questions about Fleetwood Southwind 1984

[Curt/n/Candy]

picked up our new family truckster from Georgia yesterday; very well preserved 1984 with Chevrolet 454 powertrain. only had to drive it about 200 miles to get it home, and this was not without event... twice i encountered patches of pavement that set up a horrifying shimmy in the front wheels, once about 20 miles out from starting point and the second about 6 miles from home.  otherwise the old girl handled pretty well for a house on a truck! there's issues i need to address but they're "previous owner" related, mostly. but that SHIMMY... what can i do to remedy/overcome that?

 

[Curt/n/Candy]

i think i discovered part of the "death shake" from last night... i din't have time to check it over last night, and had to be at work today until dark, but when i got home i found my inner right rear tire had blown.... yikes. to say the least.

otherwise: i need to see how the chassis and house batteries are SUPPOSED to be hooked up. running the unit home on the chassis battery with EVERYTHING routed to it was , shall we say, EVENTFUL? apparently it threw the alternator belt shortly after liftoff.... 

meanwhile: the 454 delivered almost 8mpg. about what i expected, and even with a dying battery it stayed running.

overall, i'm impressed by the condition of the unit considering it's age.

again, a guide to setting up the batteries CORRECTLY would be absolutely wonderful.

 

[midnightbluel81]

Welcome to the world of owning an older motorhome.  Sounds like you need to check the date code on the tires, if they are 7 years old you need to replace them.  Being a 454 it's probably a P30 and it  will have air bags in the front coil springs for adjustable additional spring weight.  Mine have the valves mounted on the front grill with hoses going to the bags.  They were blown when I picked mine up.  Replacing them along with needed ball joints and all the bushings in the front end and shocks all the way around (6 of them), the having it weighed and adjusting the tire presure accordingly and you'll really be surprised at how well it can ride.

Since your alt belt broke you'll probably need to replace the rubber on the engine, all the belts and hoses, flush the cooling system while you're doing it, if you can do this kind of work yourself you will save yourself a ton of money. I also replaced all the vacuum lines on mine.

As far as the batteries go, the connections all needed to be taken apart, cleaned and reconnected.  There are several disconnect solenoids on mine and well, there were a lot of electrical problems on mine that needed to be corrected and you're going to need to take a look at what you have and ask here for specifics.

If you like tinkering with stuff you're gonna love having a motorhome, it brings a never ending supply of stuff to tinker with.

Good luck!

 

[Curt/n/Candy]

the more i look at it, i think the PO simply discarded the batteries as they failed and kept transferring the various loads onto the remaining one. i just have to determine what should be on the chassis battery (not much except the engine if i'm correct) and what should be on house batteries.  i was worried that i had lost the water pump belt when i realized i had lost the alternator, but fortunately Chevy used a separate belt for each. i checked over the remaining belt and the hoses on the engine last night, and checked the fluids expecting trouble but all was well.
my son and his wife came by yesterday and are astounded/jealous as all get out.  i've been telling him for a couple of years that he could buy one and at least have it as backup roof-over-his-head. hardheaded kid...
i for one like the retro design, as i inherently mistrust gadgetry and too many moving parts, re sliders.  i'm reminded of my Dad's old Chris-Craft houseboat more than once by the interior layout. steering wheel is on the other side, and the gas pedal is on the floor!