So, in fall of 2016, my wife & I purchased a popup trailer with the intent of fixing it up. Unfortunately, the vehicle we were intending to pull it with had it’s tow points rusted out. Not to worry, I was checking into replacing my minivan with a truck to pull it. I found a very clean Ram 1500, but it sold at lunchtime the day I was supposed to test drive it after work.
Anyway, just before our memorial day vacation, an ad popped up on Facebook’s marketplace offering a 26′ RV for less than I was looking at spending for the truck. How good can it be right? So, we popped over to look at it. It’s a Thor 4 Winds built on a 1995 Ford E350 chassis with 19K miles on it. So, that is half the mileage of the newest car I have ever bought.
Long story short, we bought it. It drives – no lifter ticks, no foam in the oil, no scorch smell in the transmission fluid. It clearly needs engine work – not from usage but just from age – the big 7.1L engine has 2 belts, one for the alternator and water pump and one for the AC & power steering. The AC compressor has been bypassed and it’s probably seized. One of the belts shows a partial split along it’s length, so I am going to replace both of them. I’ll also replace both radiator hoses just to be safe. I’ll replace the spark plugs, plug wires, and all the other bits and bobs you do for a tuneup just on general principle.
Inside is a bit of a mixed bag.
The overcab bunk is going completely – the previous owner hit a tree and split open the front, while he patched it, he never got it water tight and the whole bunk area is rotted out. Since it’s just my wife & I, we certainly don’t need sleeping for 5. Therefore the overcab is becoming a storage cabinet – not sure what we will put up there yet, but we always find something to put in extra space.
There is water damage under most of the windows, some is fairly mild, some is going to require pulling the whole wall. The skylight over the bathroom shower leaks – after last weeks rain, there is water in the tub.
All in all, it is a mid length project, we are planning on at least a year of work before we even take short trips in it, and 2-3 years before we take it cross country.