Call Me Johnny 'Bago!
Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 5:24 am
Now, I realize this forum is for the more Bohemian bus and truck crowd...BUT, I just don't have time for all that finicky work, nor am I even good at it. So I bought an old Winnebago.
Please don't kick me off the forum! I saw the interior of Chuck's Crown and realized that everybody has to start somewhere. I decided not to start with a cube truck and a milk crate.
So whats important here is what I found out when I started looking at the old beaters that I could afford. You see, I started out in old school buses. I learned to drive in Jack Burl's hopped up '69 Chevy 60 passenger. That thing was fast. We'd drag race it down hwy 111 in Palm Springs. Anyhow, I was always contemptuous of motorhomes because out on the highway, the bus, would pass these things like they were standing still. I always thought that MHs were like cube vans, all sheet metal and no frame...then I looked under a 1978 Winnebago.
I was shocked to see a full frame, I beam front suspension, stabilizer bars, and 7.50X 17.5" bias ply tires. Dude, its a studio apartment stuck on a dump truck frame...
I looked at an Ithasca with a leaky roof and a stuck caliper. The caliper was my excuse for passing on the swampy interior. The generator did run and everything worked but I didn't want to start behind the 8-ball, with that wet floor. I liked how the 454 fired right up, and the THM400 was solid, but...I realized these things aren't on the road all the time and once you stop driving you have to live in it. I thought of one word...MOLD! Besides the Ithasca had a A-arm front suspension, and I have been on a few wild rides into the ditch when those ball joints give it up! So we looked at the Winnebago.
The first thing that struck me was the tall narrow front tires. Thats some old school $hit there...A bias ply tire with high pressure, tall and narrow, means gas mileage. Something long forgotten in this "new" age of SUVs with 285 X 65 X 16s (I mean who is going to the mud bog in an Escalade anyway?) So I peeked under the fender and saw those leaf springs and that massive "I" beam. I got excited right away. The kind of excitement when your gut tells you its gonna be okay, you can jump out of the helicopter...Then I noticed the entire drive train was built on a solid steel frame. The rear axle was a Dana 70. Not my favorite but serviceabe (I expect to have to run a hose and hose barb to the differential housing so I can fill it from inside the MH.)
I looked at the engine. Dunno d!ck about chryslers. Every one I have had was kinda boring. I liked everything I had from early on until the late '70s. After that I would rather not talk about how many Omnis I was seen driving (I drew the line at the K car though). So this Winnebago had a 440cid V-8. The layout was simple, no hidden sparkplugs or buried water pumps. Looked good, but I really dunno what to expect from them. I know a 454 gets 4 to 6 mpg on a good day so I figured that would be the ball park for this bugger. I crawled under and was treated to a Torqueflite 727! Twice I have repaired these transmissions in the field. A 727 is the simplest three speed I have ever seen. A Ford C-6 comes in second with the THM400 trailing in third. All these transmissions can be repaired in the field with no special tools (tire irons take off the hydraulic pumps). So seeing the 727 gave me some confidence as well.
The caveat about the gas mileage comes from looking at the vast expanse of fuel tank under the rear of the unit. It must be a hundred gallon tank. OMG! I immediatley had visions of loading this thing on the low boy and hauling it with the semi.
The guy came out to show it to us...he leapt in, shoved the key in the ignition, and without any fanfare at all, just started the engine right up. Vrooom! No Chrylser "gee gaw gee gaw gee gaw" like the ZZtop song. This thing's timing is right on the money! At that point I was in, whether I was conscious of it or not, I was done dickering as soon as that engine touched off. Oh sure the muffler is going, the smoke rolled out from underneath where the trans is leaking on the exhaust, the carb has a plugged mid-range passage, the trans has some kind of governor/tv/linkage issue going where its kinda hunting, and the brake booster isn't "boosting" enough to not scare you at a stop sign. Yes there is a list of crimes. But....
If you stick you face inside the "Home" part of this rig, its nice and dry, and you aren't assaulted by thirty years worth of a$$! It doesn't smell like mold, an ashtray, or the porta potti! Somebody please tell me why designers in the '70s persisted in covering everything with "Barf" colored shag carpeting? Even astro turf would have made more sense. I don't know if any of the "ahooterments" are working. I just knew from sitting at the table that I would easily fall asleep in the place if I got my bed arranged right. It was all I needed to know at that point.
I handed the dude $1500, grabbed the open title and hit the road.
I sticked the tank and it was full. So I decided rather then going home with it, we'd take it to my father-in-laws. I plan on using it as a base camp this summer while we scrap out the bush, and haul down to Marinette. My F-i-L is going to sell everything he owns and move into a travel trailer. He plans on going to NM. He and his wife are pack rats and they asked me to help them clean out the farm, so I figure to stay in the Winnebago while all that is going on.
So I swung the nose west and headed out of Iron Mountain heading for Florence then the back way down to Ruby's Corners.
I will tell you right now, I have become the cliche. The Winnebago blocks a whole lane of the road. It drives exactly like my dumptruck (if it had an automatic) with big top heavy load, and it wants to go 42mph. It doesn't want to go 40mph, and it won't go 45mph. I am betting you would have to throw it out of an airplane to get it going 55mph! But, at 42mph, it purrs along. Maybe "pur" is an oversimplification. Its more like a rumble, with the vacuum gauge reading 20" and the temp guage at 150F. So I just hold my foot on that spot and let it do its thing. Dude! I think it gets good mileage. I drove it 70 miles and the guage never moved off full (I did fill it to the neck just to be sure though).
So the 440 needs a slight tune up, the dash lights only illuminate the inconsequential (like the speedometer). The bizarre adjustable steering column took some getting used to. Mostly driving it is a series of corrections as the sticky king pins fight against the ruts in the pavement. You never really go off the road, but when the king pins are pointing you at the shoulder and you roll down the downhill ditch side of the ruts, forces combine and you sort of lunge at the ditch until you hit the other side of the rut. But that IS the only drama, which is amazing for a thirty two year old antique truck.
What I like is being able to just hammer the MH across railway crossings and not worry about ball joints exploding. I also like the gearing. With all the weight on the back end, I would not hesitate to take this thing off road. I could see this thing with super singles grinding its way through some serious mud, which it might do. I don't see going out west with this thing, but I do see it on the beach at Copper Harbor, or at the mouth of the Gratiot River for swimming and picnics. Keystone Bay too, now that would be some off road action.
Anyhow, we dropped it at Ruby's Corners last night then beat cheeks for Calumet last night. Natuarally I forgot the camera, so I have no pictures yet. Regardless, I thought youse would appreciate hearing about some bush league "truck-bago" action from "da UP" (can you believe we still have piles of snow?"
Later,
DF
Please don't kick me off the forum! I saw the interior of Chuck's Crown and realized that everybody has to start somewhere. I decided not to start with a cube truck and a milk crate.
So whats important here is what I found out when I started looking at the old beaters that I could afford. You see, I started out in old school buses. I learned to drive in Jack Burl's hopped up '69 Chevy 60 passenger. That thing was fast. We'd drag race it down hwy 111 in Palm Springs. Anyhow, I was always contemptuous of motorhomes because out on the highway, the bus, would pass these things like they were standing still. I always thought that MHs were like cube vans, all sheet metal and no frame...then I looked under a 1978 Winnebago.
I was shocked to see a full frame, I beam front suspension, stabilizer bars, and 7.50X 17.5" bias ply tires. Dude, its a studio apartment stuck on a dump truck frame...
I looked at an Ithasca with a leaky roof and a stuck caliper. The caliper was my excuse for passing on the swampy interior. The generator did run and everything worked but I didn't want to start behind the 8-ball, with that wet floor. I liked how the 454 fired right up, and the THM400 was solid, but...I realized these things aren't on the road all the time and once you stop driving you have to live in it. I thought of one word...MOLD! Besides the Ithasca had a A-arm front suspension, and I have been on a few wild rides into the ditch when those ball joints give it up! So we looked at the Winnebago.
The first thing that struck me was the tall narrow front tires. Thats some old school $hit there...A bias ply tire with high pressure, tall and narrow, means gas mileage. Something long forgotten in this "new" age of SUVs with 285 X 65 X 16s (I mean who is going to the mud bog in an Escalade anyway?) So I peeked under the fender and saw those leaf springs and that massive "I" beam. I got excited right away. The kind of excitement when your gut tells you its gonna be okay, you can jump out of the helicopter...Then I noticed the entire drive train was built on a solid steel frame. The rear axle was a Dana 70. Not my favorite but serviceabe (I expect to have to run a hose and hose barb to the differential housing so I can fill it from inside the MH.)
I looked at the engine. Dunno d!ck about chryslers. Every one I have had was kinda boring. I liked everything I had from early on until the late '70s. After that I would rather not talk about how many Omnis I was seen driving (I drew the line at the K car though). So this Winnebago had a 440cid V-8. The layout was simple, no hidden sparkplugs or buried water pumps. Looked good, but I really dunno what to expect from them. I know a 454 gets 4 to 6 mpg on a good day so I figured that would be the ball park for this bugger. I crawled under and was treated to a Torqueflite 727! Twice I have repaired these transmissions in the field. A 727 is the simplest three speed I have ever seen. A Ford C-6 comes in second with the THM400 trailing in third. All these transmissions can be repaired in the field with no special tools (tire irons take off the hydraulic pumps). So seeing the 727 gave me some confidence as well.
The caveat about the gas mileage comes from looking at the vast expanse of fuel tank under the rear of the unit. It must be a hundred gallon tank. OMG! I immediatley had visions of loading this thing on the low boy and hauling it with the semi.
The guy came out to show it to us...he leapt in, shoved the key in the ignition, and without any fanfare at all, just started the engine right up. Vrooom! No Chrylser "gee gaw gee gaw gee gaw" like the ZZtop song. This thing's timing is right on the money! At that point I was in, whether I was conscious of it or not, I was done dickering as soon as that engine touched off. Oh sure the muffler is going, the smoke rolled out from underneath where the trans is leaking on the exhaust, the carb has a plugged mid-range passage, the trans has some kind of governor/tv/linkage issue going where its kinda hunting, and the brake booster isn't "boosting" enough to not scare you at a stop sign. Yes there is a list of crimes. But....
If you stick you face inside the "Home" part of this rig, its nice and dry, and you aren't assaulted by thirty years worth of a$$! It doesn't smell like mold, an ashtray, or the porta potti! Somebody please tell me why designers in the '70s persisted in covering everything with "Barf" colored shag carpeting? Even astro turf would have made more sense. I don't know if any of the "ahooterments" are working. I just knew from sitting at the table that I would easily fall asleep in the place if I got my bed arranged right. It was all I needed to know at that point.
I handed the dude $1500, grabbed the open title and hit the road.
I sticked the tank and it was full. So I decided rather then going home with it, we'd take it to my father-in-laws. I plan on using it as a base camp this summer while we scrap out the bush, and haul down to Marinette. My F-i-L is going to sell everything he owns and move into a travel trailer. He plans on going to NM. He and his wife are pack rats and they asked me to help them clean out the farm, so I figure to stay in the Winnebago while all that is going on.
So I swung the nose west and headed out of Iron Mountain heading for Florence then the back way down to Ruby's Corners.
I will tell you right now, I have become the cliche. The Winnebago blocks a whole lane of the road. It drives exactly like my dumptruck (if it had an automatic) with big top heavy load, and it wants to go 42mph. It doesn't want to go 40mph, and it won't go 45mph. I am betting you would have to throw it out of an airplane to get it going 55mph! But, at 42mph, it purrs along. Maybe "pur" is an oversimplification. Its more like a rumble, with the vacuum gauge reading 20" and the temp guage at 150F. So I just hold my foot on that spot and let it do its thing. Dude! I think it gets good mileage. I drove it 70 miles and the guage never moved off full (I did fill it to the neck just to be sure though).
So the 440 needs a slight tune up, the dash lights only illuminate the inconsequential (like the speedometer). The bizarre adjustable steering column took some getting used to. Mostly driving it is a series of corrections as the sticky king pins fight against the ruts in the pavement. You never really go off the road, but when the king pins are pointing you at the shoulder and you roll down the downhill ditch side of the ruts, forces combine and you sort of lunge at the ditch until you hit the other side of the rut. But that IS the only drama, which is amazing for a thirty two year old antique truck.
What I like is being able to just hammer the MH across railway crossings and not worry about ball joints exploding. I also like the gearing. With all the weight on the back end, I would not hesitate to take this thing off road. I could see this thing with super singles grinding its way through some serious mud, which it might do. I don't see going out west with this thing, but I do see it on the beach at Copper Harbor, or at the mouth of the Gratiot River for swimming and picnics. Keystone Bay too, now that would be some off road action.
Anyhow, we dropped it at Ruby's Corners last night then beat cheeks for Calumet last night. Natuarally I forgot the camera, so I have no pictures yet. Regardless, I thought youse would appreciate hearing about some bush league "truck-bago" action from "da UP" (can you believe we still have piles of snow?"
Later,
DF
You gotta start somewhere! If you have lots of time and some cash also, you can find the right truck and build your own, but it will take lots of time and more money then you figured on! For some folks it is easier to start with something that is a little more complete, especially when time is a tight commodity!
. Hey, they even let me join before I had a bus. So, it isn't about what you own to join this site. Congrat's on your purchase.
