New owner of 1985 345

[lido&linda 85/345]

We acquared our new MH [new to us]early last July.Before taking deliver from a local AS dealership thier inspection revealed that it needed a whole brake job.They did the brakes including the tag axle brakes,I was surprise to know that it has disc brakes in the rear axle,is this factory or after market? I took it to a local RV service place to do another inspection before going for a long trip to Florida,The MH was fine everthing works except for minor thing like electric door lock etc..As far as mechanical they only found a small axle leak wich the people that did the brakes should have corrected, well its fixed now.
It is sad to report that we didn't made it to Florida.We started over heating going up hill to Quartsite,Az.The mechanic at the chevy dealer in Blyth,Ca. [where good sam towed us to]Check the cooling system he found out that it have a new cluchfan and water pump he then change the thermostat with no luck, after checking the radiator it shows very small change in temp. top to bottom.The problem is they cant locate new replacement it will take severall days,its coming from the east coast.So I have no choice but to go on to my vacation w/o my now much beloved AirStream. To my surprice I reacted diffent to the situation normally I will be mad and wanted to just get rid of the new toy.
But all the time I was on vacation I was thinking of my MH what kind of upgrade I will do and where we can go.
I just picked her up two weeks ago and I'm happy to report that I'm once again a Happly Airstream Camper.

[ALANSD]

all of our 80's model Airstreams have disc brakes front and rear.
The earlier ones had drums I believe in the back. Anyway they are nice for stopping power.
Hope you have great experience with your 345!!

[Astrodokk]

I was told that I have rear drums, which I do not like. Gotta keep driving in reverse for adjustments. I guess I'll have to inspect them myself to be sure.

[TBKP's Overlander]

I saw your rig there. Looks pretty nice. I was wondering what the deal with it was. Good luck. Let me know if you need any other place to take it. There are some good non-dealer mechanics in town.

[ViewRVs]

Welcome! You have a great unit if I may say so myself! Happy travels!

[swebster]

We are new 345 owners as well. Welcome! Read about your overheating problem on another post. Sorry to hear your first trip was such a bust. It gets better.

We've lived on the forum since getting ours in late July. Good luck with your "new" MH.

[74Argosy24MH]

The rear disc are really a P32 chassis. They also hade a wider front track than the P30, started in the late 70's, I have a 79 SOB with them.

John

[Andre Baillargeon]

Originally posted by lido&linda 85/345
We acquared our new MH [new to us]early last July.Before taking deliver from a local AS dealership thier inspection revealed that it needed a whole brake job.They did the brakes including the tag axle brakes,I was surprise to know that it has disc brakes in the rear axle,is this factory or after market? I took it to a local RV service place to do another inspection before going for a long trip to Florida,The MH was fine everthing works except for minor thing like electric door lock etc..As far as mechanical they only found a small axle leak wich the people that did the brakes should have corrected, well its fixed now.
It is sad to report that we didn't made it to Florida.We started over heating going up hill to Quartsite,Az.The mechanic at the chevy dealer in Blyth,Ca. [where good sam towed us to]Check the cooling system he found out that it have a new cluchfan and water pump he then change the thermostat with no luck, after checking the radiator it shows very small change in temp. top to bottom.The problem is they cant locate new replacement it will take severall days,its coming from the east coast.So I have no choice but to go on to my vacation w/o my now much beloved AirStream. To my surprice I reacted diffent to the situation normally I will be mad and wanted to just get rid of the new toy.
But all the time I was on vacation I was thinking of my MH what kind of upgrade I will do and where we can go.
I just picked her up two weeks ago and I'm happy to report that I'm once again a Happly Airstream Camper.

I have a 1982 310 with back disk brake wich I had to get replaced last winter , and in order to do so you have to open the differential to unlock back axles needless to say in come with a price. Good luck with it

[winner]

We learned the hard way about the temperature problems with the Chev 454 Engine in our 345.
At the outset, someone in the past had gone by the Chev Eng Manual and put the thermostat recommended in the Manual
Our experience, that thermostat was too hot for the engine. We put a 180 degree thermostat - that solved part of the problems.
Next. We found that someone had put the wrong radiator cap on the engine. If you put the wrong radiator cap on the engine, it will not cycle water from the cooling water reservoir back and forth from the engine = second problem correct.
Third. Someone in the past has put a new fan clutch on the engine, but it was the Smaller of two sizes. In order to make it work and fit the shaft, they had put a bushing on the shaft of the fan clutch. The smaller fan clutch would not cycle as the engine approached 200 to start running and reduce engine temperatures back around 190 -
The 3 problems specifically were the cause of all our problems with this engine shortly after we purchased it. On a trip to New England from South Carolina, we experienced problems on
the notorious Hog Back Mountain in New Hampshire.
We are happy to report that after fixing all three of the above problems we never again experienced any overheating problems with our wonderful "Silver Belle" and her Chev 454 Engine.