Well I finally got through reading all 181 pages. Although I must admit there were a few posts I just skimmed, but there seems to be a wealth of knowledge on here. Let me introduce myself. My name is Jeff and 3 weeks ago I bought a 1978 23' Dodge Sportsman Big Sur Beaver. We got it in time to take it out for Canadian Thanksgiving (first weekend in October). Everything seemed to work well. It is in reasonable condition, but as with everyone else here we will definitely be doing some work to make her "Ours". Other than being rather loud when we are givin' her on the hills she ran very nicely on the highway. It sports Firestone Ride Rite air bags in the back. When meeting semi's head on at highway speed we hardly feel a thing. My only complaints are:
1) she can be a bit of a dog on the big hills.
2) she's loud, my RPM is nearly 3000rpm @ 60mph. From what I understand this is about right. I will likely have to see if my doghouse seal is ok. Definitely have a bit of fumes in the cab.
3) she leaks tranny fluid when parked.
4) my alternator took a******as we got into the mountains. I though it was our battery since I made it 180 mile round trip without dying. A battery shop told me it was the alternator. I took the negative cable off while it was running and that killed it.
5) Pump/tank control panel wouldn't run from generator.
Here is first question. I called around about an alternator for the 440 motor. Double pulley. They had a number of options. Ranging from 50 amp to 120amp or so. Apparently there is quite a bit of difference in sizes. I would assume a motorhome would have a larger alternator. Does anyone know if there would be a standard sized alternator for a rig like mine. I assume I will have to just bite the bullet and pull the alternator and take it down to the parts store with me. Also what is the easiest way to get it off. Through the doghouse or from underhood/underneath?
Second question. Everything seemed to work fine when checking out the rig. We had it parked outside our garage to load and such. When we got up to the mountains and realized our battery was dead, I hooked up to the generator and added a charger. I charged my house batteries as well as my coach battery. While hooked up to the generator all outlets, lights, and furnace worked. The only thing that didn't was the water pump/water levels panel. After charging the batteries for a day all I could get was enough juice to see what the water levels were at. The pump wouldn't work either. When the rig is running everything on that panel works great. I haven't hooked it back up to shore power at home to see if everything works there. I checked all my fuses and they all seem to be good. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance,
Jeff N
