mtdave2

the rig has been totaled. Squirrels did it.. here I thought it would have been a deer. lol

well, we will see what happens. the coach has a major issue in the back, will require some involved work to repair the floor and fix whatever is rotted causing it to sag. not a big deal for me, just time that i dont have much of. i will fix the exhaust leak and a few minor things then list it. if i can get to the coach repairs i will, and if it doesnt sell by the time im done, or decide to flat bed it, i will keep it. thing is too much fun with that motor in it.

You are correct on the prices for sure! honestly i have talked several people out of buying the rig because the new owner would have to be a gear head. there is no shop anywhere that would work on it. i did know that when i did the swap that selling would be a challenge. If i found the right person, they would get a heck of deal for that reason. otherwise i will just make a baby duel flatbed out out it! would be really awesome

finally will be able to fix all the mechanical bugs now that the rig is in Wisconsin. once that is done i will have to evaluate to sell it, make it a flat bed, or fix the coach issues. good news is how nicely the rig runs in the cold. i started it several times over the winter and i never had a lick of problems, just turn the key and boom. could not say the same for my 2008 rv or my three other vehicles. they all had battery issues, or hard starting. not the dolphin, got great satisfaction over that.

After several years being in Texas while I lived all over the darn place, the rv is here at my house in Wisconsin. should get everything fixed up and well. still impressed by how well the 1uz motors run. even with the exhaust leak the thing just runs strong. I will evaluate the water leak on the drivers rear corner and decide the fate of the camper. would be an fabulous little dump truck or flat bed. im still up for selling to the right person, though the prices are going to go up the more i have to do! if you ever wanted to know what is needed to tow our rigs. i have a 22 ft flat bed trailer with a 10k rating, and a new 2022 chevy 2500 diesel. more than enough to pull them, truck barley even blinked!

https://youtu.be/aDWWzT9jH5c https://youtu.be/jp1s68VBivI https://youtu.be/lUsHHlb4UwY

For sure up for making a deal. Where are you located?

I still have the rig, it still runs well though one bad choice has caught up to me. I debated to delete the ERG. it's a common exhaust leak for these engines. i got rid of the original style and used hard piping...but it now leaks badly. there is just no easy way to get to it to weld or delete. i have all the parts and tools setting in the rig ready to drill an access hole from the cab, fix the leak then close the hole. thinking ill make it an access port and secure it with a seal and screws in case I need to get in there again. overall its still in good shape, though that back shower and floor will need to be ripped out and fixed not sure where water got in, but somewhere. I would still sell it, if it was the right person who is a gearhead and can do things I would sell pretty cheap in my mind, $6k bottom firm, without the $3500 generators on the back. 8k with. It has been setting near San Antonino tx undercover at a rv storage lot for 4 years. each year when I'm down there i fire everything up and drive her around. never any worry about it starting, other than the battery but so far haven't had to jump it! still think it will be a bad behind baby dually flatbed truck someday.

Yes I would sell... though I. Not in the Denver area anymore. The rig is in texas

Yeah, I would feel the same way. But I knew that when I started. I had my fun doing it and driving it. Probably the flat bed will be next. I know that I did a quality job, and I have driven it cross country several times so I know it’s solid. I do have all the reacords, schematics, wire diagrams etc..still. I suppose if I finished everything and made it perfect I’d could probably sell it More easily. Time is my issue,. Besides I really think a flatbed/dump would be cool. Paint the whole thing Kubota orange! i am always mtdave2 on any forum. SO a mt Dave is not me

So, now the time has come for a decision. One, try to sell the RV, it’s always hard to sell super custom stuff. Just tear the coach off and make a super cool baby flatbed and haul my Kubota tractor on it. Or fix the hand full of things that need done, but I have no time and the RV stays in Texas, I live in Wisconsin. So I’d have to bring the RV back and forth to Texas every year, and We could use a bigger RV that ccould be worked on at a shop with no problems on cross country trips. im thinking flat bed, the thing would be fast!

Well if i can keep my foot out of it, I have gotten 18 but perhaps i could do better if it wasnt loaded down. Id love to see a post if you do the swap!

Thanks Nam, It was a fun project. it is still not totally done, there are a couple small things to figure out but it is very usable. 3 drives to Texas proves it works! my life has changed a bit for a while. I took a job in Calgary Canada, and i left all my stuff in Texas. I do plan on building a shop in Texas so everything is set up when i want to take a little break from work and go tinker on things. for the next few years, I am without a shop or even tools! unless i make a friend here in Calgary i won't be wrenching. I would recommend that everyone does a project like this one time. To really understand what goes into it, you have to do it yourself!

If anyone lives in the area, we are planning on doing some camping...and naturally taking on stup I'd projects on the rv. I need some rv friends close!

yeah, there are a few low hour used hondas on craigs list. Just have not made up my mind. I spent time and money on the box for the dual hondas....could sell it i guess.. not sure!

having the same issue as you with the heat. the elevation is killing me as well! used it a few times with both gens running and the back door open, worked great. no time to fiddle with it...perhaps soon. I am half thinking of just getting a 3k unit and making a cage for it and call it good.

Well that is a good warning. I had some threaded bar, so why not add a backup? should hold it in place with a nut and washer. one more step to remove but not that big of a deal. Ill remember to shoot some wd40 or somethig in the cable housing when I rotate the tires.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Z7NXMWS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 in case you are wondering what cable carrier i used. I did have to extend the size of the piece that fits in the hole, was a bit too small for my liking.

Finally got around to doing some work on the rv. built the bracket for the spare, all I have to do is weld it in between the frames. not too bad for an hours work, but not holding my breath until it is installed and working.

I know nothing of the starting cap. how can I tell?

yep, that would work!

my newer gen ran the ac on high for over an hour. the old one about 20 mins then tripped. not sure why yet. I need a switch that I can use both forms of ac power, i am sure they make automatic ones for boats and rvs. Once that is in place I think I will have a good set up. I will still carry both gens for now. perhaps in the future a honda 3000 would be the way to go.

think I may have figured out the issue. I had forgotten that I have not connected the rv power cable that I have run back to the box to the inverter. So the cable is plugged into the standard cable. so I have a double length of cable. That should have some amp drop. hope that is the issue... I rewired it so my much shorter cable that runs to the box is wired into the breakers. Seems to work fine now, though I think I have an issue with my older generator. newer one ran everything fine, older one had a few hiccups. I will look into that later. The temp outside is in the 90s now. I will go do a test see what happens.

3.5% for each 1,000 feet Figuring a ball park actual amps of these gens at 13 amps? I have 2 so 26 amps. the loss of efficiency 3.5% for each 1000 ft of elevation above 500, so I'm at 5600 so round down and subtract the 500 ft, and call it 5000. 3.5 x 5 + 17.5% reduction. call it 20% for the hell of it. so subtract 5.2 amps still give me 19.8 amps.... why can it not run a 9.5 amp draw?

Well, as is normal with my luck, odd things going on. I fired up one gen and started up the ac. It was showin 103 out on the side of the camper in direct sun, 97 inside. all was great, about 20 minutes later I heard the gen bog and went to check. The ac was just barely blowing air, i switched to fan and everything worked great, back to ac and it bogged and very little air. So I figured with my 5600 feet of elevation and a hot day it was too much for one gen. I fired up the second one. same dam thing happened! I was surprised by this.It even blew my main breaker a couple of times. I decided to run it off my extension cord so i could put the amp meter on the white wire. nothing on in the coach it ran about 0.36 amps. if I am doing it right, the start up on the ac is about 9.4 amps, then it settles down at 2.2 amps or so. It blew the breaker in the coach, and on my surge protector in the garage, so I had to turn everything off, reset the breakers, start with the fan and work to the ac. it seems to run with no issues plugged into the wall. really disappointed here.