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sharpest

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Posts posted by sharpest

    What MPG do you get?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I just got back home in Portland, Oregon after a trip down to San Jose, California and back in our new 1989 21' Sunrader. We put a little over 1500 miles on it. It averaged a little over 15 MPG which is not bad considering the mountians in Southern Oregon and Nortern California. It is a V6 with an automatic.

    Our other Sunrader is a 1983 21' with a 4 speed and a 4 cylinder engine (22R). On our trip from Portland, Oregon to Mobile, Alabama last year (6000 miles) we averaged a little over 17 MPG.

    Bob

    When to cover your RV?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hans,

    Thanks for the nice reply and welcome to the Toyota RV world. I am very new to this as well. Please let me know how your RV cover works for you. This group has been very helpful to me when I had any questions about our Sunrader. I am sure you will learn a lot from all the questions and comments posted here as I have.

    (My wife and I have been to the Netherlands to visit a friend and former business partner. His name is Hans Glaser and he and his family live in Almere. We enjoyed our trip very much. You have a very beautiful country and very frendly people.)

    By the way, your English is very good.

    Best Regards,

    Bob

    When to cover your RV?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    This is probably a really dumb question but here goes:

    We live in Portland, Oregon and have had our 1983 Sunrader since May of this year. We have put 10,000 miles on it since we bought it. I actually like driving it so much that I am using it as a second car. I drive it just about every day.

    Well, we are into the rainy season up here and I recently bought an RV cover from Camping World. Do I need to cover the Sunrader every time I park it? Does anyone have any rule of thumb about when to cover your RV?

    I will appreciate any suggestions.

    Bob

    83 Sunrader and Trailer

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by sharpest

    Thanks for the comments.

    As to the Aero Tow trailer, we were looking for a small enclosed utiilty trailer that would be easy to tow at freeway speeds. We found that many very small utility trailers really shouldn\'t be towed at freeway speeds or for long distances. Not the Aero Tow. It was built extremely strong for its size. It holds more than enough for our needs.

    We found the Aero Tow on Seattle\'s Craigslist in June. There were actually 2 of these trailers available in Seattle on Craigslist at the same time by two different owners who did not know of each others trailers. Small world.

    The one we bought had a little body damage in the very front as the previous owner backed into himself but was otherwise is very good condition. Both of the lids on the storage compartments have a rubber seal that make this trailer pretty much waterproof. We paid $650 for ours. The other Aero Tow got scooped up the same day by soneone else.

    I am on the lookout for another Aero Tow. I am pretty sure that the manufacturer is long gone. Please let me know if there are any for sale out there.

    83 Sunrader and Trailer

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by sharpest

    Here is our 1983 Sunrader along with the enclosed utility trailer we bought for additional storage.

    The trailer is a 1989 Robert's Metal Mfg. Aero Tow. It's empty weight is a total of just about 400 lbs. It can carry a total of 1200 lbs including the trailer weight. The trailer has two covered compartments which are water tight. We do not plan to carry more than a few hundred lbs. in it.

    We had it painted to match the Sunrader including the stripe.

    We just got back from a 6100 mile trip from Portland, Oregon to Mobile, Alabama and back. The Sunrader and the trailer worked perfectly. The trailer was a great addition. It pulled straight and true. With it's low profile you could not even tell you were pulling anything. It does not get buffeted around even in very strong winds.

    We stored additional clothes and supplies that can clutter the living space of the Sunrader. We bought large plastic covered storage bins that fit very nicely in the trailer to keep everything clean and neat. Addtionally, we had the body shop that did the painting weld two metal plates inside the larger compartment to hold our Honda generators in place.

    In just about every place we stopped on our trip we had people admiring the Sunrader and the trailer. Most thought they were a set you bought together from Sunrader.

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    Sunrader Damage

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Thanks for the suggestions. I am going to a couple of body shops today as well as Camping World. I will also check with a couple of the major marine dealers here in Portland for their suggestions.

    In anticipation of a finding of structural roof damage and the real possibility of the the Sunrader being totaled I am going to start looking for comparables.

    Thanks again.

    Bob

    Sunrader Damage

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by sharpest

    We have a 21\' 1983 Sunrader we purchased in May of 2007. It was in excellent shape with only 22,000 miles on it.

    We have taken two \"major\" trips in our Sunrader since we bought it . The first was a round trip from Portland, Oregon to the San Francisco Bay area and back for a total of 1600 miles. The Sunrader ran perfectly but we realized that we needed some kind of AC as we had neither dash AC or roof AC.

    We had roof air installed about a month ago before the big trip we made to Mobile, Alabama and back. We put a little over 6000 miles on the Sunrader during this trip. It also ran perfectly. We averaged a nearly 18 miles per gallon on the way down to Mobile and 16 on the way back to Portland. The lower gas mileage on the way home was due in my opinion to the awful winds we encountered when we started on I-80 in Lincoln, Nebraska which continued for nearly the rest of trip.

    Prior to our trip to Mobile we bought an Roberts Aero Tow enclosed utility trailer. We had a hitch put on the Sunrader and reinforced the frame. We had the trailer painted to look like the Sunrader -stripes and all. ( I want to upload a picture but can\'t seem to manage it)

    Now to the problem.

    We had our oil changed at Wal-Mart the day before we left for Mobile. In Mobile we had the oil changed again just before we left for home in Portland. We arrived home last Monday. On Friday, Sept. 28, 2007 we went to the same Wall Mart to change the oil again.

    Wal Mart employees drive the vechicles into the bay to change the oil and drive it out afterwards. The overhead door is not too much taller than the top of our RV. It was raining and cold so once the Sunrader got into the bay the overhead door in the rear was closed. The exit overhead door in front was closed as well. After the oil was changed the exit overhead door was opened and a Wall Mart employee drive it out. Unfortunately, the exit overhead door was not raised to its highest level and our front vent and new AC units were pretty much destroyed and our roof scraped and cut.

    Wal Mart has stated they will pay to fix our Sunrader as there was no doubt as to their total liability. I have informed our insurance company as well. They are waiting to see what Wal Mart will do.

    Wal Mart tarped up the roof to keep any more rain from coming in. We drove it home in a driving rain. However, in addition to leaks through the AC unit and front vent, we found that we now have leaks over the rear kitchen and in front through (I think) the seal where the two halves of the Sunrader come together. We had no leaks before this accident.

    My question to anyone out there is who should I take our Sunrader to to do an expert evaluation of the repairs needed?? I do not just want the vents fixed and the AC replaced as I am concerned that the collision with the overhead door has got the frame out of square and the cause of the leaks.

    Any suggestions you have will be much appreciated. Thanks.

    Bob

    Electrical Diagram for a 1983 Sunrader

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    My 1983 Sunrader was not prewired for AC in either vent.

    As we are going to change the interior over the next year I had the AC people go ahead and install the roof AC in the rear vent and staple the electrical connection from the interior ceiling to the inverter. It doesn't look all that bad and it's a temporay fix.

    Having just returned from a trip to California from Portland, Oregon we had to have an AC. We don't have a cab AC and the temperture from Redding, California to Sacramento on I-5 south was 104 degrees. We were like a Easy Bake Oven on wheels.

    A new breaker switch for the AC had to be installed as well.

    We have a small enclosed trailer that is being refitted to hold our 2 x Honda EU2000i generators. Once that's done I will post a picture.

    Thanks again to those who left messages.

    Replacing Shocks

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I have a 1983 21' Sunrader(1982 Toyota).

    I am going to replace the shocks I have with with KYB Monomax shocks.

    I am challenged mechanically so my brother in law who rebuilds cars as a hobby has generously offered to install the new shocks. He is aware the original axle has been replaced with the upgraded 6 bolt axle. He asked me to find out if shocks for a 1982 Toyota are the right ones for this replaced axle since it is a newer axle???

    I would appreciate any suggestions from the group.

    Thanks,

    Bob

    1983 21' Sunrader,

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