84 Toyota Dolphin
Hello all! Am back RV'ing again, now in a classic 84 Toyota Dolphin; found it with 45,000 miles, stick shift. Goes about 25 MPH in 2nd gear up the passes on the big hills!
Forum Discussion
ron.dittmer wrote:.
tamaratrav,
Our originally equipped Toyota/Mirage had very serious handling problems of which were resolved this way. If you experience serious handling troubles, consider what we had done.
- Replaced the rear axle with true dual rear. You have that update already.
- Installed heavy duty Bilstein RV shock absorbers.
- Installed rear air bags with an on-board compressor and controls by the driver. The air bags each had a 5000 pound rating. On my website, you can see the compressor by the battery compartment, and the controls by the driver's left knee.
It would have been great if a front and rear stabilizer bar was available, especially a heavy duty version, but none was available for our 1st generation chassis. I suggest you look into that along with the other upgrades we had done.
About the air lift kit. Not just to lift the rear higher, but doing so also stabilized the rear end. The motor home handled like a drunken sailor until after all our upgrades were implemented. Don't try to live with a mess. Fix it right away to benefit all throughout your ownership.
About your replacement rear axle with heavy duty rear drum brakes. I advise to perform this test. Drive your rig in your neighborhood and hit your brakes real hard while in a turn at an intersection. If the front tires lock up quickly causing the rig to slide forward instead of go into the turn, you need to get your rear drum brakes adjusted.
We were in the mountains before I adjusted the rear drum brakes. While going down winding mountain byways in the turns, what saved our lives was down-shifting. Otherwise the rig would have gone right over a cliff. After I adjusted the rear drum brakes at home, the 4 rear tires woke up with braking power, a night and day difference with control and stopping distance.
The brakes need to be adjusted so that there is a slight drag after the brakes are pumped. It took me 18 adjustment cycles per rear drum before I got the slight drag and it was absolutely awesome afterward. I placed the rear axle up on huge wooden blocks, laid on my back with the adjustment tool, had my wife in the driver seat to pump the brake when needed, and our son spinning the dual rear tire-pair. I would adjust until there was shoe contact to the drum, then called to my wife to pump the brake which centered the shoes which made the tires spin freely again, then repeated until there was a drag after she pumped the brake pedal. I think taking 18 adjustment cycles to get them right meant the rear drum brakes were originally not functioning at all. Being a heavy duty setup back there, getting them working efficiently is surely worth the effort or money spent.
Ron - have your post, and processing this. I'll consider taking it to Les Schwab on the brakes; as I'm not set up to really try this.
My first braking issue is to have e-brake replaced. It's pretty much shot, have to pull it all the way out, and then still leave it in gear.....going to have Toyota dealer do that.
