Topic: New owner of a '78 Itasca Suncruiser

[harwoodr]

So my wife and I did something crazy for our 25th anniversary... we bought a vintage RV on the other side of the country and drove it over 4000km home.

It was an excellent trip (we hit as many provincial and national parks as we could - after an initial detour to Jasper and Banff) with some hiccups, but nothing that delayed us for long.

While I'm a motorhome newbie, I'm no stranger to trailers or vintage vehicles, so I look forward to the challenges of fixing the minor problems of this charming little beast.

[harwoodr]

Our challenges - in order of appearance:

- flaky flame sensor in the furnace so it doesn't always stay lit when it comes on and blows cold air until you turn it off.  Super fun in -4C in Jasper.
- main battery cable came loose due to a stripped bolt (side mount connection).  We were fortunate that it didn't happen in any of our scenic picture stops, where we had no cell signal.  Autoclub were able to help us in Lake Louise after a 2h wait.  I could reconnect the cable, but I could just pull it off by hand - so no surprise that it came loose.
- main gas tank gauge gets stuck at halfway but we were able to switch to the reserve tank...
- reserve tank leaks if you fill it too full...
- solenoid for switching to reserve is either dirty or lazy... so when you think you've switched back to the main, you haven't... running the 50L in the reserve tank dry and being at the side of the highway... fun!
- hazards don't flash if the battery switch is in dual...
- heater core started leaking into the passenger area... rad stop leak didn't seem to help.  Need to replace or get the core fixed.
- when we got home, we went to honk the horn to let our son know we were there.... and it didn't work... that's just funny.

...and we're still married!

[Oz]

In spite of the things that need attention, it's a sweet RV!

[harwoodr]

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip... and while I need to fix things, some more urgently than others, nothing seems catastrophic.  So, yay?

[Mlw]

It surely looks like a nice rig and  you've come to the right place looking for anwers.

all I can say, welcome to the madhouse were wel like to keep eachother busy 

[skloon]

We went to the opening of an RV dealer in Edmonton on the weekend, the quality of the new units is awful- cabinets that don't line up, floors with delamination and the cheapness of some of the fittings like sinks and taps is awful- anything you do to this is good

[AdVenture-us]

Nice work getting it thru the 'break-in' period !  Did you do the remodel? Very tasteful.

[harwoodr]

I did not do the refurb.  The previous owner did.  It is very nice - but there's a few things I'd rather weren't painted or painted over... all good though.

[LJ-TJ]

  Sweet ride. You didn't say where you picked here up and were you drove two. Welcome to the gang of crazies. The only dumb question here is the one you don't ask.

[harwoodr]

We picked it up just outside of Edmonton, AB... did a trip to some national and provincial parks (including two nights at each of Jasper and Banff) and drove it home to Hamilton, ON.

We're hoping to get out in it again soon - having to work to pay for things sucks.

[Oz]