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

[StingrayL82]

Aznbyte wrote:
Hey all, I am a newish owner of a 1978 Dodge Midas RV. I recently finished renovation of it (you can check it out in the DIY page.)

I cannot for the life of me find any specs for this thing, and every mechanic I've been too cant either. Anyone have any idea where I can get detailed information on it? Like basic things such as the gas tank size....

Thanks for your assistance and happy to be here!

This is about as close as I can get you to one: help i need a owners manual for a 1978 ford midas mini home

There are pictures of the manual...maybe you can contact the member and see if they'll make copies for you.

You can also go here and ask if there's a copy: Good Old RVs Manuals

Good luck.

[Aznbyte]

Hey all, I am a newish owner of a 1978 Dodge Midas RV. I recently finished renovation of it (you can check it out in the DIY page.)

I cannot for the life of me find any specs for this thing, and every mechanic I've been too cant either. Anyone have any idea where I can get detailed information on it? Like basic things such as the gas tank size....

Thanks for your assistance and happy to be here!

[my440]

StingrayL82 wrote:

my440 wrote:
Hi Stingray, Yes voltage limiter thats it. In the process of removing the instrument panel I broke off a pin or 2. Could not find a replacement plug right away so ended up soldering all wires direct to the board. lol Gauges have working well since. Thanks for the tip on the Barkeeper's Friend tip for board cleaning.
Ya I do find the dates confusing on this ole Dodge!

I would have thought that, with the interior redesign in ‘78 that our cluster Circuit Boards would look different, but they’re identical, or is your rig a ‘78 built on a ‘77 chassis?

I'm not sure, I should figure out how to work that VIN decoder.
edit:
Actually I just had a peek on the door plate. Yes says manufactured in 1977.

[StingrayL82]

my440 wrote:
Hi Stingray, Yes voltage limiter thats it. In the process of removing the instrument panel I broke off a pin or 2. Could not find a replacement plug right away so ended up soldering all wires direct to the board. lol Gauges have working well since. Thanks for the tip on the Barkeeper's Friend tip for board cleaning.
Ya I do find the dates confusing on this ole Dodge!

I would have thought that, with the interior redesign in ‘78 that our cluster Circuit Boards would look different, but they’re identical, or is your rig a ‘78 built on a ‘77 chassis?

[my440]

StingrayL82 wrote:

my440 wrote:
Oh yes the instrument cluster nightmare, that was last years task. I tracked that one down, regulator attached to the back of panel lost ground. Oil, temp, fuel gauges quit. Good now tho,thanks, and for the lube tip. Still working on this...

In 1975 Mopar called it the Voltage Limiter. We also have the Presence Lamp Relay and 20-amp Circuit Breaker, which was part of the Trailer Towing Package. The Circuit Breaker is connected to the Black side of the Ammeter and the Presence Lamp Relay is attached to the top of the Circuit Board, just next to the High Beam Indicator.

One of the first things I had to do, when I bought the motorhome, was replace the Circuit Board. The original had loose pins, where the wiring harness attaches, so I found a NOS Circuit Board. The other day, I pulled the Instrument Cluster, to finish cleaning the dust and dirt under the dash and saw that the copper on the Circuit Board was tarnished, so I took it out and used BarKeeper's Friend to clean it. I forgot to take an "After" pic, but here's the "Before".

What I find interesting is that Dodge used the Mopar 10,000-day calendar on some parts and the Julian calendar on others. You can see on the Instrument Cluster that it was built on "1605", or Tuesday, April 16th, 1975.

Hi Stingray, Yes voltage limiter thats it. In the process of removing the instrument panel I broke off a pin or 2. Could not find a replacement plug right away so ended up soldering all wires direct to the board. lol Gauges have working well since. Thanks for the tip on the Barkeeper's Friend tip for board cleaning.
Ya I do find the dates confusing on this ole Dodge!

[StingrayL82]

my440 wrote:
Oh yes the instrument cluster nightmare, that was last years task. I tracked that one down, regulator attached to the back of panel lost ground. Oil, temp, fuel gauges quit. Good now tho,thanks, and for the lube tip. Still working on this...

In 1975 Mopar called it the Voltage Limiter. We also have the Presence Lamp Relay and 20-amp Circuit Breaker, which was part of the Trailer Towing Package. The Circuit Breaker is connected to the Black side of the Ammeter and the Presence Lamp Relay is attached to the top of the Circuit Board, just next to the High Beam Indicator.

One of the first things I had to do, when I bought the motorhome, was replace the Circuit Board. The original had loose pins, where the wiring harness attaches, so I found a NOS Circuit Board. The other day, I pulled the Instrument Cluster, to finish cleaning the dust and dirt under the dash and saw that the copper on the Circuit Board was tarnished, so I took it out and used BarKeeper's Friend to clean it. I forgot to take an "After" pic, but here's the "Before".

What I find interesting is that Dodge used the Mopar 10,000-day calendar on some parts and the Julian calendar on others. You can see on the Instrument Cluster that it was built on "1605", or Tuesday, April 16th, 1975.

[my440]

StingrayL82 wrote:

my440 wrote:
Hi, hope you guys are all well, have not been here for abit. My 1978 Dodge Sportsman B300 440 ci. motorhome has a brake pedal that does not return. Need to pull it back with your toe to get the brake lights to turn off.
I removed the instrument cluster panel to access the pedal linkage area and lubed it up but to no avail.
Obviously there is not a spring to pull back the pedal that I see.
Any ideas? And the best way to troubleshot the cause so I can get the pedal to come back??
Thanks, really appreciate any assistance!
Brake pads drums calipers all new recently.

I just took my booster and master cylinder out, to replace them and the pedal dropped (which activates your brake lights, btw), so I would imagine that they keep the pedal in place.

Hi thanks, either the booster or master cylinder, just not sure which one yet.

[my440]

j-d wrote:

my440 wrote:
Hi, hope you guys are all well, have not been here for abit. My 1978 Dodge Sportsman B300 440 ci. motorhome has a brake pedal that does not return. Need to pull it back with your toe to get the brake lights to turn off.
I removed the instrument cluster panel to access the pedal linkage area and lubed it up but to no avail.
Obviously there is not a spring to pull back the pedal that I see.
Any ideas? And the best way to troubleshot the cause so I can get the pedal to come back??
Thanks, really appreciate any assistance!
Brake pads drums calipers all new recently.

When we had a B300, we had that problem and traced it to the bellcrank that adapts the fore and aft push of the brake pedal, to the transverse booster/master cylinder assembly. I actually drilled it and tapped it for a grease fitting. Included lubing the bellcrank in my chassis lube routine.

Usually I edit a Quote down to only the item in question, but since you mention Instrument Panel, I remember the Instrument Cluster Ground was kinda goofy. It was a wire that ran down the firewall, under the floor mat, to a screw down by the floor. Not positive (sold the B300 in 1992. Might have been one of the two screws that held the Hi/Lo Headlight Button. Anyhow, make sure that connection is snug or your gauges will do odd things.

Oh yes the instrument cluster nightmare, that was last years task. I tracked that one down, regulator attatched to the back of panel lost ground. Oil, temp, fuel gauges quit. Good now tho,thanks, and for the lube tip. Still working on this...

[StingrayL82]

Griff in Fairbanks wrote:
Direct current (DC) has polarity and polarity is important.

Alternating current (AC) doesn't ... current flows first one way and then the other on the hot leg. (60 times a second in North America.) Current is flowing the opposite direction on the neutral leg.

Standard colors are green for ground, white for neutral, and black (and red on 240VAC) for hot.

I've seen white and black reversed on 120VAC outlets. Also, I don't trust wire colors on any wiring done by anyone else (including by manufacturers and professional electricians) until I've checked it myself.

Also -- VERY IMPORTANT -- 12VDC colors are often different from 120/240VAC standard. It's common for black to be negative (ground) and red to be positive (hot) in 12VDC motor vehicles.

I have a bunch of different colors for 12vDC Positive, and I'll admit that it threw me for a loop, when I first started digging into the lighting, replacing the incandescent units with the LEDs.

As you can see from my pictures, Green, White, Black, Blue, Yellow & Red are Positive. I also understand that they did this so the fuse panel wouldn't be a confusing mess, if wires were ever disconnected.

By the same token, Green, Black & Brown are Negative....the Green is what I had to really study. Why they chose Green as a Positive from the Converter to the House Battery is beyond me. And this is the part that really ticks me off, because there should have only been one color for Negative, the part that had me confused, because Brown shows up somewhere in the walls...it is NOT present anywhere on the Negative Buss Bar.

Compounding the confusion is that Monaco never provided a wiring diagram with their manuals, just the decal on the inside of the fuse panel with no color legend (and there's an error on it), and I have all of the original manuals that came with the coach.

Heck, the original 8-Track player didn't even have its own dedicated circuit...it's connected to the interior lights, and then the brilliant Monaco worker must have run out of the correct color wire, or he just didn't give a darn, because the Positive & Negative wires are the same color, resulting in an 8-Track player that never worked, because the wires were reversed.

I will most definitely be making a wiring legend, in case I ever do sell it, so that the next owner won't have the headaches I did.

[Griff_in_Fairba]

StingrayL82 wrote:
In other words, could not having the ground lug on that 10/3 cord cause a reverse polarity condition or some other issue that would have caused the 12VDC fuse connector to melt, when I accidentally turned the fridge to "12V", instead of "ELEC", when I was connected to shore power?

Direct current (DC) has polarity and polarity is important.

Alternating current (AC) doesn't ... current flows first one way and then the other on the hot leg. (60 times a second in North America.) Current is flowing the opposite direction on the neutral leg.

Standard colors are green for ground, white for neutral, and black (and red on 240VAC) for hot.

I've seen white and black reversed on 120VAC outlets. Also, I don't trust wire colors on any wiring done by anyone else (including by manufacturers and professional electricians) until I've checked it myself.

Also -- VERY IMPORTANT -- 12VDC colors are often different from 120/240VAC standard. It's common for black to be negative (ground) and red to be positive (hot) in 12VDC motor vehicles.

[StingrayL82]

TreeSeeker wrote:
Ok, now it sounds like you are good to go. Don't forget to stock up on spare fuses, for both the fuse panel and the converter.

I’ve got a bunch of the 15-amp SFE and the 40-amp ATO fuses.

[BitsPerSecond]

Besides the horrible splice made by the Dreaded Previous Owner, the cord appears fine. It looks like it is the correct size, just shorter than normal once I fix it. Replacing it is on the to do list when I get that far. For now, I ordered a new connector for it. I also ordered the parts I need to install the 30A Hookup on the side of the house. Cost me around 110 USD for everything. Plan on doing that next weekend.

[j-d]

my440 wrote:
Hi, hope you guys are all well, have not been here for abit. My 1978 Dodge Sportsman B300 440 ci. motorhome has a brake pedal that does not return. Need to pull it back with your toe to get the brake lights to turn off.
I removed the instrument cluster panel to access the pedal linkage area and lubed it up but to no avail.
Obviously there is not a spring to pull back the pedal that I see.
Any ideas? And the best way to troubleshot the cause so I can get the pedal to come back??
Thanks, really appreciate any assistance!
Brake pads drums calipers all new recently.

When we had a B300, we had that problem and traced it to the bellcrank that adapts the fore and aft push of the brake pedal, to the transverse booster/master cylinder assembly. I actually drilled it and tapped it for a grease fitting. Included lubing the bellcrank in my chassis lube routine.

Usually I edit a Quote down to only the item in question, but since you mention Instrument Panel, I remember the Instrument Cluster Ground was kinda goofy. It was a wire that ran down the firewall, under the floor mat, to a screw down by the floor. Not positive (sold the B300 in 1992. Might have been one of the two screws that held the Hi/Lo Headlight Button. Anyhow, make sure that connection is snug or your gauges will do odd things.

[TreeSeeker]

Ok, now it sounds like you are good to go. Don't forget to stock up on spare fuses, for both the fuse panel and the converter.

[StingrayL82]

TreeSeeker wrote:
Ok, that fuse panel looks way better than it did. And it seems to be working way better too. Is it still cool when the refer is on 12vdc?

Yes it is. I also just re-installed the house battery and connected it. Here is the resulting voltage at the converter and battery, respectively , and it appears that the converter/charger is doing its job. Keep in mind the house battery is 7 years old and is getting replaced with two Group 27 Deep Cycle batteries.