26 replies to this topic

[WillTheThri11]

So far have had a heck of a time finding someone willing to weld on the frame.  I've continued doing disassembly and it gets more and more depressing as i rip this camper apart, my dreams of camping being crushed a little more with every screw and staple I remove.  I think at this point I'm going to have the entire back wall of the frame welded on the interior.  I was very surprised to learn that FWC only welded one side of the tubing joints.  This probably leads to the frame flexing at the welds and eventually breaking rather than flexing along the length of the tube which is obviously a much longer area and less prone to fatigue as such.

[WillTheThri11]

Some updated pics (not sure why WTW rotated them the wrong way, sorry)...fridge came out last night. Appointment with a welder tomorrow and another welder Saturday.

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Edited by WillTheThri11, 06 August 2020 - 08:32 PM.

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Will, try this when your photo orientation is hinky.

[WillTheThri11]

Seems to have worked (the taped off wires are the DC wires to the 3-way fridge, were disconnected by previous owner)

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Edited by WillTheThri11, 06 August 2020 - 10:54 PM.

[WillTheThri11]

Question: while I have the back skin off and am hiring a welder, is there anything I should seriously consider doing?  I have a single back porch light, should I get another?  Should I add a solar cable entry gland or should I wait and just do that on the roof at some point? (i don't currently have solar but have been considering it).

 

Should I lop off those tail lights?  They seem to be dead weight for the most part, but in my case of running an 8' camper on a 6.5' bed, maybe I should leave them?

 

I also thought about adding some storage boxes on the other side of the tail lights since there is still a significant gap before the edge of the truck bed.

 

I'm also considering having an aluminum platform built to go under the floor so I can remove my tailgate and save a little weight since I already need to raise the camper about 2" to fit the bed properly.

 

Thought about shortening the whole camper by a foot to fit the truck better too, but that seems like too much.  If I did that I think I'd move the front wall back by that foot and just have more overhang in front...since I'm not really working in the front area, I think I'll leave that for much further down the road potentially.

 

Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.  Let me know what you would do!

[WillTheThri11]

no ideas???

 

Well I kept going on disassembly and bought a welder in the last couple of weeks.  Welder arrives tomorrow and I'll see if I'm any good at tig welding.  If I get lucky, I'll put it back together this weekend and go camping.  Otherwise, I'll either toss a tent in the back of the truck and go camping anyway or stay home and work on it more.  But wow, what a journey this has been.

 

I plan to weld all of the interior joints of the back wall which were not welded by the factory (amazed that this is how FWC fabbed them until sometime after the mid 90s).

 

[WillTheThri11]

Some photos of the surgery...

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[WillTheThri11]

A few more pictures with rotation corrected. Last photo is of the damaged frame pieces removed. I may take another tube out that has a light bend in it since I’m in there.

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[WillTheThri11]

The inside framing at the top of the door jamb shows that non of the interior of the framing was welded. This is definitely worth considering for anyone looking into buying one of the older campers. I WAY over paid for this thing considering it’s current condition/state. I didn’t want a project....searched for over a year and though this was a good deal...oh well.

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[WillTheThri11]

I seem to be getting fairly low traffic/response/comments....is this posted in the right place?  Should I be creating a build thread or something?