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Ctgriffi

Toyota Advanced Member
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Everything posted by Ctgriffi

  1. May or may not be relevant at this juncture but just chiming in to say that, whenever a caulk/sealant application needs to look REALLY good, I'm all about laying down plenty of masking tape on both sides of the seam first, making sure the gap between is straight and even: that way, you can apply the bead of product, tool it down, then carefully pull away all the tape for a factory-crisp line. Looks good, feels great!
  2. I don't have a Sunrader but, when the truck is off, the isolator and all that stuff is basically out of the equation (that's kinda the point of that little gizmo). I think you need to be looking at the coach battery more closely (what is its current voltage right now?) and checking the connection between it and your rig's power center. There may be some corroded connections, or a bad fuse, or malfunctioning auto-resetting circuit breaker between the coach battery and the power center.
  3. Household extension cord of heavy gauge will work (10 gauge is best), and you may need a special plug adapter if you don’t have one yet. Note: If you plan on using roof AC, better make sure that nothing else is running on the circuit where your extension is plugged in, or it will likely trip the breaker. 50A vs 30A refers to the amount of current that is available, and our rigs typically only need 30 amp service because we don’t have large power requirements. (Both 50A and 30A are standard 120 volts so you can technically connect to either, but the plugs do differ… so another adapter is needed, if you go that route.) Someone else will chime in if I’ve missed anything 😁
  4. So we're just hitting 9 years on the Nexen SV820 tires that I purchased in early 2015 (all manufactured in '14 according to date codes). They all have 6/32" or better tread with no signs of cracking or dry rot, and we've put roughly 18,000 miles on 'em. And, I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on a full set of Thunderer Ranger R101 tires, but I thought I'd run it by all of you first, to get any thoughts/comments: Is tire replacement WAY overdue at this point? (Internet says YES) Do any of you guys run rubber older than this and care to admit it? Who's currently got the Thunderer Rangers and love/hates 'em?
  5. So we're just hitting 9 years on the Nexen SV820 tires that I purchased in early 2015 (all manufactured in '14 according to date codes). They all have 6/32" or better tread with no signs of cracking or dry rot, and we've put roughly 18,000 miles on 'em. And, I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on a full set of Thunderer Ranger R101 tires, but I thought I'd run it by all of you first, to get any thoughts/comments: Is tire replacement WAY overdue at this point? (Internet says YES) Do any of you guys run rubber older than this and care to admit it? Who's currently got the Thunderer Rangers and love/hates 'em?
  6. Mine's pretty close to 14" deep like yours but doesn't have the bump. Is it really in the way of the the battery? Maybe you don't have any wiggle room on the right-and-left? Here's what my Group 27 looks like when strapped in:
  7. Group 27 seems to fit fine on my 91 Warrior; it's in an exterior box, down low and to the left of the entry door. Maybe yours is in a different place?
  8. Thanks for taking a look, Doug! I haven't noticed any undue leaning in corners yet... but, then again, even after lots of upgrades and repairs, these things still handle pretty darn awful, compared to normal vehicles. I guess my expectations are not high Totally agree about the AirLift quality of service—they truly stand by their lifetime guarantee. A few years back, after decades of use, they were happy to send me out replacement bags, for no charge, and with no questions asked. Amazing.
  9. Thought I'd share two minor improvements to the 91 Warrior that I completed recently: Center Caps My rig never came with any center caps on the front wheels (did they all originally, from the factory?), so I thought I'd make use of a recent hobby purchase, a 3D printer, to come up with a solution. Using Fusion360, I spent a crazy amount of time modeling and then printing about 10 different versions of these caps in ABS, trying to find the best way to engineer the retaining clips so that they could a) bend a little b) hold everything securely and c) not break instantly upon installation (harder than it sounds!). I also put the Winnebago logo on the front, obviously, which turned out pretty legit IMO... we'll see how they hold up, fingers crossed. It was a fun project and a great learning experience, especially in terms of gaining beginner CAD skills. AirLift 25804 Compressor Kit It's helpful to be able to adjust your air bags based on how much gear you've carrying and current road conditions. I typically like to run higher pressure (60+) when I'm doing long-distance, interstate travel on excellent highways—just keeps things tighter and less will-nilly, especially when the semis are flying past you, sucking you into that low pressure bubble (we all been there!). At the same time, if you're not carrying a full load or are just moseying around a state park, 40psi seems to be the way to go on my rig. I always bring a 12v compressor and tire gauge of course, but that process can be a hassle and definitely isn't something you can do on the fly! This kit comes with just about everything that you need to add onboard air to your rear air suspension. There are a few different options in terms of installation (some recommended, some probably not), but I chose to put the control panel near the driver's left knee and then ran the 1/4-in air line with 12v+ behind the vinyl flooring and through a sturdy grommet in the transmission tunnel, down to the compressor unit, which I mounted on the rear crossmember. Underneath, I was careful to keep the air lines FAR away from any exhaust components, and I wrapped the lines in a good bit of heat shield insulation where they passed over the transmission. I may also add some kind of "splash plate" over the compressor unit eventually, but I don't think it's going to get a lot of moisture where it is—if any water does intrude, I added some tiny holes in the downward corner of the case for easy drainage. So far, it's working great and will hold the same pressure for many days, no leaks! Also, due to the remote location of the compressor (and some sturdy rubber I sandwiched between it and the frame), it makes very little noise when running. I just really enjoy being able to adjust the bags while driving, to see the impact on ride and handling. (It IS just a single-circuit setup, however, so I can't adjust left vs right, but honestly I rarely ever did that before and don't mind the loss.)
  10. Love seeing the progress—keep it up, sir! It will be amazing to see this thing back on the road eventually, in all its glory! (Great photo ^ too, with all the drama of a Chernobyl investigation, ha!)
  11. I could be wrong (!) but, as a guy who works in tech all-day, every-day, I think we might be dealing with a bit of AI-generated dialogue... or somebody's just copying/pasting nice snippets from the Interwebs 😁
  12. I’m thinking that it’s always a gamble, to some degree, right? And generally the older the rig, Toyota or not, the worse the odds. In terms of “risk mitigation” you can a) do as much preventative maintenance as possible b) limit the distances involved (and avoid super remote destinations) so you don’t find yourself completely up a creek without a paddle and c) try and become the best shade-tree mechanic that you can be… and bring tools.
  13. High here was just 7F today! Look forward to seeing what you end up making with the leather. A sewing machine is a great way to stay busy/productive in the dead of winter!
  14. Figured this one out finally... the heat strip (photo up above) has a little metal box containing a high-limit switch. I opened that box up and found some sketchy wiring that was creating a path to ground through the box and mounting bracket! Anyway, once I cleaned up the wiring in that box and made sure nothing was gonna ground out again, I put it all back together and tested: Thermostat dial is doing its job now, switching the neutral supply wire off/on as desired. Good deal. 😅 (I tested the little high limit switch in the box too, using a heat gun, and it's doing the thing. If that switch goes bad, you can end up with a completely open connection, with zero heat output.)
  15. Sorry the diagram looks fuzzy; this system degrades images quite a bit. So, the thermostat switches the common wire (neutral) to the yellow wire when calling for cold or to the blue wire when calling for heat; it’s a brand new unit and was bench-tested before installing. (That blue wire is connected directly to the heat strip through the 2-wire plug.) The other side of the heating circuit is the black/hot wire which is always connected to the heat strip via the selector switch, when in Low Heat mode.
  16. The heat strip wiring is just a 2-wire plug that connects to the ready-made socket on the unit (all factory). The heat strip itself has a steel bracket with a single bolt that secures it to the roof unit's chassis, in the path of return air. I also checked the main power connection, which is 12GA Romex coming into the ceiling control panel: black-to-black, white-to-white, and ground-to-ground are all wire-nutted together correctly.
  17. I've been going round and round with Airxcel tech support on this subject and am getting a bit frustrated with them, so I thought I'd drop the question here: I have a Coleman Mach roof A/C unit that's ~10 years old. It works well generally and is controlled with a mode selector switch as well as a manual thermostat dial. My unit has a simple, add-on heat strip which comes in handy for cool weather camping, and the heat function is activated by turning the mode selector switch to "Low Heat." The problem is that, when using the heat strip, the thermostat dial doesn't seem to have any bearing on its function—the unit just blows warm air constantly and always pulls about 12A, regardless of the thermostat setting and regardless of the ambient temp in the RV. That can get real toasty, real fast, in a tiny RV! And that is not how it was designed to work; the thermostat is intended to turn the heat strip off and on, in order to maintain a set temperature of course. The question is, "Why is it not working correctly?" If you look at the highlighted portion of the attached wiring diagram you can see that, in Low Heat mode, the hot/black wire is always connected to the Heater Plug. Then, when the thermostat is calling for heat, the white/neutral supply wire makes a connection to the blue wire, which is the other side of the circuit at the Heater Plug (in other words, it's designed to switch the neutral off/on, rather than switching the hot). I have tried completely replacing the thermostat, which didn't help at all. I then tried pulling the blue wire completely off the thermostat, left it dangling... and the heat strip still continued to burn merrily away! Bottom-line, it appears that the heat strip circuit is being completed via another path, bypassing the thermostat somehow and making it irrelevant. Which seems dangerous. How does this happen and what's the fix?
  18. If you're like me and never had a good, covered place to park your rig, well... it can just eat at you over time and make RV ownership that much more of a mixed bag. There are a variety of solutions out there (most of them, not cheap!), but here's what I did for my 20-footer: This is the 10x20 Advance Outdoor Carport Kit that goes for about $270+tax currently on Amazon. The kit is decent quality and adjustable in height, although I wouldn't go with the tallest setting, because the pole extensions just get too wobbly at that point. To make it all more secure and semi-permanent, I used 5/16-in lag screws to bolt the kit down onto sections of pressure-treated 2x10, each of which were staked twice through open-core concrete blocks with 30-in lengths of rebar. I started the whole thing by laying out string lines and using a variety of levels to get all the blocks straight, plumb, and on the same plane—gravel base mixture + a steel tamper is required to get a firm foundation for each block. The 30-in stakes were cut out of 10-ft pieces of 1/2-in rebar with an angle grinder and then given a "cap" by welding a thick washer near the top of each (see below), which helps pull the whole thing down tightly to the ground; perhaps similar stakes could be purchased ready-made, but I couldn't find anything locally, certainly not for less than $2 a stake! Once the blocks were set and staked, it was really just an hour or two to assemble the frame and get it installed, with the help of my wife. At this point, it's pretty sturdy and feels secure, although I do have a bunch of self-tappers that I'm going to use to pin each joint on the frame eventually, just to add a little rigidity. Hardest part, as you might imagine, was driving the 16 LONG stakes into rocky ground with an 8lb sledge. Overall, I probably spent about $430 for the entire project, and I'm happy with the cost/benefit. Feel like a load has been lifted
  19. Block off (or clamp tightly) the brake booster hose for testing purposes, see what that does to idle. Bad vacuum leaks can definitely mess with the idle. If that ^ turns out to be a red herring, might look at the fuel delivery issue that was mentioned already: check pressure at the rail and look for ~40psi. Running a few bottles of injector cleaner through might be a good idea too, in case one of ‘em is gummed up.
  20. Same to you! Looks fun, must be down south…
  21. All is looking/sounding good from here. At what point in this process will you add wiring for, say, a vent fan, roof AC, and/or lights?
  22. Thanks for bringing us along on the build; looking forward to seeing what you do with the old girl. (I’m not a Porsche guy, per se, but is that a 944 back there?)
  23. Such a cool rig. Glad you found some help, and it didn’t ruin the trip! Guess you got to see what driving a 4 cyl RV might be like! 😬 I run Lucas Upper Cylinder Lubricant through my 3VZE regularly, but you got me wondering now… btw, what new injectors did you use? I’ve got a noisy one that I’m watching.
  24. Just reporting back on the Gabriel 34073 Front Load Carrier shocks after a few trips behind us: I like them, quite a bit! Hard to say how they'll hold up over the long haul, although we don't really put that many miles on this rig anyway. For now, these shocks are definitely helping to keep the front end up where it should be, even when fully loaded for camping. There is far much less "bottoming-out" and jarring of the front end over rough pavement, versus the KYBs that we were running. On the other hand, when the rig is completely unloaded and I'm just running around locally, there is a slight floating sensation up front, but it's nothing crazy and not unexpected, given the add'l spring action. Overall, I'm really happy with the change, and I think it's a pretty good, inexpensive approach to weak torsion bars. For fun: just completed a long weekend at a new-ish state park, Echo Bluff. (Full hookups here, which is not the norm in MO and was much appreciated! Also another first: wild horses can be spotted roaming the park!)
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