MaineErik

I just removed the Coleman Mach unit from our roof and installed a skylight in it's place. We don't use AC in general, so the pure light is a much better alt for us. Where are you located, I'd be happy to sell the unit, works perfectly. (I'm in Maine)

I've been using scrap lumber to get the rear end up, all plywood or large 2x stuff. It's stable and free. No fear of cheapo metal ramps crumpling! Add a low spot in the ground and bingo, even more space!!

Guess this is a sleep-on-the-floor model, pretty rare

I have a 86 Itasca (aka MinneWinnie) and the previous owner had an off the shelf 1 1/4" receiver welded to the rear frame extensions and bumper. I've towed a small trailer with and ATV but for the most part we use it as a bike rack (2 bike) only. I don't love the way it's done, but it seems to work! I'd rather have reinforced frame extensions supporting the load.

I believe all the Toyota MHs, especially the larger ones like the one you are looking at, call for 8 ply tires (D rated). When I bought mine it had C rated tires and they were pretty worn so I had good reason to replace them with correctly spec'd tires. However the apparent wear on them indicated the previous owner was never so unlucky to crash due to a tire failure! It's an unnecessary risk IMO. Sounds like you need more time to go through all the coach appliances, your coworker should have no issue showing you how and that everything works. For $8k I don't think that is too much to expect. I would check out the coach too after or during a hard rain, check for wet areas, ask what steps were taken if the water staining is old and was repaired. Look behind all doors and under the cabover mattress especially. Have a mechanic go through the Toyota bits, full inspection. For the asking price everything (cab and coach) could show wear but otherwise should be AOK. That's just based on what I typically see in other sale ads.

I heated the spring with a torch and compressed it a bit, perhaps the max psi will be lower than stock now (perhaps the pump lacks some of it's original gusto to achieve the OEM pressure, which is why it could not overcome the stock spring rate). Now the pump works and will shut off automatically. This is all in my test basin, I don't have it re-connected to the coach plumbing system. Question: When the valve is shut the pump continues to for another 1-2sec before shutting off, is that normal?

I tested the system without water to make sure the switch worked if I manually operated it - it does. I have it all back together now and will setup a bucket with water and a temp valve to see if the system will work as intended. It looks like the water pressure has to build high enough to seep through the valve plate and expand the rubber diaphragm enough engage the switch -- that amazes me, that the small diaphragm can handle that pressure -- the spring is rather strong. Maybe there was debris in there and all my fiddling cleaned it out. I will report back!

There is already a bunch of stuff on the buy list, including a new fridge (just need to convince myself to go with propane and abandon the too high cost of switching to 12v + solar!!), so I'm trying my best to repair what isn't completely broken. I just need to think about this pump a bit longer, I should be able to make it work! If I can figure out how the increase water pressure would push the plunger into the switch, maybe I need to whittle a new part.

Side skirting was not something easily removed - I could find no fasteners anywhere - on my model it appears the skirting was attached to wall and then assembled to the coach in 1 go. So I removed the shower floor and found that it wasn't nearly as difficult as I though since all the caulking was dried out Managed to find some old gas tank straps in the garage (have no idea where they came from, being a hoarder has it's benefits), and replaced the corroded straps. It's all back together now and it's nice to have done! FYI, the straps on my Itasca were attached to the floor, not the frame. Tanks are in really good shape. No brittleness at all. I read about some woes other folks have with them and I wonder if there were several materials of construction being used at the time.

Well I finally got around to taking the pump apart (it pumps continuously, won't turn off automatically) - all internal pumping parts are good. The switch itself is good too, I can engage it with my finger and the pump will turn off. The issue seems to be in the parts that engage the switch - I cannot make the mechanism engage the switch, I can't force the plunger to engage with my fingers, it bottoms out *just* before it would touch the switch. I found an online manual with a parts diagram, it seems that some parts in a different order and perhaps missing from my unit. Maybe the pump never worked properly or maybe someone took it apart before I got it and lost some pieces??? Or perhaps there were several series 200 pumps and mine is special... Here is a photo of the parts between the pump housing and the switch (parts 33-47 in the linked diagram above): Any advice? Does it look like the right parts are there (I would be amazed if someone has this info in their head!)? Thanks.

This guy did it - you could pick his mind: http://timmystoyota.blogspot.com/2016/01/alaskan-winter-rv-livin-update.html

I've been reading through all these fridge posts - still battling to understand whether mine is dead or alive or fixable. On AC things are getting warm or hot as I noted in the photo below. But the cooling fins up behind the freezer have not changed temp at all. This is all based on my finger touch. It's been on for the last 5 hrs (on AC); the temperature in the freezer started at 40 and is still 40degF It's probably 50degF outside in the sun right now. Last night was 27degF and the fridge is in the garage which hasn't warmed up to the outside temp. I do hear fluid moving around, a slight gurgling sound. I had it upside down for the last 24hrs before turning it on today. I have the setting on maximum cold. Thoughts? Thanks!

Any advice on removing the side skirting? I did a quick search here and only found this thread.

The metal straps that support the sewer tanks are very corroded - one of the straps for the grey tank has long since bit the dust and the remaining 3 (1 on the grey, 2 on the black) are all looking close to their deathbeds too. For the black tank I was going to skip attaching new straps to the floor and instead wrap heavy duty nylon webbing (or galvanized plumbing strapping) around the easy-to-access truck frame. The grey tank is throwing me for one though because the frame is inaccessible tucked-up between the tank and the side skirting. I'm sure the proper way of handling this would be to remove the toilet, shower, carpet, etc. and replace the original hardware - but I don't need it to be that perfect. Any ideas??? The whole shebang must be mounted in some other way too, even with these straps not doing their jobs the tanks are still very solidly attached to the bottom of the coach. I suspect that when they are full and bouncing down the road the extra support of the straps would be necessary. Thanks!

I haven't found 1 specific FREE site for ALL campgrounds, but I've been looking into joining a club for our longer trips. This site lists quite a few clubs, many of which offer (free of charge) their own maps and lists of associated campgrounds accross the country: http://www.rvtripwizard.com/rv-info/rv-membership-clubs.php. You can get a pretty good idea by referencing them. Of course you could just join http://www.rvtripwizard.com/ and go the easy, if not more $$$, route. It looks like they list ALL campgrounds to members.

Do a search in these forums for battery isolator, it's a small piece of hardware under the hood that allows the truck battery/alternator to charge the coach deep cell. The isolator on my camper was kaput and needed to be replaced. When not working properly the isolator will send no current to coach or too little (or will not disconnect when the key is out, but that's not the problem you are having).

Seriously, I just don't get it, we put caulk or some other from-a-tube sealant everywhere else on our homes, why not on the windows too? All this talk of gasket sizes, breaking windows, the trickiness of it all... I am so not looking forward to it.

Here's another schematic of the window installation, which implies that the inside metal frame needs to be removed first so that the weather stripping can be popped out thus releasing the glass. Sound right? Then a bead of sealant would go inside the pocket of the weather stripping plus #3 "ribbon sealer" (I assume this is butyl tape) between the metal frame and the wall assembly? That last part doesn't sound right to me, there is nothing to adhere to on the inside that I can see that would provide a watertight seal. (the #4 below points to the outside of the weather stripping)

Our front window (bunk) leaks a bit around the seal (looks just like the glass in above photos), removing the glass and using new weather striping + butyl certainly seems very by-the-book, but would there be anything wrong with just getting a tube of some super sealant and sealing all the seams? That certainly would be less expensive and far less time intensive.

We've taken our 4 cylinder 22RE over some steep passes in New England - it went slow but very steady. At elevation it would certainly be weaker, but many folks on this forum pass through the rockies with the 22 type motors without getting stranded. The best thing you could find would be a manual transmission, regardless of the motor I am sure they would operate much more efficiently. We settled for the auto trans because we found a screaming deal we could not pass. Coincidentally as you are traveling to Maine this summer we will be traveling to Colorado! Maybe we will cross paths along the road

The Norcold may have been fixed already in the past if you are a more recent owner - call the company and they can run a check for you: http://www.thetford.com/customer-support/recall-information/

We live in Maine and keep our Toy house parked outside through the winter. I built a lightweight frame out of wood and lattice work (created a dome) and covered it all with a tarp. Anytime it snows I pull out the roof rake and pull the snow off. I want to be sure the roof stays dry, that no water sneaks in, freezes, and breaks anything. Plus I don't want to worry about the weight of several feet of snow, particularly if it's wet. It stays off the roads all winter long - way too much salt for an old Japanese vehicle, not to mention all the motorhome bits!! $4500 seems high IMO based on the photo you included - looks like a lot of unfinished work in there... But if everything else works then perhaps it's an OK price. It is a nice layout. And it's easy to excited about these vehicles isn't it!!

I like that flattestroutes resource - too bad it doesn't provide directions. How about a "avoid low bridges / underpasses" - that would be super helpful. I had to back off the Merritt Parkway (Connecticut) last year once I realized that's where Google Maps had taken me - not fun!! If you use Google Maps and choose cycling it will show you elevation change - so you could drag and drop your route to adjust it and reduce (or increase) the elevation change.

I don't have the coach battery installed right now, it's in the garage on a trickle charger. But as WME suggested I measured the resistance across both large terminals (wires disconnected) with the key off and on. Off there measured infinite. With key on (and 12 V measured at small terminal) there was still anywhere from 600 to 1500 kohms of resistance. Once there also measured infinite until I tapped the isolator a few times with wrench which made the resistance numbers change quite a lot, but they never held steady or dropped to zero. I assume when you say the isolator should measure zero resistance (when on) you mean ZERO, right? FYI - The engine was left off, I just had the key in the off or on position for the test.

I replaced the 40A breaker, easy to find at the local store as you said WME. I cleaned up all the contacts on the isolator. The cab battery now reads well on the 1st terminal of the isolator. The ground on the isolator is good. When I turn the key to "on" I can hear the solenoid click and there is 12+ volts at the small terminal with the white wire. However the voltage is only 1volt at the 2nd large terminal going to the coach battery. Can I assume that this proves the isolator is bad? If so, can I also assume that any continuous duty replacement isolator will work properly? How many amps should a new isolator be rated for? I'd still like to know what the "???" is in my photo.