86rader

These problems can be a real PITA. Do as has been recommended above. If you still are having problems, I would recommend installing a switch directly on the positive battery lead. They are cheap and not a bad thing to have anyway for vehicles that spend extended periods sitting around unused. Good luck.

I will echo what has been said about the frame extensions. I looked at another toy camper about an hour before I bought mine. I hopped up and down on the bumper and my fat behind darn near ripped it off. Those frame extensions are even flimsier than the toy frame they are welded to. And that toy frame ain't too heavy. My sunrader has a bumper mounted spare and that's about all I intend to hang off it. Greg, I think you are really pushing it with what you have hanging off the back. I think a much smarter way to go is a lightweight trailer. There are models out there that weight about 150 lbs which will reportedly carry 1000 lbs. I wouldn't want to drag that much. The most I see towing is my old FJ1100 (world's fastest toad). That would be about 700 lbs including trailer. It might also be a good way of bringing along large amounts of potable water for extended boondocking where water is unavailable.

kinda rig you got, wit? that's a bunch of weight. Are those custom made tanks? I wouldn't consider a chemical porta potty. Too much smell and maintenance. I want a composting system because it needs very infrequent emptying and there is zero smell. I used a composting toilet at a rest stop in the white mountains last summer. I was amazed at the total abscence of odors. The negative air pressure caused by the vented exhaust fan means everything, solids, liquids and gases go down the toilet. I am half tempted to install such a system in my house. My hope is to use the existing toilet and black tank. Just install a 12 v muffin fan and exhaust pipe. I would hope that such a system would need emptying once a year if used sparingly. Whenever home, I would feed it a few handfuls of stuff out of my other compost heap which is mostly oak leaves. This brew, left to perk until spring ought to be pretty tame. just remove the toilet, scoop it out and feed it to the tomatoe plants!!! The biggest problem I see is shower drain plumbing. I may need to run it through the black tank or possibly shift the black tank forward.

I think bill's right about toyhouse prices. There really aren't many options for decent mileage in an RV other than the toyotas. There are the older renault diesel fwd models, but, they have issues wiht their crappy frog powerplants. I think 6 grand sounds about right unless you got something really special. I wonder if they might appreciate further if we see gas above 3 bucks again this summer?

assuming that coolant temp returns to normal shortly after restarting, I wouldn't sweat it. As has already been mentioned, the coolant is not circulating when the engine is off, therefore the coolant in the engine is gonna get real hot. Your temp gauge measures this coolant rather than the coolant in the radiator that has been getting cooler. The only bit of advice I might give is go easy on it for a minute or two before shutting down.

Thanks for the info. When I do my chain/tensioner replacement, can I upgrade to the metal style tensioner and double row chain? My '86 has 75K, so, I guess it's due given the age, if not mileage.

So, looks like I might be in the market for a genset then. Any recommendations? I suppose an lp one would be the way to go. Are there small light weight units hat will mount on the rear bumper? How big will I need to supply the AC?

kurt, I just bought a very nice 22 ft 86 sunrader with 75K. It has the 22RE w/auto. The 22RE was not available, I think, in 83. I believe they were still using the 20R. You do not have a T belt. You have a chain. I do not know what the recommended change time is for the chain. Mine is in very nice shape, has a new fridge. It does have a few things that need doing with the plumbing. I paid 5000. I think I got a pretty good deal. I suspect that somewhere in the 4-6K range sounds about right. What is the size?

Is this possible? I would expect that the alternator would be fighting a loosing battle trying to keep the battery charged as the inverter sucks the life out of it. I ask this because we are planning a trip out west this summer including some driving through the desert. My 86 sunrader has dash a/c, but the previous owner took the drive belt off as most of his use was trips up to nova scotia where they haven't even heard of a/c!!. He believes the a/c would work if the belt was replaced. I ain't buying it. It is a 21 year old R-12 system that hasn't been run in quite some time. What are the odds of this system still working? If not how difficult/effective is an r-134 retrofit? My previous experience with retrofitted systems is that they loose some effectiveness. Maybe when I'm out west, I'll just shoot down south of the border and get me some cheap r-12. I here it is available there.

upon further inspection, I have come to the realization that too much precious storage space would be lost to accomplish this. My rader has upper cabinets on both side above the bed. I think I will be able to do something with the bench seat that is just forward of the rear bed on the driver side. Its about 4 ft long. If I build a shelf out into the isle between it and the stove, I should end up with about a 4 ft square bed. My son ought to be able to fit this diagonally. For a year or two, anyway. He grows about an inch a week

My 86 sunrader has a rear full size bed. I am thinking of constructing a twin size bunk to go over it for my 8 year old son. My plan is to make it removable, possibly hinged at the back so it could swing down forming a backrest for the lower bed turning it into a couch. I doubt mounting the bunk into the wall would be very smart. I would instead make some sort of framework that would rest on the lower bed

I don't know what the v-6 redline is. I would guess somewhere between 5-6k. It's not even breaking a sweat at 3600. The tach that was installed, has a redline for something more like a diesel. You will not over rev the engine unless you do something really really stupid like dropping it into 1st gear at 60 miles per hr. Don't worry about it and if you want it to stay out of OD, turn the darn thing off!!

A little self degradation is good for ya. And I'll never apologize for thinking outside the box. Infact on pretty damn proud of my out of the box thinking abilities, my poor wife on the other hand probably wishes I'd get back in the box or atleast somewhere close to it. Still waiting on some composting crapper feedback. Last summer I used a composting bathroom up in the white mountains and was very impressed. The tank's low are pressure keeps a constant flow of air going in to the toilet making it even better than a standard home water terlit at keeping odors at bay. Could you transfer the existing black grey tank into one. Vent it using a low power fan. Possibly use a 2 speed fan. Low speed most of the time and high speed when you are adding to the compost heap. Emptying it might be a PITA, but you'd have to do so a whole lot less than a regular black tank. From the reading I've done on it, all you need to do is add a bit of vegitation regularly to keep it brewing nicely. Heating it with engine coolant might also work to keep liquids from building up too much.

tanks for pullin' my head outta my arse for me, futar. Too bad I don't have somebody around to do that more often. And thanks to you too, rat for the ridiculling I so richly deserve. How's about the composting idea? It don't sound nearly as whacked and would probably actually work. The question is what to use to cook that brew? Running the ehhaust through or near the tank is reasonably simple, but, a possible fire hazard. I guess mounting a heater core inside and running coolant through would be a better idea. Do they make heater cores outta stuff that would survive the nastiness found inside a dry black tank?

Well, I'm not even an official toyhouse owner yet and I am already coming up with hairbrained modification ideas. "My" 86 sunrader has had the shower drain disconnected by a previous owner. The guy I am buying it from says he had no need for it either so just left it disconnected. As for me, I like my hollywood showers and so does my daughter. The wife and son aren't so bad. Now, seeing as I don't plan on burdening that poor lil' 22RE with dragging around a hundred gallon tank fresh water and grey water tank, I said to myself, self, what if we build ourself a shower grey water recycling system? It wouldn't add much weight, complexity or expense (I hope). It would be a sand filtering system. It would consist of a length of 4 inch abs pipe, a 12v sump pump, some Tees and piping and some sand. You could mount it in the corner of the head, preferably directly below the roof vent. The pipe would be mounted vertically with screw on caps at each end. The top of the pipe would have a supply line coming from the grey tank mounted sump pump. The bottom end would go through the floor with a T just before the end. This T would drain into the shower supply water tank. 10 gallons would probably do. Various Tees could be added when shore water/sewer are available. I As for the rest of the potable water system, I am not sure if I would just do away with it and use bottled water or keep a seperate potable system. Every now and then, you could remove both end caps and flush out the old sand/whatever other nastiness is within. I would keep some sort of long plastic pipe cleaner inside to help loosen up the old sand. Obviously liberal use of chlorox would be needed and shower pee-ers would be flogged severely. Another idea I have is a composting toilet system to do away with the black tank as well. I'm thinking using all that free exhaust heat might do a pretty good job of boiling away all the liquid in it. Of course this might not be such a good idea as crap does have the ability to burn. I suppose just venting it properly would suffice. I am certain somebody else here has had similar crazy ideas. Maybe some have even been brave/crazy/ingenious enough to try it. Any comments, tips, recommendations or ridiculing would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Pete

Looking through the sunrader brochures that greg posted, I notice that they make no mention of a 22 ft model. Just a 21. The pic of the 21 looks an awful lot like the 22 I am buying. Could this actually be the 21? I haven't seen any paperwork yet stating that it is a 22. I am wondering if the owner just strung out a tape and figured it at 22 including the bumper. One other question. How difficult/expensive is a auto to 5 speed conversion? The tranny is recently rebuilt, so it shouldn't have problems, but, I just like 5 speeds better, especially a nice shifting one like the toy's. Maybe there is a 5 speed owner out there that is tired of shifting that might be interested in swapping? Thanks, Pete

My, well soon to mye, anyway, 86 sunrader 2wd 22 ft, also appears to be a bit of a low rider. It has an airfitting on the rear bumper which is 'sposed to be for airshocks. Will pumping this up raise it much? Are airshocks an add on or factory? I have heard bad things about airshocks in the past as they are shocks for dampening and their mounts are not designed with load carrying in mind. Any info on this would be appreciated. Pete

Put a deposit on an 86 22 ft sunrader. 4 cylinder, auto, rear bed. Outside looks good. Inside looks like new. 75K on the clock, recent tranny rebuild. 5,000 dollars. I think this is a pretty good deal. The owner says that in the spring it would bring 6000 any day of the week. The only issues are a non functioning shower and possibly a little softness in the floor where the shower drain goes through the floor. A previous owner disconnected the drain. The hot water heater was also disconnected. I am a fairly decent shade tree mechanic/all around handy guy, so I think I can handle these things. The fridge is brand new, all other things allegedly work. I made the sale contingent on having someone more knowledgable than I look it over. Am I correct in assuming the rader's single piece upper shell makes it less prone to the dreaded water damage? The roof seems extremely sturdy. You can beat on the like new cloth padded ceiling from the inside and it feels like the roof is made out of 6 inch thick oak!!! Any tips on what to look for or a reputable mechanic in the area, East Greenwich, RI would be appreciated. Thanks, Pete