Guess who's back!?! Atl-atl's K5 Blazer + Four Wheel Camper "The Crawlin Cabin" documentation thread!

[Fishenough]

New favorite build thread!

Why in a short story: I bought a new Toyota van in 1984 when I graduated from high school and through 6 years of post secondary, I camped a lot during my summers. After school 2. For all those years and after I very often meet a newly retired couple in their factory K5 blazer of the same color on the far off remote beaches of Vancouver Island and even some remote locations of British Columbia mainland. I got to know this couple well over the years. Stan would come out fishing and crabbing in my old canoe too many times to count. Those were the days when we would be the only 2 vehicles on that remote stretch of beach hours down old logging roads. As then and now I enjoy remote travel, I always thought their 4x4 camper was the ultimate vehicle, man I wanted one.

Sadly I do remember the last time I met the Blazer, Malcolm Island Coop, it was so well travel at this point and all the lower panels were flappin and free from the inevitable rust from a decade of camping on a beach for upwards of half the year. If I find myself digging through my old pictures of a mid to late 80s pic, I will share it here for certain.

 

[toddz69]

Looking forward to seeing your rig at Expo!

Todd Z.

 

[Todd780]

New favorite build thread!

Why in a short story: I bought a new Toyota van in 1984 when I graduated from high school and through 6 years of post secondary, I camped a lot during my summers. After school 2. For all those years and after I very often meet a newly retired couple in their factory K5 blazer of the same color on the far off remote beaches of Vancouver Island and even some remote locations of British Columbia mainland. I got to know this couple well over the years. Stan would come out fishing and crabbing in my old canoe too many times to count. Those were the days when we would be the only 2 vehicles on that remote stretch of beach hours down old logging roads. As then and now I enjoy remote travel, I always thought their 4x4 camper was the ultimate vehicle, man I wanted one.

Sadly I do remember the last time I met the Blazer, Malcolm Island Coop, it was so well travel at this point and all the lower panels were flappin and free from the inevitable rust from a decade of camping on a beach for upwards of half the year. If I find myself digging through my old pictures of a mid to late 80s pic, I will share it here for certain.

Yes please post the pics. Very cool story. Love the Island. I still miss living in Nanaimo even though it was almost 40 years ago.

 

[BajaSurfRig]

@Atl-atl i just got mine last week and it is mind bogglin fast out in the middle of nowhere. Especially when considering I had to use a Garmin in reach in the same location not that long ago to send text messages…

 

[Hegear]

has anybody used the starlink in Mexico yet?

 

[vintageracer]

How much does your FWC camper weigh by itself?

 

[ExpoMike]

Also installed some misc. things like new (much needed) headlights that are LEDs with a glass fluted cover so they appear relatively correct on the truck. From straight on they are very obviously not a regular sealed round H4 but from the side its pretty hard to tell they arent period correct.

What brand of headlights are those and how is the pattern and brightness at night?

 

[vintageracer]

Im not exactly sure, a modern day FWC Raven which has the same dimensions is 1040 pounds dry. The Blazer has no floor or lower side walls and essentially no front wall/window so there is some weight savings. My guess would be about 800.

My Hallmark Bronco camper weighs about 700 lbs according to the last guy there left at Hallmark when they were built so I would say 800 lbs is a good number.

I was curious if you new exactly the weight.

 

[zoomad75]

According to FWC on a manufacturer statement of origin for a 1984 Blazer camper with a 3 way fridge, furnace, sink/stove and bench. Shipping weight was 665 pounds.

Here it is.

 

[zoomad75]

Awesome, thanks for posting! I guess the older ones were lighter than the newer ones. No way theres 400lbs of difference in the floor and sidewalls alone.

It depended on the options for sure. I'd say a unit with a 3-way fridge would weigh in a smidge more than one with an Icebox. Keep in mind, I've found some that came with a plywood floor that had carpet or linoleum and some didn't have anything but the carpet the Blazer came with. Mine came with the plywood floor that was 3/4" thick and covered in carpet. It had the floor mount for a standard RV-style table too.

The later FWC Blazer campers that had the shorter cab-over section could have been lighter, but they did have a pullout section to expand the upper sleeping space that might offset some of that saving.

I've got images saved from online ads that would add to the variance in weight. I know of at least two Blazer campers that were equipped with windows on both sides, no cabinet on the driver's side, and no furnace/propane or water tank. Essentially they would be "shell" models way before FWC ever thought about selling them as an option. My guess would be those were probably the lightest of them all.

 

[zoomad75]

Interesting, mine has just carpet on the Blazer floor but it also has the standard RV table mount. I also have the icebox not fridge and the shorter cabover bed area with the slider inside and extra cushions so Im guessing its on the lighter side. Ill be adding a fridge soon though.

You have the larger cab-over section like mine. It might have the pull-out section, but the later Blazer Campers were shorter in that they barely reached the top of the windshield.

 

[Bella PSD]

Never saw this video until just now since Four Wheel Campers didn't seem to post it on any social media. Probably why it only has a couple thousand views. Anyway, enjoy.

Hey Mike, It's Louie from Ohio. I can add a little to this story, hope you don't mind.

A friend first told me about this 4WC Blazer at a dealer in Columbus called Riverside or something like that. They just sent a text and told me River Side or something like that. It was a few days after they saw it and just said they were in the Columbus Ohio area. i work in Columbus every 2 weeks for a day and tried to find it but never could. I drove all over the southern Columbus area looking!! Then on Facebook it came up on a daily search I do for Four Wheel Campers. Here is the picture from the ad that I finally found. I attached I picture of the facebook marketplace ad. That ad could have saved me more than few hours driving around looking for it !

The story with this Blazer is about as good as the Blazer itself!

!


Louie

 

[Fording]

Read the whole thing. Sheesh! What a roller coaster. I could feel the pain of selling it and then saw the extra pages and said “Huh? Must be people commiserating.“ And then you found it again!

You’ve done great work and the finished project is going to be amazing.

 

[toddz69]

Those eccentric shims have been around for what seems like forever - these days they're made and sold by Specialty Products Company in CO. They usually offer up to about 1.5 deg. of adjustment with caster/camber. They're actually pretty common and don't affect the strength of the knuckle/balljoint arrangement. You use those threaded adjustment sleeves on any solid front end like this with ball joints - adjustable or not. The special socket might seem expensive but it's a requirement for not stripping out the adjustment sleeves. I think I paid about $15 for mine off the Snap-On truck 20 years ago and it's been worth every penny I paid for it - same as the spindle nut socket that we all use.

Todd Z.

 

[djp73]

Noob here. Read the whole thread over the past couple days. Awesome build. Not a whole lot to add other than Holley makes more period correct looking led headlights.

Looking forward to more.