Good 'Yota MH Mechanic in Hobbs, NM?

[kananesgi]

My brother was talking to a fellow Toyota MH owner (Dave and his little pup Misty - Desert Rat) here in Brownfield, TX, and he mentioned there is a mechanic in Hobbs, NM, that does good work on the 'Yota motorhomes. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember a name. I'm curious if anyone else here might know who Dave might be talking about.

I'm curious because Dave believes my little 78 should drive out much better then it does now, and suggests my best bet would be to take it to this mechanic. Thing is, with the throttle firewalled, my truck can only do about 55 on level ground with no wind. Cruise is at best 45 mph, and even at that, it only gets about 18 mpg. This seemed very strange to me when I got it, but someone on another forum informed me that this was normal for these little older trucks. Dave, on the other hand, says he owned one very similar to mine and it would easily do 55 and cruising at 45 would generate upwards of 25 to 28 mpg - substantially better than what mine gets.

I'm now beginning to wonder if my original assumptions were correct. Everyone on the forum (another one from this) informed me that I needed to get a true 1-ton axle that was geared at 4.56 to get the truck to run out on the highway better. This seems totally wrong to me, since that would dramatically increase torque and lower top end even more. I was thinking more along the lines of getting a higher gearing, in the area of a 3.56 or so. Dave said that was what his older one had and it ran out great according to him. However, I'm also wondering if the problems mine has are actually to do with fuel-flow problems or something.

Also, does anyone know how to identify what axle gearing I currently have? I know its a non-floating axle, but I'm very curious what the gear ratio is.