I want to rehabilitate my old Dodge Class C
Taking it in small steps. First off, I'm not as young as I used to be so I'm in no hurry. The ceiling leaks, so correcting that should probably be a priority, no? I want to take the roof pane...
Forum Discussion
Hi,
Before going a long ways, and spending a few dozen hours working on the RV, consider the cost of replacement tires. If they are over 6 years old, I would replace all of them just before putting it back on the road. But get the prices now. If they are not available, figure this out before spending hundreds of dollars or hours on a RV that will require very special order tires.
Sometimes people buy tires that have sat around the warehouse for 2-3 years, then require replacing them at 7 years after manufacture date, or only 3-4 years of use out of the tires. These can be very expensive now, not like the $95 Costco tires that you bought 10 years ago, oil and tires have become much more expensive.
I would hate for you to start putting in a hundred hours into this restoration, only to find out later that 6 tires are special order and $200 each.
I warned about the steering mounts are weak in certain Dodge motorhomes, and was a well known problem back in the early 80's. But not discussed lately about a chassis that has been out of production since 1979. So if you start the engine, and then turn the wheel from right to left while parked, and the steeling box is not moving, your RV has a strong mount, not effected by the problem that other chassis had.
There is a guy who posted pictures of the class A motorhome that he took the entire metal roof off it, then rebuilt everything under the roof. His time involved was well over 200 hours, and I don't know if he posted all the costs. Just seems like a lot of time and materials involved in rebuilding a RV to make it a "Good condition" 20 year old RV, that really has no significant retail value, not nearly worth as much as the time that you spent in rebuilding it. .
That said, if you want to have something to go camping in, then you can spend $2,000 or so to rebuild this RV and have something useful to camp in. I would just like to warn you not to spend to much on this project, you might be better off finding another RV that is more expensive, but has standard 16" rims, and fuel injection, and a roof that is intact!
Fred.
Before going a long ways, and spending a few dozen hours working on the RV, consider the cost of replacement tires. If they are over 6 years old, I would replace all of them just before putting it back on the road. But get the prices now. If they are not available, figure this out before spending hundreds of dollars or hours on a RV that will require very special order tires.
Sometimes people buy tires that have sat around the warehouse for 2-3 years, then require replacing them at 7 years after manufacture date, or only 3-4 years of use out of the tires. These can be very expensive now, not like the $95 Costco tires that you bought 10 years ago, oil and tires have become much more expensive.
I would hate for you to start putting in a hundred hours into this restoration, only to find out later that 6 tires are special order and $200 each.
I warned about the steering mounts are weak in certain Dodge motorhomes, and was a well known problem back in the early 80's. But not discussed lately about a chassis that has been out of production since 1979. So if you start the engine, and then turn the wheel from right to left while parked, and the steeling box is not moving, your RV has a strong mount, not effected by the problem that other chassis had.
There is a guy who posted pictures of the class A motorhome that he took the entire metal roof off it, then rebuilt everything under the roof. His time involved was well over 200 hours, and I don't know if he posted all the costs. Just seems like a lot of time and materials involved in rebuilding a RV to make it a "Good condition" 20 year old RV, that really has no significant retail value, not nearly worth as much as the time that you spent in rebuilding it. .
That said, if you want to have something to go camping in, then you can spend $2,000 or so to rebuild this RV and have something useful to camp in. I would just like to warn you not to spend to much on this project, you might be better off finding another RV that is more expensive, but has standard 16" rims, and fuel injection, and a roof that is intact!
Fred.
