1967 F-17

[Karl m]

I wasn't in the market for one but when I saw an old tiny Winnebago motor home for sale I swooped it up. For $1,000 I was expecting pretty rough shape. Here in Alaska, if the snow doesn't crush these, the constant rain rots them. Somehow this thing was protected and sat unused. It has 56,000miles on its 300 i6. Some paperwork indicates only 3,000 miles in the last 20 years!

Anyway I've done all the obvious stuff: fuilds, brake fluid, plugs/wires/cap, sealed the roof, cleaned off the mold, fixed the lights. Even before all this she ran great. Took it camping this weekend. 150 mile trip, four mountain passes, top speed of 62mph. It's perfect for my family of four. I'm in love.

ANYWAY,
1. RVs must end up sitting like this a lot. What happens to an engine that just sits?


2. What should I do if I plan on keeping this for the long haul. Keep it in good shape and see how old this thing can get. What am I forgetting? Undercoat treatment? Or grease zert spots?

3. What are the blue and white cables in my closet? Do these have deep cycle batteries?

4. Where can I find more info on the f-17's? Mine is #968, I wonder how many there are.

Thanks for any help!

[Karl m]

Downtown Hope, AK

[Rich Thomas]

Sounds like you have a handle on the  PM's (Preventative Maintenance)  and really that is the key. A few things though I would mention #1.Check the date codes on the tires; if more than 5-6 years old get rid of them. A blow out on the highway can shred your camper before you can get pulled over and a front tire can cause loss of control. Please research this topic here, I can't stress it enough.  #2. Use the heck out of it, sitting around is the worst thing for it. # 3 Fix it don't let little things linger they are soon forgotten and seam to rear there ugly heads just when you don't need them too. Other than that, keep it clean show it off and enjoy it. 

[Karl m]

Thanks for the advice. I'm a bicycle mechanic with a little contracting experience who works on my own vehicles. I like to tinker and get the little stuff fixed. And I've been using it around a week in our town of 2,000 people and now everyone is asking me questions where ever I go.

I read about the tires like you said (the fast and furious guy had 9yo tires on that porshe), I suspected they might have a life span. BUT I just called the local tire shop and he tells me if there are no visible cracks I'm fine. I told him they are 20 years old and he talked me out of buying new tires. I did go Armorall them and they LOOK brand new. I think I'll take it in for the brakes and ask the mechanic directly, not the guy at the counter.

One last question: What about the "W"? Repaint or keep it faded? Its almost gone!

[Rich Thomas]

No paint Carl IMO they earned there stripes. on the Tires I bought my 1978 Travelcraft with only 19,600 miles on it and all the tires looked fantastic. my camper had to have an Ohio State Patrol inspection before I could title it due to a bout with a tornado. It passed with flying colors. Twenty miles down the highway the inside rear dual  blew out and started shredding apart. by the time I got off the road it was gone. My saving grace was the gas line took the brunt of the tire coming apart  and saved my Palace. My tires still had nipples on them and the spare had never been on the ground. I limped to a tire rack and they would not touch them because the date code showed they was over ten years old. The PO said they was less than seven. That spare was 15 years old and again had never been on the ground. Seven tires and $1,500 later I had a safe vehicle. for about 10 min and 200 yards that is, but! that is an other story. I've had the Palace now for two years this August and I happy to say that other than a blown fusible link and a furnace relay she has been a wonderful addition to my toy library so to speak. I hope this will entice you to seek an opinion from an RV dealer or at least a professional tire installer. I would not make a big deal out of this except for every body told me to make sure I checked the tires. I had planed on driving it home first and then get new tires when I took it to my local RV dealer and boy did I get a surprise. The saddest thing is, my co pilot was with my and to this day I have to pick her up and put her in the camper. She is a 10 year old Sheltie and loves to ride but not in the Palace LOL .

[Karl m]

OK you guys are right I'll get them replaced. There's only one highway out of town and its over a mountain.

I can use some of the money I was going to spend on paint!

[Rich Thomas]

Good boy Karl, now, go clean your room:)  PS I apologize for miss spelling your name in my earlier posts. 

[Jimco_W001]

Hi Karl, I own a 1967 Ford Winnebago F-19 #700. It still has the factory floor carpeting. I think that Winnebago made about 500 units during their first year producing motorhomes in 1966. Some of these #'s in the early years of production may have been used with a chassis from GM or Dodge. They would use a C or a D in front of their length for a ID. 

I have also owned a 1970 Ford F-17 for 20 years now and it has always worked very well for me.

[Karl m]

Does your carpet go up the cockpit walls? This must be the factory stuff. The floor was covered with that plastic runner like at my grandma's house and looks brand new.

Check out the attached pic. Is this what your master cylinder looks like on the '67? I guess these brakes were banned in '68.

[Rick Faunce]

Well that one is certainly no good! Is that a single stage master cylinder? Only has one brake line coming out of it? If so you better make sure the entire system is in tip top shape because unlike the newer vehicles where if you lose braking at one end you still have it at the other, this one if you lose a line or wheel cylinder then you have NO brakes at all. I doubt the emergency brake works all that well either, they never do.

[Jim Stoltz]

I can't tell what I'm looking at there, but American car manufacturers moved to the dual reservoir master cylinder in 1967. It's not unusual, however, for an RV's model year to be newer than the chassis. A single reservoir MC is okay if you're 100% confident in all of the lines in the system. I wasn't on our '64 Impala and switched to a dual reservoir system. It's not hard and definitely worth the effort. The original MC was bad anyway so the decision was easy. 

[Karl m]

Ok, I was aware of why single stage brakes are outlawed, but didn't know the switch would be easy/doable. Maybe a winter project for me. The brakes suck but work.

And I did try the emergency brake. It doesn't even hold if I put it in drive. Like the comedian Mitch Headberg says "They should call it the make-the-car-smell-funny-brake." b/c that's all it really does.

[Jim Stoltz]

Mitch Hedberg is great. My e-brake is a drum on the driveshaft. It only works in reverse for some reason. Can't back up with it set, but it will roll forward easily. I haven't looked into it. 

On the '64 Impala, it was a matter of swapping out the MC and running a new line to where the single-reservoir system teed into the rear. We had to run new lines to both front wheels, too. If you have all-wheel discs or all-wheel drums you don't need a proportioning valve. If you have a mix of discs and drums you do. There are kits out there for just about any vehicle.