'81 Winnebago Brave Transmission

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Arnie123

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Jul 24, 2013
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I'm hoping someone can help me out.
I have an '81 Winnebago Brave, WCF26RH, Chev chassis, 454 engine. I can find lots of info for the body but none for electrical or drive train. Any links would be much appreciated or even where I could buy these manuals.
This unit was sitting in storage for 10+ years. It needed a fair amount of work to get it road worthy. Once all the work was done I took it on a short road trip. Ran great without and issue.
Parked it for a couple of weeks and now when placed into reverse it doesn't move. No issue going forward...any ideas? Looked through all the manuals and can't find any info on the transmission other than it's a 3 speed auto. Does anyone have an idea of what the model is so I can order parts?
Arnie
 
Welcome, My best advise would be to find a good transmission shop.... and take it there.  :(  And prepare yourself for a rebuild.
Speaking from experience, better to have it done local than on the road. Mine went out at a toll booth, after I replaced filter and oils
due to silver shavings in filter and fluid. It test drove good for a hundred miles, then trip day  :'(  Lesson learned

Dan   
 
Thanks Dan, that's what I was afraid of, only 114,000 on it. Have no problem driving it to a shop as long as I don't have to back up...haha
 
Arnie, welcome aboard. Your coach has a th400, supposed to be good heavy built transmissions. But I had an 80 Itasca that sat at a dealers lot for many years. It had paper work in it that showed the trans had been rebuilt right before the fellow traded it in, I thought, well that's one thing I won't have to do.  Wrong, but I pull a race car and trailer most weekends thru the racing season. Any ways, if you can pull the trans out yourself, you can save a bundle. If they don't have to pull the trans you should be able to get it rebuilt for a few hundred bucks. I pulled the trans out of mine in a couple hours, at the race track, I rebuild my own stuff. I know around here if you pull it yourself you can save at least 50% on labor.  Have the carrier bearing checked too, while the tranny is out. Also make sure you install a good trans cooler on it when you get it back together, especially if your going to be pulling anything with it.
 
Thanks all for the responses.
Just giving you an update of my tranny issue.
Pulled the oil pan today and the oil was burnt with a disgusting smell. Found the oil filter laying in the bottom of the pan. The filter retaining bolt did not have anything to hold the filter in place.
I went ahead and installed a new filter, made a retainer and filled with fresh oil. Still no reverse. I do however have forward in all shift positions even in park??? Thought it was a linkage issue so shut it down, crawled under and had my wife go through all the gear positions and all was good.I could hear each position click. When I was under there I felt the oil pan. Too hot to keep the hand on. Looks like I'll be pulling the tranny and getting a rebuild.
 
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