Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: How many of us are there? Owners of Dodge based RV's?

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Topic: How many of us are there? Owners of Dodge based RV's?

Posted By: Trish Davis on 04/27/08 07:31am

Jer&Ger wrote:

Lug nuts ... guess I need to find a real heavy duty torque wrench for this.

Nah. Spray them good with PB Blaster and put a 4-ft bar over your 4-way.

Posted By: Trish Davis on 04/27/08 07:42am

Griff in Fairbanks wrote:

79powerwagon wrote:

We're all re-examining our own state of sanity...

Speak for yourself, I enjoy my state of sanity.

But, don't worry ... I sure am having fun in the meanwhile.

Hah.. What I am not enjoying is the particular state of sanity of the PO.

What kind of muffinhead puts body putty over fiberglass?
I don't mean a little bits of putty, but 1" chunks of the stuff...

My Travco was white w/ the turquoise stripe. Later, it had a brown stripe. Last, it got NO prep work, just putty, primer, and white enamel paint. All that completely ruined the gelcoat; worse, it was unnecessary.

Back to flat black, there is no way white is going to cover this.

Broke down, bought new rims. Oww.
Black with a red stripe.

Posted By: eyeteeth on 04/27/08 12:13pm

Good news for me... I have the back end completely gutted now. Bathroom wall, countertops, sink, fixtures, panelling... evertything gone. I had my "expert" stop by today who looked around, and gave me my next marching orders. He was actually surprised by the condition of the framing. It's pretty bad around the base, but except for one corner nothing is discolored above knee height. He say sit looks a lot better than some 93 & 94s he's worked on recently. So that's promising I guess.

I have a little more floor to remove, then I can start putting in new wood. I don't want to pull the sides of the RV off because I have nowhere protected from the elements to work on it. So I'm looking seriously at the CPES stuff to save as much as I can. But... my expert is surpisingly optimistic about the unit which makes me feel quite a bit better.

As I feared... the water heater has to go though. It works, but the bottom rusted out. [emoticon]

I'll have some pictures up in a day or two.

Posted By: Leeann on 04/27/08 05:53pm

Ouch, Trish - that is bad news [emoticon]

We did know the sate of (in)sanity of your PO, though. Worse is the $$$ for the new rims...what tires are you going to run?

That's really good news, eyeteeth. If he was pleasantly surprised by the condition of the framing, you're well ahead of the game. Sorry about the water heater, though. Keep checking on eBay and Craigslist 'cause you never know what you'll find. Oh, and call RV Doctor George or Sands RV, too. You don't necessarily have to spend the bucks on a new one.

'73 Concord 20' Class A w/Dodge 440 - see profile for photo

Posted By: D&Sluv2fishandcampMN on 04/27/08 06:24pm

eyeteeth,
Maybe you can get Griff to sell you a waterheater out of one of his breeding stock.

Our Camping History:
Variety of tents
'72 Lionel pop-up
'76 Dodge Jamboree Motor Home
'98 Sportsmen 28' Travel Trailer
'93 Coachmen Catalina 23.5 ft 5th wheel
'98 Palomino Pop-Up
'01 Wildwood Lite Travel Trailer

Posted By: D&Sluv2fishandcampMN on 04/27/08 06:43pm

I haven't posted in here for quite a while but I have read every page of this thread from the beginning! Not that I remember what was discussed on page 85 or anything. Too bad all of this information couldn't be organized somehow.

I don't post much because I really don't usually have any good advise that everyone here hasn't already covered, but I just wanted to let you all in on something that I discovered with my old MH. You might want to check the little plastic bushings that hold the windshield wiper linkage together. Mine have fallen apart twice and left me with a difficult drive in the rain with no wipers! After the second time this happened I finally got wise and fixed them all so hopefully this never happens again.

Thanks to everyone here for all of the advise. Luckily I havn't had to ask for too much help over the past 4 or 5 years that I have had this thing but I have replaced:
All water pipes(PO let them freeze)
water pump(12 v)
Alternator
tires (16.5")
exhaust manifold gaskets
muffler and tailpipe
probably some minor stuff that I am forgetting but all-in-all I dont think thats too bad, yet.

My projects for this year include:
new roof vents (1 of them is cracked)
laminate flooring
new paint on the cab
welding up a rack for the back to carry firewood on.

Posted By: Trish Davis on 04/27/08 08:06pm

Eyeteeth, you're killing me... I am so far behind you.
Why not get a whatzit hot water thing? I got one for 60 off ebay that won't work in the Travco. Lemme know... it screws onto the shower head and my shower head, if that's what you want to call it, is not fixed.

Mastercrafts, Leeann. Got a decent deal on 4 rr's, pretty aggressive tread. Yeah, I plan on going weird places. Buying 3 steering tires.

Posted By: Griff in Fairbanks on 04/27/08 08:26pm

Quick hint: If one of your front tires goes flat, pull one of the duals from the rear and put it on the front. Then, drive very slow to the nearest repair shop. The extra weigh will put a lot of stress on the remaining single tire on the rear. Fast driving and extended distance will make it worse. Going slow and taking breaks should allow you to get to a repair shop without too much wear and tear on the single tire.

Also, be extremely careful changing the tire ... jacking up one of these beasts ain't like jacking up the family sedan. (A little bit of wind can shake one enough to knock it off the jack.)

Personally, I like the idea of calling road service in this situation.

1970 Explorer Class A on a 1969 Dodge M300 chassis with 318 cu. in. (split year)
1972 Executive Class A on a Dodge M375 chassis with 413 cu. in.
1973 Explorer Class A on a Dodge RM350 (R4) chassis with 318 engine & tranny from 1970 Explorer Class A

Posted By: Kendas on 04/27/08 09:22pm

D&Sluv2fishandcampMN wrote:

...I just wanted to let you all in on something that I discovered with my old MH. You might want to check the little plastic bushings that hold the windshield wiper linkage together. Mine have fallen apart twice and left me with a difficult drive in the rain with no wipers! After the second time this happened I finally got wise and fixed them all so hopefully this never happens again.

And you found the new bushings where? I "stole" (with owners permission) an old set from a '76 that was rotting at a camp ground in the White mountains and hope they last. Be nice to have an "extra" set when this set "goes way"

1978 21ft Tioga Dodge 440 Motor,
4.5kw Generac and 80 watts Solar
1984 Goldwing Interstate (Daily driver)
Misc Things I've done to my RV pictures

USAF Retired
To Err is human... To Forgive is not SAC Policy.

Posted By: Griff in Fairbanks on 04/27/08 09:46pm

Kendas wrote:

And you found the new bushings where?

Both NAPA and PartsAmerica affiliates (Checker, Schuck's, Kragen, etc.) carry these kind of things. The key is getting a counterperson who doesn't have to have a keyboard to find stuff. (If your counterperson needs year, make, and model to find a 1/4" x 1-1/2" bolt, go elsewhere.)

One brand, often on a display rack on the sales floor, is Motormite/Dorman. Supposedly, they just revamped their website to make it easier to find unusual and unique parts. (Haven't tried it yet so I don't know how good it is.) I know I've found a lot of odds-n-ends parts from them for fixing up older cars and trucks, things I thought I'd never find outside a junkyard.

It helps, when you go to the parts store, if you bring the part -- or at least the pieces -- with you. (I've given up telling them 1969 Dodge M300 ... instead, I just say, "Do you have one of these?")

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