Hello Benton, You asked me to reply to your E Mail via the club
message board concerning the 4X4 conversion on my Chinook, beings
Toyota didn't build a 4x4 until 79 I took the 76 Chinook stripped it
to the bare frame, cut the frame in half and grafted on the front
frame section of a early 80's toyota 4x4 pickup, built new cab
mounts to fit the older cab, fabricated the floorboard tunnel to
clear the trans and transfer case, bumper mounts had to be fabbed,
inner fenderwells had to be reshaped to clear shocks and steering,
steering column had to be adapted to hook up to the 4x4 steering box,
brake lines had to be built and rerouted, rear differential had to be
changed to match the front, rear suspension needed upgraded to the
4x4 type, plus other fitting and fabricating on shifters, drivelines,
ect. The end results were fine, it drives and handles fine and
typical toyota dependability for going on 13 years now.
As far as feasible to convert your 79 Sunrader? Hard one to call,
depends on wether you do the work yourself or have to farm it out. On
the older model motorhomes sometimes they will call a 78 a 79 and so
on, a true 78 still had the 4 headlights a 79 body had single lights,
if yours is a 78 body the conversion would be basiclly the same, if
its a 79 body the ideal swap would be find a 79-83 4x4 and set the
camper body on that, it would be a lot less work and a fairly easy
4x4 conversion. Sunrader actually built some factory 4x4 motorhomes
in 84-85 on the standard and Xcab chassis's. Hope this helps and
gives you some ideas.
