That There’s An Are Vee

This will be the “Valdez’s” thread. (I call it that because it goes through gas like it has a leak.) I apparently have bigger plans for modifying this rig than my wife does, so time will tell how involved this thread will be.

We bought it on Monday, we got all the legalities taken care of on Tuesday (had to drive it 60 miles to an out-of-county DMV to avoid a month-long waiting list due to Covid), and we headed out on our first trip with it on Wednesday to Flathead Lake and Glacier NP.







After we paid the $35 for our pass to enter Glacier NP, the lady let us know that vehicles over 21’ long can only go to a certain point, witch turned out to be a pointless trip because we never got out above the trees. All of the good roads in the park were already closed due to snow.

It was a good shakedown run to show us the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good: It runs great and goes relatively straight down the road. It’s a good size for our family.

The bad: I really want to remove some cabinets and fit a queen bed in place of the full-with-a-corner-missing bed. As a cabinetmaker, the cabinets in general make my skin crawl. The sink faucet is too short and might as well just dump water directly onto the counter top. The gas tank it ridiculously small (maybe 28 gallons?), and to add insult to injury, we got a pretty consistent 7mpg due to all the mountain passes. The tiny mirrors are pointless. Some good west coast mirrors are in the works.

The ugly: A new dipstick is needed because this one is about to break off. I was noticing some driveline vibration as I’d wind out first gear. I put it up on stands this morning and found the culprit:


https://i.imgur.com/SnsXxVR.mp4

Two of the four u-joints were shot, but the front one was the worst. I got those swapped out today.


It’s going to be a great addition to the family. Great memories were already had!



When we were signing in to our rv park in Kalispell, we heard live music from down the road. We went for a walk and found this wine bar with an outdoor stage out back under a giant willow tree. We grabbed a glass and sat through a few open mic artists. Good times.

 

So awesome!

 

Pretty awesome.
28 gal is awful for something that size. I would fix that.
Maybe you know a guy that's good at making fuel tanks.

 

Happy for you and your family

 

At 8mpg towing the Varg around for the US tour will hardly effect the mileage.

 

Looks like great family fun.

Love seeing pics like this. Spending time with the family and making great memories.

Great times.




Dave

 

cool pictures . looks like a good time
hummm you'll need to find a cabinet maker
now the sink made me think of something . and the mention of snow
did the PO have a RV anifreeze set up . for winterizing water system
glad you had shake down run . and driveshaft stayed in place
7 -8 mpg with a motorhome
so when will varg become a toad

 

The PO ran me through how he just blew out the system with compressed air, but I doubt I’ll follow his instruction. I don’t trust getting everything dry.

It’s funny, we were looking like crazy for a rack and two cheap scooters to haul on the back of this thing. I never mentioned towing the Jeep. Then on a hike in Glacier, she mentioned, “Maybe we should just pull that little Jeep behind us.”

Always let them think it was their idea.

 

Good news! I measured the fuel tank, and it must be a 40 gallon tank. The gauge me must just be off. I asked the PO how big he tank was, and he said 25 gallons. He obviously just assumed what I assumed: We took it as far as 1/4 tank on the gauge, and it took 20 gallons. I’ll have to throw a few gas cans in the storage compartments and see what happens when you run the gauge below 1/4 tank. I know it drops like a rock to 3/4 tank, slows down between 3/4 and 1/2, then crawls to 1/4 tank. Maybe it takes the rest of the tank to make it to E. Like the tank is shaped like a pyramid.

 

Not big on the compressed air either,I have allways use RV antifreeze,pump it threw and then open drain valves,remember to dump some in the traps also.....I would put gas can on the bumper not in a storage compartment,you know how the cabinets are built,same thing....don't stress over the milage they are all the same....enjoy

 

Nice looking rig, trip, and family (not necessarily in that order). Oh, BTW, goooo RAMS!

 

Sea Chickens are my second favorite team, I'll root for them unless they are playing the rams

 

I blew out my water lines last year but ended up putting antifreeze in. If you blow out, run the air thru the pressure regulator you use on your water hose

 

Congrats! You'll enjoy traveling in it! 460 ford?

We have a 1987 coachman built on a Ford E350 chassis with the 460. There was a recall years ago related to the fuel tank. After the recall, the tank never held as much and the gauge seemed off. I don't think we can get it to the point where the gauge shows full, even with fuel visible in the filler neck.

 

Yes, 460. That’s interesting. This one goes as high as almost touching the line at F, but not quite. I wonder what the recall was, and what they did?

I really want to run this empty to see what the gauge does, but a motor home isn’t exactly something I want to run out of gas with and just pull over wherever to throw some gas in.