Wade

Frankly I didn't like walking up there to put on the tarp. Snow is going to be a bugger but a small price to pay for living in such a wonderful place and having the toy home as well. Wade

Ran out of time to make the Styrofoam rafters I had Planned. Like The bin idea - oh well. Leaf blower it will have to be.

OK, so the billboard is actually more heavy duty than the most expensive tarps available at Menards. The one I got was 14 X 48'. I probably should have cut it down some. Unfortunately the grommet kit I purchased had a tough time punching the holes. I started really hitting hard with the hammer when on grommet #3, I connected with my finger. Can't believe I finished doing this by myself as my finger is still hurting like crazy many hours later! In any case I hope it will be OK for this winter as snow is supposed to come tomorrow. Thought you might want a look at what a billboard on a Toyota actually looks like when done alone at a dealine;-)

Thank you for this thread! Red, I was just about to go out and buy a tarp and knew that it likely wouldn't last too long. Hope that the billboard will last longer. In any case I like the fact that it is recycling something instead of wasting a valuable resource. Thank you Linda for posting the link! Turns out that the place is just a couple of miles from my house. $48 including tax and I will pick it up this afternoon. Probably another $20 for grommets and bungees and my little Toy will be safely tucked in for the winter. Wade

Hey guys. Thanks for making me feel better about my unfortunate beginning to the forum;-) My take on all of this is simply that more important than the differences in the side of the argument (50 - 65 psi), is simply to make sure that you know what pressure your tires actually are. Next for me is Temperature. As I was trying to find the PSI I want (frankly still not sure), I carried my infrared thermometer and checked my tire temps. As long as the tires aren't building heat it's likely not that big of deal what PSI you run at. I have always tended to go towards the higher end of the PSI range and don't mind the extra harshness and appreciate the extra MPG. However, currently I am running lower that I thought I would up front because I like the handling better. Before my next trip I will check all tires and make sure they are consistent. My current choice is about 60 in the rear and about 50 in the front. I say about because most likely my gauge is not going to be the same as your gauge. Also, if my testing shows the front to be equal at anywhere between about 48 and 55 I will likely leave them alone. Same thing in the rear only at 10psi. Wade

My 11 year old grandson loves the ladder as well. My daughter is going to spend her 36th birthday with me working on a ladder as we shingle her garage roof. I like hanging out with her but would have to say I prefer the ladder on the Toyota and playing with my grandson rather than lugging shingles up on a roof;-) The ultimate answer for loose ladders appears to be rot. Thankfully mine is still in good shape. Just have to echo the other response; NICE JOB JD! I love what you did with the bumper and ladder! Wade

RR, thanks for sharing the pictures! I wish mine were in that good of shape! I would like to do something like that with my rear bumper but will either have to make it removable or convince my wife to get rid of the arborvitae where it is parked. Wade

I can't say that I have had a lot of "problems" with power steering. Before moving to the city quite frankly they really didn't bother me much. However I can't remember exactly how many cars I drove where, when I heard that specific noise, I got out the can of PS steering fluid I always had on and and topped it off. I know that it was more than a few cars I have owned. The Toyota sits on clean concrete in the city and I really don't want the drips. It is also one more belt to maintain and while that isn't a big deal it is nice not to have to worry about it. There is apparently one more maintenance issue with the Toyota power steering units -- also no big deal -- that I am sure JD could explain and I would like to learn about. When I was replacing all the rubber on my 22re, Jerry from 22re performance threw in a vacuum hose kit for a 22re with power steering. As I don't have a power steering unit I didn't need the hoses. However, it might just be a senior moment, but I can't remember having a vehicle where engine vacuum was tied to the power steering. What do those hoses do and does anyone want a set of new ones? Wade

For the record, I wish I would have had a 64 Chevelle SS;-) Would have most likely preferred that car with power steering as well. I remember really liking the power steering on a 1971 Chrysler Newport. My only point was that I am plenty happy with the manual steering on my Toyota motor home. My guess is that the really long frame extensions and relatively light 22re make for an easy enough turn. Personally I'll take the added effort occasionally for the lack of maintenance given the age of the truck. As you say, to each their own. Wade

Wow, that looks exactly like my rig. Almost exact anyway. Water heater on the other side and mine originally had a generator behind the drivers side cab. Mine is also a year older cab with a manual. Thankfully my wife hasn't left in it (she loves it) and went off to live at a Wal Mart;-) Wade

My 1985 21' Coachmen is apparently a really rare bird then. Frankly I am very happy with the 22re 4sp manual with manual steering. Just back from a quick overnight traveling around Lake Pepin. To the best of my knowledge I would have to travel about 1000 miles to have hills much more significant than those we traversed through the bluffs of the Mississippi. Was always able to maintain at least 50 mph. The engine did a good job of holding it back going down hill. Never had to merge onto a freeway on a significant grade or have I been in true mountains with my rig. However, on normal upper great plains grades and traffic I am very satisfied with the performance of this setup. However, I have no problem holding the gas pedal to the floor when needed. I don't lug the engine. I use the engine to hold it back on grades. I use that gas pedal aggressively when merging or maintaining speed on grade but otherwise don't find it necessary. FWIW, if I had a different rig with power steering, at the first inevitable power steering leak, I would try to replace it with a manual steering setup rather that spend the time and money repairing the leak. I don't find 3 point turns etc that difficult. However, I am a young grandpa in good health. For me, it is just not that difficult to turn the wheel. Wade

I bet the axle was a big part of it. I know that we got a fleet truck a couple of years newer than the lariat I was talking about. The fleet truck had EFI but it also had a higher ratio rear end. Don't know the numbers of either but the Ford I was talking about ran noticeably lower RPMs and got terrific mileage. (The whole reason we got such a fancy truck in the first place is that Ford was selling them cheap to get their CAFE numbers up.) The fleet truck with the same engine, EFI, and the taller gearing got much worse MPG. IIRC, I could get over 20 MPG on the Lariat and I don't think the fleet truck broke 17. I am not familiar with the Chrysler V6. Am kind of curious as to why the dakotas got such terrible gas mileage. Isn't that the engine they used? OTOH, my neighbor got a Dodge regular cab 4WD with the V6 new a couple of years ago and regularly broke 20 mpg and that was a full sized pickup.

Unfortunately I am not so sure I can speak from my experience as my memory can be a little fuzzy when looking 30 years back;-) However, I don't think I'm comparing apples to oranges. I had about 1200 lbs or so in the back of the F150 making it in the ballpark of my lightly loaded 21' Toyota at just a bit under 3 tons total. I clearly remember the need to downshift on that hill because it was unusual to me with such a new and nice truck that up until that point I hadn't driven with such a load in the back. The math is pounds-feet per second equals horsepower. That is the part that kind of twists my brain (pardon the pun;-). So the Ford had a whole lot more snort but just couldn't keep it up for very long? At some point it must come down to the horsepower being the real number even though in general driving experience I prefer more torque. Perhaps I shifted much earlier in the Toy than what I remember in the Ford. I am sure of my memory in that both trucks moved about the same amount of weight (although much more wind resistance in the Toyota) up the same hill at roughly 55 mph. Both trucks could not do it in 4th but could in 3rd. The huge torque advantage of the Ford could not overcome the fact that it couldn't make the hill in 4th and the fact that they both made it at about the same speed seems to me that horsepower is the ultimate limit of what can be done. Back to the reliability, that is why I am happy enough with the 22re. I am not afraid to use all it has to offer when needed and from what I can tell the driveline can handle it. Pushed hard the Toyota Motor home goes as fast as I need it to. I am not familiar with the 4.3 but am a bit surprised to hear that it is economical. I thought is was just a short 350. The 350s I have driven did not impress me as economical. I wonder what a 4.3, or my personal favorite, a Buick 3800 would do in a Toyota with a good 4 or 5 speed manual? That would be a pretty neat rig in my opinion.

Sometimes I think I understand this and I know for a fact that I really like a flat torque curve! My current car is a Volvo XC70. The turbo 2.5 puts out it's peak of 230 pound-feet from 1500 rpm till near the red line. That seat of the pants punch played a huge role in getting me to make a purchase decision I normally would not have made;-) Here is what I don't really understand. I remember back in the day having a company F150 with the 300 six and a 4 speed. That 6 cyl put out about the same hp as the 4 cyl Toy, however the Ford put out about twice as much torque. At some point, in some way, the torque I know I like so much must really amount to not much of anything and that is what I don't understand. I remember taking that F150 up the very same hill loaded to roughly the same weight as my Toy. I know that at some point on the hill, just like with the Toy, I had to shift down to 3rd in order to maintain speed. Perhaps my memory is faulty but it seems to me like the ability to make that hill was near equal based on the near equal HP and not something where the Ford did nearly 2x as well to match its torque. Wade

FWIW, I think other posters have covered this topic better than what I have to say. Consider this just another opinion. Handling, power, convenience, MPG, comfort, and durability, these seem to be the considerations. I have very limited experience in the specific category of motor homes. My prior coach was a class C 1976 Dodge El Dorodo with a 360, full floating dual axle set up as a single, 18 footer. The Dodge was a van cab and chassis vs a truck cab and chassis so the 18 foot was nearly equivalent to my current 21 foot Toy. Amenities are same although the space over the cab is bigger on the Toy and the Toy has rooftop air (so not quite the same;-). The weight was within a couple of hundred pounds. Handling: Cn't comment on the V6. From comparing the 4 Cyl Toy, hands down the dodge. Although, nothing I can't deal with and frankly I have driven equivalent Dodges in van trim that handled much worse than my Toy. Maintaining what is there is critical and if done I am OK with the 85 4 cyl Toy. Power: I did love the Dodge. 70 MPH, not even remotely a problem as long as you didn't mind 8 or perhaps even less MPG. Frankly I enjoyed that and frequently couldn't stop myself from doing so. Is that really a good thing? Why do I really want to take the people I Love so fast in what is such an inherently unsafe vehicle? The V6 appears to be a big improvement in power but having owned and enjoyed something way beyond that, for me, the increased power simply isn't worth the decrease in MPG. Convenience: Don't have an opinion on this as I haven't serviced a V6. The 22re is uncomfortable in that the valves need to be adjusted hot and the timing chain tensioner may need to be replaced. The V6 will need the timing belt changed and I don't know how inconvenient that is. From what I can see and after replacing nearly all engine rubber, the 22re is easy to work on and surprisingly the parts are readily available. Assume the availability of parts is the same on the V6 but I don't know how hard the V6 is to work on. (The Dodge, being a van, was no fun and parts are more sketchy.) MPG: Truth is on one level you could argue that the Doge wins because it is such a trivial cost in the whole cost of ownership for an RV so of course the V6 is a better choice than the 4. My take on that is that sometimes rational economics is anything but. I want better MPG even though it may be tough to make that argument economically. Oil is a finite resource and until there is a viable alternative why do I want to waste something so valuable when I don't have to? Durability: Seems to me that engines as durable as the 22Re are a rare breed and I just don't think that the V6 is quite at that level. Kind of like the Dodge -- a pretty good engine but I think the 22re is a great engine. Comfort. Frankly in anything this old all I have to say is make it what you want. Please forgive this rant or enjoy it for what it is -- someone new to this community expressing how amazing I think our little Toys are. Personally I really like the 4 but I am sure the V6 is still better than the overwhelming majority of competing RVs.

Thank you for your replies! I am just hoping to get one more season out of it with my current repairs holding. Two would be even better. However, it sounds like that may be living in a dream world? At least I am pretty sure I know what is going on now. Not looking forward to fixing it but OTOH, should not be the worst thing I've done lately either. Oh do I miss the days of having a pole shed though;-) I do love the city but city living does make some things much more difficult. Wade

I'll let you know right after we have that happy activity in our home;-) Not everything about getting older is great;-)

My 85 Coachmen has a metal roof. I thought it was in pretty good shape as the water damage appears rather minor from my experience with old RVs. The worst of it appeared to be, surprise surprise, over the cab. It looked like most of the leaking had been addressed and I believe most of it has been. At some point I plan on removing the emergency exit and replacing it and addressing the damage over the cab. However, there was only one small leak at the emergency exit and I fixed that the first week I had the camper and it continues to hold. Looks can be deceiving and I believe that my roof is much more deteriorated than I originally thought. Although, after spending a fair amount of time on it, I do not believe the damage is bad as the deterioration should suggest. I think the POs did enough maintenance to limit the damage but I still have the deterioration to deal with. I truly know nothing and hopefully sharing my experience will either enlighten me or save someone else. I doubt very much that what I am going through is not something that others on the list have went through already. Here is what has happened: If I were truly a wise shopper, obviously the sundraders are desirable for good reason;-) With a metal roof I had a huge red flag that unfortunately I saw as a welcome mat. The interior damage was minor, rain just before we looked at it and nothing was wet so I thought it was all good. The back was nice shiny white metal and the seams had reinforcing tape coated with rubber and that rubber coating covered the roof in front of that shiny white metal that covered about the rear third. This is what I am pretty sure I have: I have a metal roof that is developing pin holes from corrosion. I know that the past three years the unit had been stored inside. I also know that at some point, the unit had a new rooftop air installed. (That is the one thing I don't have the paperwork for but I do have it for the original unit and this is not that.) Pretty sure that when they installed the new rooftop unit they put a new piece of metal on the roof and decided that a bit of elastomeric sealant over the rest would be good enough. Perhaps with vigilant maintenance it will be? As I said in another post, I developed a leak on our first big trip. It came out at the center vent but the center vent was tightly sealed. I saw bubbles in the eleastomeric sealant and thought it was just bubbled due to bad application and that when the bubbles broke the leak started. Likely true except for the application as the cause. I now believe that the "bubbles" in the elastomeric sealant are more likely being caused by the corrosion process. In any case, I have no shop or roof to work under and the eleastomeric sealant can't be applied when temps are going to go below 60 or rain within 24 hours. Had to do something quick due to my living situation. I scrubbed and rinsed really thoroughly and then covered everything ahead of the new metal with elastomeric roof patch. The aggressive scrubbing has convinced me that I have corrosion under the roof patch. After it cured I could even see some bleed through and a bit of texture even in places that were not "bubbled" before hand. The first coat stopped the leak but showed the bleed through and covered more places that the scrubbing exposed. Had one more weather window so I went for a second coat. This time I thought it prudent to make a "rubber mache" so to speak. Used polyester roof patch over all the areas where I could see that there was corrosion underneath. Laid the cloth down over wet roof patch and then covered it completely with more roof patch. I am currently dry and hoping that it will hold up for a couple of years at least. Not sure what the next "correct" step will be. Hoping to gain some more insight from posting this. Thanks! Wade

For me it is about learning, sharing, and being inspired. Kind of an odd take away perhaps for a 30 year old vehicle project. However, it does seem like there are some very nice and generous people on this list. I like to have my better tendencies reinforced and this is a place where that happens. I belong to a similar group for my also outside of the mainstream motorcycle. Have met some of those people in the real world and I truly enjoy their company. Hopefully one of these years I will be able to meet some of the people on this community and I am sure I will enjoy their company as well. Wade

This is probably old news for many here but it is new to me. During my first real trip, during a steady rain, water started dripping in around my center roof vent. The first thing I did months ago on acquiring the Toy was to wash the roof and look for leaks. There was a leak at the over-cab emergency exit roof vent. That leak was at the seam between the roof and the vent. Easy fix and the coach was water tight until the trip. The leak looked the same and I expected another easy fix. Unfortunately there was no place that I could see for water to get in around that roof vent. All the seams appear to be water tight. I have a metal roof with some rubber like paint on it and all seams taped first. Everything looked to be in good shape and indeed had been. However, I knew that I wasn't imagining the leak and I knew there was not enough wind and water to have it be coming in over the vent lip. There had to be a leak. Looking closer it appears that what happened was that when they put the "rubber" paint on, there were places where the paint bubbled. This had not been a problem. However, over time, the tops of some of the bubbles wore through and now I have leaks that just happen to end up coming out at the roof vent. Actual leak is a foot or more away. My plan is to scrub good with TSP or such, wait for a couple of good dry tarp free days, and then re-coat with roof sealant. In the mean time I guess I'll just have to keep it under a tarp until I can find the dry time. Roof sealant won't be here for a few days. Any tips or corrections to my plan are welcome. Thanks, Wade

Pretty happy after my first real trip with the Toy home! Still somewhat overwhelmed with just how much I need / want to do. Current observations FWIW: 1. I am super happy to have the 4spd manual! I don't think I would feel very safe with this rig with an automatic. I know that at the moment my brake fluid has been changed but if it were an automatic I would be positively neurotic at making sure the fluid was changed every couple of years and that the brakes were fully inspected annually. Even then I would worry about the heat. I like having the control of the manual. 2. Very satisfied with the power. Almost never had to downshift (more often to hold back downhill) and certainly not that difficult to merge into traffic. 3. I have yet to replace the plugs, cap, and rotor so there may even be a little room for improvement but the MPG is a very nice change from my prior RV experience. Over 837 miles I have been averaging 16.3 mpg. Might be a tad optimistic as I think my odometer is a touch off. I ran most of the trip at 62mph on the speedo but when I would come to speed radar signs I was typically 3 - 5 mph faster than what the radar said. In any case it was very noticeable how reasonable we could travel! 4. Just because something didn't leak doesn't mean that it wont;-) Apparently a couple of hundred miles of bumps can open up cracks that were once sealed. Center vent decided to start leaking on the rainiest night of our trip. Was water tight prior to that. Will likely just patch with some lap seal for now as I am running out of time this season. However, I think next summer I will pull all the vents and replace them with proper sealing. Will likely have more questions and definitely will spend more time searching through the boards. Hopefully when fully re-done they will last many years instead of a few hundred miles;-) 5. It is an amazingly nice driving vehicle. Yes it is true that it is quite heavy for the size and that I am glad to have the manual. Certainly would not want to drive it in heavy winds. However, in normal and even rainy weather it was quite comfortable to drive. Perhaps one day, after everything else is done I could see putting better seats in it. All in all though it was comfortable and easy to drive. I kind of drive it like my motorcycle in that I like to keep room around me and certainly try to anticipate and take action long before necessary. With that frame of reference it was actually enjoyable to drive. Wade

Don, My current car is a Volvo and I drove Buick's for years before that. I am used to finding aftermarket parts where OEM are exceedingly expensive and for many parts at least offer no particular value for exceptional cost. However, for the 22RE I was simply lazy and didn't think the OEM prices were out of line. 22RE performance dot com had all the oem parts laid out in such an easy way to find that I just looked at my toy and then went through their web site and put everything into a big spreadsheet. Called Jerry and went through the order with him. In a few days I had almost every piece of rubber in the engine compartment in original Toyota packaging. The only things we got wrong was that I didn't have power steering and got some vacuum hoses that I didn't need. Also ended up with small radiator cap and my truck has the large one. Below is a pic of the end result. (Still have a couple of hoses that we missed and will likely install OEM cap an rotor as well.) Just got back from about a 600 mile trip. Went through the Sawtooth mountains, (More accurately just really big hills.) a small amount of stop and go traffic, and the temp was stable as a rock. Used my infrared temp gauge and everything looked super constant. Very happy with the end result. Used a toyota OEM oil filter as well. Not sure if I will continue that but I will say that after about 800 miles the oil is still clear and hasn't moved a bit. I have always been happy with Wix or Hastings filters but it was just an easy thing to add to the order. Also got some aluminum billet seals for the head / valve cover gasket. No more messy leaks! There are a lot of cooling and vacuum hoses on this beast! It really was quite a bit of work. However, with everything OEM it was pretty simple to just lay everything out and work until it was all gone;-) I did not go with Toyota Red antifreeze though. Wade

I have to fess up that I just bought a gallon of 50/50 as I was changing out all the hoses on my Toy. My car is a Volvo and takes some expensive European stuff and I just didn't want to have two extra jugs of Antifreeze taking up space in my garage. So, I bought a jug of regular, a gallon of distilled water filled the system with that and used a little of the 50/50 to finish off and have on hand in case of any leaks or evaporation. ( I could handle the advanced math that said I would need a little more than two gallons but less than 3;-) Wade

I feel bad reading the apparent ill will between Fred and Totem and now trying to drag Putney's down as well. Frankly I have learned useful info from all of the above. The effort Jerry put into the website at 22re performance.com saved me a whole bunch of time and effort and Jerry was very helpful over the phone as well. Not sure what to make of the BBB report quoted. I only know my personal experience with that business and it is first class. For the life of me I can't understand why their website isn't listed as a sticky in the Engines section of this forum as everything we need is so clearly laid out with OEM parts by someone who clearly knows what they are doing. Instead we get an indirect attempt to trash their hard earned good name by an unknown letter to the BBB. Wade

Count me as being on the side that everyone could be right in this thread. I have an unknown rebuilt in my rig. I doubt it will make it anywhere near what an original 22re would. OTOH, at this point in time the oil is clear, the temp stays cool, it makes good power and must be getting at least 15mpg for a 21'rig. I am guessing that Totem is talking about 22re performance.com As far as I am concerned Jerry is probably the best source on the 22re anywhere. And, he is a great guy to talk to. If I had to get a new engine I would likely go that route assuming I was certain about the chassis. The warranties are only as good as the vendor. That said, I am hoping that my reman continues to work fine. I know I will be keeping a closer eye on the valve clearances than I would if it were original as from what I understand there are a number of inferior valve seats that are used in some of the rebuilts. Not going to take that chance. Some rebuilds go forever and some don't. I am skeptical at the prices in the ad posted that the likelyhood of a quality job is less than likely. OTOH, some very cheap Chinese stuff is actually done to exceptional quality standards. When I was in the flashlight world we called it the Chinese lottery. You just didn't know what you were going to get. I also remember putting a set of cheap Chinese rotors on a Lincoln years ago. Ran them with a stuck caliper to the point of smoke and after fixing the caliper they ran for years straight and true. The front OEM's couldn't even take a single mud puddle after turning -- well withing specs for thickness-- without warping. Wade