1st RV a few chassis questions

[heavymetal]

Hello.
I recently purchased a 1992 allegro bay 27' motorhome and I am a rookie. I have never owned an rv and have been surfing the net learning what I can about this unit and rv's in general. Apperently I have the p37 chassis with a 454 chevy and, I'm quessing, a turbo400 trans.
I want to make sure it is safe before I take it out on the road and I'm in no hurry. I am a do it yourself guy if it is within my abillity.
Anyway, I'm not sure what rearend is in this motorhome it looks like a dana 60 but I'm not sure.
I have the rear tires off and want to check the brakes but I'm having trouble finding info on this.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.

Ed

[Purplefans & Harvey]

CAn't help with the mechanicals, but welcome to the forum! I'm sure you will get great answers here! As they say, ask lots of questions!

[FreshAir]

Hi Ed, Welcome. Can"t say I have herd of the P37 chassis. Could you maybe thinking of a P32 or P30 and I'm not sure about their difference? Can't help you with the rear end but am sure someone will be along shortly with some help. Take care, good to hear from you...

Pat

Ps. As far as a do-it-yourself guy, your in the perfect forum. Ask away.

["007"]

Welcome heavymetal to irv2.
Here is a thread that has info on p32 & 30 chassis and difference between.
Enjoy the forums and do post often.

[az bound]

Hi Ed and welcome to iRV2. I'm pretty sure your chassis is a P32. If you will go to their website www.workhorse.com you will find a page where you can register as the owner of record. You will need your chassis VIN. Once you have it registered you will be able to access all the information on your chassis and download the chassis guide.
Enjoy your RV.

[heavymetal]

Thanks for the welcome and the info.
Been doing a bit more research and it looks like I have a p-32 chassis I guess the p-37 just indicates that it's a motorhome chassis.
I'm sure I'll be posting often because I'm a complete rookie.
Also looks like the differential is a dana 80 but haven't verified it yet.
I'll go to the workhorse site and register as suggested.
I'm open to any usefull info you can send my way about this particular brand of motorhome and rv travel, prep, maintenece, etc.

Thank you all.

Ed

[62Morgan]

First rule of ownership of any used MH: do not assume maintenance up-to-date...[ie, Begin at square one and systematically R&R all fluids, filters, and wear items.] I would begin with systematically going-over of each major systems, one-by-one. Braking, Fuel delivery, Steering, Drive system, Electrical, Suspension, Water system(s), LP, genset, Plumbing, HVAC, etc.

Not sure of wheel bearings condition? Compare actual road mileage with suggested Inspect/replace chart [use extreme-duty charts]. Spin & listen closely for grating sounds. Lube-em anyway.

Re: the brakes. What specifically? Rotor wear/radial cracks, pad-wear/transfer to rotor surface, powder debris/piston, slide guides lube, actuators, fluid condition?
Each brake mfgr. should have an on-line tech paper of how-to service / how to judge problem areas [with pictures]. Not-your-mfgr? Look at others to gleam the info you need. Post here if a specifc item eludes your search.

Another good source: You-tube has videos for DIY’er. You can download the various video clips to a laptop & have it conveniently alongside as you do the work on the MH.

BTW: I would suspect any rubber components of dry-rot from age and heat exposure. Appearance alone is not enough; try to flex the genset fuel line to reveal any hidden cracks. I would replace 'em and use new hose clamps.

[MntDriver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by heavymetal Also looks like the differential is a dana 80 but haven't verified it yet. I'll go to the workhorse site and register as suggested. Ed

FYI, when you register your motorhome on the Workhorse site with your VIN, you can see what size rear end you have.

(ugg!....that sounded weird!)

[heavymetal]

Great advice guys,
For some reason the workhorse site doesn't recognize the vin number of this unit.
When I input the last 6 digits of the vin number like the registration asks for, I brings up thje wrong unit.

[az bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by heavymetal Great advice guys, For some reason the workhorse site doesn't recognize the vin number of this unit. When I input the last 6 digits of the vin number like the registration asks for, I brings up thje wrong unit.

You can try contacting them by phone (877) 294-6773. They should be able to assist you. You might also double check the VIN to make sure that you have the one for the chassis and not the one for the coach.

[tropical36]

Quote:

Originally Posted by heavymetal Great advice guys, For some reason the workhorse site doesn't recognize the vin number of this unit. When I input the last 6 digits of the vin number like the registration asks for, I brings up thje wrong unit.

This is because you don't own a Workhorse and I'm surprised that you haven't already been told that. You have a Chevrolet chassis, P30 or P32, which ever you'd like to call it. Workhorse didn't assume ownership of this chassis until sometime in 1999. Naturally nothing was changed for awhile and when they did, the most significant thing was the wide track front end which made it look a little better over the narrow track wide body of GM, if nothing else. They also moved some of the AUTOPARK controls from down under to under the hood.
By the way, your AUTOPARK is probably not a later self contained system and you might want to research it on some of these forums for educational purposes.

[wa8yxm]

I am not aware of any special issues with the P-series chassis save for the auto-park brake and there is a poster (olduserbear as I recall) who is the expert on those, Anything I could tell you (Which is not much) I got from him... Search the forum with the phrase Auto-Park and you will learn a bunch.

As for the service brakes.. There are only two kinds Drum and Disc, and the procedures for service and checking are the same be it a many thousands of pounds motor home or a less than one ton mini-car. You just need bigger wrenches is all.

[tropical36]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tropical36 This is because you don't own a Workhorse and I'm surprised that you haven't already been told that. You have a Chevrolet chassis, P30 or P32, which ever you'd like to call it. Workhorse didn't assume ownership of this chassis until sometime in 1999. Naturally nothing was changed for awhile and when they did, the most significant thing was the wide track front end which made it look a little better over the narrow track wide body of GM, if nothing else. They also moved some of the AUTOPARK controls from down under to under the hood. By the way, your AUTOPARK is probably not a later self contained system and you might want to research it on some of these forums for educational purposes.

In retrospect, you most likely do not have AUTOPARK with a 27ft rig, as it would be well under the 15K GVW more or less threshold and most likely is equipped with a parking pawl in the tranny and has a long adjustable handle to manually apply the drive shaft mounted parking brake. This is going to be better for you in the long run and that much less to be concerned with, especially with a rig that old.

[az bound]

Workhorse had everyting on my 1994 Airstream before I traded it in. They may have it on this one. It's worth a try.