and it is real easy to do as the stock Toyota truck was rated 1000# Will it carry more sure it will but would you pile 2000# in it and take a 500 mile trip? Toyota and paying owners would never have spent huge sums of money to replace the rears if they thought they could get away with it. The bottom line it is your safety that is the issue it is a known problem with a known proven cure.

No way. There isn’t enough support with a single bearing it’s not the bearing that fails it’s the axle that brakes because of the flexing. Now maybe if the new axle was 4” in diameter….

If you are not sure of the shock please try to turn the steering wheel both ways and make sure the wheels turn all the way to the stops before you drive it not all steering shocks are the same lengths and you may come up short on your turning radius! If they do you are smiling and it should work fine for you.

OK I’ll try this one. Timing is the relationship between the spark the piston position. It takes time to set the fuel on fire so one advances the timing to account for this, so by the time the piston is where to belongs it can take full advantage of the explosion of the fuel. Now if it is too advanced it starts way too early and tries to send the piston back down when it is coming up! This is spark knock not a good thing. Late timing is just the opposite it is all ready past the point of greatest power on its way down. No knock but lack of power and poor mileage. Motor homes work hard all the time with all the smoothness of a brick they are hard to push through the air so advanced timing ( as in too advanced ) becomes a greater problem and has a tendency to do bad things to engines. So the good people at Toyota (and others) try and come up with just the right amount of advance to get the best overall performance. Fuel plays a part in the scenario also as does temperature, humidity, and altitude. Generally advancing the timing helps fuel economy and power but there is a fine line and many variables exist so it’s best to do what the manufactures recommend. I hope this rudimentary explanation helps.

Nope will not effect your alignment. The ball end that fits through the drag link is tapered sort of like a wedge and fits pretty tight as the nut pulls it very hard into the link. Tie rods, ball joints are the same way keeps them from turning inside of the hole.

Head down to your local parts store and buy your self a tie rod fork. It’s a tool that looks like a two prong fork that you hit the end with a hammer the forks are tapered and they force against the shock joint and the drag link. It’s a one shot deal and should not be used on some thing you intend to reuse because they generally damage the rubber boot. Make sure it’s for a tie rod and not a ball joint (they are larger) no need to buy the fancy one just a cheapy will do fine.

Well if we can generate enough interest either of those dates would work for me. There is a camp ground less then a mile from me that has propane and a dump station how ever the dump station is for there people only unless you don’t mind paying $50 to use it there is also a camp ground latterly across the street and I have no ideal if they charge or not. It’s generally cheaper to stay for the night. There is a general store with in a mile and a half with gas and groceries. I do know the owner of the camp ground (they have over a hundred sites) perhaps I could interest him in hosting a Toy in. www.woodlandacres.com nice place right on the river. I do not have a problem using my land but that maybe an alternative. Conway N.H. is about 15 miles away there is just about every outlet store know to man and an equal number of very nice places to eat. Good info about the region www.mtwashingtonvalley.org. The land adjacent to ours is a 5,700 acre wild life management area owned by the state of Maine lots of water for canoe or kayak and 2 1/2 miles or more of walk able roads. As far as Nova Scotia you are on your own I haven’t been there in 40 years but I would defiantly do Halifax. You can take the Cat (high speed ferry from Portland or Bar Harbor) to Nova Scotia I understand it’s a bit pricy but it saves a lot of time. Hope all this helps.

So many choices I would say pretty much what ever you recognize Garmin, Magellan so on would be fine. It’s a matter of choice what you want it to do some come loaded with maps some allow you to add maps some don’t. Screen size etc. I would suggest going to the store and look at them and decide what’s best for you in your price range. I use a Garmin along with my laptop it is a hand held and I put it in the front vent hatch it fits in there pretty snug. Any GPS needs to see the sky and the over hang is an issue so maybe one with an external antenna (not all of them have that option) would be in order for you again you can put it under the vent the plastic has little effect on the reception so drilling holes won’t be necessary. I really don’t think one is much better then another they all seem to be 12 channel so it‘s the bells and whistles and how much you need it to do.

I maybe going out on a limb here but I own 80 acres in south western Maine it is not a camp ground no hook ups just nice fields. We are near Conway NH and the White Mountains. The lower fields are on the Saco river but a bit rough to get to. I am in Canada May, July and early August (but not full time so I'll be in Maine also) so if there is some interest feel free to email me or post you thoughts on the web site.

An inverter generator is defiantly the way to go if you have the bucks. Too bad about the Robin unit they have a pretty good reputation. I run a Onan rv 5kw one for my house it is an older one that has an 1800 rpm twin the only problem is that it’s a 120 volt output I did cure that problem with a buck/boost transformer. Generally the gen sets are 3600 rpm or 1800 (primarily to make 60hz) I don’t think any one is making a 1800 rpm unit any more probably because it’s cheaper to use a smaller faster turning engine. Too bad though they are a lot quieter. My Toyota has a 2.8kw Onan it’s a 3600 rpm but Onan does make a quiet generator if it is facing away from you it really is had to hear it. I agree with you if you can afford it buy the quietest one you can because you maybe the one parked next to me!

You can pay the big bucks for a Honda, Kipor, Onan (by the way a small portable Onan generator is Chinese) or other quality generators and yes they are quiet. Or you could go off the deep end and buy an inverter generator they are the quietest by far. Then again you could buy a inexpensive one, most of them now are OHV engines and are much quieter then the old ones look for a large muffler and over head valves. The Chinese small ones even look like a Honda and are quite quiet for what they are. I have used numerous generators for different purposes from 5 to 2,200 HP some with unacceptable noise levels some acceptable. I stand by the little 2000 watt Chinese generator it works fine is reasonably quiet and fits in a small space, most generators are not used 24/7 by the average person so even a cheap one will last many years.

The one I used in my pop up was a Buffalo Tools 2,000 watt it is quite quiet maybe not Honda quiet but not bad. The good part, it was less then $200 and was light enough to carry with one hand. It came from a VIP parts store here in Maine maybe you have a similar store where you are or just try Buffalo Tools on line. I used one for a gathering in Canada different name but it was the same thing and it ran pretty much non stop for a week. If you use a good grade extension cord (14 awg or better) you can all ways hide it in the woods when it’s running.

Thanks good deal on the bigger bars I think I’ll leave it alone it rides fine just seemed strange it sits so high in the rear. The hubs are the types you are talking about, the bearings are in the hub and the rotor is bolted to the hub. It sure looks factory to me does not seem like an after thought. When I bought it, it had a pretty good brake shake so I turned the rotors and did not think any thing about it until the adapter question came up just thought all the 6 bolt trucks had them.

If you have no a/c 2k watts should be more then enough to run most any thing you can carry. It probably would run an a/c unit alone skip the coffee maker while the a/c is on and you should be fine. When I had a popup I ran the coffee pot charged the battery, lights etc. with only 1,500 watts. My MH has a 2,800 watt Onan and it runs every thing a/c and all. Make sure you buy the quietest one you can they can be very annoying seems like the quietest ones are the most expencive.

Too bad, well it least it will be just the way you want it when it’s done. Have you seen Buick’s project? He is restoring the interior in his, has some great pictures on this site he might be one to talk to.

This might be a good time to ask questions. I have a 87 Nova Star (New Horizon) it has 6 bolt wheels all around. It does not have an adaptor its rotors are bolted to the 6 bolt hub. There are some other strange things about this rig the rear springs are 9 leaf and it sits up in the rear high enough that I have to drive up on blocks to level it on level ground. Mind you I certainly am not complaining it just seems to be so much heaver that most of the other ones I have seen. Is this thing unusual? I have seen others with air bags and helper springs and I certainly don’t need them. It’s all fiberglasses over an aluminum frame when I go looking for info about this guy it does not seem to exist.