Introducing myself and showing off my families new to us '78 Chieftain

[rclifton]

Hello Everyone,

  I joined a few weeks back after having picked up a '72 D24 that ran great but needed a lot of work otherwise!     In my search for parts I stumbled upon what has to be an awesome find.  A '78 Chieftain 26RB with just over 28k original miles.  The interior is in incredible condition and the outside although the paint is faded and oxidized I believe can be saved hopefully!

  I plan to post a considerable number of pictures to this thread over the next several days so come back and check it out as I show off my families first RV!


Here is my youngest son and I as it is loaded onto my Brother-in-Laws Flatbed (Thanks Bruce!) 





Sadly, The ladder that was in perfect condition had a bit of an accident when the RV was being pulled out of the backyard, the lower half is tweaked pretty good and will be replaced.

The hitch dug a nice groove in the road as it was drug onto the flatbed, My son was impressed!. 


My son getting some OJT


Loaded up and on the road!

We had to let all the air out of the tires and still were less than an inch under the maximum allowed height!  We were sweating going under the laser at the scales lol 

Sadly when we got it home we were unable to get air back into 4 of the tires,  N:( .  They were pretty shot and needed to be replaced anyway but now the coach is sitting unlevel so Checking out the fridge will have to wait..

Probably should have been the first pic but...  Yes that is original miles!  I have EVERY maintence receipt ever spent on it.


My wife actually likes a lot of the little things inside including the light switch plates.


And the beautiful woven wooden accordion door for the bathroom.


Passenger seat.. Pulled and sitting in the back as the owner was in the process of pulling the motor when it went into storage.


Did I mention I got it from the original owners son?!  His Dad had recently passed but had kept every document associated with the Chieftain.  He was a very proud owner, I have every manual, sticker, tag etc that came in and on the RV as well as the original sales contract and certified check used to buy it!  As well as all the correspondence he received from Winnebago over the years..

He ordered it with every option including the CB radio (it still works  )


The original woven window treatments, they are in great shape and my wife loves them for some reason lol.



That's it for now, I need to unload the huge amount of extra's (like a complete set of 70's era dishes and cook ware) as well as a ton of spare parts (the PO was serious about being prepared lol) and then I'll take some more photo's of the interior as well as some of the many treasures in spare parts I've found.

My family and I can't wait to get her back on the road again and are extremely grateful to the original owners son who let me buy this family treasure for only $400!!! 

More photos to come!

[JDxeper]

Great find, should do well!

[cosmic]

WOW. looks great.  good find. your sons smile reminds me of my boys. they love there Winnebago.

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

Looks good.  Hopefully it was not sitting outside in the sun.  Sun has a very bad habit of drying out the plastic to the point it gets brittle.  No fixing that either.  The plastic walls under drivers and passenger side windows are susceptible to that.
Why was he pulling the engine?
I see you also have the large propane tank access door.  Does this also have dual fuel (gas and propane)?  The tank is huge.  It is a 82lb tank.
GVWR is 12,000
Tires are getting hard to find.  I have been using EBAY: http://www.ebay.com/itm/140620804100?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Fuel main 36 gal
Fuel aux 27.8 gal
Black tank 56 gal (check mounting straps for rust)
grey tank 17 gal (fills way to fast even though only filled by kitchen sink)  get a Camco Grey Water Maximizer to transfer grey to black: http://www.amazon.com/Camco-39052-Holding-Tank-Maximizer/dp/B00192KXPK


Dave

[LJ-TJ]

Wow what a start what a score. Well done. The young lad looks like he's got lots of plans for ya DAD.

[moonlitcoyote]

Awesome find! Cant wait to see more pics and I love those window treatments, if you ever want to get rid of them...

[rclifton]

Thanks, and thanks everyone else as well..  We are very optimistic about the condition so far.  I do have a water leak (as I mentioned in the plumbing section, and I think you are right DaveVA78Chieftain, it looks like it started near a mounting screw.  I think I see some silicone even from a previous repair.)

So far we have one small area about 2'x2' in the back passenger side trunk area that has some water damage.  Not sure where the water came in but I will start looking seriously tomorrow.  As for why the previous owner was pulling the engine, I'm unsure.  His son said his Dad was a mechanic etc, The engine is missing the upper half but I plan to pull the 413 from the '72 that I have and put it into this one so not super concerned.. Yet anyway heh..

I've been looking for tires and you are right, seem incredibly rare!  I found a line on a guy who has 215x75xr17.5 mounted and balanced for $190 a tire.  He claims are a replacement for the original, so I'm gonna give them a shot.

It does have the huge 82lb propane tank and it is 3/4 full!  But I don't think the engine was converted as I see no additional lines going up that way.

Thanks for the links as well!  Especially for the one to transfer gray to black as I have 5 kids, 17gal is WAY to small lol..

Posting some pics of the spare parts I've found so far below.. 

[rclifton]

  Here is just a few of the goodies I've found so far..  Still have 2 large boxes in the closet and 2 compartments to go through..

Awnings, awnings and more awnings lol..  There is 6 total. Backup for the backups backup I think! 


Everyone needs a junk drawer!


Marker light broken?  No problem!


Replacement curtain..


Im gonna need a new screw..  No problem!


An entire replacement fog lamp assembly including mounting bracket and hardware!


Water pump backup, just in case..   


What could this be?


Why it's a replacement headlight and a number of replacement bulbs etc..


More awning stuff..


Ignition parts..


That's it for now, I'll post some interior pics later tonight or tomorrow after I've had a chance to wipe everything down etc..

Thanks!

[HandyDan]

Welcome to the forum.  My Holiday Rambler came from the factory with the dual fuel option, as were many from that era.  There was a recall on the HR that advised removing the entire system, which I did.  If you don't see any lines then possibly that is what was done.  That big of a tank is not the norm for casual camping.  Is there a liquid propane valve towards the front of the propane tank that is capped off? 

[Oz]

That really is a score and half!

[rclifton]

I'm not real versed on propane so not sure if there is another valve anywhere, although there doesn't appear to be.  The brochure I have says the 82lb was standard as was a leak detector etc so not sure.

Here is a few pics of the tank etc maybe someone sees something in them..  Aside from dirt and spider webs hehe.. 

[intofire1]

Wish you all the luck with the new (Vintage) Winnebago. What a find and all the extras is great. Sacramento has a great RV salvage yard. Can't remember the name "Doc's something". Took my seven year old son to pick up our 1973 Brave 10 years ago and from that day till how it's has been a wonderful adventure. Next year he goes away to college boy did that go by fast. So enjoy the ride and good luck.
Gil in Los Angeles

[rclifton]

Thanks!  I restored a '70 travel trailer prior to picking up this.  My family loved it but when my 5th child came along there was just no room in it anymore.  RVDoctorGeorge is a great salvage yard!  Getting harder to find original parts in really good condition for the older stuff tho.

I'm really hoping to make some memories that my kids will have forever with the RV as well...

Here is some more pics as well..

Picture above the dinette table, hard to see in the pic but all the cabinets are lighted when the door opens.  Not sure if that's original or if the PO wired it up.


The dinette.









Emergency exit sign in the closet heh.


The red cord for the emergency exit..  Don't plan on testing if it works..






Stay tuned for more...

[Lefty]

That's a great buy for just $400!! Especially since you already had a spare engine that might can go into it. Looks to be in realativly good shape inside and out too.

[HandyDan]

Regarding your propane tank, I should have read your first post better.  You stated you had an 82LB tank.  Somewhere it got converted to 82 GAL tank.  82lbs is actually about 20 gallons of propane.  That is more like normal and was standard on the '78 Chieftain (actually it was 83lbs).  82 GALLONS would be HUGE.  My Holiday Rambler has a 65 Gallon tank with the dual fuel option.  It is a very large tank.

[LJ-TJ]

5 Kids!  D:oH! I'm glad you found a new hobby :)rotflmao

[rclifton]

Regarding your propane tank, I should have read your first post better.  You stated you had an 82LB tank.  Somewhere it got converted to 82 GAL tank.  82lbs is actually about 20 gallons of propane.  That is more like normal and was standard on the '78 Chieftain (actually it was 83lbs).  82 GALLONS would be HUGE.  My Holiday Rambler has a 65 Gallon tank with the dual fuel option.  It is a very large tank.

Doh!  D:oH!

You're right I did say 82gal...  I went back and edited my posts just so no one gets confused in the future.  Thanks for the correction as well.

5 Kids!  D:oH! I'm glad you found a new hobby :)rotflmao

Lol. 

[moonlitcoyote]

5 Kids!  D:oH! I'm glad you found a new hobby :)rotflmao

Thats not bad, we spent 2 years on the road with 4 kids (homeschooling them all) in a 5th wheel. But ours was 30ft, I hope you find enough room for all the kids to sleep, if not they can always sleep in a tent.

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

I can get 2 grand kids on the drop down bunk.  1 on the dinnet bunk (maybe 2 small kids).  Others will have to be in a tent.  Some campgrounds want you to rent 2 sites if using tent and RV.

Those are not modern water pumps.  You may find todays models to be quieter.

The converter does have the 6 amp charger option.  Only problem is when fully charged it still outputs 13.6VDC to the battery.  Todays float voltage is normally around 13.2VDC because it was found the 13.6VDC level can boil the batteries dry.  Just keep an eye on battery water.

The tire rims only have a 70 PSI upper end rating so don't go over that even though todays tires may have a 90 PSI rating.  Original Load Range D tires only had a max pressure of 60psi which the rims had no problem with.

You will need a 3/4 drive socket set and a 4ft cheater bar for the rims.  They get torqued to 300-350ft lbs.  100 lbs applied to the end of a 4ft cheater bar equates to 400 ft lbs at the wheel nut.  This is basically a 6 ton rig.  you will need a 3 1/2 ton jack to list a corner and 3 1/2 ton jack stands.

Most of the coach wiring is routed trough the rear of the fridge compartment.  Can be a pain to get to.

UH OH   
You are in California.  Before you do anything engine related you better go check emmisions requirements.   I believe your stuck with all stock requirements which that 413 would not meet.

Dave

PS:
I only paid $600 for mine in 2003 but it was in far worse shape


There was a lot of panel rot along the bottom section on mine in 2003


The connections at the rear of the tank where for the duel fuel option


Hang in there.  You will get to the end of a new beginning

[rclifton]

 
Thanks for all the info!  I'm planning to swap out the converter just because it seems to be having problems charging the battery even tho everything appears to be connected correctly.

I put in a call to the guy that has the tires I'm going to try to ask him about the load rating as well as the recommended psi just to make sure they are going to work.  I have the long breaker bar that came stock with the RV but will have to pick up a socket etc as I don't think the original is still here..  I've also put a call into my ex-brother-in-law who owns a repair shop and knows someone at CARB to see what I need to do to make it "smog legal".  I know very little about Dodge motors as I've been a Chevy guy most of my life.   
I've done a test run on the kids and have the sleeping figured out as well  , my daughters 13 and 9 will be getting the pull down, my sons 9 and 6 fit fine on the dinette and my one year old has a portable playpen that fits in the kitchen area just fine.  I built a small frame that sits between the 2 rear beds that I plan to put a piece of foam on and then a bed topper that covers the entire area creating a pretty large bed for my wife and I..

Thanks everyone for all the advice/comments..  I will post some more pictures as I get further in.  I'm discovering lots of stuff every time I start looking in a new place..  I've got 2 sets of replacement sparkplugs, 2 of every belt and a set of pads/shoes in spare parts now as well lol...

[moonlitcoyote]

Lucky you, in my rig the 2yr old gets the back bedroom with a crib,dresser and rocker and mom and dad get the couch.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Awesome score, and welcome to the group!

Kev

[Oz]

If you have questions, please use the appropriate tech boards.  This board is for introductions, etc.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

And if you are a Monty Python fan and not opposed to tongue in cheek humor...you can always sell them off for scientific experimentation!   :)rotflmao

Kev