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

[tommyj3]

Thanks very much for the reply 65CrewCabPW. I've owned said RV for 6 years and no wiring has been changed. I just moved it a couple of days ago, and then I couldn't shut it off. I like the idea of a relay being struck closed. I will be checking this out pronto.
Thanks Very Much
Tom

[65CrewCabPW]

Someone, somewhere, has installed a relay, and miswired it, or miswired the voltage regulator voltage feed circuit, and it's running on the alternator.

I can't help you much beyond that, as far as by text help...

However, this you might want to check...

Is there a load on the battery with everything off and the motor not running?

Check by pulling the battery cable and hooking it back up.

If it keeps running after turning the key off, somehow the ignition is energized. So... One simply has to trace why or how it has power. Obviously, not the ignition switch. If someone has miswired a relay, it would most likely power an electric fuel pump, and it acts like a latching relay... it powers itself, once it's on.

Or, someone has "hotwired" the rig to get it to start, and the ignition is actually "always" on. That should not be too hard to figure out.

Also, there is a relay that energizes the ignition, bypassing the ballast resistor while you crank the engine.

This relay is rectangular, usually not far from the battery, and has a heavy wire between it and the battery. if it were stuck, or the wire were bypassed to battery voltage, it would not shut off.

This is all I can think of right now.

[tommyj3]

I'm in need of some help from you owners of the older Dodge RV's.
My problem is:
I have a 77 Dodge RV with 440 engine. I am unable to shut engine off with key switch. It starts fine and runs fine, but cann't shut it down. I have replaced the ignition switch with new one and still have the same problem. Any Ideas. Just about got all my hair pulled out on this, what little I have left anyhow.

[Goatmaiden]

ALnCORY wrote:
Goatmaiden?
Does your Road Ranger say if it was made in the Caldwell Idaho plant? If so I might have worked on it. I worked at the complex during that time but usually on the travel trailers. I remember them being pretty nice little rigs. They listed at about 14,000 if I remember correctly...

Awesome! I went out to take a pic of the badge on her side which says that she was in fact made at that plant, but my battery died. That's pretty wild tho.

Sooo.... we took as much as we possibly could off the old beast to try to get at the engine, with the help of some friends, but eventually admitted defeat. Mostly not because we didn't want to / couldn't continue on, but, um, I'm working full time and am leaving Oregon by the end of the month and the whole plan was to travel by RV to our new abode. So it's more of a timing thing that has prompted us to call in the professionals.

Anyway, we will get a chance to find out exactly what went wrong with the engine, and in place, we have worked out to have a professionally remanufactured 440-3 engine put in that comes with a 3 year warranty. I know to some this probably goes against the spirit of having an older RV, but I will say I have learned more about pistons, bearings, heads, valves, the difference between cast iron and forged crankshafts, etc. in the past 2 weeks than I ever thought could possibly fit in my brain. And, like I told Ron the rebuilder, I'm the black sheep of a Mopar family, so this was the only way I'd ever get to talk with them 🙂 (that was another problem, I'm moving back to be closer to them, but I wish they were here now!)

P.S. CrazyMopraGuy - The reason I was asking about that paint job is because we just painted the front of our rig brown and it looks a lot like yours!

[Griff_in_Fairba]

ALnCORY wrote:
Thanks Crewcab,
I have a friend who is a retired tranny mechanic and I will be taking it out to him to help me with the tranny when I get to that part. That way he can give it a good go over and see if there are any trouble spots lurking. Mine doesn't seem to leak when parked on an upslope but does leak when parked so that the drivers side is lower.. don;t know it that means anything or not. As long as I have good fluid level in it, shifts smooth as glass so I figure its mostly just seals that are the problem.. thanks again for your advise.

That would be the seals on the shift/kickdown shafts. If it doesn't leak a lot, I wouldn't even worry about it.

A727 Torqueflite/Loadflite trannys are hard to kill ... I know, I've tried unusual things that'd kill most other automatics. Keep the fluid full and change the filter once in a while and they'll last almost forever. (Kinda like a Dana 70 rear axle ... just about the only way to kill one is to run it dry.)

[ALnCORY]

Thanks Crewcab,
I have a friend who is a retired tranny mechanic and I will be taking it out to him to help me with the tranny when I get to that part. That way he can give it a good go over and see if there are any trouble spots lurking. Mine doesn't seem to leak when parked on an upslope but does leak when parked so that the drivers side is lower.. don;t know it that means anything or not. As long as I have good fluid level in it, shifts smooth as glass so I figure its mostly just seals that are the problem.. thanks again for your advise.

[65CrewCabPW]

ALnCORY wrote:
Hey Jerry,
Well I have fixed all my leaks and have fixed all the water damage in the overhead. Resealed all my drip rail and some windows and replace broken vent to solve some leak issues and have repaired all the water line breaks. I still have alot to do, new counter top, paint inside, new flooring. My wife is building new curtains and cushion covers. I haven't spent alot of money yet but its very time consuming. I still have to do some basic engine work, tune up kind of stuff, and get a new pan seal on the tranny, but I hope to take it out on a trial run this fall. What are your favorite local camp grounds? Maybe we could meet at one some weekend. I would love to see your rig up close. Keep in touch, Al

I should point out to you that a common leak on the transmission appears to be the pan, but is actually the o-ring on the filler tube, and the seals on the shift / kickdown shafts. They are one inside the other over on the driver's side of the tranny. The filler is on the passenger's side near the front. The O-ring gets hard and starts seeping in every old one I've ever owned.

The seal change requires dropping the valve body, which isn't actually all that hard to do. One is changed while the valve body is out, the other is part of the shifter shaft mechanism. One is a classic seal, the other looks like a waved washer.

Another small seep spot is the cooler line attachment points. They're pipe thread and vibration loosens the threads and thye begin to seep small amounts of oil. The only real "fix" is to pull the fittings, clean everything, and put it back in with a very good sealant, one more revolution in, so it's tight again.

Sometimes the tailshaft seal leaks, but it's relatively easy to change, and doesn't usually leak unless the chassis is pointed uphill.

[Leeann]

eyeteeth wrote:
I'm starting to think its just not int he cards for me his year... 😞

Nah....it'll all work out in the end 😉

[eyeteeth]

Well... another several days wasted... I had a couple of days off, I was originally going to go racing, but can't go without the MH, so I figured I keep the days off to work on it. Unfortunately, my youngest came down with something and had 104 fevers both days, so I got to stay home and play Mr. Mom.

I'm starting to think its just not int he cards for me his year... 😞

[79powerwagon]

Trish Davis wrote:
Happy Father's Day !!

Thanks Trish! I don't "officially" become a father (step) and grandfather until September 27, but I'll accept your salutations anyway! :B

[Trish_Davis]

Happy Father's Day !!

[Jer_Ger]

Well, I've been working on mine just like everyone else. I just installed new rotors, brake pads, & breake lines. When I installed the calipers, I crossed them side to side and could not get them to bleed right, DAH!!! I'll never do that again! Anyway I've moved on to draining the transmission pan to change the oil. While I'm at it I figure I might as well add a drain plug so I can do the change a little easier and more eften. So that's done. Still trying to find what the next project should be, maybe move the generator to the gen. compartment, who knows. I'm sure to find something....Jerry

[ALnCORY]

Hey Jerry,
Well I have fixed all my leaks and have fixed all the water damage in the overhead. Resealed all my drip rail and some windows and replace broken vent to solve some leak issues and have repaired all the water line breaks. I still have alot to do, new counter top, paint inside, new flooring. My wife is building new curtains and cushion covers. I haven't spent alot of money yet but its very time consuming. I still have to do some basic engine work, tune up kind of stuff, and get a new pan seal on the tranny, but I hope to take it out on a trial run this fall. What are your favorite local camp grounds? Maybe we could meet at one some weekend. I would love to see your rig up close. Keep in touch, Al

[Jer_Ger]

Hey ALnCORY, how's the progress coming on your rig? Jerry

[ALnCORY]

Goatmaiden?
Does your Road Ranger say if it was made in the Caldwell Idaho plant? If so I might have worked on it. I worked at the complex during that time but usually on the travel trailers. I remember them being pretty nice little rigs. They listed at about 14,000 if I remember correctly...