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: goreds2 on 07/16/12 08:43pm

JoninFountain - Very nice Dodge!

See Picture In My Profile
I have a 1989 Dodge XPLORER RV Class B - Purchased 10/15/10 IN CASH
Fiance' purchased a Class C 2002 Dynamax Carri-go on 5/1/15 IN CASH
We've got the best of both worlds

Posted By: Leeann on 07/16/12 08:58pm

Nice Brougham!

On the fridge..what exactly was it doing? Ammonia fridges need to be level to work. If ever run when not level, crystals form and bad stuff happens. Easiest way to fix is to turn upside down for at least half an hour, then turn upright, plug in and see if she chills.

Initial chilling on these can take hours, too, just as an fyi.

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

Posted By: TreeSeeker on 07/17/12 08:37am

JoninFountain,

Looks like a great buy.

I would never recommend using Silicone on an RV. The big problem is that it doesn't hold up well to UV, and absolutely nothing sticks to it, even more Silicone. So, if it ever needs a touch up, instead you have to remove ALL the previous caulking (hard to do) and re-caulk the whole area.

I highly recommend ProFlex RV caulking. You may have to purchase it online as it seems to hard to find in RV places, at least here in San Diego. As you can guess from the name it is specifically for RVs and it sicks even to oily, wet, or frozen surfaces (although I don't recommend that except for emergencies). It is also even more flexible and elastic than Silicone.

Posted By: Chicknnhead on 07/17/12 11:10am

Ok so bear with me

I have owned my rig since October 2004, been working on it ever since, whether it be cosmetic things or major things
I have replaced the roof, toilet, water heater, fridge, awning and generator. new vintage front seats The motor I have rebuilt the carb, new fuel sending unit, valve cover gaskets, brake lines, external tranny cooler along with radiator tranny cooler. changed over the tranny dipstick tube so I can check the fluid from under the hood instead of pulling the motor cover(guys that have my vintage know what a pain this can be) I went from dodge 16.5 to dodge 16 inch. Replaced the u joints, tranny mount and carrier bearing. My latest project I just finished was replacing the original rear springs with new and new bilstein shocks all the way around, man what a difference. Spring Replacement PIC It has been a real labor of love.

I pull a custom built s10 trailer behind the camper to store some of the camping gear while we camp.

We use the rv about 5 times a year. pics from memorial day 2012
[image]

Ok so I guess I need to get to my question..lol
I know my chassis pretty well which is an MB400. I’m looking to see if I can locate replacement parts for my front suspension
Ball joints tie rod ends drag links. I want to completely rebuild the front suspension with new stuff. I was hoping to find a Chrysler book with the part numbers for the mb400 chassis(this seems to be impossible task) and do the leg work myself of tracking down NOS stuff or new moog stuff by numbered search

Has anyone else rebuilt their front dually suspension of these old dodge mb400 units? I know some stuff for these crosses with b300 1 ton vans but when it comes to that stuff I just don’t want to guess.

according to the Chrysler VIN break down there are b100, b200, b300 cb300 mb300 and mb400

the cb = commercial body
the mb = motorhome body

Some parts are the same for the b300 as the mb400 for example motor parts, belts, houses.

but I'm just not sure where suspension parts lie in that category

all the b300 are single 8 lug front axle vans. the mb300 and mb400 are all dually front 8 lug axles. I would assume that would make a difference on the suspension and front chassis parts

Posted By: Glenndolph on 07/17/12 11:48am

We've had our '77 Jamboree dodge cb300 since Jan '12. It has the tranny cooler already, and I've replaced all the shocks, with air shocks in the rear with the air bags my Nephew had put in several years ago... We have GMC 16's that we modified to fit the rear axle... just the center hole... and bought a new wheel and tire for a spare when we had to replace the tires on the trailer while we were in Texas... The roof has been done already, but we need to paint the sides and cab front. The 440 got a new carb a couple of years ago and all I've done is change the oil. Got it in SoCal and drove it 3001.6 miles to home here in SC, towing a 30 foot trailer with a total weight of 17,700#, no problems at all... I was totally expecting something to break or blow up....lol Every appliance works, but the fridge has been replace with a small AC only one.
As far as I can tell, the front end would be a standard 5 ton truck suspension... my gvwr sticker says 10,500#...

Posted By: JoninFountain on 07/17/12 05:37pm

On the fridge it just wasnt cooling at all, gonna flip it over in a bit then give it a go tomorrow.

I'll look up the rv caulk, the silicone was just a quick fix for the immediate need of stopping the rain. this is a long term fun fixer upper for me, with the added fun of camping. Nothing like starting it up at the park in the morning and listening to the dual exhaust just rumble people outta thier sleeping bags, LOL.

78 Dodge Brougham Sportsman. MB400. 360 2bl.

Posted By: Glenndolph on 07/17/12 06:05pm

ya otta hear the 440...

Posted By: JoninFountain on 07/18/12 06:35pm

Leeann you are a genius. Fridge works!

Posted By: JoninFountain on 07/18/12 06:52pm

edit

ouble post

* This post was edited 07/18/12 07:32pm by JoninFountain *

Posted By: Jer&Ger on 07/18/12 10:34pm

Chicknnhead wrote:

When I was working on my "77" Dodge Brougham, I called JC Whitney and they had no problem finding parts for the MB400 front end stuff. Might be worth checking out.

Jerry & Gerry, our pets (dogs), Byron, Coco
1976 Monaco, 440 ci. Dodge Sportsman chassis

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