Toyota motor homes

[Jayco-noslide]

We need to consider downsizing and simplifying from a 30 ft. Class C towing a car to a much smaller unit and not towing. Discovering the older Toyota truck motorhomes. Seems like one would work; except how in the heck do you find a place for stuff to take along. Amazed to see that there is no outside storage. How do you deal with this? Do any of you tow a very small utility trailer? But then darn that's back to towing something.
Second question. We looked at a 1992 Dolphin model sort of reconditioned. Pretty nice; but $28000?

[ron_dittmer]

I always thought GM missed out on a huge opportunity to captivate the micro-mini motor home market. They should have offered a heavy duty 6-wheel DRW Chevy Astro, GMC Safari cut-away for RV applications. The SRW cutaway that they did offer fell way short, hence it was short-lived.

[Bumpyroad]

midnightsadie wrote:
go sprinter, those old toyota,s had some big problems ,

this reminds me that back when I was first looking at motorhomes, about 94 IIRC, I mentioned that to my BIL who was my guide in these matters. His first words were, "I hope you aren't looking at Toyotas" I admitted I had sat in one at the dealer and quickly crossed that off my list. and 29 years and 90K later I don't think they would be a better idea.
bumpy

[ron_dittmer]

BarabooBob wrote:
Until 1988, the chassis that was provided did not have a full floating one ton axle, they had 1/2 ton axles with dual wheels that were actually just half ton wheels welded together, they were called foolies by the people that had the RV's. Those foolies would break the axles at the housing and the wheels would fall off. Toyota eventually gave one ton axles to every owner of an RV that was build on one of their chassis to avoid publicity.
The RV's rode like lumber wagons, cornered like a double deck3er bus, and were so underpowered that with a stiff headwind, you could not go over 50 mph.

Everything you stated is spot-on. Our 1983 Toyota chassis motor home had those foolie-dualie rear wheels, and I had the rear axle replaced with true dualies. This is what I received from Toyota for free.

At that time I also had Bilstein shocks and 5000 pound rear air bags installed. It all helped a lot but still wasn't right.....just tolerable. I could NEVER recommend buying "any" Toyota chassis motor home made through 1994.

They were great little pickup trucks, but fell far short for motor home applications. It was asking too much from such a small chassis. The early years were a real nightmare. Our 1983 with 1 ton rear axle added later, was an exception in that the rig weighed 3600 pounds empty, yet it still fell quite short. The later years with true-dual rear axle and V6 engine didn't offer enough improvement. Those little rigs were severely underpowered slugs, and yet they were still all over the road. Not having front and rear stabilizer bars of any kind was so wrong.

Our rig SHOWN HERE would have been okay if it could have been equipped with the V6 engine, 5-speed manual transmission, and heavy duty stabilizer bars. Mirage Of Elkhart went out of business mid 1986 so none exist with the V6 engine.

[ernie1]

x3on what Baraboo said. I've had two new and one used Toyota motorhomes.They were painfully underpowered and the chassis were always on the verge of having another part fail. Why two and one used? The first was so troublesome the dealer made a deal to replace it with another from another manufacturer. The third was an absolute bargain price wise and I sold it after I bought it and did a 4,000 trip and netted $4,000.

[TxGearhead]

X2 on what BarabooBob said. Co-worker had one with constant rear axle issues.

[Chum_lee]

rjstractor wrote:

Chum lee wrote:
IMO, you might want to take a look at a low miles Rialta Class B motorhome on a VW chassis in the 1995-2000 year range. Small engine, yes, 22' long but much better design than the Toyota and less than $30,000.

Chum lee

I'm a VW guy, and the thought of maintaining a 25 year old VR6 powered Eurovan chassis hauling a motorhome around makes my wallet shudder!

Yep, me too! Over the years I've owned/driven/repaired/maintained multiple VW's(air cooled water cooled), Audi's, BMW's, Mercedes, etc.

IMO, if you aren't handy (good mechanical skills), have lots of special tools (or good work arounds) and don't have a good source for OEM parts, (not the dealer) a place to work, buying an older German car/truck/motorhome WILL eat you alive. That said, I still like older German vehicles. I don't know why, but, I do. There is a HUGE support network out there. (once supported by people like me) On the other hand, if you are the standard retail buyer, it's not for you.

A Rialta is an option. Probably a poor one for most people, BUT, it is an option. I'm with the shorter (19'-24') E350 Class C gang on this one but the OP specifically said they don't want that. Everybody gets to paint their own corner.

Chum lee

[jjrbus]

I own a 94 Toyota with the V6, all things taken into consideration it is actually peppy. The 4 cyl are slugs, would not take one for free. However it does take a lot of effort to keep a 25 year old RV on the road, more of a hobby actually. This year is the overcab, wood is rotten and will need to be repaired. Parts are widely available and cheap, I could replace my entire drive train for what some are paying for repairs on V8's and V10's.

They have also become stupid expensive. I spent a year looking for a Rialta and hanging on Rialta sites. Too many issues and lack of places that will work on them. Plus now they are stupid expensive!

The old Toyota gets lots of admiring looks and compliments.

There are Rialta and Toyota websites and Facebook pages.

[DrewE]

Another option might be an ex-Cruise America 19' model. They're about the shortest motorhomes available (well, aside from the old, mostly homebuilt VW bug conversions--look up info on the "VW MiniHome" if you're curious). I'd take one of the former rentals over a Toyota based motorhome any day of the week and twice on weekends for the reasons everyone else has already mentioned. There's still not much storage, of course.

[rjstractor]

Chum lee wrote:
IMO, you might want to take a look at a low miles Rialta Class B motorhome on a VW chassis in the 1995-2000 year range. Small engine, yes, 22' long but much better design than the Toyota and less than $30,000.

Chum lee

I'm a VW guy, and the thought of maintaining a 25 year old VR6 powered Eurovan chassis hauling a motorhome around makes my wallet shudder!

[BarabooBob]

I owned a 1988 Damon Escaper build on a true one ton Toyota dually chassis. It had a 22Re engine (2.4l) and an 4 speed automatic tranny. We could not use 4th gear, overdrive, unless going down a steep grade. We drove that thing over 45,000 miles in 6 years. We had a great time traveling around in it but I would never own one again.
The first big problem is that it weighed 6,000 pounds and the chassis was maxed out before I filled the tank with gasoline. The engine made 120 horsepower. The gas mileage was not great like some people claim. I got 12 mpg going 55 and 9 mpg when my daughter tried driving 65. When I got into big hills I was driving 45 mph turning 5000 rpm's in 2nd gear. Remember that Toyota NEVER built a single RV, they supplied just the chassis and the builders overloaded every one of them. Until 1988, the chassis that was provided did not have a full floating one ton axle, they had 1/2 ton axles with dual wheels that were actually just half ton wheels welded together, they were called foolies by the people that had the RV's. Those foolies would break the axles at the housing and the wheels would fall off. Toyota eventually gave one ton axles to every owner of an RV that was build on one of their chassis to avoid publicity.
The RV's rode like lumber wagons, cornered like a double deck3er bus, and were so underpowered that with a stiff headwind, you could not go over 50 mph. If it was hot outside, you cannot use the dash mounted air conditioning because the truck will over heat.
There are many people that have the romantic belief that these things are great, if you want to hear more, send me a PM and give me your phone number.

[ron_dittmer]

Chum lee wrote:
IMO, you might want to take a look at a low miles Rialta Class B motorhome on a VW chassis in the 1995-2000 year range. Small engine, yes, 22' long but much better design than the Toyota and less than $30,000.

Chum lee

I was going to bring that up too, though I would have thought the 2003-2005 would have been a better choice for the more powerful engine. Maybe those model years are most desirable and therefore exceed his budget.

Still, the most robust chassis will be an E350 or a 3500 Chevy/GM.

[Chum_lee]

IMO, you might want to take a look at a low miles Rialta Class B motorhome on a VW chassis in the 1995-2000 year range. Small engine, yes, 22' long but much better design than the Toyota and less than $30,000.

Chum lee

[Bordercollie]

If you are used to a 26-27 foot Class C, it would be a real shock switching to a standard 24 footer Class C. Sleeping accomodations, cabinet and storage space, and elbow room. If small suits your needs/comfort, take a look at Road Trek and similar, usable as a camper and utility vehicle.

[Grit_dog]

OP, are you looking at these because your budget is somewhere between a nice tent and a beater with a heater? Or because you think they’re “neat?”
If the former, still don’t get one.
If the latter, you proven you don’t know much about vehicles, so take the sage advice here and don’t get one.