Buying 85 IDI ATS turbo motorhome!

[Cubey]

They are pretty easy to hook up. I did find out that my cruise cancel switch on my brake pedal was leaking vacuum. I was trying to get a better recovery after using the brakes so I took the vacuum line off of it and put a bolt in it. I have better vacuum, recovery now plus I gained 1" of vacuum while on the highway. My cruise control is my right foot so that switch isn't needed.

That's how the manifold is right now, with the caps. When I was testing with the gauge, having the cruise and the vac senor hooked up reduced the reading. I don't trust 37 year old mechanical cruise control and the sensor thing doesn't work (brake light isn't on with no vac going to it) so yeah.

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[asmith]

Just curious with living full time in a RV and just cruising around between states, what do you do for a living?

 

[Cubey]

Just curious with living full time in a RV and just cruising around between states, what do you do for a living?

Notta.

 

[asmith]

Notta.

You dont do anything? I know you live on a pretty tight budget, how do you even have a budget then?
It does sound nice, cruising around visiting places without having to worry about a job.

 

[Cubey]

You dont do anything? I know you live on a pretty tight budget, how do you even have a budget then?
It does sound nice, cruising around visiting places without having to worry about a job.

I prefer not to discuss it publicly.

 

[asmith]

I prefer not to discuss it publicly.

no worries dont mean to pry. just an unusual situation and I am naturally curious(my wife would say nosey ) anyway keep up the good work on the motorhome. I enjoy reading about your adventures with it.

 

[Cubey]

Seriously considering selling the F250 the next time I get back to it, since it's just going to sit and rot most likely. If I do, I may use the proceeds to get a classic aircooled VW Beetle for my daily driver at camps. I would get an autostick one, or get a manual and convert it, because I don't like clutches at all. From the research I've done, autostick can be flat towed. People get confused because owners manuals from the era, when both autostick for aircooled models and true auto transmissions for water cooled models existed, say not to flat tow automatic transmission vehicles. Some people take that to mean autostick too but VW never called it "automatic" so it's clearly not referring to it.

That's always been my favorite classic car since I was little. I once bought an engineless autostick super beetle but i got rid of and almost everything else i owned around 2012 when i originally wanted to full time RV. It didn't last long sadly.

But anyway yeah, they are stupidly easy to work on and it's probably the most supported car for used and aftermarket parts. Parts aren't expensive either.

It may be a year or two before I do that though. I intend to empty my storage up in the NW this summer. Maybe I'll head back to the truck next fall and go into an RV park temporarily while I try to sell it. Then I can also drop my little enclosed cargo trailer at my mom's house (not gonna get rid of that, too useful!) in place of the F250 in the back yard. Then buy a flat tow bar for beetle or super beetle and have it at the ready for when I find a good one to buy for a good price.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Honestly, I think that's a good plan. Since you almost never use the F250 (except for 2020) that would let you drive around easily and leave the RV at the campsite. You'd have to dump the enclosed trailer, but you didn't have it when you were first using the RV anyway. I can see it as a win/win for you.

 

[Cubey]

Honestly, I think that's a good plan. Since you almost never use the F250 (except for 2020) that would let you drive around easily and leave the RV at the campsite. You'd have to dump the enclosed trailer, but you didn't have it when you were first using the RV anyway. I can see it as a win/win for you.

I was using a hitch box on the RV (had it from the car, also used on the truck) but since I upgraded solar and batteries a few months ago, I have barely needed the tiny generator. I have the big onboard generator if I need extra power now and then. That was a big reason for the hitch box. The car will have some storage for a few extra tools or whatever too. The Honda scooter will be kept too, stored in the trailer. And the hitch box for that matter. It's sitting on the back of the truck, right now.

I finally pulled the unused furnace out of the motorhome and that gave a ton of storage space for several things I had in the trailer, such as the 22 ton jack stand I have for the rear axle on the RV. It was the dimensions of the bare plywood floor you see, because it sat right on top of it.

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[Cubey]

And yeah, I wanted the f250 as a backup, but I do carry full coverage on the motorhome in the event of a total loss that I can't fix myself, and in that case I'd just end up wanting another motorhome, if possible. In a pinch, I could secure a smallish loan or even financing on a good used motorhome. I have a pretty good credit score despite my low income and a chapter 7 still on record for another couple years. I easily got $3500 cash from my credit union over the phone in 2019 to buy this motorhome, and they basically wanted me to get a bigger loan, asking if I was sure that was enough. I explained the situation about why i went with a personal loan vs RV financing (which would be lower interest) and they were like "oh, ok. makes sense" and gladly lent the money.

Assuming the car doesn't suffer a total loss at the same time, I'd have a way to get around still in that event.

And should I decide to quit RVing for whatever reason some day, it'll still be useful. Probably more useful than an IDI truck that has been sitting for 5-10 years that needs everything replaced all at once again.

 

[Booyah45828]

If your truck is sitting gathering rust, now is the time to sell it, as it's a sellers market at the moment and people are overpaying by a lot IMO. It honestly sounds like you're over owning the truck anyways, so get rid of it while it's worth something.

 

[Cubey]

If your truck is sitting gathering rust, now is the time to sell it, as it's a sellers market at the moment and people are overpaying by a lot IMO. It honestly sounds like you're over owning the truck anyways, so get rid of it while it's worth something.

Hopefully it'll still be such a market late this year to early next, since I won't be getting back that way until then.

 

[Cubey]

Well it's been 18 months, time to do brake work (pads) again.

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Brakes on this are just the worst, but I can't entirely blame just the brakes considering what they have to put up with... heavyass RV, towing, mountains. >_>

I went through Death Valley and the first steep (down) grade going WB at the west end of DV had my poor brake pads smoking, even when in 2nd gear for some engine braking. I should have been in 1st going down that 9% grade but they gave so little freaking warning! Thank goodness for the one long gravel pull out that saved me. I got it stopped (barely) and let them cool down before I continued. Braking seems fairly ok still in general after that, but I know those pads got overheated really badly, or at least the LH side did. (sticking calipers, again?!?! is there no quality left at all?!?!?!)

At least they're not hard to do, I just need to wait until I get to a big truck stop up around Reno where I can replace the pads on a flat, paved surface, without being hassled.

Any recommendations of pads that can be had from a retail parts house? The "severe duty" ones AutoZone shows can't be had in any stores it seems.

These Napa ones don't have slits in the pads like most do, is that a good or bad thing?

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/SS_SS7054M?impressionRank=2

Most have a split in the center like these:

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c/brakebest-select-brake-pads/brakes/brake-pads---shoes/brake-pads/a99314144bb6/brakebest-select-semi-metallic-front-disc-brake-pads/bb23/sm450/v/a/5161/automotive-van-1985-ford-e-350-econoline?q=brake+pads&pos=0

But I have seen some with 2 slits, like these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KHLHDFG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

That last set linked, I have from when I replaced the rotors and such in late 2020. They might be glazed too but maybe not as badly. I'll have to dig them out of the trailer this week and have a look at them. I kept them as emergency spares in a event such as this.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

If they're glazed, you can put some sandpaper on a flat surface and sand them a little bit to remove the glazing.

 

[Booyah45828]

Those slots allow gases created by overheating the friction to escape. They also play a role in harmonics and squeaking. Cheap pads won't typically won't have them. Why napa's "premium" pad doesn't have it, I don't know. We install a lot of napa pads, and I've never liked their premium line. Their adaptive one stuff is good, as is the fleet stuff, but the premium pads always felt subpar.

Fortunately, the premium line is discontinued and has been replaced by the silentguard line. The friction used in those seems better, but only time will tell.

FWIW, if a pad was smoking, it's junk imo. You can sand it all you want but it will eventually glaze and start squeaking again. Also, heat can cause the caliper to become trash too.