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Hi, This is my first time on this forum I'm on my way to look at a 1985 Sunrader 21ft 4 cylinder 4 speed with 75000 miles for $6000. From what I've read and heard it sounds like a good deal. It has the 1ton rear axle and many new parts. The only flaws so far is it needs a new frig which i read will cost $1100, no a/c and some sort of crack that does not leak. I will take any advice on what to look for, what to ask, etc I really want to buy this sunrader and I'm trying to cover all my bases beforehand. thank you in head of time michael

When I bought my Escaper the roof air worked great, but the cab air did not work. The ac compressor turned on but made a bad sound and there was no cold air. I'm about to go on a travel for a while and definitely wanted my cab air working! I started out by ordering a new compressor for an 87 Toyota truck. When the compressor arrived it was immediately apparent that the compressor was the wrong style mounting and everything. Here is the stock A/C compressor in place before any work. Here is the first compressor I ordered, which was the wrong style since it was for a factory installed A/C system. This is when I figured out that the truck had a dealer installed A/C system. Notice the mounting style is completely different. I returned that compressor and was able to locate the compressor I needed on Ebay. This was the only place I was able to locate the exact style of mine and I got it brand new in an auction for $117! Old vs. new Here is the engine bay with the ac compressor removed, also the air intake is removed as well. For those interested, here are the sensors used for the cold start injector. They are located directly underneath the air intake. I removed both and cleaned them due to my truck having a cold start issue. It ended up being a missing screw in the throttle positioning sensor and the idle was off. All lines were removed. The evaporation coil was also removed from under the dash. I have a feeling this may be one of the reasons the ac system did not work! Here is the coil after a good cleaning. Also is the chemical I used to flush all of the lines to get rid of old oil residue. Putting it back into the box. Removing the expansion valve from the line. Once I saw the compressor lines on the new compressor, I noticed it was a different style mount. It was an oring type of connection when what it needed to be was a flare style connection. A day later I had the adapters I needed, obtained from a local A/C shop. New compressor in place. The easiest way to get the evaporation coil in place was to put it in, put the expansion valve in place, and then put the top of the case on. Then the thermostat was slid into place from the top. This was kind of a pain in the butt. Lines connected.

So when I bought my 1987 Escaper, the previous owner decided he did not like the two captain chairs in the coach and for some reason hacked them out, leaving a not so attractive base. This is how it looked when I bought it. Notice the missing chair mount located in the bottom left of the photo. Where better to start than ripping the entire floor out? One of the previous owners had done floor work before. They laid a sheet of 1/2" plywood over the existing floor and then put their vinyl floor on top of that. I removed the 1/2" plywood and was glad to see the entire floor underneath that was still in good shape, no rot or anything. Wanting to achieve as much head room as possible (I'm about 6'2"), I kept the original floor in for strength, and put down a new sheet of 3/8" plywood. Not only did I fill in the spots of the missing chairs, but I gained some headroom for myself. It's nice not hitting my head on the ac unit now! We put down the sheet of plywood, screwed it down mighty well, sanded down the screw heads and the floor to make it as smooth as possible, and caulked all the screw holes. This was also a good opportunity to remove all remainders of the ugly original carpet that were stuck in a few hidden places. Next we decided to rebuild the entrance step with some fresh wood and gave it a more open design since the older one had limited foot space with the way it was designed (sorry, forgot to take a pic of the original setup). Original aluminum pan. Sealed all of the holes and edges with what was left of my dynamat tape. played with some sparks. Laid down all new wood and screwed into place. And time to start laying down flooring. I picked a darker wood vinyl floor. I was going to use the snap together wood floor seen here. I then decided not to use this floor as it took up too much of my precious head space! So I went with a standard sticky vinyl floor. I picked a dark wood color again because I just enjoy the warmth and cabin feeling. I also covered the fender and gas tank fill tube cover. I then took my old piece of wood that covers the water tank and battery and everything and stripped it down. It was covered in an ugly fabric from some old ladies basement or something. Here it is naked.

When I purchased my 1987 Toyota Escaper made by Damon industries I found it had most of the original documentation. I was contacted via my blog (link in my signature) from someone asking if I could provide the manual since they are quite hard to find. I was surprised I haven't thought of this sooner since I am sure there are plenty of people that would love to see the factory documentation that came with the Toyota Escaper Micro mini motor home. I have scanned the entire manual and compressed it into a zip but it seems the forum will not allow my to upload a zip. Here is a short front and back piece showing options and what not. And here is the entire manual page by page. If I am not aloud to upload this much stuff please let me know! I am only trying to provide to the community

I'm looking to buy my first RV tomorrow...it's a 1985 Toyota Escaper with 94,000 miles. Asking price $4500. I have no experience with this situation, and I've been researching for days online. I would like to find out if there are certain things, besides the rear axle 6 lug thing, that I should be looking out for?...what are some basic questions I should ask the current owner?? AND should I take it in somewhere to get looked over before I buy? Also, if there are issues with it, how do I go about asking for a lower price? From the looks of the ad photos, the RV has been very well taken care of, and the owner has updated the interior. He did mention in an email, though, that at higher speeds, it will leak a little bit of oil...is that something I should be concerned with? Is that an expensive fix? How much off the asking price could I get for something like that? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Hi i just bought a 1977/78 Toyota Fourwind RV, and everything works inside the RV and the only problem i am having is the top running lights dont work. i have tested the bulbs and they all work. i try to just ground one of the lights and they dont work put jsut 12v from batt and that doesnt work but if i get a 12v battery and hook up + and - to bulb it comes on. HELP PLEASE or suggestions. TY

Hi. I'm looking for some advice for my '88 Toyota Sunrader - 22RE. A few months ago it stalled while driving, and we couldn't get it started again. I had it towed to a mechanic and he got it started no problem, and could not reproduce the problem, so he gave me a tune up... new spark plugs, fuel filter, new belts, and a a new battery. On the way home it stalled again, but started again after a minute. He told me he didn't know why and to put gas in it. After a few more short drives, it stalled again on the highway, but started up again after about 10 mins of continually trying. It was still turning over just fine. Once started it ran fine. I didn't know what to do. Today, while driving on the highway, some stop and go traffic for awhile in the heat, it started running really poorly. There was no power when I accelerated. It was 'clunky'. In neutral its smooth, but in gear, its jerky and when I hit the gas, I get very slow response. It takes a lot longer to get up to speed - no power. I called the mechanic, and he says it sounds like its fuel starved. Well, the fuel pump was replaced last October, so I don't know how that could have gone bad already. I didn't drive it much over the winter, and have only been out on short trips since spring. He also suggested the catalytic converter, but I need to ask him why he didn't check that when he had it last. I think that could cause loss of power, but could that cause the stalling? My dad suggested it might be the Air Mass Meter (or Air Flow Meter?) I'm hoping for some advice from people with experience with this engine. Has anyone had a similar experience or have some insights about my problem? Thanks, Miranda Rose

Hello Folks, I'm new to the RV world. I just bought an 1983 Dolphin RV from a neighbor. I flushed all the fluids, new sparkplugs, and wires. I tried to call the manafacture which apparentely is out of buisness for hope of getting ahold of the manual. Does anybody know where I could get a chilton-type manual for this beast? I noticed under the hood that there are two batteries. Does the battery that doesn't run the engine; run the refridgerator, auxillary air conditioner and water pumps? What do the different color tanks signify? How would I test if all the water pumps work? Where is a good place to find parts? i.e. skylights, appliances, roof racks, ladders, new air conditioning cover Thanks in advance Anson