1997 Roadtrek Popular w/ Dodge 318

[ArrVee]

Yesterday. Good deep color (aqua), clean chrome bumpers, some touched up plastics. Interior clean with new pads and fabrics. No shower floor liner?

Started right up, gassy exhaust smell, no smoke, good power, steered straight, a little slop l-r. All fluids clean.

Stopped at Oreilly to read codes, no reader but checked charging system.
Showed bad voltage regulator. A CEL came up after test drive.
Cab AC blows cold but had evaporation dripping from black box to left of radiator?? Not sure about that. No genny, hitch or cockpit table. Said its wired for genny.

I said to have the voltage regulator replaced and repair any CEL before I would make an offer. Retired widow. Leaving 8/3 for 6 weeks. She had lowered the price to 13.9K. Thoughts....

[Davidk]

ArrVee:

just wondering if you bite the bullet and bought the unit or an other one.


Davidk

[ArrVee]

I passed on it due to the unknowns. I also looked at a chevy rt with 100K. After I got in it I realized it was too small for our needs.

I ended up purchasing a 2002 R-Vision 24.5 B+ with chevy cutaway front end, 8.1 L , 24.5K miles, dual wheel w/ genny for a good price.

We just got back from FL, 2000mi RT. Not too big to drive around touring after we get there and not too small for 2 adults and a small pet. Other than the engine compartment everything is pretty accessible.

Ted

[Davidk]

It sounded like a good machine, but sounds like you picked up a better deal for what you and the family needed. Nice long testing trip to Florida and back with no major problems is always a good feeling

Happy Trails

David

[Nic7320]

I bought a Roadtrek 170P with 185K. It came with a new engine, but had very sloppy steering and, as I found out later, "death wobble." The wobble showed up on a road where they only re-paved the surface to the white line on the right side. I caught the edge and the steering wheel went nuts, left to right several times, and for a while -- I was out of control.

The tire shops I went to had no idea where to start. One wanted $354 to repack the wheel bearings and THEN they would start diagnosing the problem. So I went elsewhere, and they told me the wheel bearings were fine, but wanted $1250 to replace the ball joints. And that still wouldn't fix the problem, as I found out.

The solution I found online. Death wobble is a symptom of a loose power steering box, and this guy in Michigan has a very clever fix for $120 (+$20 shipping):

Dodge Ram Steering Gear Box Stabilizer

It's a bracket and bearing that collars a special sleeved nut that goes in place of your stock pitman arm nut. The bearing is held in a bracket that's mounted on two existing studs on the chassis. It's about 20 minutes to install and it made a BIG difference. I could tell within 50 feet how much tighter the steering was.

This is a good idea for any 1994-2008 Dodge van or 1994-2018 Dodge truck, even if your steering box isn't loose; it will prevent your steering box from wearing out and getting sloppy.

Signed,
One happy customer.
(not affiliated otherwise with Big D Offroad, the vendor)

[D&J Phillips]

Nic7320 is absolutely right, this is the magic bullet for Dodge vans. Ours is a 1999 Xplorer and, although I never suffered the "death Wobble", I did suffer terrible wandering.
Worked my way thru it all - new ball joints, new shocks, 3 re-alignments at different shops, a newly rebuilt steering box. Each of those made it a smidge better but still was bad. Then I stumbled onto the same website and immediately bought one. I won't say it drives like a car now, but it is much, much better and I can finally relax and enjoy driving.
For only 130 bucks it was by far the best-bang-for-the-buck I've spent on this van. I have no financial interest in them either but am a very satisfied customer.