Tacoma Motorhome

Hey guys, a buddy of mine has offered to sell me his motor home for a pretty good price. He says the rear differential is bad and the price reflects that.

It's a 'Itasca spirit' and it's basically 94 Toyota pickup with a motor home instead of a bed. Do you guys know anything about these things, specifically the rear axle? Is that something I can just take off any other Toyota truck or is it some rare part they only made for motor homes? It's a pretty cool truck and I'd like to have it and the engine runs great but I don't know if it's something I could get fixed reasonably.

 

IIRC, those are 4 cylinder motors. The idea of putting that much extra weight on a 22R motor is, well, absurd, to me. I mean really, I load down my 3.4L V6 with junk in the truck and it's a bit of a dog. A motorhome??

I've driven my share of 22RE motors over the years, even a 22R-TE (turbo) in my 86 4Runner, and while it had decent pick up and go, it didn't exactly have a motorhome on its back...

 

I have the Huntsman. Make sure it has the 6 lug axle, I believe the bolt pattern is 6X7.25, the 5 lugs have been know to cause accidents then they fail.

 

Yes, it's a dually and it's actually the 3.0 v6. We live in CO and he says he's driven it up to the mountains and even pulled a small trailer with two motorcycles in it. I figured it's just geared really low?

 

Mine has 4.10 with the 22r, drives decently. I can cruise at 65 on flat ground but generally keep it at 55. How long us the bumper to bumper measurement? Mine is 21'

 

Yes that rear is wrong. It should match the front lug pattern.

 

I didn't look too closely at it but I think that's just some snap on wheel covee

 

I looked at it for maybe 5 minutes and snapped some pictures to show my wife.
What are these worth? The interior is in really good shape and it all works minus the tires are bald and the rear needs replaced. He says it moves its just noisy.

 

In 1979, we bought one called RBR Micro Mini. It was a manual, single wheels (big wide tires) with a 20r 4 cylinder. A few mods such as headers & I got 15-17 city & 18-22 mpg highway. Best little motor home ever. With off road package 4x4, it must be awesome.

 

Depends, on shape and how willing someone is to buy. It could maybe MAYBE get up to 10k if the axle is swapped for proper one and the rest is in pristine condition.

 

Dang... He said he'd sell it to me for much, much less than that. The interior isn't pristine but it's very very good.

 

Do it!!! they can be a money pit, especially mine. found of loads of problems when I started renovating. it was a fun endeavor though.

 

You can always buy it in Colorado, do epic road trip to Maine and sell it there and fly back. Them east coasters would drool at how clean Colorado chassis are

 

They are cute, just can't imagine having any power with a Kansas head wind.

 

Those old Toyotas have a dually 1ton rear end. Which isnt that great of a rear end but I think it takes a 7.5” diff.

 

They’re also called Dolphins, there were a lot of different variations of campers.

What I would do is check for wood rot on the body. Those plywood sheets are notorious for water damage on campers of this age.

 

A bunch of companies produced the motorhomes. Dolphins, Itasca, Winnebago, etc..... The dualies came with one of two different rear ends. I don't remember what the years were. Just Google it. One was a "floater" and one not. The old Uhaul trucks had the same rears so you can find the parts usually. The 22R/4 were indestructible. We had many in our company trucks. The 3.0 v6 , good motor too.