Search the Community

I’m new to motorhomes, but not new to Toyotas! I’ve wanted a little Toyota motorhome for years, and am finally in the financial position to get one. After a few months of searching and a couple dead ends, I found this gem 800 miles away In Montana! great shape, all the maintenance records, new tires and all. So I booked a one way flight and went out to pick her up! When I landed though, the owner had her back at the tire shop. They had over adjusted the brakes, and the drivers drum was smoking! Of course on a Friday afternoon, they wouldn’t even touch it which left me going through the back plate to back off the shoes. No problem! Got the brakes loosened up and everything stayed nice and cool as I got under way. fast forward about 500 miles and I had to take a nap. Bed is nice and comfy! wake up after a couple hours and get back underway. Round about half an hour into my new leg of the trip I hear a loud pop! Followed by a metallic ring and a grinding noise and a second pop. When I pull over there’s a little smoke from the drivers drum, and it smells like hot brakes…. I’m guessing the shoe must’ve failed after overheating in Montana, so I call for a tow into Casper Wyoming. on the way into Casper, I ask the driver about possible transport all the way back to Denver, to which he replied that his company would be wicked expensive, but he knows a guy…. After a quick phone call I get in touch with the owner of the other company and arrange to get hooked out of Casper and down to Denver on Sunday morning. After an uneventful day parked at the flying J the driver shows up with his SuperDuty Ford and flatbed trailer. tight fit but it works! End of the story? Nah, my buddy Murphy had it out for me! About 6 miles outside Casper, “POP!” His turbo straight out grenades! we get turned around and head back to another truck stop, but get pulled over because he’s absolutely dropping a smoke screen! After a warning, we get to the truck stop, his wife picks him up and he goes to get his flatbed tow truck. We load up and head out. Fin? nah! We stop for a restroom break, and now the tow truck doesn’t want to start!!!!!!!! after about 20 tries it finally catches and the driver is just like, I’m NOT shutting it off from here out! (Good idea) The rest of the ride was uneventful YAY! Once we got to Denver and went to unload, I noticed a leak from his tow truck, and some wires hanging down and dragging… Turns out the harness for his light bar got caught up in his driveshaft and ripped out, and one of the hydraulic rams for the bed had decided it was time to give up the ghost and was streaming fluid out! Well, we got her unloaded and I drove the last half a block to get her in the driveway. She’s home! Story over right? Nah! Murphy had one more kick to the teeth for me! When she first broke down, two scenarios played out in my head; 1: The overheated brake shoe cracked during the cooldown and catastrophically failed. 2: A wheel bearing had failed. With a worst case scenario of a wheel bearing causing some sort of irreparable damage to the axle housing….. Remember the title of the post? You guessed it! That guy right there straight up WELDED itself to the spindle!!!!! After two hours of cutting and hammering and chiseling with an air hammer, I finally conceded defeat and deemed the axle housing a loss. not just that though, nah Murphy couldn’t be that kind…. The hub is toast too. not getting a seal back in that thing! The silver lining? (If there is one). Yoda Jim’s had a housing and hub!!!!! So, over the next few weeks I will be updating rebuilding this rear end and getting her back on the road! wish me luck! (I’m gonna need it!)

Hi All, I'm new to the site as a member, but I've been watching from the guest side for quite a while. I finally got impatient and picked up an '82 sunrader that seems to be in decent shape, and at a pretty good price (I think). The catch is that it still has the 5 bolt rear end. If anyone has any leads on where I might be able to find a 6 bolt rear end around British Columbia or Washington state, I would be extremely grateful. Also, if anyone has had a mechanic in the area do the swap for them with good results, I'd love to know about it. Thanks!!!!

HI Everyone, We are looking for a 1 ton full floating 6-lug rear axle and tires ASAP for our 85 toyota motorhome. We are currently broken down in Kentucky. If anyone knows where we can find one, or has one could you leave us a message, or get back to us at brittymacd@hotmail.com, or 226-236-1342. Thank you so much for your time! Brittney