Brand new Class C owner and RVer

[dkmthecook]

Hello all. I just bought my first RV, a 20ft Chevy Escaper, 1990. Everything in it works right and I am looking forward to my first trip this weekend in preparation for my retirement and fulltimeing it next June. I look forward to following this forum and learning all the multitude of things I do not know.

[j-d]

The Firestone TransForce is a very good tire. If that's all you can find in 16.5" rim size, you'll have good "sneakers" on the road. You can't allow any opportunity for blowouts. The "house" part of an RV isn't very rugged. Cannot absorb the force of a flailing tire belt without damage that's often significant. Belt can also tear out plumbing, wiring, etc etc.
There may be other brands in 16.5" than Firestone, but I'll add that Jose is a good researcher. If he says FS is it, very likely FS is it.
Hopefully somebody here with a Chevy chassis switched to 16" wheels and can tell you exactly how. I can tell you about Ford but that's it. I saw a Dodge that had been switched and wish I'd hung around to ask the owner but didn't.
I'm a little surprised that 16.5's were on that chassis by 1990. I think the way to figure this out might be to check aftermarket catalogs for 16" wheels listed for your chassis. OEM will just come back to 16.5. Another possibility would be to look for the hub information. Should be something like "8 on 6.5" which would mean 8 lugs on a 6-1/2" circle.
Be sure you understand "Offset." It affects the space between the tire sidewalls between the dual tires but that isn't how it's measured. It's more like twice the distance between the rim flanges and rim centerline plus the spacing the tire manufacturer requires according to tire size. Say you choose a tire with 10" spacing. Distance between the face of the wheel where it meets the face of the other dual wheel, to centerline of the rim, should be 5".
Offset is Critical!!! So of course is clearance. From my own experience and what I've read here, you should be able to safely replace your 8.00's with 8.75" and stay at 16.5" rims. If you want to change rims to go 16" find a chart with offset specs and how to check offset. The Accuride catalog has a chart somewhere around Page 70. If you need help finding that, PM me or post back here.

[BobandShaz]

Nice rig Enjoy

[Jim_Shoe]

Take care of your tires, and that means buying the best and getting new ones long before the tread wears out. If you have a tire fail while you're on the road, you're a pedestrian.

[PatJ]

I have a similar size/age Chevy powered class C and love it. It is my second similar rig. It has been very inexpensive to own, maintain, and operate (of course this is relative.)

I second the sewer hose comment. I recommend purchasing a "middle of the road" (high-end at Walmart) sewer hose kit, with assorted fittings and all, and replacing every year or two. This is cheaper than buying a "quality RV shop" hose (probably made at the same factory in China as the cheapo) and replacing every 5 years. You don't want your sewer hose to fail.

8.00 16.5 tires are very uncommon these days. If you stay with your current wheels, I recommend upgrading to 8.75R16.5 Firestone Transforce. They have almost identical outside dimensions. These are a quality tire and are competitively priced with LRE 16" tires at this time. 5 years from now when your new tires need replaced again, the 16.5 may no longer exist and you may need to move to 16" wheels. But at this time, in my opinion, it is not worth upgrading because the Transforce is a quality tire.

You do want to replace your tires now regardless of appearance. Your current tires, if they have good tread and appear in good condition, still have some value on Craigslist up to $30-$40/ea. There are plenty of off-highway agricultural trailers that use 16.5 that will not be damaged by a blowout. Your class C would be devastated by a blowout, and with 9 year old tires a blowout could happen at any time. If you have a blowout away from home, unless you are in a very large city, the changes of finding a shop with an in-stock replacement are extremely slim. You would have to pray your spare got you home. I recommend you replace all 7 tires before your next out-of-town trip.

All just my opinion...

[EMD360]

Your sewer connection is standard. New hoses are reasonably cheap from Walmart. Higher quality from RV stores if you want to pay for it. We are still using an inexpensive hose. Some folks take the hose out of the bumper and put it in a PVC pipe with end caps mounted underneath for the purpose. Won't rust the PVC etc. But we have not had issues with putting it in the bumper lately. I did have a bumper cap come off and lost a connector piece, but now I have the bumper ends taped on and one that has a little latch for the hose cover. I have seen RV hoses on the highway--not uncommon to lose the end cap and then the whole hose!

[DaHose]

Firestone still makes a 16.5" tire (TransForce HT?, but they are the only maker I know of who still does. On the up side, the tires actually are E load rated and give a very good quality ride.

I think your Dodge uses hub centric wheels, which are way easier to find than the bolt centric on my MH. If you can upgrade to 16" wheels, then I heartily recommend doing so.

Jose

[Sully2]

Get that rubber OF ASAP and switch to 16" rims. The number of good 16" truck tires you can use is short of a multitude!

[Bordercollie]

We had a 72 Dodge Van conversion with 16.5" glass belted tires. 16.5" tires became hard to find, replaced them with available fatter tires which rubbed on wheel wells when turning sharply. Do not run steel belted 16 radial tires on old wheels, unsafe. There are replacement 16" wheels with proper bolt pattern. There are also a very few 16.5" tires still available, probably old stock though. There may be info on this in the long running Dodge motorhome owners thread on this forum.

[dkmthecook]

Ok. I checked the tires. They are 8.00 16.5 load D rated. All of them are 4x05 so they are about 9 years old. Kind of on the edge of usefulness I guess. The owner said they had been covered, I do have the covers, for as long as he has had it but that was only about 2 years. I looked around and I can get cheap ones for $103, better ones for $119 and good ones for $149.
On another note I found the tube used to empty the tanks stowed in the bumper. It is not in good shape so it needs replaced. Is the connector from hose to discharge outlet some sort of standard. Mine is a twist on to little ears on the discharge outlet.
Sorry to ask such novice questions but as one response said, learn, learn, learn.
I have done a little more checking and finding 8.00 16.5 tires is not that easy. I have seen some suggestions that say changing out the rims to 16 inch but then I have also seen some people say not to do that. Any suggestions?

[rockhillmanor]

dkmthecook wrote:
Hello all. I just bought my first RV, a 20ft Chevy Escaper, 1990. Everything in it works right and I am looking forward to my first trip this weekend in preparation for my retirement and fulltimeing it next June. I look forward to following this forum and learning all the multitude of things I do not know.

Welcome to the forum! :C

What a nice looking MH. Previous owner must have taken very good care of it.

My tip is:
When you are hooked up to the sewer in a CG do NOT leave your valves open to the fresh and black tank.

Let both tanks fill up 3/4 and then dump. First black and then fresh to clean out the hose.

Leaving them open all the time does not allow enough water just from flushing to move along the sewage. Poop and paper will pile up in your tank harden and cause you all kinds of problems.

Good Luck and have fun!

[DaHose]

Good on ya for making retirement a reality!

Mechanically, if you can work on a van, then you can work on your RV. First thing to do is check your exhaust manifold bolts. RV engines are really stout and reliable, so they tend to get ignored and allowed to sit. Exhaust bolts heat/cool and can end up REALLY rusty, which galls them to the manifold. That leads to breaking studs/bolts when removing. If you fear breaking them off, I recommend grinding off the bolt head/nut and replacing the stud left in the block with some vise grips.

Do lots of reading and realize that you probably have a battery isolator configuration. I would recommend upgrading to a battery combiner. I would also recommend load testing your batteries and considering a higher output alternator. You can't ever have enough OOMPH in your alternator. When I bought my RV, one of the first things I did was gut the chassis electrical relays/connections in the engine bay and replace with all new, marine grade parts.

"Real" RV tires will last about 7 years. If you have 16.5" wheels, then you will ONLY be able to get RV tires. If you have 16" wheels, you could be running light truck tires. The recommendation is to replace those every 5 years. Getting load E rated RV tires is the best value.

Make sure you go through all your appliances and replace wear parts like water heater anodes and fire tubes. Also check all your plumbing. Old PEX line is known to go bad and replacing is fairly straight forward. Keep gaskets for threaded plumbing connections around (just in case) and a roll of hose with push-on, shark bite type unions and elbows.

Assemble a good tool kit with cordless power tools and keep some wire, real duct tape and some Eternabond on board. You will be ready to tackle most any issue on the road at that point.

The last thing I recommend is reading through all the forums around here, especially the DIY and tech. forums. Read, read, read and learn, learn, learn. Enjoy your retirement and your rig.

Jose

[Gonzo42]

Enjoy it every chance you get!

[jjson775]

Congratulations, a nice, practical looking rig, looks like you got a good deal. Give us feedback on your "shakedown trip".

[darsben]

dkmthecook wrote:
I have checked the tires pretty thoroughly and there is no sign of dry rot or anything else. I am somewhat of a gearhead and I tried to check out everything I could before I bought it. The 350 motor is in good shape and since it does have 63000 miles on it I figure it is pretty well worn in. A 350 is an easy motor to work on and that was one of my prerequisites since I will be doing all the work on this myself.

How did you check out the tires?
How old are they? TO be properly checked out RV tires need to be inspected if over 5 years old. The problem is sitting in the sun uncovered the chemicals in tires evaporate and this weakens the sidewall, this can lead to unexpected blowout. SOOOO, please find the DOT date code and find out how old your tires are.
Unlike a car Just because there is plenty of tread it does not mean that the tires are good. A blowout can easily cause a thousand dollars damage (experience of mine). Please do not take this lightly

[dkmthecook]

I have checked the tires pretty thoroughly and there is no sign of dry rot or anything else. I am somewhat of a gearhead and I tried to check out everything I could before I bought it. The 350 motor is in good shape and since it does have 63000 miles on it I figure it is pretty well worn in. A 350 is an easy motor to work on and that was one of my prerequisites since I will be doing all the work on this myself.