My new rig - 1987 Ford Econoline 27' Glendale RV

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Originally Posted by Vern_in_IL
I would go over it and replace anything original rubber, belts, hoses, seals, should be reliable.

Do a fluids, chassis grease job, rubbers/seals, should be good.



Yep !
 
Love seeing old rigs still being used. They actually used colors back then versus just brown, tan and white. We found a 90's Eldorado we liked but she couldn't get around the colors, I didn't see a problem with it. As long as the roof doesn't leak don't spend all your time just finding things to fix go camping!
 
15w40 and whatever FL-1A size filter you choose. It wont care. I tried an oversize filter (FL299) on my Sis-in-Law's that is similar to yours, but there was a hard line for the trans cooler in the way. YMMV.
Check the tires, campers usually get replacements from age, not miles. The inner rears are a pain to fill. NAPA has a kit for duals to tie them together in a common fill point.
LED bulbs to replace the hot incandescents in the overheads. Amazon or PPL in Houston.
The front window in the overhead bunk is a leak point. If you see any intrusion, pull the whole thing out, reseal with 100% silicone (aquarium rated) and reassemble.
That thing is a time capsule, lots of campground cred there. I would change carpet though. It takes a beating in a camper, and years of dirt and smelly feet along with the inevitable pet schmutz that you don't notice until you start pulling it up.
I've been watching (and slightly hooked on ) a lot of "The Chick's Life" on YT lately. This family sold it all, bought a rig, and document their adventures full timing. Lots of ideas for places to go, what to do, and adventures. Light, family oriented, and done better than several Travel channel shows.
Good job OP.
 
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Originally Posted by mrsilv04
Figure out how many years (decades?) old the tires are...


3 of the tires had no visible cracking and had lots of tread. The right front had a few longer cracks in the sidewall. They will probably call that on the safety inspection.
 
Originally Posted by beanoil
15w40 and whatever FL-1A size filter you choose. It wont care. I tried an oversize filter (FL299) on my Sis-in-Law's that is similar to yours, but there was a hard line for the trans cooler in the way. YMMV.
Check the tires, campers usually get replacements from age, not miles. The inner rears are a pain to fill. NAPA has a kit for duals to tie them together in a common fill point.
LED bulbs to replace the hot incandescents in the overheads. Amazon or PPL in Houston.
The front window in the overhead bunk is a leak point. If you see any intrusion, pull the whole thing out, reseal with 100% silicone (aquarium rated) and reassemble.
That thing is a time capsule, lots of campground cred there. I would change carpet though. It takes a beating in a camper, and years of dirt and smelly feet along with the inevitable pet schmutz that you don't notice until you start pulling it up.
I've been watching (and slightly hooked on ) a lot of "The Chick's Life" on YT lately. This family sold it all, bought a rig, and document their adventures full timing. Lots of ideas for places to go, what to do, and adventures. Light, family oriented, and done better than several Travel channel shows.
Good job OP.


Any reason not to use a mix of a couple different 10w30 I already have left over from my cars? I didn't want to spend extra on putting a top shelf oil in this one because it won't get a lot of miles put on it. I'll probably change it once a year before storing it after the initial change in going to do after our first use of it.

I should probably change the transmission fluid also.
 
That is very cool! You couldn't do any better power train wise, we had a lot of Econoline 460/C6 in our fleet in the 80"s, rock solid combo.

I would do a trans pan drop with filter at least. That fluid could be 30+ years old, also the rear axle drain and fill.
 
Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Fly swatter was included in the purchase price. Lol. I didn't think to move it for the pictures.

It would have been strange if it had been missing. Like I said, you move it, they'll fail you on the safety.
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Thanks for all the good suggestions and nice comments. I will definitely do a grease job, check all fluids, repack the wheel bearings. It was previously owned by a race car driver who took it to race tracks all over. It appears he took good care of it. Belts all look newer, pulleys have been off and painted, the 460 doesn't appear to leak a drop anywhere.

I'll change the oil after the first drive just because I don't know how long it's been. Going to put stabilizer in the gas immediately because I don't know how old the half a tank is. I was happy to see oil pressure stayed well above half even after it warned up idling.


It's a dummy gauge: the readings are either zero, or half.
 
Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Thanks for all the good suggestions and nice comments. I will definitely do a grease job, check all fluids, repack the wheel bearings. It was previously owned by a race car driver who took it to race tracks all over. It appears he took good care of it. Belts all look newer, pulleys have been off and painted, the 460 doesn't appear to leak a drop anywhere.

I'll change the oil after the first drive just because I don't know how long it's been. Going to put stabilizer in the gas immediately because I don't know how old the half a tank is. I was happy to see oil pressure stayed well above half even after it warned up idling.


It's a dummy gauge: the readings are either zero, or half.


Not on an 87. They started that in the 90s. It was above 3/4 cold and went down to above half once warmed up. They hadn't thought of the dummy gauge yet back then.
 
Update: Unfortunately we're not getting the RV. It went in for a safety inspection and it needs $3000 worth or work for a safety. Apparently 7? tires (I guess they count the spare). I only saw cracks on the right front, the other 3 I could see looked like new. Windshield (I didn't see any cracks). A tie rod, king pin, some seal leaking, etc.

I think they were going a bit hard on him but who knows. We were paying $4000 so he's not going to put $3000 into and sell it for $4000.

Now I'm just going to look for a cheap small old trailer I can tow with my Caprice until we want to upgrade to something bigger.
 
That sucks. Of course, all the tires are never cheap and suspension can be all over the place. I can't really see what's wrong with the windshield from the pictures. However, the vehicle equipment regulations are pretty picky and it doesn't take much to fail glass. I think the regulations are pretty similar across provinces these days. Here, it's no more than 13 mm diameter for circular type damage in the area swept by the wipers, no crack that goes through both layers, no crack that extends more than 50 mm into the area swept by the windshield, and no cumulative damage or discolouration greater than 10% of the area of the glass.
 
They tightened up all the regulations a few years back just before I stopped working part time as a service advisor at Goodyear so I never got to learn the new regulations. I know fluid leaks became a big deal, when they didn't matter before (except gas and brake obviously).
 
Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Update: Unfortunately we're not getting the RV. It went in for a safety inspection and it needs $3000 worth or work for a safety. Apparently 7? tires (I guess they count the spare). I only saw cracks on the right front, the other 3 I could see looked like new. Windshield (I didn't see any cracks). A tie rod, king pin, some seal leaking, etc.

I think they were going a bit hard on him but who knows. We were paying $4000 so he's not going to put $3000 into and sell it for $4000.

Now I'm just going to look for a cheap small old trailer I can tow with my Caprice until we want to upgrade to something bigger.

That sucks. But if it is legit he might come to his senses and drop his price in the not so distant future and get rid of it.
 
Someone else wanted it for a hunting camp, so safety not really needed. So he'd be better off selling it to them for $2000 or something. He just didn't realize it would need so much. Tires and windshield were the big expense that wasn't expected.
 
Aww that does suck because overall it looked to be in very good condition!

Motor coaches unfortunately are like boats. Lots of $$$$ just to keep them usable, regardless if you use them or not.
 
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