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

Print | Close

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

Posted By: Ballenxj on 07/04/17 08:00am

Molly104 wrote:

I just located this forum and subject. I have a Tradesman 300 maxivan with bubble top 1978 440 engine, and must decide soon what to do with it (keep it and get it to pass smog and running reliably or sell it as is). Friends tell me to dump it to a wrecking yard. it has the original camper stuff which needs TLC but definitely restorable. For $65 my mechanic will go over it completely and let me know what it would take to get it road-ready again. with a special permit I would be allowed to drive it over there. I am having a terrible time with this decision.It has over 200,000 miles on it. engine and tranny rebuild about 20,000 miles ago. Any advice?

Do "not" listen to those friends that are telling you to dump it!
Those vans are very desirable, and would cost a lot of money to replace.
Look for something similar on Craigs List and ebay to see what I mean.
There are people on another forum that are scouring the Earth for those.
Can you post photos inside and out to give us a better idea of the condition of yours?

Downsizing ">

Posted By: Griff in Fairbanks on 07/04/17 01:08pm

Molly104 wrote:

DO NOT send it to the junkyard. They'd just turn around and sell the engine and tranny for $1,000 or more. It probably has the heavy duty version of of the 440 (sometimes called a -3) which race-car builder love. They could probably also sell the rear axle for $500 or more. If it has dual wheels, they could get another $300 for the rims.

What's the body like? With it's new engine and tranny, it should be good for another 300,000 miles or so. With a good tune-up, some tweaking, and reasonable driving habits, you should be able to get 10-12 mpg (or better) out of it.

If you decide to get rid of it, sell the engine and tranny yourself and ship what's left up to me in Alaska. (I would then put a LA small block, CTD, or Hemi in it, just for fun.)

Someone in Washington state gave me Junior and I had it shipped up here.
[image]

I had my '77 B200 van for 7-1/2 years, put almost a half million miles on it, and it was still running when I sold it. I often wish I'd kept it because it was my second favorite vehicle in my life. (#1 favorite was my '49 Int'l Metro stepvan.)

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: Griff in Fairbanks on 07/04/17 01:15pm

P.S. There's lots of people on this thread, closer to you than me, who'd love to have it if you decide to dump it.

I'd be tempted to catch a military hop down there and drive it back up here rather than see it go to a junkyard.

Posted By: Griff in Fairbanks on 07/09/17 03:37pm

I hate kingpins. I. Hate. Kingpins! Oh, did I mention, I HATE KINGPINS!!

1990 Ford E-150 (1/2 ton) Club Wagon with IFS. Probably the last 1/2 ton truck to have kingpins. (Late model 1/2-ton, most 3/4-ton, and some 1-ton trucks have ball joints.)

Started the job yesterday, with the right (passenger) side. 24 hours, 1/2 can PB Blaster, heat gun, 5-pound cross-peen hammer, pneumatic (air) hammer, steel drifts, heavy duty clamps, etc, ad nauseam later, the kingpin finally came loose from the axle knuckle.

Had to dig out my 16X long stroke air hammer, that I normally only use to set 1/2" steel rivets.

Bushings don't look all that bad but thrust bearing on bottom is shot.

Now to drive out the old bushings, drive in the new bushings, and align ream them to 0.8593" ... kingpins measure 0.8592" so 0.0001 clearance.

Hopefully, these will last 20 years and 400,000 miles like the last set.

P.S. Have everything except the right size adjustable align reamer for doing the kingpins on MLP's RM350 front axle.

Posted By: Maya.215 on 07/10/17 05:21pm

Ok so I finally got water running through my rv and now I'm on to the refrigerator there is no power at the eyebrow view, I have hooked up the 12v directly to a battery to make sure I was getting the full 12v and nothing comes on the eyebrow view I have tested the black and white lines coming from the power panel and there is power going in to the panel behind the fridge I have replaced the two fuses and still no power. I unplugged the wires from the panel behind the fridge that have blue green red black and brown and tested the panel and I have no voltage or power, I also tested the fuses (took them out and tested the prongs and nothing there as well) could the panel be bad? My fridge model is a dometic rm2612 I was going to just order a new panel but would like some input on were to get one.

Posted By: Griff in Fairbanks on 07/10/17 05:53pm

Leeann seems to be most knowledgeable on coach appliances ... or seems most adept at finding appropriate info.

Posted By: Leeann on 07/10/17 06:17pm

Installation & operation:
https://rexandsonsrvs.com/manuals/Dometic_2612_and_2812_Refer_Manual.pdf

Service:
http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/1252service.pdf

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

Posted By: Maya.215 on 07/12/17 01:08am

Ok so I had gave up on the refrigerator the info you gave me was great Leeann I checked all my sources that were in the manuals and I still had no luck so I decided to give it a brake I still had to fix the fuel gauge it has never worked since I got it so I started take out the old one when I realized that the part I saw on the auto store websites was not what I had this fuel sending unit has three hoses running to it with the arm and float all in one also the tank top screwed off, there were no screws as what I saw online so I decided to clean the wire end and the ground wire up I then took the fuel sender out, well as I took it out I immediately found the problem the float for the sender was floating around inside the tank so I fished it out and put it back on making sure it was tight I tested it by putting it in a big rubber tote/storage bin of gas that I pumped out, having my daughter turn the key to the on position and moving the float up and down slowly and bam problem solved the gauge is now reading correctly then my daughter said dad I here this clicking sound almost sounds like are boiler when it lights up, I told here I thought she was playing with one her little toys but I heard it to,and well I be **** the darn fridge was working it was trying light up I went inside and the eyebrow was on man I have a lot to learn I have no idea how this is hooked up why does it only come on when the key is in the on position also there is like a relay that comes from the second dairy battery from the ground wire it's making a cling noise every few minutes this never happened before I messed with the tank not sure but any help would be great thanks

Posted By: Griff in Fairbanks on 07/12/17 02:50am

People ... ground connections ... go back and read my posts ... two sides to a circuit -- supply to device and ground back to battery through the body/chassis metal.

Clicking noise? In dash? There's a second voltage regulator in the instrument panel for changing 12 VDC to 5 or 6 VDC for the gauges. Older regulators were a form of relay that made a clicking noise when working. If yours has the older type instrument voltage regulator, the noise is normal. (You usually can't hear it because the running engine drowns it out ... only evident when key is in RUN position but engine isn't running.)

Oh, yeah ... good job troubleshooting fuel gauge issue.

* This post was edited 07/12/17 02:56am by Griff in Fairbanks *

Posted By: Griff in Fairbanks on 07/12/17 04:04am

Took a look at the link (manuals) Leeann provided. Quick scan ... your refrigerator is two-way (propane/120VAC) for main operation, with a 12VDC circuit for the management unit.

Clicking noise, if not coming from dash, could be 12VDC management unit trying to ignite the propane. (Didn't look farther but yours is probably electronic ignition instead of the older, problematic pilot light refrigerators.)

From my experience, propane and 120VAC are roughly equal in terms of keeping things cold/frozen, as well as chilling/freezing warmer items. (Both times with propane refrigerators, we had to dial back the temp control to keep them from turning jugs of milk into ice milk.)

The 12VDC mode of operation in older two-way (propane/12VDC) or three-way (propane/120VAC/12VDC) refrigerators didn't work very well, typically suited only for maintaining already cold temperatures. In these cases, the 12VDC was primarily for operating the refrigerator while driving. (On older propane refrigerators, you were supposed to shut off the propane before driving because the air turbulence would often blow out the pilot lights.)

Will try to add more later ... worn out from working on kingpins.

Two questions:

Is the clicking noise in the dash or in the refrigerator? Does it sound like metal on metal or like a spark? (The two sounds are distinctly different, even to me with my service-connected hearing loss.)

Print | Close