Slide in camper owners: what's your mpg?

Cubey

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Born Free sold several class c's on ford diesel chassis in the 80's. Holiday rambler sold a few too.....

Oddly enough, I actually found one made by another RV company, a 1985 IDI. Isn't that after the the early bad blocks were made?

It needs a new RV door ($300-400) but its usable for the moment as it is with plywood over the outside of the rotten door frame.

It's 300 miles away but I'm going to look at it tomorrow. He's marked it as pending for me.

If I decide to get it, I will have to probably see if i can leave my truck parked someplace for a couple days and bring the motorhome here first. Then rent a car one way back there to collect my truck.

My truck doesn't have a big enough hitch to pull the motorhome, nor does the motorhome probably have a big enough hitch to tow the truck.

Unfortunately, I don't have anyone who would go on a 5 hour drive (10 round trip) with me, and greyhound would take 14 hours including a 4 hr layover transfer at 2am so that won't work. So a one way rental car, then a taxi ride would work. I can bring my dog in a rental car so i don't have to worry about boarding her.

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Jason1377

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Oddly enough, I actually found one made by another RV company, a 1985 IDI. Isn't that after the the early bad blocks were made?

It needs a new RV door ($300-400) but its usable for the moment as it is with plywood over the outside of the rotten door frame.

It's 300 miles away but I'm going to look at it tomorrow. He's marked it as pending for me.

If I decide to get it, I will have to probably see if i can leave my truck parked someplace for a couple days and bring the motorhome here first. Then rent a car one way back there to collect my truck.

My truck doesn't have a big enough hitch to pull the motorhome, nor does the motorhome probably have a big enough hitch to tow the truck.

Unfortunately, I don't have anyone who would go on a 5 hour drive (10 round trip) with me, and greyhound would take 14 hours including a 4 hr layover transfer at 2am so that won't work. So a one way rental car, then a taxi ride would work. I can bring my dog in a rental car so i don't have to worry about boarding her.

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Do you need a CDL or a attached item on ur DL aka drivers license for a camper like that or a RV
 

Cubey

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Do you need a CDL or a attached item on ur DL aka drivers license for a camper like that or a RV

No, you don't. It's no different from driving a uhaul terms of size, chassis type and license needed. It's just an oversized van.

Heck, even the huge bus sized motorhomes don't require a special permit, unless I'm mistaken. Pretty sure you don't even need a CDL for a privately owned, non commercial bus. A lot of people use old school buses for RV conversions. Same with the massive 5th wheels, no special endorsement required
 

Cubey

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Omg!! Am I seeing things? Is that a banks turbo badge?!

It sure looks like it. Man, I'm not going to sleep much tonight.

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snicklas

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Correct, at this point, if a vehicle is licensed as an RV. From a Class A, B, C Motorhome (Class A is normally one that looks like a bus, either a bus chassis that is a coach (Prevost, Thomas, Blue Bird) or a completely fabbed body that looks like a bus, A Class B is normally just a modified camper van (What Darrin has been selling a lot of here lately), and a Class C is normally a "Cutaway Van Chassis" with a fabricated body, like the one above), A Converted School/Passenger Bus, or even the Class 8 Road Tractor with an extended frame and large coach body (I've heard of these called a Toter Home) can be driven with a normal passenger license. Even if the rig has Air Brakes.....

For example;

This toter home:

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Can be driven with just an operators license

But this same truck:

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and hook it to a semi van trailer, and you have to have a CDL wihh Air Brake endorsement......
 

compressionignitionrules

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Well this topic really veered off there. I have only had positive experiences with law enforcement since my 21st year:cheers: treat them with respect always. do unto others......... ok back on topic.


I've been camper searching and anything here under about $7500 seems to be a junk camper, so I am going to restore a 1976 Cavalcade 9.5 footer , mostly interior work but no leaks anywhere just old.

my dad rebuilt the part over the cab about 20 yrs ago and put all new wood and insulation in along with a window replacement. it does sleep 5 , which I have found almost impossible to track down. My (now Wife) girlfiend and I took it on a trip on my dad's old 77F250 (w/isuzu 353) to inquire of my uncle if he would be our minister. yep queen size bed over the cab:thumbsup:

its heavy and high but actually has a nice rounded front and it has actually made the trip up to Inuvik once before when dad loaned it out to one of my friend's parents.

The wife didn't complain about it being too old, she just wants to pick out the materials to redo inside. it also gives me some time to haul the camper on the truck and see if i shoudl make it a dually or not.

I already have a dually box and rear axle for it. I'll have to take some pics next week, both truck and camper are at my dad's farm. I don't mind spending some money on it because its free ..................I've seen campers no better in the 1500 -2500 range, and they sell.

happy camping
 

Oil_In_The_Gas

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I took a 2500 mile trip with my truck a few summers ago, It was far more convenient than towing my trailer or driving a motorhome in my opinion. 4x4 6.9 IDI w/ATS turbo and ZF5, I was getting 12-14mpg, 2200lbs camper weight. If you're looking for pros and cons. Here was my thought process vs a motorhome.
Pros- The camper has no registration costs, no insurance and no state emissions inspections compared to a motorhome. One less vehicle to maintain the engine and drive train. You can leave it at a camp site and still travel, 65mph in states that restrict trailers to 55mph. 4wd in my case, and a back seat for passengers. Getting into tight campground spaces was a piece of cake. I could tow a boat too.

Cons- I felt it was a bit top heavy feeling and installed factory f-350 overload springs and rear swaybar, this made a huge difference in handling. I had to also fabricate solid tie down anchors that attached to the frame. Small amount of room in my 8 foot camper and it gets a bit cramped with more than 2 adults and a dog. Small fresh water tank with small black and grey tanks compared to a motorhome for dry camping, which is 90% of what I do.

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Cubey

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I took a 2500 mile trip with my truck a few summers ago, It was far more convenient than towing my trailer or driving a motorhome in my opinion.

I found a 1985 6.9 IDI motorhome with ATS turbo so I'm getting that. It's the one referenced earlier in this thread. It makes more sense for me as a full time RVer. I have a separate thread about it:

https://www.oilburners.net/threads/buying-85-idit-motorhome.84627/

It was 300 miles away but it seems like a very good deal for what it has. It cost me $100 in fuel in my truck to go look at it (round trip), but worth it. It'll be another $100 to take greyhound up there to pay it off, plus $60-70 in fuel to drive it back. But it has a newish RV fridge ($1200 new!!) and other newer RV parts worth hundreds of dollars.

I paid about 10% down until my CU personal loan is finalized and to give him time to prepare vacate it. The seller is old and has worsening health problems in regards to climbing the ladder to the cabover bed so he's going to buy a travel trailer instead to live in at the RV park.
 

nelstomlinson

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Dragging an 8,000 pound trailer with a popup slidein in the back of the truck, I got about 11 up to about 14 MPG last summer, as I recall. That was in an '89 F350 crewcab with the ZF5. The 14mpg included over 100 miles downhill. The 11mpg was mostly uphill, including some very long, steep stretches in third gear.

With a '94 F350 crewcab with E4od, I traveled just a little with a heavier popup slidein, and was probably getting around 14MPG, down about one MPG from running empty. In both cases, I was holding the speed down, running 55 to 60+.
 

genscripter

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Moderator, thanks for shutting down the BS. That's one of the many reasons I lurk on this site almost daily. If I knew how to put a thumbs up symbol, I would put two of them.

The fact this forum feels the need to babysit the free speech of grown men is the primary reason why I don't contribute more to this particular forum.



Omg!! Am I seeing things? Is that a banks turbo badge?!

It sure looks like it. Man, I'm not going to sleep much tonight.

That looks promising. I like the Banks Van IDI turbo setup, but there are some flaws. Hopefully the PO took care of the kit, because if it is let go, the flexible parts of the Banks air intake system can erode, and cause unfiltered air to get into the IDI intake manifold. It's hard to assess the condition of the whole Banks intake tubing, because the van compartment is so tight, and the Banks design takes up the entirety of the front part of the engine bay, which makes it hard to do the simplest things like crack the front injector, drain the diesel filter, or fill up the crankcase oil filler. So hopefully they kept up with the maintenance. :)
 

Cubey

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That looks promising. I like the Banks Van IDI turbo setup, but there are some flaws. Hopefully the PO took care of the kit, because if it is let go, the flexible parts of the Banks air intake system can erode, and cause unfiltered air to get into the IDI intake manifold. It's hard to assess the condition of the whole Banks intake tubing, because the van compartment is so tight, and the Banks design takes up the entirety of the front part of the engine bay, which makes it hard to do the simplest things like crack the front injector, drain the diesel filter, or fill up the crankcase oil filler. So hopefully they kept up with the maintenance. :)

It's an ATS turbo, 085 I think. And I'm buying it. Look at a previous message to yours (2 back I think) I'm quoting for a link to the tread about it. The badge that I thought was Banks is the ATS badge.
 

catbird7

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Cubey, awesome find congratulations! My best advice regarding camping, teach yourself to camp without a generator. Nothing screams greenhorn like a generator!
 
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