Any info on old 4x4 Winnebago?

T

truck mechanic

Adventurer
most of the winnies I have seen on the beach around here are homespun conversions. There used to be a ton of those on the beaches when I started going down there in the mid 80s . dont see to many now a days.
Paul
 
C

cstamm81

Adventurer
I have been doing some research and it definitely seems a good idea to sty awy from the old stick and aluminum builds, thatnks for the neads up. It appears there are a few desirable older RV's out there, Travco, Barth, FMC, Airstream, and some Foretravels. The old Travcos are neat looking IMO: http://www.travco.org/images/Mvc-210f.jpg
Apparently the most common is the Travco 270, which is 27 feet long. Also, looks like a lot came with 413 engines, which I'm assuming is the same famed Mopar 413 Max Wedge engine. Hmm, I wonder if one of these could tow an 80 series LC on a lightweight trailer?
 
K

kerry

Expedition Leader
I've owned a Travco 220 and almost bought both Barth's and FMC. There are far fewer FMC's in the world and parts are harder to find. However the 4 wheel independent suspension and rear engine are good designs. Engine tend to have some cooling issues. Some FMC's have interesting diesel conversions. Almost bought one with a Cummins 6BT. Some Barth's have similar problems to the FMC.
There are tons of Travco's out there and the 413 is a great engine. The 270 is the coolest design in my view. Foretravel continued to be built Travco's once they purchased the assets. They produced a few pusher diesels with either Detroit 8.2 or Cat 3208. They even produced a few front engined diesel versions with the Detroit 8.2.
 
C

cstamm81

Adventurer
I located a Travco 270 that is somewhat near me. I will hopefully check it out in the next few weeks. kerry, any pointers on things to look for with the Travco? It's 40 years old so I guess I can expect anything and everything to need repairing or replacing. I just wasn't sure if they had some type of achilles heel, frame rot or some other hard to repair type of thing.
 
K

kerry

Expedition Leader
Brakes. There are two different kinds. Early had vacuum assist brakes with secondary cylinders and boosters mounted on the frame behind the driver's seat. Parts can be hard to find but there's a guy in MA who can get the brake parts. Later models had hydraulic assist brakes using the power steering pump to provide motive force. My brakes lasted for 48k miles from new until about 2004. No frame problems that I know of although I live in Colorado where rust is usually non-existent. My 71 Travco had a clean frame. Many models had split rims. Those may be rims you don't want. I replaced mine with one piece rims. Some had 17.5 inch rims and those tires are hard to find.
 
S

skip44

Observer
This was a pretty common conversion on Cape Cod for running the dunes and surf fishing. Most of the mechanicals came from 3/4 or 1 ton Dodge pickups. I spent a lot of time under them refilling the propane, you dont want to go there, ugliest rust you have ever seen. The early Winnies were built with a bonded side wall, aluminum/ foam/ plywood (decorative inside finish). Very difficult to take apart if damaged. I did one with some success, but wouldnt recommend it now, this was 25 years ago.
 
V

VikingVince

Explorer
cstamm81 said:
So I've always had this dream of trying to live and travel for an extended period of time in a camper of some sort. Although I'd love to have a camper Mog or some other exotic rig, the $$$ just isnt there. Enter the old camper / RV possibility.
Click to expand...

How about the older Toyota motorhomes...the Dolphin, Sunrader, Odyssey, etc?
A couple months ago I picked up a 1990 21' Toyota Odyssey, V6 engine, 50K miles...truck is in great shape and should last a long time, interior converted to a Tiki style...very funky...I love it. Check out the interior:

http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=29177&forum=12&vpost=395766

I actually ended up getting it for $6900...I thought it was a deal. Although hard to come by, there are 4x4 Sunraders out there. I used to think that a 4x4 motorhome was something I really wanted. But then, the more I thought about it, except for the occasional snowy conditions or a beach there aren't really that many situations where you need 4x4 in a traditional motorhome since they aren't built to be taken offroad.
 
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8

864x4rv

Observer
4x4 Class A motorhomes

It is funny to bring up the 4x4 motorhomes. I owned a 1997 Sportsmobile 4x4 while living in san diego a couple of years ago and then it got stolen from my driveway. At that time I decided to replace it with a 4x4 motorhome and starting searching for one. The Shatner Enterprise was available in ebay and I won the bid at $20K, but decided to pass on it because of the age and interior issues. Then I started looking for something newer and found a 1986 Winnebago 26' Elandan with the 4x4 conversion done at a shop in cape cod. I flew to Boston to look at and ended up buying and driving across the country to San Diego. I had a shop in Escondido redo the suspension and fixed the electrical issues and took a 3 week trip to Baja on it. The rig comes with the GM 454/T400 drive train. It performed great on the beaches and offroad. I will be replacing the interior this summer. I have been toying with idea of converting the rear duallies to SRW. I agree that I will not be able to get into the places I did with my sportsmobile, but at least the conforts are there.

The Elandan is built with a solid fiberglass outer layer and solid roof. There was no rust considering that the previous owner used it to camp out on the cape cod beaches.

The only mechanical issues I've had is the headers needed replacement and the transmission has a slow oil leak. Other than than, it makes for a pretty cool home away from home for the four of us. I can post pictures if anybody is interested.

864x4rv
 
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