1996 Itasca Sunrise 31rq F53 Project (sort of)

[FrankenHome]

Hello All,


New guy to your website and it looks great. I also hope I'm posting in the right place. I'm not sure where to start so if you'll indulge me I'll start at the beginning. About 2 years ago I bought my first RV and I'll confess that I'm a former certified automotive tech (we used to be called mechanics or worse) so a lot of what I'll share is on me but to say I was lied to about the overall condition would be an understatement. I'll just list everything I've done and if you want to know about anything specifically let me know. I may have a few pictures to share too. So, without exaggeration, this RV was supposed to only have cosmetic issues. And by that the head liner was shot. Some of it had been torn out and the gray foam was exposed and shedding all over everything. Taking the man at his word we made the deal. My bad all the way because I was in a rush to buy and I didn't check everything as I should have. Here we go and not in any particular order of discovery:


1. Inner side walls on the rear tires splitting.
2  Windshield leaking like a waterfall across the top.
3  Steering stabilizer shot.
4. Dash A/C completely shot. Front bearing and seal on compressor failed, system open to the atmosphere, rust inside hose fittings.
5. Radiator leaking lower corner.
6. Furnace had a dead mouse (guess that's better than a live one) and a mouse nest in the burner box. Igniter bad.
7. Right exhaust manifold and air injection tube leaking at flange.
8. Water heater needed maintenance.
9. Severe rodent and ant infestation.
10. Fiberglass nose getting ready to fall off (no kidding).
11. Shocks bad.
12. Power Converter bad.
13. Corroded galvanized steel 5/8 inch tube fittings at the hose connections for the water heater and rear bedroom heater.
14. Fuel gauge not accurate.
15. Engine coolant expansion tank cracked and leaking.
16. A whole bunch of miscellaneous items.


When we bought this beauty, the plan was to drive it about half way across the US to see my kids. I never made it out town before I smelled burning rubber coming from the engine area. I made it home pulled the engine cover and found that the front bearing on the AC compressor was gone. The only thing holding the pulley on was the clutch. So while I was investigating the air conditioner I found anti-freeze dripping from the front of the coach. Dug into this deeper and found the leak in the lower right corner. And while I was doing all this a storm rolled through and I discovered that I had a fairly decent waterfall flowing inside from the top of the windshield. So we scrapped our travel plans and parked the RV at the storage lot. Time to go to work.


The storage lot allowed me to work on it on their property which was a genuine blessing. I pulled the nose off (that's when I found out it was falling off). Removed the ac condenser the radiator, the water pump, thermostat, belts and hoses. I had to completely rebuild the A/C system. The parts came from a variety of locations but I was able to the same compressor and evaporator. The condenser, dryer and expansion valve I had to guess at and I had to custom make all the hoses and fittings. I had a lot of good people at the supply houses help me try to get the right A/C parts too. The radiator was the next challenge because I didn't know that it is unique to the RV application. After getting the wrong one locally a couple of times, I found the correct one at a specialty radiator business and had it shipped to my home. While I had everything off and exposed I replaced the water pump, thermostat, and hoses. This is when I discovered that the previous owner had dumped copious amount of stop leak into the cooling system. That stuff was coating everything internally. The thermostat housing was almost eaten completely through too.


For the exhaust leak, the best solution was to just purchase a new manifold and install it without a gasket. I made a gasket for the air injection tube flange out of thin sheet aluminum and I used anti-seize on all the bolts. I also found the cross over pipe flange had rolled over from excessive heat and didn't seal on the new manifold. I had to cut off the cross over pipe, heat the pipe flange and bend it back into shape. Install and weld back in place. Thinking I'm now good to go, I had to make angle iron support brackets and bolt them to the front of the frame on each side and then to the nose to hold the nose on front of the coach.  It took me several months but I got all this done and the RV running again. That's when I found that the expansion tank had spider cracks and leaked when the engine got hot. I found a Ford parts house in Michigan that had an OEM tank and replaced it.


Now I can at least drive it and it runs pretty good but it's not handling very well. The front tires are new but some off brand that I just didn't trust and after inspection the back tires, well let's just say I took in for a full set of new Michelins. I installed a new Bilstein steering stabilizer too.


After this we finally got to make our first cross country trip without any major problems. I still had plenty of work to do but we made it. It was our first RV adventure and we loved it. I'll get to the rest of the story later but please let me know if this way too much information and I'll back up the bus. Also please let me know if you have any questions about anything I've done so far and I'll be glad to answer them.


Best regards,
John

[TerryH]

Wow!   

[FrankenHome]

Thanks Terry,

Wow's right...I almost walked away from it but I decided to try to make a silk purse.


Caveat emptor has never been truer.


John

[HandyDan]

I read the whole thing with great enthusiasm.  You are not the first to have to completely redo their rig, but it is fascinating each time I read what some folks have to go through to take a trip.  I've constantly tinkered with mine from the time I bought it seven years ago.  Just when you think you have everything just the way you want it, something breaks, becomes out of date, simple falls apart, or needs maintenance.  However, that is part of the joy of owning a vintage motor home.  Some parts are impossible to replace, but that is part of the challenge.  I am preparing mine for a Labor Day Week trip so today I gave it a bath and started checking everything out.  The fan on the front A/C wouldn't budge, but the compressor came on.  I climbed on top and took off the shroud and spun the motor.  Placed a little oil on the motor shaft and everything is back in business.  Cleaned out all the mud dabber nests and spider webs.  Discovered that the outside 110vt outlet mysteriously doesn't have power.  I don't even know where to look for a fix.  All circuit breakers and fuses checked out okay.  Other outlets work, just not the outside one.  Windshield washer on the wiper needs some attention, and I have some plastic chrome trim that will go in the channel in the windshield seal.  Uh oh!  I've highjacked your thread.  I'm sorry.

[FrankenHome]

No worries on the thread and I got a chuckle out of your post. I already know what you mean about alway finding something unexpected that needs to be fixed. Glad you're getting yours sorted out and I hope you have a good trip.


All things considered I really can't complain about my RV. While I can fix most anything, I knew absolutely nothing about RVs and RV camping until I got this one. Now that I've got it on the road again we've put about 10,000 miles on it already and I've been able to see my kids and grandkids (about 1200 miles away) more in the last year and half than I have in the past 5. I'll continue the saga tomorrow.


By-the-way, check your GFCI outlets for a tripped breaker. One of them may provide power to your outside 110v outlet. Try a test and reset as you find them The outlet itself may be a GFCI too.


John

[joanfenn]

We had a gfi breaker at the bathroom sink that if tripped would shut off all the plugins in a trailer we had.  That brought back many memories of what in the world??

[joanfenn]

Oh and glad you are here John

[TerryH]

Agree, GFI is often overlooked, and if tripped will take out every circuit downstream from it.
You are finding and dealing with things requiring repair. Soon will come a whole new list of things you would like to do. The list never ends and is enjoyable insofar as it is " YOUR rv".
Welcome aboard.

[Rickf1985]

Well John, when I first welcomed you I had no idea what you had already been through! I am also a retired master tech. I also hate that term, I am a master mechanic, period! Isn't it amazing that when you retire you think you are done with major work? Yea right! :)rotflmao Everybody tells me "man, it must be great that you can fix your own stuff". Well to be honest I can't due to disability but even before that I had burned out. You just get tired of doing that day in and day out and you get to a point of you do not want to do it anymore. Never thought I would see that day but................. I don't mind helping others but I can't do it myself anymore. Of coarse, any you will verify this, a mechanic will never trust anybody else to work on their own stuff. Soooooooo, You end up doing it anyway. Glad to have you aboard John.

[tiinytina]

John,
if you haven't dug into the forum yet.. I started this thread a while back... you may laugh or cry... we've all been there!
http://www.classicwinnebagos.com/forum/index.php/topic,8851.msg43927.html#msg43927

[FrankenHome]

Wow!!! Thanks for sharing Tina. I swear I don't know how these guys (PO) sleep at night. I was sitting in the driver's seat, the PO was sitting in the passenger's seat. He's a salt of the earth church going man so he tells me. I look him right in the eye and I say, "if I buy this RV, I going to take the most valuable things on the face of the earth to me half way across the US in a couple of months and you're telling me that everything works and it doesn't need anything. Right? And his answer..... wait for it..... That's right." Just amazing.

And I'm right with you Rick!

John

[FrankenHome]

Ok...picking up where I left off. Our first 3000 mile trip when fairly well. My custom dash A/C still had issues and leaked at one of my hose fittings and I was sure that the expansion valve wasn't working. But overall it went ok. The windshield leak and the gray foam shedding all over the place was bugging me. When I got back I went after the A/C first. Ford used two pressure sensors in the A/C system that are screwed into a steel tube between the compressor and the condenser. I was able to get two new pressure sensors but I couldn't get a new section of unique a/c tubing to install them. So I cut each end off and tried brazing on new fitting on each end but I could get the hose to seal after clamping the fitting. I gave up and removed the fitting and used compression fittings instead and it worked. I was still have problems with the A/C working then blowing hot and I was getting serious pressure spikes on the high side when I checked it with my gauges so I installed a different expansion valve and it worked. Still blowing cold today so I think I got it.


For the headliner, I stripped the remaining material and scraped the foam off the plywood base. I then used a stiff brush to remove as much of the remaining foam material at possible. I then used Acetone, rags and tons of elbow grease to remove as much of the glue as I could. No smoking allowed while you're doing this. It's a nasty job and recommend draping plastic sheets over everything to protect the interior. It really looks ok as is now but I think we are going try painting the ceiling using a flat light gray color.


Now for the windshield leak, this ended up being a two stage processes. When Winnebago designed the windshields on these coaches, the glass was sealed to the a metal frame. Sounds good so far but the heavy rubber molding or strip across the top and bottom is only cosmetic. A plastic channel is glued into the recess just above the windshield leaving a groove or pocket between the top of the windshield and this channel. When it rains or you wash your RV, water will sit in this groove and eventually start rusting the metal frame. As the rust develops in spots all the top, it gets in between the glass and the metal and pushes the glass out leaving gaps that cause leaks and more rusting. In some cases the pressure gets so bad that it cracks the windshield. Of course I didn't know this at first and I tried to stop the leaks by filling this gap with silicone seal. Seamed to work at first but the leaks and waterfall soon reappeared. Time for more drastic measures. I really don't like doing things that I can't undo but I knew that didn't want to spend about $2000.00 to have the windshields removed, the metal frame repaired and new windshields installed. I went a considerably cheaper route. I removed the rubber molding and very carefully pulled and cut out the plastic channel from one side to other that holds the rubber molding in place. With this out of the way, I wire brushed all the surface rust off the exposed metal at the windshield. Pieces of rust were literally dropping on my dash inside when I did this. Once I had it clean I used a special adhesive sealer that is used to bond the joints of sheet metal on custom truck beds to completely fill and cover the metal and top of the windshield glass. I used a small scraper to press the sealer into the gap on top of the windshield. Once this set, I taped off the body above the windshield and the glass and sprayed black truck bed liner over the sealant. This provides extra protection and definitely keeps water out. Unless you look closely you can't tell that the rubber molding is gone and no more windshield leaks! I'll try get a picture and post it.


This attached pic is when I started the major repairs.


More to follow soon!