My 1978 GMC motorhome
- Thread starter Mike_H
- Start date
OP
Tow bill on one of these is pretty spendy. Requires a rig with a low boy flatbed...
4Mudders
New Member
No, it doesn't. I personally towed mine with a medium duty boom truck with forks. The rear suspension needs to be aired up, or blocked up with wood to keep it from collapsing.
Anyways, I had one a while back that I was going to fix up. Turned out to be in worse shape than I had budgeted for, so I sold it and bought something else. Wish I could have fixed it up, would have been unique.
Awesome link. Thanks, Mike! Not sure if I've ever seen one before, though I may have, while mistaking it for the Royale.
OP
One of the more popular posts on the GMC fan pages on facebook are when someone notices one of these classics in a movie. Some of you might remember the movie twister...The university storm chaser team, lead by Cary Elwes, drove one. Here is one scene...
I saw this posted the other day. Yes, you can buy a movie vehicle. The GMC from Twister is for sale...its a little beat up though.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2907391559494193/
Kinda cool...
I saw this posted the other day. Yes, you can buy a movie vehicle. The GMC from Twister is for sale...its a little beat up though.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2907391559494193/
Kinda cool...
Very cool Mike! Picked up a project of my own, but no where near as cool as yours. What length is it? Can you flat tow the jeep?
OP
They made the GMC is 26 and 23 foot lengths. Mine is 26. I should be able to flat tow my jeep. I want to make sure its fully sorted out, mechanically, before I do that though. It needs to have the brakes serviced (fluids anyway) and my steering is less than confidence inspiring. The other mitigating factor is that they have a published 1000 lb tow rating...but I know of quite a few people flat towing vehicles. Its very little tongue weight and has its own brakes, so its just making sure the engine has enough grunt and cooling capacity to handle it.
Thanks for clearing that up.
I thought I remembered the 455 being installed in at least some of the coaches.
OP
OP
The rule of thumb is about 30-40 thousand for a reliable, all things functional, coach. So... If you buy one cheap, 10,000, you'll have about 25,000 or so into it to make it "nice.". That is doing most, if not all, the work yourself. If you have to use a mechanic, you can double or even triple that number.
I'm about halfway to the upper end of my rule of thumb
OP
As if a tub swap isn't enough, I've been picking away at a couple projects on the motorhome too. When we bought it, the generator didn't work. Not sure why, but they guy said it didn't and he never tried to fix it. I like a challenge! About a year ago, I pulled it out of the coach and started working on a rebuild. The thing was leaking oil out of every seal, a lot of the wires were dry and brittle, and the whole thing just needed some TLC. Why did I rebuild vs replace? Well for starters, I didn't go into it expecting to rebuild it. But, once I was in, I decided it needed it. This is a 6000 Watt generator...Ever price out an RV generator? It would be $7000+ to replace it. If I bought used...who knows what I'd have. Plus there is all the mounting considerations. Finally, these old onans only run at 1800 RPM vs 3600 like a newer one. That means they have a different tone while running that is not as offensive (or so I hear, since I've never heard mine run!)
As I was tearing it apart (a year ago) I found that it had over heated at one point and roached a crank bearing. Not bad enough to ruin the crank, thankfully.
So, It got new bearings and seal, rings, a nice hone, measured out pretty good (only 1000 hours, so I didn't expect to need to bore it) and a nice shiny green paint job. Oh, and I believe I found the reason it kept eating control boards...The choke (automatic) had a short to ground in it. So, it would keep popping the fuse. Its an interesting design...like from a 30's desoto or Mopar. Look up Sisson Choke, if you're interested.
This is what they call an Onan "power Drawer" It slides out of the coach on drawer slides for minor service. The bay in the motorhome was a mess, as was the Gen Chassis. So, Out it comes
The chassis was also treated to a fresh coat of paint. I cleaned up the compartment, installed some Noico to help with noise and replaced some rotten flooring in the battery house. It turned out nice...
I have a couple more things to mount in there before I slide the gen in and try it out!
As I was tearing it apart (a year ago) I found that it had over heated at one point and roached a crank bearing. Not bad enough to ruin the crank, thankfully.
So, It got new bearings and seal, rings, a nice hone, measured out pretty good (only 1000 hours, so I didn't expect to need to bore it) and a nice shiny green paint job. Oh, and I believe I found the reason it kept eating control boards...The choke (automatic) had a short to ground in it. So, it would keep popping the fuse. Its an interesting design...like from a 30's desoto or Mopar. Look up Sisson Choke, if you're interested.
This is what they call an Onan "power Drawer" It slides out of the coach on drawer slides for minor service. The bay in the motorhome was a mess, as was the Gen Chassis. So, Out it comes
The chassis was also treated to a fresh coat of paint. I cleaned up the compartment, installed some Noico to help with noise and replaced some rotten flooring in the battery house. It turned out nice...
I have a couple more things to mount in there before I slide the gen in and try it out!
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/3419331068155947/
1973 26' GMC Motorhome, 455 Olds, Auto trans, 45k on drive train, about 123K on coach, running, but has been sitting in pole barn for years now. (Not currently registered (last 2004) or insured) Needs new fridge, upholstery and flooring updated, 4K Onan generator tune up, and engine air re-installed. Tires are OK but old. If you have to hire all your work out, this could get pricey, for those that can do most of it themselves, another 5-10K would make it really nice. Don't need cars, might trade toward good backhoe, dozer, farm tractor with bucket loader. Not a bank so needs paid for before driving/towing away (best to put on low approach angle truck trailer for a long trip till its been driven a bit locally). $8500 OBO
There is another one up in the PNW for sale also. It's green and their asking $15K for it.
1973 26' GMC Motorhome, 455 Olds, Auto trans, 45k on drive train, about 123K on coach, running, but has been sitting in pole barn for years now. (Not currently registered (last 2004) or insured) Needs new fridge, upholstery and flooring updated, 4K Onan generator tune up, and engine air re-installed. Tires are OK but old. If you have to hire all your work out, this could get pricey, for those that can do most of it themselves, another 5-10K would make it really nice. Don't need cars, might trade toward good backhoe, dozer, farm tractor with bucket loader. Not a bank so needs paid for before driving/towing away (best to put on low approach angle truck trailer for a long trip till its been driven a bit locally). $8500 OBO
There is another one up in the PNW for sale also. It's green and their asking $15K for it.
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No to derail his thread but FUCK NO...... I had a motorhome becasue the wife wanted more room. That POS was in the shop every winter and cost me $6K or more each time. I'll stick to my Ram pickup. And another redneck toyhauler behind it.
They are KEWL motorhomes but nope not for me. Plus I wouldn't ever have a gas pot in a MH I was going to tow with. You don't want to know the number of engines I replaced when I worked at the RV dealer.
33' Beaver is what I owned before.
I haven’t owned one but your experience reflects people I know that do. Especially the diesel pushers. They are a better chassis but so complicated and RV stuff is well, junk for the most part. Having built them n my younger years to owning them all except a MH till last year.
But I’ll own another for retirement, 3 slide slide host on a F450 to tow my junk around...
I haven’t owned one but your experience reflects people I know that do. Especially the diesel pushers. They are a better chassis but so complicated and RV stuff is well, junk for the most part. Having built them n my younger years to owning them all except a MH till last year.
But I’ll own another for retirement, 3 slide slide host on a F450 to tow my junk around...
Yep I want a minimum 2 slide camper and would love a Host Yukon. But they are spendy...