Hawk motor home (25 ft)

[Pat]

Anyone with experience working on a Hawk motor home? I am about to fly to San Diego to drive into Mexicp with a friend to attempt to get a Hawk motor home road worthy and drive it back stateside. I think it is a Dodge 1 ton with a V-8 and auto tranny. It was registered in California and was in good running shape, passed smog, etc about 6-7 years ago but has been unused in storage in Mexico for about 4 years.

My surmise is that it will need a new battery, lilkely tires, some carb cleaning and fresh fuel (even though it had Stabil in the tank as Stabil is a great product but not magic), new belts and hoses.

The last time it was used the brakes had developed a problem either bypassing in the master cylinder or a faulty wheel cylinder. Proper diagnosis was NOT done. We intend to take down every part that we would expect to need and return the unused ones. (My friend does a lot of business with a couple parts houses so they take care of him.)

What is unknown is if the unit has dual rear wheels or single and which drums are in the rear (a couple sizes were used on 1 ton Dodges) AND we don't really know the tire size we need.

I thought perhaps by spome coincidence a TBN denizen might be familiar with the unit. It is a 25 ft Hawk.

[Bird]

Pat, I never heard of a Hawk motorhome. There was a Sun Hawk made until 1985. Do you have any idea about a year model? I would think you might need that to find the right parts. And if it's as big as a 25 foot, I can't imagine it not having duals on the rear. And the old Dodge motorhome chassis sometimes had several things different from the trucks and pickups. I bought a new Winnebago Brave in 1973; smallest one they had; an 18' (not the MiniWinnie class C, but a class A motorhome). It was on a Dodge motorhome chassis, 11k GVW, 318 V-8, dual rear wheels, and automatic. I never really researched all the differences, but they told me that 318 was considerably different from the 318 in cars and pickups; called it a "Dodge industrial engine." I know it did look different and took 8 quarts of oil to change oil in it. It was the only engine available in the smallest Brave, and the standard engine in the next size up, with a 413 optional.

If the one you're concerned with is a later model, I'd expect it to have the 440, but just don't know.

[Pat]

Bird, It is registered as a 1974 Dodge Hawk MotorHome. I was in it years ago but don't recall whether it had dual rear wheels. It is, I believe, a class A, i.e. no truck cab. It has two doors on the curb side, one in front behind the passenger seat and another toward the rear. I recall it was gas and automatic and had hydraulic leveling jacks. Access to the engine was by lifting up a section of the floor between the front seat pedestals.

I even drove it a few miles two or three times. Everything worked fine and it passed California smog when it was registered/transfered from Oregon to California. A friend drove it down to Mexico and I drove it some down there and once between Carlsbad CA and San Diego.

I recall it having two fuel tanks with separate fillers on the driver's side and a selector switch on the dash to switch between them via a remote electrically operated valve.

I recall that it had been fitted with 6-way power seats from a Cadillac and it was comfortable but boring to drive.

Hopefully, we will be able to get it road worthy in only a couple days and drive it back to San Diego. It has a receiver hitch and we were thinking of towing a Dodge Colt as a dinghy.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Bird]

Pat, that's one I'm either not familiar with or have forgotten. About the only thing I'd bet on is that it does have duals on the rear. You might try sending an e-mail to the Dodge Chassis Chapter of the FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) and see if they can help.

[Pat]

Bird, Thanks bunches. I didn't know there was such an organization and nothing like that turned up in my puny searches.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]