We picked up a 2000 Four winds 28A with the Chevy Express 3500 chassis and 7.4 vortec motor for a great deal. It has 53,000 miles and everything seems to work well. We plan to do as much of the service work ourselves.
On the list.
Onan Microlite Generator with around 365 hours:
Change the oil to amsoil synthetic four stroke small engine oil sae30/10w-30
Change the air filter using a wix 42302
Change the spark plug with an oem champion plug
blow out the spark arrestor as per the owners manual
Seems to be a little wobble in the steering wheel when braking so will
change the rotors and pads up front. Rotors are probably warped. it's
not bad but changing the rotors and pads are easy enough so why not.
Will drop the transmission pan and change the filter, gasket and fluid.
Has the chevy 4L80E transmission. Will probably stick with the OEM
Chevy fluid. Plan to use a oem GM Filter and gasket not a Chinese one.
Will drain the rear end and replace the gear lube with amsoil synthetic gear lube.
Will change the engine oil to Amsoil marine and diesel 15w-40 synthetic oil and an Amsoil filter. Should be able to do 12,500 miles, change the oil filter and another 12,500 miles before changing the oil again. Will send the oil sample to wear check USA for an analysis after the 25K miles to make sure the oil still has it's service properties. Oil analysis is very inexpensive ( $10 ) and lets you know what going on inside your engine in regard to the service life of the oil and if any contaminants are present in your oil such as coolant or from premature wear on bearings.
https://wearcheck.com/
Will change the radiators hoses with oem or Gates USA hoses and drain and replace all the coolant. Will replace the spark plugs with oem plugs and replace the plug wires, cap and rotor with oem or USA parts.
New oem or USA made air filter.
New Gates premium belt or belts.
The tires are brand new but will take her in for an alignment.
Will grease all the fittings.
The four winds seems in excellent condition and looks like it was well looked after by the previous one owner and everything seems to work.
Plan to reseal the roof with liquid roof EPDM RV roof coating. Not sure if we need 4 or 5 gallons.
Change the shocks. Can get the oem 3500 express KYB shocks for a quarter of the price of the Bilstein shocks but Bilstein seems to be vastly superior to everything else out there.
Want to try and make sure we can get her as reliable as we can for long trips. The Chevy drive train with the 7.4 motor is solid and we still have the same motor in a 96 van going strong with 230,000 miles later.
Now just waiting for it to cool down a bit in North Carolina so we don't sweat to death while working on her.
If there is anything else you can think of that needs looking at or replacing, let us know.
Youtube is your friend for the DIY mechanic
, but I didn't see anything about changing brake fluid. There are lots of posts about how old brake fluid can absorb water, the effects of the water boiling, and partial or total loss of braking function. Fresh brake fluid can eliminate a potentially bad situation. I now change mine every two years.
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