Wade

Ours had the rather bullet proof 225 slant six. I remember putting a long block in 79. Don't remember why;-) Perhaps it was the really long gearing of the 3 on the tree? Interesting that motor put out something less than 20hp compared to the 22re. The 22re really is a great piece of engineering. Thought you might get a kick out of this: http://www.performancesimulations.com/wp/fact-or-fiction-tire-contact-patch-size-is-determined-mostly-by-weight-and-tire-pressure/ Wade

Going to be doing heating and vacuum hoses figure I might as well go after the grounds as well. Clean and re-secure only? Chemical before or after? How do you do it? Wade

LOL! one of the vehicles I was thinking of was a 72 Dodge power wagon. Forgot about what it was like hitting something off road till you mentioned it. At least that thing had a giant steering wheel to help you manage it! It was only a 2WD but the base model. Sure they probably sold it with power steering by then. Sorry to hear about your shoulder. Look forward to seeing your pics and hopefully the actual PSI. Wade

I try to always measure tires cool. Says so right on the tire;-) Obviously you can't always do that on the road. Guess I am making a somewhat bigger deal out of it here than in the real world. I am mostly concerned with wear and consistency between tires. I don't worry about the precision either and I would guess that while you don't worry about it, you do likely check for consistency? IIRC, you said you run your rears at 45. Where do you run your front and do they lie much flatter than my pics above? Does the lower pic look "crazy" over-inflated to you? (Front wheel FWIW.) Interesting note about steering feedback. I'll put up with that for system simplicity at this point. Am a bit overwhelmed at everything I need to do to get my Toy the way I want it.

Just got my new rig back from the tire shop. Not sure that it is fair to blame them as I made a special point of having them install steel stems for the load range D tires due to their higher than auto pressure. (I have since found out that they actually make rubber stems designed for higher pressures.) One thing that no one ever talks about in regards to air pressure is how do you measure it? I remember being at a Tire shop one day and asking if I could check my tires. They gave me a hose with a really fancy Snap On digital gauge. (I know it is fairly common for people to be concerned with older push rod gauges as they wear or get dirty causing the rod to slide with more difficulty and giving inaccurate readings.) In any case, their gauge was 5 psi different than my digital gauge, one of my dial gauges and about the same as another one of my dial gauges. (I only had one gauge with me at the time.) Later I came back as I wanted to test against my other gauge again. This time they gave me another high end analogue dial gauge and it agreed with the other one of my gauges. I asked them how they could live with two different gauges giving readings that were 5psi off and that is where their goodwill to me ended;-) Never did get an answer. I would challenge anyone to demonstrate to me that there isn't at least 5psi variance in measurement across a wide variety of gauges. This is one of the many reasons I tend towards the higher end of the max sidewall PSI (Usually about 5psi or a little more short of max.) rather than the vehicle ratings. If the vehicle is rated at 34 psi and my gauge is off 5 high, then I actually have only 29 psi and then if it is loaded heavy on a hot day... Got my RV back from the tire shop with new tires and brakes last night. This afternoon, about 80 degrees truck parked overnight, I tested the air pressure using my dial gauge. On the top pic below I measured 70 psi! I would like to think that they set it at 65 on their gauge. The next picture, with the leaf in it, is the tire at 56 psi in my gauge. This is where I intend to start running it and adjust from there. I am new to this thing and I am not sure where I will end up. As I have repeatedly said I tend to run has high as i can, with a little breathing room at the top, for better mpg. I will consider going lower and certainly will go lower if I don't like the way the truck preforms or if the tires are not wearing evenly. On a perhaps related note, my truck is the 22RE with 4spd manual and MANUAL steering. What a hoot! I think I would have to go back to the '70s to remember the last time I owned a vehicle without power steering! Frankly I really like it! Perhaps if the fronts were down to factory PSI I might notice it? From the little I have driven it so far I am very happy with the steering. I am also grateful that I won't have one more fluid to change or leak to fix! The last time I mentioned this in another thread someone asked for people to share where they run their PSI. I would like to ask that again and perhaps pictures of where your tires ride. Wade

Our Coachmen came with a generator mounted in a little compartment right behind the drivers side door. It is long gone now. Should I decide to install a new one, I have a newer coleman rooftop air unit, what recommendations do you have? Thanks, Wade

I have yet to address this so I have a question. With all the abrasive wheels available today for a dremel or an angle grinder, has anyone tried to use such to clean areas prior to final cleaning and sealant? If you had positive experience what wheel what tool? Thanks! Wade

Congrats! Great looking rig. You said 10k on the tires but that doesn't mean a thing. How many years? Personally I wouldn't do a trip like that on anything more than 7 or 8 years old. As it was stored in a shed in WI I might stretch it a bit longer but not too much. (Tire date codes not installation date.) I like to make sure that all the rubber hoses on the engine cooling and fuel system at least are fresh. However, indoor storage in WI you are probably fine with a good visual inspection. Same goes for brake hoses. Sounds like your dad kept up on the roof seams and frankly, from how good it looks, I hope you have the chance for some father son time where he can show you how he maintained it and pass that knowledge along to you. Have fun at the EAA! What a great rig to have for doing that! Wish I could join you! Wade

First thing you should have in mind is what is your budget? $2900 may be a deal or way too much but if you want a reliable MH that is going to be around for a while it will definitely cost much more than that. Unless of course you don't care about your safety or that of those around you;-) There is a great sticky thread on here in the Engines forum that goes through the most common things you should expect to have to do. At a minimum you should inspect the unit with that list in mind and get a handle for what you can afford to address. Make sure rust hasn't done any serious damage to the frame ans suspension mounting points. We just looked at an 86 Dolphin and the guy selling it, while bragging about what good shape it was in, said not to climb the ladder as it was "loose". Looking under the sink and around the rear window and ceiling you could see the signs of old water damage and the reason the ladder was "loose" was because there was very serious damage to the rear framing material. Above the cab there was also water damage and that is where it is very common in any older unit where the roof and seams were not properly maintained. You won't have to spend too much time looking through the forum to see what various people have done to repair these kinds of damage. If you are a good carpenter and have the time, tools, and budget this may not be a deal breaker for you but it is a significant amount of work! The biggest hit to my budget on our recent purchase so far was that we didn't test the fridge first and unfortunately it is shot. Unless I find a good used unit at a bargain this is going to add somewhere between $400 and $900 to the purchase price. If I were content to live plugged in, $250 or less would replace it with an electric unit but I want to boondock. The black smoke sounds like it is running rich. Not sure what that would cost to fix. I would certainly also pull the transmission dipstick and smell the fluid. If it is dark and smells burnt I would probably move along. OTOH, the pictures at least make it look like the interior hasn't taken water damage or someone has already repaired it. If the coach is really solid and all coach systems work perhaps it still would be OK even if you had to replace the engine and tranny. The way I look at it with things this old is simply what will it take to keep it on the road in a condition I want to be in? FWIW, we bought ours for $3500. At the time I was figuring it was going to be about a $6k purchase. If you don't know about tire date codes learn and look. The unit we bought had perfect looking tires that, before I owned a different old RV, I would have thought would last me for years. After learning that lesson the hard way I looked at the date codes and certainly planned to replace the 12 year old tires that looked great. 6 new tires and a brake job before a single thing could be done so you can understand why I knew it was going to be a $6k purchase and not a $3500 purchase. I want to be able to travel without worrying. If I were always going to be within 100 miles from home I would still do the brakes and tires but would probably defer several hundred $ in new rubber under the hood. While I am very impressed with what some of the forum members have done with their units, I would not want to buy one like the 86 Dolphin we looked at because I don't want to spend all that time doing all the carpentry work required. The rest of it, to me, is much easier. Good luck Wade

Today I actually talked to the mechanic that did it from the 6 year old receipt in the cab;-) Good news bad news. He actually remembers the job. Said he was surprised at how nice it moved the coach about. He thought it was a pretty good little unit. Not his typical kind of job though as he builds extreme performance diesels as his specialty. The bad news is that he got the motor from O'Reiley. At this point I'm going to just hope that as it did make 2k miles and survive 3 years of being parked and does not make any funny noises and makes good power that it will be OK. Will justify my emotional purchase as if it craters at least the next engine will have new rubber;-) Probably not the wisest decision I have made but as jjrbus points out this should be pretty darn nice unit for what we have into it. Kind of hard to get anything even close to as good without spending a whole lot more money. Wade

1985 4spd manual. It's still sitting in the shop due to the delay in getting a new emergency brake cable. Have hardly even driven the thing but from what little I did, it started right up. Ran smooth and was able to get on the freeway OK. As soon as it gets back with fresh brakes, new tires, diff and tranny oil change, I get to go to work;-) Right now I think I know what I want to do to it first but am wondering if I am going off the deep end. My thinking is that I want to be able to simply drive it anywhere. OTOH, the PO put what he called a crate engine in 6 years and 2K miles ago. Appears to be a long block and given that it sat for the past 3 years yet starts and runs fine I am hoping that it actually was a NOS part that was sitting around. The thing that bugs me however is that it was only a $1800 part. Perhaps in 2010 that was in the ballpark? Anyone know, Here is what I want to order and do. 1 OES Thermostat $20.25 1 for the thermostat o-ring seal $2.65 1 OES Radiator hose kit (with clamps) $72.00 1 Heater Hose Kit $71.00 1 Radiator Cap $11.00 1 Throttle body / IAC coolant by-pass hoses $54.00 6 Spring Clamps $18.00 1 PCV valve and PCV grommet set $12.00 1 PCV Hose and spring clamps $20.00 1 Vent hose and spring clamps $20.00 1 Auxillary air valve hoses (throttle body to aux. air valve, air valve to upper plenum) $55.00 4 Spring Clamps $5.00 1 Power steering to intake vacuum lines $12.00 1 Oil drain plug w/ gasket $6.00 1 Toyota OEM Oil Filter $7.50 1 Sil-Glyde $6.75 1 KIT 2 V/C gasket set (billet half moons + grommets + acorns + pcv grommet) $65.00 1 Oil cap gasket $2.50 What do you think? (I realize the v/c gasket set is spendy but in includes billet machined plugs and I want to stop the leaks.) Wade

Thanks for posting. Good info.

Great point! Basically the first thing I wanted to do as part of new tires was to completely go through the rear axle brakes and bearings. Good thing too as the left slave cylinder had been leaking fluid and it had already contaminated the outer bearing! I trust the tire shop so it was really nice to just have them do this;-) You are right in that the rear axle is a bunch more work. Funny that I remember thinking disks were so complicated and difficult. I had all the tools for shoes and drums and thought they were so much easier. (At least that is what I think I remember;-) Now days I don't have my old brake tools and I really would rather not work on drum based brakes if I don't have to. (Rear drum on my motorcycle excepted;-)

The little things can be fun:-) Emergency bake cable that the Tire shop ordered was not correct for the mounting plate. Shop could only find one correct one and that was in Taiwan. I called Jerry at 22RE Performance and he was able to find one from Toyota and will be shipping it to the Tire Shop as soon as He gets it. Bummer. I was really looking forward to getting my new rig on the road. On the plus side I decided to have them pack the front wheel bearings while doing the tires even though the front brakes looked really good as though they had just recently been replace. When they removed them to get at the bearings, rust had taken over the pads and the slides. Glad that they had to clean and re-lube everything as I will have enough to do when I get it back;-) This is not the first time I have had a caliper look great but have sticking issues from rust. Glad it was taken care of before I started using it. Will keep you updated and the project goes forward but for now it is delayed and I am OK with that as the whole point of going through all these things now is that hopefully I won't be stuck away from home waiting for a hard to locate part. jdemaris. THANKS for the note about the fridge. Would love a road trip to MI but not sure I can justify the time right now and clearly I still don't know what my budget is going to be. Wade

My gauge is running the other way. Waiting to get my new rig back from tire shop and then will use my thermal gun to see what the truth is. As for finding the parts, frankly I think I am going to give this guy most of my business. Planning on putting in an order this week after I inspect and see what I need. He pretty much carries everything we need and what a useful resource. I just think anyone that has all that put together is worth giving my business to. That said I have yet to do so. http://www.22reperformance.com/22RE_Performance_-_Installation_Parts.html Going through the engine, including cooling, is my next step and being as I am going to be doing it myself I was thrilled to read such a write up. When I was actually able to talk to the guy who wrote it I was hooked. Wade

The way that I understand it, one group of Ford engineers raised the issue of roll over concerns and wanted suspension changes to mitigate the issue. Another group of Ford engineers said that the issue could be mitigated through lowering the air pressure. Lowering the PSI won the argument although I would bet that it wasn't won on engineering merit;-) I wish someone could explain to me how putting a larger contact patch on the ground would lower roll over risk. (Kind of hard for me to imagine getting a vehicle to roll over on an ice rink;-) In any case, the lower PSI reduced fuel economy so Ford asked Firestone to make the tire lighter to offset that. Firestone did and unfortunately the lighter tire did not hold up to real world use. Frankly I think there is plenty of blame to go around and unfortunately drivers had a large portion and paid the stiffest price. However, if the first group of Ford engineers would have won the argument we wouldn't be having this discussion. Also, if Firestone's design would have been as robust as Goodyer's we likely wouldn't be discussing this. I am glad my off the cuff, and partially wrong, response started this discussion as I think proper inflation as well as tire strength (age in the case of RV's) are critical issues for RV owners to understand. Big boxes with high centers of gravity running near or above the weight limits of the chassis are ripe for catastrophic failure. Wade

Thanks for the info on the faucets! Actually my dodge was a class C on a 1 ton van cab at about 18'. Don't remember the exact length but for a short time I had a 1989 Cadillac Brougham and it was a few inches longer! I always liked the 318 but I guess I can't complain about the 360 as IIRC the worst I ever got on it was about 6.5 and that was going 70+ on my way to Duluth. My goal was always to crack double digits and I may have once or twice. Thought it should have though as the total weight was a touch under 6K fully loaded. Had the full float axle set up for duals but did not have them. Also did not have roof top unit and was probably not even a full foot wider than the van cab. A touch over 8 was pretty much the norm. Don't suppose you are going to be making a trip to the Twin Cities and want to unload one of those working units;-) I agree with you about the repair vs replace decision but trying to convince my wife is another matter;-) She thinks I can and should fix anything! Wade PS. The cadi had a 307 olds and IIRC in the Delta 88 those were actually fairly efficient. It sure was a dog in the Cad though. Any sort of head wind on the freeway and you had to be into the 4 barrel just to maintain speed. 15mpg was a good day. Quite possibly the worst car I ever owned.

Hello everyone and THANK YOU for this wonderful resource! Been out of the RV thing for about 10yrs. This will be my 2nd. First was a 1976 Dodge Eldorado that my wife “had to have”;-) She thought we got a great deal and we sure did have a lot of fun it. I am hoping that my fun to work quotient will be much closer to hers with the Toyota. The Dodge was a 360 V8 moving a coach about the same size as the toy without the rooftop air or duals. Very easy and enjoyable to drive. That being said, the 8-9 mpg that went along with it was simply not acceptable. I was always telling her that if it was my decision we would have got a Toyota. What do you know, some times she actually hears me;-) Once again she simply “had to have” an RV and this time it was a Toyota. I have a few questions I would like to ask this great community. First I would like to lay out my thinking of how I am approaching this purchase. My hope is to not only have a reality check for my thinking but also to help others by using the collective wisdom to demonstrate how to safely enjoy our mini homes on wheels. So we have an RV… I want to be able to take my grandson without worrying about his life or being stuck by the side of the road. I also would like to keep this for a long time and be able to boondock in comfort. Was not expecting to simply buy a 31 year old MH and have it meet those criteria. This was a Craigslist purchase for $3,500 near Memorial day in Minneapolis. Certainly with more time and patience a better deal could be had but this is what she found and wanted now. Looks like it has been maintained pretty well and the inevitable water damage appears to be minor. From what I could see by crawling around underneath the rust didn’t appear too bad. Ran well and I was surprised at how adequately it got up to speed. Bought it. In the spirit of this thread I would like to point out that the first thing you should do before a purchase like this is to fully inspect all systems and that involves a lift and knowledge. Also in the spirit of what I hope this thread becomes sometimes you won’t. In my case we bought it without adequate inspection. My thought was that it was actually a $6k purchase and I hope that my inadequate inspection is good enough. To me, $6k is certainly not an unreasonable expense for a 21’ motorhome with a 22re 4spd and 6 bolt floater. Everyone’s value choice is different and from what little shopping I have done price and condition vary so widely that it is hard to even make any sort of judgement on this. First stop was to a competent tire shop for chassis and brake inspection. No major rust damage so time to continue. New rear brake cyl, shoes, emergency brake repair, diff fluid change, transmission oil change, all wheel bearings re-packed, and 6 new tires will leave me with about $1k left to work with. To me this step wasn’t optional and while I could have done everything other than the tires myself, not having to crawl around underneath was worth the extra expense. Some people will just get in and go and just wait for something to break. These are Toyotas after all. I would prefer to address likely failures and hope to enjoy trouble free use. Next step will be to go through the 30K and 60K maintenance schedules and replace all cooling system hoses and vacuum lines. Hopefully the EGR valve is good as that would take a big chunk out of the remaining budget. The other stuff should be pretty minor expense wise (all tolled about as much as the EGR valve). The first time I have enough days of dry weather I intend to re-seal the coach seams. Looks like some kind of white rubber paint is on them now. Any recommendations for the best way to do this? Anyone know where to get the vinyl trim that goes between the glass and the metal window frames on the outside? Have to get the proper horizontal LP tank for it. Have had it hooked up to a BBQ grill cyl and the system did not leak and fridge burner and stove worked. Haven’t went through the water heater or furnace yet. Shore power works but haven’t put a house battery in yet and haven’t confirmed the operation of the isolation relay. Also plan to replace all the cabin lights with LEDs. Setup for generator but not on the priority list for this year and likely would blow the budget for this year anyway;-) Rooftop air is fine for guest room use but boon docking I would prefer to live without it rather than run a generator even if I did have one. Faucet needs repacking and toilet valve needs fixing / replacing. Haven't filled the house tank yet so I don’t know if there are issues with the pump or tank yet. City water works other than noted. The last part of this long post is the worst. Have a Dometic RM461 with a bad cooling unit. I have found two different people selling rebuilt cooling units for about $400. One charges $500 but will refund $100 on core return. Looks like it will run closer to $800 for a brand new fridge and then of course I will have to remove the seat to get it in. Repair or Replace? Any experience with either? That’s how I am approaching my 1985 21’ Coachman. Look forward to comments! My ideas have already been compared to crazy on this site and that is OK with me — just as long as I learn something. Wade

On another side note I don't actually know what PSI I will run on my new toy. I suspect I will end up in the 60psi range as the max of the tires installed is 65PSI and that is where I typically go. Could see the possibility of dropping as low as 45 and apologize for using my Dodge experience to state the 60psi as something that needs to be done. I am quite sure that I won't go as low as the owners manual and that is not to discount Toyota. Toyota did not make those recommendations based on installing a 21' coach on that chassis. I am more surprised that someone didn't jump on me for throwing away what appeared to be perfectly fine tires. Is it "crazy" to refuse to run 12 year old tires? I think running on old tires is even more crazy than running at 29psi Wade

Perhaps “crazy” was a bit hyperbolic;-) Jdmaris certainly makes a reasonable argument and I certainly don’t mean to call him crazy. Thank you to Derek up North for posting the psi charts! Clearly they show that jdmaris and Toyota are not “crazy” and perhaps I am;-) Ford engineers used a perfectly reasonable argument as well to utilize the loaded radius in order to lower the CG by lowering tire pressure. While this was a solidly reasonable argument on paper the real world produced quite different results. When I look at the load charts I see the manufactures recommendations as being dangerously close to the limits of what the tire is designed for. Personally I feel much better with a substantial cushion. Too many opportunities for the real world to put significantly more load on the tire than what a perfectly balanced heavily loaded vehicle would exert on paper. As for the down sides to running a heavy duty tire with much higher load bearing capacity… Certainly the loaded radius will be greater. Will this make the truck much more prone to roll over than it already is? Might careful driving more than mitigate that risk in the real world? As for the effects of road grip and handling it seems to me that the tires today are so much better than the tires I was buying in 1985 as to make that argument difficult at best. For about 1,000,000 miles on various vehicles I have run much closer to max PSI than manufactures recommended PSI. Have never inflated to the point of excess center wear. I have never experienced any sort of tire failure or handling issues from running tires near the sidewall max. The only tire failures I have ever had were from under inflation. The other reason I like to have plenty of cushion when it comes to load rating is because of sidewall flex. I simply feel more confident with the much more predictable behavior of the heavier sidewall. I am not a race car driver or even particularly adept at driving to the limits where lower pressure would be a significant benefit. Perhaps if I drove differently I would have a different opinion. From my perspective I am happy to live with a little harsher ride in order to get better mpg, more predictable handling, and more reserve for when things go wrong and the tire ends up experiencing heavier load than expected. Wade

My personal first thing to do is to make sure it has good rubber. In stock sizes that is load range D not car tires as are what comes up when you put the year and pickup truck into tire rack. (Some people put on different rims and can get by with a LT tire of a larger sized.) Bottom line is to pay attention to the load range and PSI. Carrying that weight at stock tire sizes means 60PSI or so in a tire rated for it. My manual had something like 36psi listed. Look at the tire specs and that is just plain crazy. Also, put in steel or pressure rated rubber valves at the same time. RV tires age out they rarely wear out. Learned the hard way that just because they aren't weather checked and have tread that looks like new doesn't mean they won't fail the first time you take a decent length trip! Also need to pull the axles in the back and make sure the brake cylinders are good as you can't see them otherwise. Of course check brake lines and hoses as well. The fronts are much easier to inspect as you only have to pull the tires off. (You can check the date codes on the tires as it is possible that the tires are actually like new as pretty much everyone will tell you. I have yet to see one set where the date codes agreed with the "like new" represented by the seller.) Personally I don't think it is wise to go much beyond 7 years. My current truck they were 12 years old and really did look like new. Keep water out, make sure propane lines don't leak, make sure your coach electric disconnects from the cab battery when stopped and hooks up again when engine is running and then it is just making sure the water system works and whatever other systems you need and you should be good to go. Take a read through this site for things to check on the engine. http://www.22reperformance.com/22RE_Performance_-_Installation_Parts.html Was pretty enlightening for me at least and I am going to be going through my new toy starting this week to replace the heater hoses and vacuum lines and check the other systems on the engine. Wade

Just throwing this out there. Is it possible that the thermostat is off? Perhaps the synth oil causes it to run cooler and the thermostat isn't adjusting correctly. Running cool could give you those conditions. FWIW, have you ever read through this? http://www.22reperformance.com/22RE_Performance_-_Installation_Parts.html Kind of an interesting general read of what to verify on our older 22re's. I just got my toy and was planning on putting Shell Rotella T 10W-30 in it when I change the oil. Probably dino or T5 but might go T6 if they have it in the 10W-30. Wade

Just got a 1985 Coachman. Located in Minneapolis.