New to Me: T-1750, anybody else?

[Ted-Thompson]

Mine is a 1985, and I am "deducing" it's a T-1750 from it's size and layout. So far I can't find anything that states what it is. There is evidence of the "remains" of some sort of placard on the "drivers side" outside wall, right at the front, but aside from appearing to have had some sort of lettering on it, it's not readable...

Anyway. I had 2 questions about it.

#1, where can one find things like "lens" for the lights? One for an interior light, the other for the light beside the door.

#2, I may yet figure this out myself but... below the fridge, inside the cabinetry, is a silver tank with 2 lines running to/from it. It's about the size of a 30lb LP tank (but clearly is not). The 2 lines are right now going nowhere, and below them there are identical lines with a union joining them. Makes it look like the tank has been bypassed. Is this the water heater perhaps?

Any advice and/or horror stories appreciated. I got it for a song, with new tires and brakes, but I do see water marks in various spots so I know I've got some hunting to do armed with a caulk gun...

 

[SteveC7010]

Ted, the lights on our TT's are pretty standard automotive or RV ones.

On both lights, most any decent RV dealer who sells parts should be able to get you whatever you need. Check the go-rv.com catalog. If you find a matching item in there, your dealer can likely get it for you. Almost every RV shop in the country relies on that catalog for parts.

If a lighting item is truly discontinued and not available, there are a number of automotive and RV lights available that will be adequate replacements.

There are several folks in here who found one or two bad light fixtures in their older trailers and opted to just replace them all, especially the outside DOT marker lights. LED lighting is getting more and more popular and some are now replacing older fixtures with new ones that better accommodate LED's.

A silver tank that large almost sounds like the old, old style pressure tank for the water system. But without seeing a picture, it is difficult to be sure.

The may be a sticker with info on your trailer inside one of the cabinets in the kitchen.

Over in the files section here on SOC, there is a large collection of Sunline brochures going back almost to the start of the company. You should be able to find your exact trailer by looking through the floor plans there.

 

[Sunline Fan]

Hi Ted,

Assuming you have a 1985, the lights on there should be available at any RV dealer. At least the one close to me has them. However, I doubt you could find just the lenses. You'll have to buy the whole light, but since they don't use that style any more, buying a whole light for that style is just about as much as just a lens for another newer style. If the cover is missing now, there's probably a good chance that the base isn't in the best shape anyway, and it probably has attracted some water, so replacing the whole thing is probably a good idea. It is relatively simple, pull the old one out, undo the wire nuts, wire up the new one, reinstall the screws, put the lens cover on, and then put some caulking on the top of the light (or all the way around if you prefer) to prevent water from getting behind there.

The LED option is a good way to go, if you want to go that route. It will require some slight modification over just a direct replacement.

The tank you describe I don't think is a pressurized fresh water tank, unless it was added on in the aftermarket. Sunline used plastic tanks back into the '70's, and your should be under the stove area, on the floor. When you open up a bottom door, you should see a bluish tank and a water pump. I think this is the water heater. Sometimes the older ones didn't have insulation around the tanks or people tore them off for various reasons. Yours could be missing it because it was leaking and someone went in search of the leak. It may have been bypassed as a result, if there was a problem. However, a bypass kit for winterizing could also have been added so that when winterizing with anti-freeze, the tank doesn't fill up and take up size gallons of the pink stuff before it winterizes the lines. We'll probably need a picture here to determine exactly what it is.

The sticker that Steve describes, you won't have. Sunline only started putting stickers in cabinets around 1996, which were in addition to the outside ones. The shadow you see did have a sticker at one time, but not many remain. They weren't made of good materials or the covering over them wasn't very good. Here's what yours would have looked like, this is from a 1985 T-1661 I believe.

Let me know if you can derive some sort of build date from your sticker. If you'd like to submit your VIN, while I don't have a lot of info, I should be able to get you a ballpark of when it was built, though it may be as specific as between September, 1984 and March, 1985.

Jon

 

[Ted-Thompson]

Ok, that pic helps, that's what it was once upon a time, I'm sure of it.

(So the VIN is NOWHERE else? geez)

I'll have a look tomorrow and see what I can see where the year should be.

The tank is a water heater, with the appropriate hatch outside (duh shoulda looked) and it is bypassed right now so I don't know it's condition... it certainly LOOKS corrosion free from the inside.

Water tank is below the sink, so I found that.

The interior lights are easy, but the one beside the door may not be as it's installed in a hole in the side of the trailer - light above, handle for getting in below....

The lens/cover has been gone a long time as the bulb socket is heavily rusted.

I seem to be missing some other covers too. The one over the electrical hookup, and "furnace" exhaust just ends in a hole in the middle of an oblong flange - looks like a small hood is missing...

 

[Sunline Fan]

Hi Ted,

Sorry I forgot about the handle by the door. Yes, that will be a hard one. The original cover was just a piece of opaque plastic screwed on there. I think you can still find handles like that at dealers or in the catalog Steve suggested. If all else fails, there are RV salvage yards out there, you could give one of them a call to see if they'd have the handle. It was not just used in Sunline's. If you'd like some names of these, let me know.

The water heater. If you have a problem, I commonly hear of them cracking on the underside, so you may have to remove it from the sidewall to see if it is damaged or not.

Also, sorry about not describing about the VIN more. It is in two more places on the coach. The easiest one is on the left side of the tongue, probably below the LP tank platform. There should be a small aluminum tag there (it might be painted over some though) riveted to the frame, which will contain the VIN.

Jon

 

[Ted-Thompson]

Hi Ted,

Also, sorry about not describing about the VIN more. It is in two more places on the coach. The easiest one is on the left side of the tongue, probably below the LP tank platform. There should be a small aluminum tag there (it might be painted over some though) riveted to the frame, which will contain the VIN.

Jon

Thanks, I'd have missed that. You mention 2 other places, but only describe one. Typo, or is there a 3rd place? (sticker that rarely survives, metal tag on the A frame, and....???)

I hope the AL tag is a stamped one. I had some fun with the DMV guys...

DMV: You'll have to bring the trailer down when you register it so we can verify the VIN and weight.

Me: Right now, it has no tags.

DMV: (pause) Is there an inspection station near you?

Me: Yes

DMV: Then you'll need a form RV-41, and have the mechanic fill it out.

Me: How do I get it to the Inspection Station with no tags?

DMV: If it has a raised VIN you can take an piece of paper and rub a pencil on it over the VIN and we can use that.

Uh.... So the "bring it in" is just to make me jump through hoops then??

Anyway thought I'd share. I'll have a looksee with and inspection mirror under the tank (I think I can, if I remember correctly) and see if anything looks amiss - I haven't put water in the TT at all yet... Of course the FIRST thing I'm going to do is Bleach the system, per the instructions that came with the TT.

 

[Sunline Fan]

Hi Ted,

Also, sorry about not describing about the VIN more. It is in two more places on the coach. The easiest one is on the left side of the tongue, probably below the LP tank platform. There should be a small aluminum tag there (it might be painted over some though) riveted to the frame, which will contain the VIN.

Jon

Thanks, I'd have missed that. You mention 2 other places, but only describe one. Typo, or is there a 3rd place? (sticker that rarely survives, metal tag on the A frame, and....???)

I hope the AL tag is a stamped one. I had some fun with the DMV guys...

DMV: You'll have to bring the trailer down when you register it so we can verify the VIN and weight.

Me: Right now, it has no tags.

DMV: (pause) Is there an inspection station near you?

Me: Yes

DMV: Then you'll need a form RV-41, and have the mechanic fill it out.

Me: How do I get it to the Inspection Station with no tags?

DMV: If it has a raised VIN you can take an piece of paper and rub a pencil on it over the VIN and we can use that.

Uh.... So the "bring it in" is just to make me jump through hoops then??

Anyway thought I'd share. I'll have a looksee with and inspection mirror under the tank (I think I can, if I remember correctly) and see if anything looks amiss - I haven't put water in the TT at all yet... Of course the FIRST thing I'm going to do is Bleach the system, per the instructions that came with the TT.

That's a good story! I hope everything did work out in the end. Did this happen in PA? I've heard a few things about PA's DMV, and it seems like a likely case...

There is a third place. It is under the sill plate for the door. I didn't mention it because the tongue one is easy to spot. To see the one by the door, you have to remove the three or four screws holding down that kick plate, then carefully pry it up (it has a u-channel that sits on the top edge of the bottom of the door frame), and an identical metal tag to the one on the tongue should appear there, screwed into the floor.

Neither one would have raised lettering, however they are stamped into the plate, so it would still probably show with a pencil shading.

Jon

 

[Sunline Fan]

Here's a pic I dug up for you to know what to look for. I did a picture-in-picture kind of thing here to highlight the lettering:

When I said earlier that it might be painted over, it should still be readable with the paint, just not as easily.

Jon

 

[Ted-Thompson]

That's great! Thank you for al the help. Hopefully I won't have to go to #3.

And, yes it was indeed PA.