About to buy 1999 Itasca Suncruiser

[MrP]

I am in the process of buying a 1999 Itasca suncruiser that needs work does anyone have any tips?

[Morich]

My first thought would be to congratulate you on taking on the job.
Times have changed a great deal since I was a position to take on rebuilding RV and some things are much better, while other parts of the job can be worse!

Way back, it was a super struggle to get even the most basic information on how RV systems worked as there was no internet!
Getting the info is much less difficult in that area and Winnebago is one of the places where you will get the best shot at getting that info! Both online and in company contacts, things are much better!

But the other side of that is the amount of really complex systems and equipment involved. As time has gone on, we have come to expect a great deal more than just simple comforts like being inside and dry!
That means all kinds of added features which obviously makes repair needed much more often and it can also be much more complex to sort out.

A simple radio is not longer simple if we want surround sound with all the bells and whistles. Automatic levelers and slides are great features but also can be a PITA to repair!
The automotive parts are where things have really changed a lot. Both good and bad!
Electronic ignitions and fuel injection are great and give far less trouble but they are a deal harder to DIY than points, plugs and carbs!

But enough with the comparing with what's gone! You have today, so maybe some help on finding tons of that info you may need to look up?
If you've not found it yet, let me point to some of the great info Winnebago gives us!

Home page:
https://www.winnebago.com/

Looking under the owners tab will lead to a vast array of info. Tons of info like basic model info, down to indepth drawings for many of the systems like electrical and plumbing!
One biggie that is far better is that you can use a slow rainy day to look over what you have setting outside ---and do it without having to crawl under the rig!
But I will warn that it takes lots of looking to find the one little hint you may need.

But that is where a forum like this can help a lot! Instead of beating your head on the wall and still not finding things, you can take a look at online info and maybe find it or come back around and there are a good number of folks here who have been sorting Winnebago problems for a long time. That experience, doesn't mean we can answer all the questions, but it does speed the process of finding those correct answers.

Half the fight of DIY is learning where to get the right info or the right parts!

Got any specific repairs that you want to do first? One of the big first points may be to add the year, make and model of Suncruiser you are dealing with. It's handy to add that to your signature block so that it appears by magic every time you post.


See what I mean?
Nothing slows progress more than having to explain every time why we need to know! Rv are not all the same!

Enjoy the trek as it can pay big time if you can get a handle on how things work BEFORE they stop!

[MrP]

Thank you for all the advice and I have to figure out how to do that. The one I am looking at is the IFG37G and it does need the furniture but it run now if it runs good I’ll find that out tomorrow

[Jim_HiTek]

Note that you probably have a label pop-riveted to the plastic right next to the drivers seat on the left. Useful info there. Then there's usually another glued on paper label on the inside of a bedroom closet door. Also useful.

What Morich said is spot on. You find the labels for appliances right on the appliance, run the brand & model through google and soon you can download the PDF users guide. There are 252 categories in the RV folder on my computer. And that's just the documents. The pictures are in another 200 or so folders.

If you would like to see some info about the stuff I had to do with my '94 Fleetwood Bounder, navigate to my blog. There's plenty of first hand experience fixing appliances and RV components there. With pictures.

Enjoy! Note that the first two years in my '94 RV nearly every trip I had to fix something. But it was a diesel so I would always be able to limp somewhere, except that time when the engine dropped a rod. I limped to an RV park 40 miles away, then with Coachnet, I got the RV moved 60 miles to Flagstaff to the repair shop of my choice.

[Morich]

With the idea that furniture is one needing help, I might suggest looking at options before buying new Rv stuff. Depending on local, etc. it can be a real bargain to find somebody to rework/recover the existing frame if it is in good shape.
That's always a bit of "luck" in finding the right folks to do the work but my wife was into sewing and much of the stuff we did on the old Rv builds were things she could manage if her machine could handle the materials.
We did a number of rebuild where the fabrics were just falling aprt or fading too far to be any good, so we looked at who the window covers and such were made and found them to often be just simple cuts for the wood or reuse it and then she could sew up the fabric parts.
We both learned a lot and had to fix a number of screwups but it sure was cheap and that was what we needed at the time. We got one for free and others were less than $5000 at the time, so we figured if we could use it for a few years and then sell it for what we had in it, we were good!

[BobC]

Another thing to check out is the windshield frame. Many Winnebagos have had problems with them leaking and rusting to the point they need replacing ($$$$). Read up all you can on this issue so you can spot the signs. My 2002 Suncruiser had this issue. Although the previous owner had it fixed, the job wasn't done properly and I had to have it rust-proofed when I had a windshield replaced. Due to the rust, the bottom of both windshields were loose and flexed in and out when pushed from the inside.

https://www.google.com/search?q=winn...hrome&ie=UTF-8

We've had good luck with residential recliners as opposed to RV-specific ones. You can find good sales on leather recliners that will be less expensive (and possibly higher quality) than those made for RVs. We replaced our jack-knife sofa with two recliners which are much more comfortable. It's just the two of us so we didn't need the extra bed.

[dickb46]

Hopefully the "black bag" is still there, it has a ton of information on your new coach.

dick

[catmandoo62]

I agree with dick.i bought a 99 vectra grand tour in late 2017.the black bag was there and full of a manual of every thing it has or has had in it.also had window sticker and purchase agreement.and as morich mentioned the winnebago archives have loads of diagrams of systems.i had an issue when flushing the black tank,had water dumping from above and for the life of me could not find it.got on the site and found the plumbing diagram and found there is whats called a vacuum breaker valve,behind a galley cabinet.pulled a couple drawers and found it,had wife try the flush and sure enough it was gushing water.without that diagram i would still be looking.

[Morich]

When I think back over all the trauma I went through finding things on those old ones, it makes me cry when I think about how easy it is to get good reliable info now when we use the internet and go to reliable sources.
Too bad there isn't a way to assure all sources are reliable! Think of all the junk we wouldn't have to sort through?

At least 50% of the internet would be gone but that might be a big improvement!
What if none of us ever got spam again?????

[Jim_HiTek]

I bought a '94 in '04, and the black bag full of manuals was there.

[dickb46]

We bought a 74 Titan in 86 and it still had the black bag