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80's Grandby Rebuild

canvas fwc pop top frame jacks paint roof aluminum epdm rubber

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#11 Vic Harder

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Posted 04 September 2020 - 02:40 AM

Got my lifters on, . . . freakish how well the lifts work and lock with the correct hinge points and offsets to geometry!  

 

Will have to post more pics, but the angle was tough.  I decided to go with some ginormous height (canvas is 34"), which put standing height truck floor to roof at 84."

 

Seems kinda high, but I like it, think it created enough room to sit right on the bunk and allows a better angle for snow to drop of the back when only one end is kept up.

more pics, diagrams needed!  This looks wicked!


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#12 mrpeepers74

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Posted 04 September 2020 - 06:19 AM

more pics, diagrams needed! This looks wicked!

Yes please
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#13 12valve

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Posted 04 September 2020 - 05:06 PM

Excellent work, really nice. Since the job is such a complete rebuild, are there any parts of the old camper you are using?


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2005 Reg Cab Dodge Diesel 4x4 6sp, far, far from stock. Gutted 4 wheel camper pop up, now a shell that rests on the bed rails. Rebuilt the interior, much simpler, far more user friendly.   Much better. 


#14 HughDog

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Posted 04 September 2020 - 06:22 PM

Yes please

 

 

more pics, diagrams needed!  This looks wicked!

Thanks guys!  Have you seen the Jayco easy up lift bars?  I think Hallmark has used them or something like them as well  . . . at any rate, those are what I had to reverse engineer without physically having them, . .   Funny thing is, jayco sells it's lift system for $100 AU a pair, but I couldn't get them shipped out of Australia.  Seems wild that there is not enough demand in the US (though I'm glad I made a pair so I didn't have to size in the lift height based off an out of the box product).

 

I'll provide some additional photos and schematics after the long weekend.


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#15 DownByTheRiver

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Posted 04 September 2020 - 06:54 PM

 

 

Thanks guys!  Have you seen the Jayco easy up lift bars?  I think Hallmark has used them or something like them as well  . . . at any rate, those are what I had to reverse engineer without physically having them, . .   Funny thing is, jayco sells it's lift system for $100 AU a pair, but I couldn't get them shipped out of Australia.  Seems wild that there is not enough demand in the US (though I'm glad I made a pair so I didn't have to size in the lift height based off an out of the box product).

 

I'll provide some additional photos and schematics after the long weekend.

 

I would LOVE to see your lift bar solution and details from building it.

 

I'm redoing a 1986 Keystone and the lift panel over the bed had water damage and whoever tried to fix it before didn't reuse the rivet holes and drilled new holes to put screws in. The entire thing is a massacre. I'm worried about trying to remount the panel (after I rebuild it or buy a new one) and having the integrity of the mounting spot so compromised that it doesn't work. Thinking of replacing the panel in the front with a lifter bar of some sort and maybe just keeping a panel in the back only. (Though I like the more minimal solution of a lift bar).


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#16 HughDog

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Posted 04 September 2020 - 06:57 PM

Excellent work, really nice. Since the job is such a complete rebuild, are there any parts of the old camper you are using?

Thx 12valve !

 

Probably should have started from scratch !  But, yes, I'm re-using the roof frame and the very top of the body (crown aluminum) just under the roof.  Saved me a bit of work I guess, but oddly, I've got a square tube die on my bender that matches the same radius of the roof and the crown piece . ..   If you look really close at the crown piece, you can see that I added a tube to the top of it - didn't even have to cut the slits to get the bend ! 

 

I'll probably do another build or so for the neighbors and start from scratch !


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#17 HughDog

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Posted 04 September 2020 - 07:54 PM

I would LOVE to see your lift bar solution and details from building it.

 

I'm redoing a 1986 Keystone and the lift panel over the bed had water damage and whoever tried to fix it before didn't reuse the rivet holes and drilled new holes to put screws in. The entire thing is a massacre. I'm worried about trying to remount the panel (after I rebuild it or buy a new one) and having the integrity of the mounting spot so compromised that it doesn't work. Thinking of replacing the panel in the front with a lifter bar of some sort and maybe just keeping a panel in the back only. (Though I like the more minimal solution of a lift bar).

 

I'll get the detail out soon on the lift bars that I made(I did take a funny video, but forgot to take pictures and don't know how to post a video on the site).

 

I too have been through the lift panel rebuild "massacre" as have many before me !   Though my forearms could use the "rivet workout" I just wasn't into redoing lift panels again !   I would however say that provided a rivet gun, some hinges, and wood, it's pretty easy to do when short on tools (just really undesirable in my opinion) 

 

Any possibility you could tack weld some 1/16' strip aluminum over the existing holes?  Additionally, if its the bottom hinge area that's trashed, you could throw a strip behind the plate facing you, then go nut and bolt ... If its the top hinge area - I get that's a bit more tricky (but that's where I would tack some new fresh sheet metal and keep the mounting point for the quick and easy redo)

 

The new bars that I made, I did weld at certain points and used a tube bender -  So there was still a bit of work, but way worth it. Again, i'll post details and pics after the 3-day!

 

   


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#18 Ipschnug

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Posted 11 November 2020 - 04:34 AM

I'll get the detail out soon on the lift bars that I made(I did take a funny video, but forgot to take pictures and don't know how to post a video on the site). 

Hello HughDog, I'm at the same point on my build and have been thinking on a similar solution.  I would be definitely interested in any details you might have!  I'll be looking up the jayco lifts for some insight too.

 

You can likely upload your video to youtube and share a link here if you need a way to share it.


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#19 HughDog

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Posted 17 November 2020 - 12:41 AM

Hello HughDog, I'm at the same point on my build and have been thinking on a similar solution.  I would be definitely interested in any details you might have!  I'll be looking up the jayco lifts for some insight too.

 

You can likely upload your video to youtube and share a link here if you need a way to share it.

Hey lpschnug - I'm totally tardy with my homework and had the camper kicked to the side (literally on its side) for a long time to make room for other projects  -  until this weekend!  I just started the roof skin and will flip /move to the ceiling soon....  

 

At any rate, I'll get some photos when I'm back out there, but yes, I literally decided where I wanted my attachment points (ceiling and back wall) then did something very very similar to those jayco easy lifters.... the only real brain damage was how much to bend the tubes so that they could intersect with one another and lock in a nice upright position when extended.... I'll draw it out soon -  


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#20 Ipschnug

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Posted 17 November 2020 - 06:50 AM

At any rate, I'll get some photos when I'm back out there, but yes, I literally decided where I wanted my attachment points (ceiling and back wall) then did something very very similar to those jayco easy lifters.... the only real brain damage was how much to bend the tubes so that they could intersect with one another and lock in a nice upright position when extended.... I'll draw it out soon -  

Thanks for getting back, I never was able to find info on the Jayco lifts but looking at your picture closely I think I have a pretty good idea of the mechanism.  I'm hoping to have some time to get back on my camper in the coming week as well.


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