420 replies to this topic

[Living The Dream]

So, I just bought almost the exact camper a few weeks ago. They think it's an '85 or '86. The seller strapped it to my Tacoma with only two ratchets! I asked if that was good enough, and he said yes.

 

About a week later, driving down the freeway, it FLEW OFF MY TRUCK!!!

 

Turns out the wood was rotting, ripped a chunk of wood out the bottom rear where the ratchet was attached. Flipped upside down and caused one side to crunch down..

 

I have a baby, so not much time to repair it even though i really want to, because i paid a lot for it! $2200! He got me.

 

At this point, not sure what to do. Replace all rotted wood and hammer out bent metal? Or dump it? Donate it? Sell it for $100?

 

Any suggestions???

wow. that sounds like a cluster F*** and really unfortunate. I hope no one was hurt. I talk extensively about using the specially designed tie down brackets on my tacoma in the earliest pages of this thread. check them out. What to do now? That is a great question. I would suggest you start by posting some pics on here.

[buckland]

If you can deal with the idea of a long term project, an "as time permits" deconstruction of areas of wood rot and a stripping of the siding to get at the framing might end up saving the camper. If your heart is not in it.... take the loss and move on. It's how the reality is accepted. If you are gonna see it as a PITA, get it out of your life.

[Desheezy]

wow. that sounds like a cluster F*** and really unfortunate. I hope no one was hurt. I talk extensively about using the specially designed tie down brackets on my tacoma in the earliest pages of this thread. check them out. What to do now? That is a great question. I would suggest you start by posting some pics on here.

Thanks for the response. I will check out the tie down brackets on the tacoma. When I got it out of the tow yard, the guy helping me tied it down with the 4 ratchets I brought from the jackstand brackets to the frame of the truck.
 
I'm trying to figure out how to post photos, I'm new to the forum. I'll post them tomorrow when I figure it out.

[Desheezy]

If you can deal with the idea of a long term project, an "as time permits" deconstruction of areas of wood rot and a stripping of the siding to get at the framing might end up saving the camper. If your heart is not in it.... take the loss and move on. It's how the reality is accepted. If you are gonna see it as a PITA, get it out of your life.

Oh, my heart is definitely in it. I just don't really know what I'm doing.... But, can figure it out thanks to forums like this. I probably want to replace the bottom wood frame, but not sure how to mount it up to work on it. It's currently sitting on a pile of pallets.

[shellback]

How's the roof? If it is in good shape it's probably giving a go at repair. If the roof is trashed, maybe better to part it out.
 

[Desheezy]

How's the roof? If it is in good shape it's probably giving a go at repair. If the roof is trashed, maybe better to part it out.
 

It  has a small hole in it, but not much else

[Living The Dream]

Two recent camping trips videos i thought I would share. Both from a very similar area but two separate trips. Hope everyone is having a great summer camping

 

 

 

[Living The Dream]

New video talking about getting the raiser platform built to fit the old fleet on the tundra. 

 

 

 

Also. I am giving away a bunch of FWC gear thanks to the one and only Stan over at FWC. Check out the video to enter to win some awesome gear. 

[Desheezy]

wow. that sounds like a cluster F*** and really unfortunate. I hope no one was hurt. I talk extensively about using the specially designed tie down brackets on my tacoma in the earliest pages of this thread. check them out. What to do now? That is a great question. I would suggest you start by posting some pics on here.

So, it's been a while, and I haven't had time to do much else other than replace the door, windows and paint. Let me know if you can see the pics below.

 

Several people have just told me to get rid of it OR rebuild the whole frame. I have VERY limited time, so rebuilding the frame is not in the cards. I am almost ready to sell it for what I can get, but I want to try a quick/cheap fix to get at LEAST a few uses out of it.

 

So, I bought a sheet of plywood to replace the two base boards (one on either side) where the jack stands brackets are bolted into, and the two adjacent boards. I know this is probably not advised, but I'm wondering if it'll at least work to provide me a solid anchor point- Maybe I could remove the stands and corner metal siding (i don't actually know what it's called). Then, drill the new wood OVER the existing old wood (terrible, I know), and then put NEW, wider metal siding corners in place to secure it all around. That way, I won't have to gut any interior, or do any extra work (b/c of time constraints), but I'll still have a fresh place to sandwich the new anchor points in.

 

Thoughts? I also wanted to get a 4th jack stand, but couldn't find anything like these at harbor freight.

 

If you want to read the full story on what happened, I just started a new blog and talked about it here: https://theradicalro...on-the-freeway/

 

 

 

 

Thanks in advance!!!

[Living The Dream]

Ohh man, that is some sad stuff. That last photo hurts, upside down on the side of the highway, no one wants to be there. 

 

I am not sure where I would go from where you are. I mean anything is fixable with enough time,  but that would definetly a lot of time. It wouldn't be worth all that much to anyone either, unfortunately. 

 

I am so sorry for you, this sucks. Keep me posted on what you decide to do. - Tim