Well I got a new to me 1984 fleetwood southwind, was told shes about 34 feet. I traded an old pick up for it. Generator cranks right up I drove it from charlston sc to savannah georgia, I nearly thaught I was going to die. After the first 5 miles everytime I drove over a bridge it had this horrifying death wobble to the front right tire, I had to slow down to about 25mph for it to stabilize and be good to go again back up to 55 60. With that being said everybridge I had to slow down to 25 to avoid this death wobble. Finally 5 hours later I made it home. Any ideas? Bad ball joints? The rv was partially gutted, and running only on one battery and intermitant no starts. Now it wont start at all and no power to the dash. I pulled the starter and a wire with a block on it was melted? Is that a fuseable link? Are there fuses in a fusible link? But anyways this is my first rv that I want to use for camping and I want to spend as little as possible on it to make it a decent camper. I have a lot of pics but dont know how to post them. This post will be very lengthy and in details of every issue I run into and will really appreciate your guys support as I take fourth this project. I spent 5 tours in iraq one in afgahnistan, I just want to be able to camp in america now lol. Thanks for any tips pointers and any advice, thanks in advance, Dave.

Thanks for your service.But I sure wish you had come on here and asked before you spent your money on it. Partially gutted it is going to cost you way more to get livable than it is worth. Might consider scrapping it out, take the money and either go buy a decent RV or a van and add sleeping quarters. Is this you or family involved?

Thanks for the service also. To get good information here you have to give the chassis builder. You could have a Chevrolet, Oshkosh, Ford. On that age you should be made aware that RV tire usually dry rot out on the sidewalls around 5-10 years of age and when an RV tire blows they usually take part of the MH with the blowout. Brake fluid should also be flushed every 2-3 years. Depending on the chassis it could be ball joints, king pins, tires, or shocks that are either worn out or missing. Water leaks in the roof and sidewalls are the worst that can happen to a MH. At that age they were made with wood framing and when wood gets wet and dried out repeatedly it will rot. A fusible link is a piece of wire with a link that will just burn out when overloaded and gets the entire link replaced when necessary.

I appreciate the fast replys, the MH is only partially gutted, its missing dinette seats and the overhead sleeper. It is a chevy p30 chasis I believe. The PO did have a blow out on the passenger side. No family is involved its just we want to get it ready to go camping. And minor restore. The motor runs like a dream as well as the generator. The convection oven works, I havent tested a lot out yet there are no leaks in the roof and I pulled out the carpet and floors are solid. There is one place were the wood is rotted on the inside side wall. Maybe I can figure out how to post pics and you guys can see what I am working with. I appreciate your guys support for the military and helping me on this MH

Then I would suggest getting it running first. Ignition switches can be a common problem. Once it is running then get the front end rebuilt by a quality alignment shop. As for the leak? Pressure testing is a very common solution. There are some threads about leaf blowers as a home made pressure test. Common with that age is going to be window seals. Take the windows out, go buy a roll of butyl putty tape clean everything, apply a liberal bead of the putty tape and reinstall the windows. The dinette is not a big deal either. Good will and buy a small table and a couple of chairs will get you buy. Just be sure to take measurements and find something that will fit the available space.

Fleetwood put Airbags inside the front springs on some models of the southwind. Make sure these can be inflated to at least 50 pounds for a test they should have much more but 50 pounds will be a test.

1984 fleetwood southwind project | Good Sam Community

23 Replies

1984fleetwood
Explorer
Feb 13, 2014
Well so far so good got her cranked up and moved it around a bit, next plan is a major clean up and old carpets pulled. I might just get in over my head soon and sell it lol but I will keep you guys updated
Brownlee7467
Explorer
Feb 06, 2014
I saw where someone mentioned that you needed a manual , & Sometimes Ebay has Older Manuals for Some MH, Its just a FYI! Hope that this helps! Good Luck & God Bless! & As My Dad says! A Fixer Upper can be fun, you can Look back & Say " Hey I did that"..
1984fleetwood
Explorer
Feb 02, 2014
Yea it only squeels when its charging then it goes away and I am assuming its the original alternator. I also believe there is no emmision pump on it. I will check those things out thanks for the tip.
Stim
Explorer
Feb 02, 2014
A squeaking Alternator can be that it is charging heavily. Is the battery charge low from working on the M H?
Might also be the emissions air pump. ????
1984fleetwood
Explorer
Jan 31, 2014
Well here is an update. Weather was great today decided to figure the no start issue. Guess what I figured it out she cranked right up. The solinoid on the firewall one wire thats supposed to be the ground was red so I assumed thats a power wire. And the hot wire that goes to the other side was black so I figured it was a ground. Long story short flip the two she cranked right up. Now I need to know is she worth restoring to my liking. I posted pics tommarrow I will post interior shots. Does anybody have schematic for this? So I can figure out how to wire dual batteries? Thanks for all the help and support. Btw I do not have airbags between the springs just a whole bunch of grease fittings and a horrible squeeking alternator
whem2fish
Explorer
Jan 31, 2014
he will not have a frame bushings i think they are called knucles similar to what the old ford cars had with grease fittings like i said need the manuals let me know
1984fleetwood
Explorer
Jan 30, 2014
I appreciate all the advice and respect to all the vets on this site, you are the guys who make me proud to wear the uniform. Well hopefully sunday I can get the starter back in and replaced the burnt up link I found next to the starter, hopefully that fixes my no dash lights lighting up and maybe actually get her started so I can move it around on my street. After that I will finish cleaning up the inside and tearing out all the carpet. All the shelving is in great shape minus the latches a lot are broken, just gotta find some to replace it with. Bottom line my plan is to get it running atleast. So if I do plan on scrapping selling or saving it will be the next decision. Thanks guys and happy trails, great site btw.
BrianinMichigan
Explorer
Jan 30, 2014
Check the shocks. Also look at the upper and lower control arms I had a couple that the bushings were bad. The mechanic that replaced them stated that around my vintage of P-30 they were starting to go bad at 10K miles and normally needed to be replaced by 60K miles.
1984fleetwood
Explorer
Jan 30, 2014
http://s1025.photobucket.com/user/lewdiddy1/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20140130_160718_zpsb09ec93f.jpg.html?sort=3&o=5
best I can do for now I posted a few pics let me know what you guys think minus a good washing
darsben
Explorer II
Jan 30, 2014
1984fleetwood wrote:
Sounds good I will take pics of what I am working with, as far as paying my truck was worth maybe 800. Tommarrrow I will take pics and reinstall the starter and new fusible link I bought, thanks for all the help. Oh and by the way I hage springs no airbags from what I saw. I am leaning towards lower ball joint. Also any recommendations on tires since these are 19.5 8r, I just bought a spare for 50 bucks to replace dry rotted driver side tire, but yea I will post pics tommarrow, so you guys can see how my build goes, oh on another note therr is no refridgerator.

Look at Sampsons for a low cost tire. Available on ebay for less than $190.00 delivered. I just got one at BIG O tire for $200.00 all in for my 1990 Southwind mounted and balanced
DO NOT BUY ANOTHER TIRE UNTIL you become aware of DOT DATES and what they mean to you