How many of us are there? Owners of Dodge based RV's?

[whiteknight001]

I'm new here, and curious.

How many of us in Class C own Dodge B300 incomplete
cab/chassis based RV's? I know two others- Steve aka
Ripsaw, with a 1977 Brougham, and Leroy aka 1978_Dodge
_Delta who owns a 440V8 powered sharp looking 1978
Delta RV. I would like to ask, and offer, help, idea
swapping and comparing notes on our particular RV's
which are based on the Dodge B300 van chassis.

Yeah, I know. These are low tech, podgy old RV's that
would be considered "entry level" for folks like me,
but I have a deep and abiding respect for the quality
of these old "monsters of the open road". And anyone
wanting to pick brains, joke about, share notes or just
brag about our old A- Dodge-io's are certainly welcome
to PM or email me. Between all of us we can form a real
good support group, and help each other with problems
we know we'll encounter with an older vehicle.

Sure. I'd love a new RV. But I'd rather have an older
one already paid for, and a lotta great memories. Call
me frugal, an old hippie, or whatever you will. I'm proud
of my old land yacht.

Mopar Madness Manifest in the flesh,

Mark aka White Knight

P.S. Mine's a '72. Is there an older one out there someone's
motorvating in? Maybe even a Travco? W/K

[Wanderman]

While it isn't a Class C, my 1991 Aero Cruiser is based on a custom modified Chrysler/Dodge Industrial Chassis with a 5.9L TBI V8 (360cu. in.) The entire front end is all Dodge 4000LB axle 1 ton Truck bits.

In fact I just did a complete suspension rebuild. Really made a huge difference in ride height and handling. I would wager some of the changes/mods/upgrades could be used on the Class C chassis just a easily.

Here is an article I wrote about it....with pictures!

http://www.thewanderman.com/2012/03/rock-bounce-and-roll-suspension_23.html

This thread has led me to many useful parts sources! Keep posting!!!

Rich "The Wanderman"

[gdhillard]

Help! I have a 1973 360 in my 20 foot executive. Milage seems to be about 7-7.5 mpg. Very hard to start, and cold blooded, but better with an electric fuel pump. I am missing some of the exaust crossover connections to the manifold and would guess that needs to be fixed. Should I replumb and clean out the cross over, or just change to an Edelbrock preformer manifold and a 4 bbl edelbrock carb? If I should swap, exactly which manifold and carb should I get? Thank you!

[Leeann]

Welcome & nice find!

[Rockwood74]

Wow! I am so incredibly lucky to have found this forum. I just bought a 1974 Dodge Rockwood. We're doing a light restoration on her and this place is going to be a valuable resource for sure.

As you can see, she needs some work. Weather permitting I'll get started on the exterior upgrades this week.

[rehoppe]

oldtrucker63 wrote:
If it was rebuilt 15K ago, You can pull the valve cover and It should be really clean in there, If not then its not been rebuilt, I agree with the compression test and valve seats/seals The Engine should be fine at only 99K May need a good Cam RV Style and a few gaskets, Change all fluids and dont forget the Transmission fluid and new filter
That is a great Lil Engine if its right.

Tony, hate to have to disagree with you. But I must. That generation of engine, with that much load on it almost always needed an overhaul well before 100K miles.

That's pretty much why we have the head trip of 100k miles on cars and PUs. They just didn't go much beyond that w/o some help. The fact that the engines in our coaches are always loaded every time they fire up shortens their life before overhaul.

Even the last of the 440s and 460s were of that ilk. If you find one with Only 70K on it, be aware that it's probably going to need some work before long. I've just seen too many fail between 70 and 80K.That's why when somebody says, 'Bought it cheap, Going to restore it', my first suggestion is. Do a full diagnosis on the engine and tranny. If they are solid, It counts. Otherwise, it could Well be a scrap project, because the cost of mechanical rebuild is no longer cheap, even if you can do the R&R yourself. Most folks can't even do that, to say nothing of the 'machine work' needed, or the 'Hard' parts.

You are probably one of 10 or 20 on this forum who have the ability And the inclination to participate at this level. I still marvel at your tenaciousness on your rebuild.:B

[oldtrucker63]

If it was rebuilt 15K ago, You can pull the valve cover and It should be really clean in there, If not then its not been rebuilt, I agree with the compression test and valve seats/seals The Engine should be fine at only 99K May need a good Cam RV Style and a few gaskets, Change all fluids and dont forget the Transmission fluid and new filter
That is a great Lil Engine if its right.

[rehoppe]

I don't remember what all I carried for spare parts. I'm sure folks on here will pipe up with suggestions as well.

1. Ballast resister. 1ea. Mounts on firewall. Don't leave home w/o a spare.
2. Belts 2ea.If i recall there are only two. If the old ones look bad, put on the new ones, carry the old ones. You'll never need them that way.
3.Rotor cap, and stator kit.

That's all I remember now. It's been a while.

Oh yes, special equipment needed.
1. Timing light.
2. vacuum gauge (optional nice to have)
3. Digital MultiMeter.
4. compression gauge, w/adapters
5. Torque wrench 1 large 1 small
6. normal hand tools. end wrenches, sockets, allen wrenches, feeler gauge, etc

[rehoppe]

VAX
AT 100K I would not be surprised if it had a rebuild 15k ago. That's the best news you've posted yet.

The Tranny is probably a rebuild as well. So Take Care of them. Just do your basic tune up. Run a tank or two of gas thru it. and see if the smoking stops. Might have all sorts of 'junk' in the tank, so carry and extra fuel filter with you, and the screwdriver, pliers, etc to change it with.

At 15k it shouldn't need valve seals yet.... UNLESS they are OLD. That motor rebuild could have been a while ago? But run it a bit and see how much oil it uses first.

Stay on the seller for those receipts. They will tell you a Lot.

Change the fluids like you said.
Look at the brakes as you change the brake fluid.
Check the belts and hoses,too.
Oh yes, and check the ujoints. Shift from Drive to Reverse with your foot on the brake at a High Idle, if they bang and clank, replace them.
Buy a shop manual, Chilton's, Haynes, whatever. READ IT! That's your class.
The gauges and tools needed to diagnose and fix that old beast are not that expensive. It doesn't have a computer, and doesn't need one to set it up either. Common sense goes a very long way on that era of mechanics. As the old saying goes; It ain't rocket science.

[vaxination]

rehoppe wrote:
VAX;

Does it smoke on acceleration, or when 'backing off', or both?

First thing I'd do, were it mine is run a compression test, Then do a 'leak down' compression test. That'll give you a better idea of what you've got left.

Hopefully Griff is 'right on', the odds are that he is. You are going to have to pull the plugs to change the valve seals anyway. So you might as well give it a compression test to rule out rings and pistons.

While you're at it before you take it apart. Put a timing light on it and check your timing/timing chain. It the light 'bounces' around, you're needing a new timing set.

Hopefully the 'bottom end' is good and all you need is valve seals and maybe a double roller timing set. You didn't say how many miles it has on it? Or I should say are showing on it.

I presume you've already dropped the tranny pan and cleaned up, or changed the screen?
When you changed the engine oil how did it look? and how many miles were on the oil? What weight oil?

Do make sure you change all the fluids. Engine, tranny, rear differential, brake fluid, Power steering fluid, (engine coolant after making sure the timing set is good). Unless of course you have dated receipts for any or all of the above. Fluids are cheap. Hard parts, Not so much.

yea a full fluid refresh was kind of what I was thinking too for initial servicing, I just got her earlier this week so repairs are going to be kind of a piece meal process as I get breaks in my work schedule (new hobby I guess) thanks for the pointers guys this is helping me to get some priorities for my repair/rennovation schedule. shes got 99k miles this time around, supposedly got a new engine 15k ago, hard to say but I'd doubt that, it looks pretty damn grimey for that recent of a drop, however at less than ten miles per gallon those miles dont come as easy i suppose. I'm still waiting on the previous owner to find a misplaced packet with all her service records, hopefully that will shed some light on the history. I'll have to see if a friend of mine has the needed kit for a compression test, I unfortunately I dont have access to a full shop of gear (thought about enrolling in an engine class just so i could use the facilities hah would still probably be cheaper than letting a mechanic hose me for every turn of the wrench shes going to need!)

I'll post again once I get all the fluids changed out and we'll see if that doesnt change anything. thanks for the pointers guys, I have a feeling this forum is going to be something of a life raft of good advice.

[rehoppe]

VAX;

Does it smoke on acceleration, or when 'backing off', or both?

First thing I'd do, were it mine is run a compression test, Then do a 'leak down' compression test. That'll give you a better idea of what you've got left.

Hopefully Griff is 'right on', the odds are that he is. You are going to have to pull the plugs to change the valve seals anyway. So you might as well give it a compression test to rule out rings and pistons.

While you're at it before you take it apart. Put a timing light on it and check your timing/timing chain. It the light 'bounces' around, you're needing a new timing set.

Hopefully the 'bottom end' is good and all you need is valve seals and maybe a double roller timing set. You didn't say how many miles it has on it? Or I should say are showing on it.

I presume you've already dropped the tranny pan and cleaned up, or changed the screen?
When you changed the engine oil how did it look? and how many miles were on the oil? What weight oil?

Do make sure you change all the fluids. Engine, tranny, rear differential, brake fluid, Power steering fluid, (engine coolant after making sure the timing set is good). Unless of course you have dated receipts for any or all of the above. Fluids are cheap. Hard parts, Not so much.

[Kendas]

new v'er wrote:
To err is human to forgive is not SAC policy.

Peace is our Profession
War is just a hobby.

Minot MiMS 1970-72:C

'Nother one of us in here... And Missiles too. :B

Ken
Malmstrom 75-79, VBerg 79-88 & 89-95... Got "stuck" with GLCM in '88 Belgium (shutting it down (INF treaty)).

[new_v_er]

To err is human to forgive is not SAC policy.

Peace is our Profession
War is just a hobby.

Minot MiMS 1970-72:C

[Griff_in_Fairba]

vaxination wrote:
Hey guys, I've been lurking awhile and thought I would add my 2 cents and ask a question.

I'm the recent owner of a Dodge Sportsman 24 footer with a double barrel 360, seems like the engine could use some love (from what I gather thats about the only constant with these old beasts) so I'm likely going to start looking into upgrades and preventative maintaince and the like. It feels like the engine has some intermittent knocking at times and also she has some smoke especially under load, any ideas about the cause/ a solution to make her run cleaner?

also here is my vin 34cf5v033xxx what can you tell me about the chassis from it? thanks alot i'm glad to know this forum is here!

I plan on photo documenting my restoration process and posting it to a blog, I'll post the link up here when I do in case you want a look. shes already got 500 watts of solar power and a quad deep cycle bank to power the house so when I'm done i'm hoping for something of a boondockers dream

thanks
vax

Knocking: check your timing and vacuum advance on the distributor. Some people advance the timing a bit to get better gas mileage ... but, advance it to far and the engine develops an intermittent knock.

Smoke: replace the valve stem seals. The LA small block is notorious for the seals wearing out, which allows the cylinders to pul oil in past the valve stems.

Do not do a valve job unless you also plan to re-ring the engine ... in most cases all that's needed are new stem seals, which is easier and less expensive.

NB: the reduced leakage of a valve job, without new rings, causes more blow-by past the rings into the crankcase.

[vaxination]

Hey guys, I've been lurking awhile and thought I would add my 2 cents and ask a question.

I'm the recent owner of a Dodge Sportsman 24 footer with a double barrel 360, seems like the engine could use some love (from what I gather thats about the only constant with these old beasts) so I'm likely going to start looking into upgrades and preventative maintaince and the like. It feels like the engine has some intermittent knocking at times and also she has some smoke especially under load, any ideas about the cause/ a solution to make her run cleaner?

also here is my vin 34cf5v033xxx what can you tell me about the chassis from it? thanks alot i'm glad to know this forum is here!

I plan on photo documenting my restoration process and posting it to a blog, I'll post the link up here when I do in case you want a look. shes already got 500 watts of solar power and a quad deep cycle bank to power the house so when I'm done i'm hoping for something of a boondockers dream

thanks
vax

[gdhillard]

1973 20 foot Executive, based on a Dodge B300 with a 360 and the 727 LoadFlight transmission. Just got back from a 3200 mile round trip hauling a 5000 pound trailer from Albuquerque to Roanoke VA. Runs beautifully, and purrs through a pair of 36 inch glass packs. Love it!