1977 Winnebago Brave D21 Manuals

[Deathdog]

Looking for a resource to get Manuals for a 1977 Winnebago Brave D21. I have a parts List, Paint Codes and Brochure.

New to RVing. Purchased this after sitting for 30 plus years. 44,000 miles and one owner. It's not in terrible shape. I just have no idea how to do anything to it or where anything is at. I'm sure the plumbing needs redone. Where's the pump? Where's this, where's that?! It's too cold to do much right now but I would like to get as much information together as possible.

Thanks in advance.

[Ray,IN]

Appliance manuals are available from https://myrvworks.com/manuals/
Coach instruction manual is practically useless, as mfgrs. print one to covrer all similar models.The water pump location will be shown in your plumbing diagrams from W. Depending on your chassis make and model, try perusing this unsorted library of old manuals.Ads, Documentation, Brochures/Schematics - Forum

[BobC]

I agree with Ray. At best they tell you that you have a water pump and how to turn it on and off. They're not going to tell you any more about it. The only thing I can think of on which they might have important information is on the proper operation of slides and jacks, all of which can be found elsewhere.

In 1981, the earliest year's manual available online, there was only one manual for all Winnebago/Itasca models. I doubt 1977 was any different in being so broad. You might want to take a look at it to see if there's anything helpful. They're nothing like the owners manual that comes with a car. Even if you had a manual, it would have very little or no info on your chassis. For that you'll have to look to the manufacturer of the chassis:

https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...ago-Itasca.pdf

Here's an earlier post on this topic that may be of help (I didn't read all of it):

https://www.winnieowners.com/forums/...go-344953.html

If nothing else you could PM some of these earlier posters to see if they can help you with specific questions if they're still members. You might also want to post in the Winnieowners Vintage Rigs forum.

[Morich]

It might take a lot of luck to get a manual for that specific year and there are times when the manuals are too generic to get down to real helpful detains, so I might suggest a different line of chasing info. Winnebago does settle on what works and keep it for many years, until there is something major that changes. So it may be just as easy to go with the closest year posted online which is 1981 and try to sort what items fit what you have.
Many thing like how the water pump works will be the same but it is true that there are lots of small changes as time goes on.
But if one starts with the oldest manual you find online and looks at gradually newer for that model, you may find the right info on a much newer manual?
Not going to be easy in many cases but you must have known that already!
One would not want to use a manual for a current phone to sort out trouble on a phone from 1977!

And then it is true that there are likely to be folks on here who have owned several of the older RV and might be able to point the right direction on some things. I think I had a 1976 brave at one point???

For the water pump, try looking in the compartments and next to the water tank? If it is working, turn it on and listen for the noise?
Generally the older RV are much less prone to having things that are automatic and harder to fix. Not a lot of the "convenience" type stuff to break down.

No outside satallite TV, no power door locks, no inverter to watch TV while out in the boonies? How in the world did we ever survive when the neighbors or us didn't have a generator to keep us awake all night?

Maybe that's why there are more mass shootings now?

[Deathdog]

Well, from what I'm gathering, I was going the wrong direction. Bob, The locations are wrong on the switches and gauges but gave an explanation of what they where and do. That helps immensely. I've been dying to try the generator but had know idea how to turn it on. A button on the dash, genius! Ray & Bob, I just jokingly typed "RVs for Dummies" in Google. Ya, turns out thats a thing. I now own "RVs & Campers For Dummies". I'll let you guys know how that turns out. Thank you all for your help! When I'm an old pro like you guys, I will try to help newbies like you helped me.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Deathdog

When I'm an old pro like you guys, I will try to help newbies like you helped me.

It doesn't take long and the more problems you encounter, the quicker you learn. And you'll learn even more if you're a DIYer, but I guess you pretty much have to be if you have a '77.

[Morich]

Other than the lack of info and finding parts, starting out with an old one may be much easier as there were so manyless complex issues and fewer black boxes with unknown parts.
Learning where things are is easier if there are fewer things to find..
And when getting into the mechanical chassis issues, the old ignition was far closer to sonmething we could fix. It may take lots more time to keep plugs working but at least we can find out which is NOT working without a computer if we need to do it !

A suggestion?
Sometimes we get into fixing things that stop working and one of the big problems is that we never paid enough attention to the details of how it worked when it was right.

One way to ease the trauma of something like the furnace stopping, is to have some idea of what it should do when right.
Take some time to study and listen as things work and maybe even write down what you see and hear as a "heads-up" for when it DOESN'T work?

And there is a lot of truth that many things work basicly the same. The process of getting the furnace to work now is very close to what it was in 1977!

Enjoy the trek!

[Elandan 2]

Have you tried www.classicwinnebagos.com