underdrive
jackwagon
How's the glare from that light bar being so close to the windshield and with a shiny white hood below, any issues?
2001 F350 4x4 7.3L Powerstoke Diesel all-purpose build
- Thread starter norcal*PWRstroke
- Start date
norcal*PWRstroke
Adventurer
Thats a good question, when I first installed it the angle was too low and it was hitting the hood, the glare wasnt too bad. So i just loosened it up and tilted it up a little and the hood wasnt cutting off the path of light anymore. other than that no issues.
there is some light on the hood but no hot spots.
ill post up some night pics after the rain passes through.
there is some light on the hood but no hot spots.
ill post up some night pics after the rain passes through.
underdrive
jackwagon
You can also install a glare shield under the light bar, should allow you to aim it where you want it without having much of anything bouncing off the hood.
norcal*PWRstroke
Adventurer
I still might do that, i saw a shield on this forum or a jeep forum cant remember. It seemed to serve its purpose well.
Out of all the brackets I have seen, this one positions the bar tight to the roofline and farthest back from the top of the windshield and it was only 35$!!! I didnt think at that price point it would be a very good bracket set and that I would still have to make my own, but I was wrong. The powder coating is decent as well.
Out of all the brackets I have seen, this one positions the bar tight to the roofline and farthest back from the top of the windshield and it was only 35$!!! I didnt think at that price point it would be a very good bracket set and that I would still have to make my own, but I was wrong. The powder coating is decent as well.
norcal*PWRstroke
Adventurer
I Finally found an old Lance camper to buy. Its a 1986 Squire LS3000. I paid $900 for it and everything works which is nice. The only negative is that it has a one leak in the roof and one in the front cabover window. But its nothing I cant fix. I also got all the Happy Jack Tie Downs with the purchase. Its needs alot of cleanup and cosmetic work
norcal*PWRstroke
Adventurer
Picked it up today, I have alot of work to do in the front area. the front lower right window corner leaked and rolled down into the bottom of the bed. need to replace all the lower wood.
IMAG0818_zpsfeg3btx7 by PWRstroke_smoke, on Flickr
IMAG0818_zpsfeg3btx7 by PWRstroke_smoke, on Flickr
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underdrive
jackwagon
Welcome to the joys of owning an older wood-framed camper. The leak/rot can be a problem if you don't have the time and/or skills (tho I think skills can be learned) to fix the issues, however as long as you can tackle the repairs on your own I'd say you did good. Our camper also had leak issues from where the stupid luggage rack was screwed into the plywood, new 1/2" plywood and at least 2x2 (in many places 2x4) rafters under it made the roof quite a bit sturdier. We also redid the cabover area, reinforced the bed floor quite a bit and the front wall now can take direct impacts from pretty heavy branches and stuff without folding a corner. Insulation also doubled in the process, makes the whole camper much easier to heat or cool. Point is, don't be afraid of ripping into the thing, you took the time to find something that fits your truck, now is as good opportunity as any to make it fit you as well 
norcal*PWRstroke
Adventurer
Thanks for the positive words of encouragement! I think I have the skills to tackle this, even of I had the money to buy a new one I wouldnt because I love these projects. I appreciate the final product more if I have to put some blood sweat and tears into it.
AS of right now the only wet spots were in the bed. Luckily there was no mold and and only a couple spots of rot in the right corner, so It hasnt been leaking for very long. I probably could have let it just dry out in some spots but like you said I want to put new insulation in and do some reinforcement. there is also one spot in the roof that I will tackle next. I love how light this camper is. My truck handles it with ease! I barely know its back there. Unloaded it doesnt even touch the overload springs yet.
I will say the old Reico Diamond hydraulic jacks are a little scary fully extended, I wish I could just get some nice used atwood manual crank jacks.
Do yo have any pictures of your repairs work on your camper? I would love to see them.
AS of right now the only wet spots were in the bed. Luckily there was no mold and and only a couple spots of rot in the right corner, so It hasnt been leaking for very long. I probably could have let it just dry out in some spots but like you said I want to put new insulation in and do some reinforcement. there is also one spot in the roof that I will tackle next. I love how light this camper is. My truck handles it with ease! I barely know its back there. Unloaded it doesnt even touch the overload springs yet.
I will say the old Reico Diamond hydraulic jacks are a little scary fully extended, I wish I could just get some nice used atwood manual crank jacks.
Do yo have any pictures of your repairs work on your camper? I would love to see them.
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Colorado_Outback
Adventurer
Nice! I'd say you did good for the money.
Ive been modernizing an 88 Mitchell for the last year or so, check out the build link in my sig for some pics.
Ive been modernizing an 88 Mitchell for the last year or so, check out the build link in my sig for some pics.
underdrive
jackwagon
norcal*PWRstroke, we did indeed take some pictures of our camper repairs, they were on an external hard drive along with a bunch of others, however that drive got dropped a few months ago and the it must have suffered some physical damage as a bunch of data got corrupted - we lost the camper pictures, those of a '70s Chevy truck we built before the camper, and some from vacations and car/truck shows. Should have known better than to keep important stuff in only one place...
Regarding the jacks, the mechanical ones aren't any less scary feeling when fully extended. What you want to do is brace the bottom of the external tubes to the camper body - using the driver side as an example, for the front leg you do a single brace at 45 degree angle up to bottom rail of the camper side wall and back to behind that compartment door, and for the rear leg you do a brace up to the rail again and forward to in front of the "Squire" logo, and you add a second brace running almost flat from the leg to the rear edge of the camper that runs under your entrance door. Some people also install Unistrut along the bottom side rails on the camper to reinforce them before tying the leg braces into them, IMHO that is an excellent idea. All of this will stiffen the generally wobbly legs setup, and immensely help with stability while loading/unload the camper and using it off the truck. What works in your favor is the fact you have a SRW truck and looking at the pictures it appears the bracing I suggested will clear the bed well. It also looks like the legs retract high enough and sit close enough to the bed that you likely won't have a clearance issues with them getting caught on stuff alongside trails you may be driving down - we once watched someone rip a rear leg off from their camper, ironically our truck is much wider than theirs and our legs are removable so if they had only let us go ahead of them when we offered it our sliders would have pushed that stump or whatever out of the way for them and all would have been fine... But even if you do catch something, unless it's a big rock or something equally well planted into the ground the leg braces you add will help the legs survive the encounter.
Regarding the jacks, the mechanical ones aren't any less scary feeling when fully extended. What you want to do is brace the bottom of the external tubes to the camper body - using the driver side as an example, for the front leg you do a single brace at 45 degree angle up to bottom rail of the camper side wall and back to behind that compartment door, and for the rear leg you do a brace up to the rail again and forward to in front of the "Squire" logo, and you add a second brace running almost flat from the leg to the rear edge of the camper that runs under your entrance door. Some people also install Unistrut along the bottom side rails on the camper to reinforce them before tying the leg braces into them, IMHO that is an excellent idea. All of this will stiffen the generally wobbly legs setup, and immensely help with stability while loading/unload the camper and using it off the truck. What works in your favor is the fact you have a SRW truck and looking at the pictures it appears the bracing I suggested will clear the bed well. It also looks like the legs retract high enough and sit close enough to the bed that you likely won't have a clearance issues with them getting caught on stuff alongside trails you may be driving down - we once watched someone rip a rear leg off from their camper, ironically our truck is much wider than theirs and our legs are removable so if they had only let us go ahead of them when we offered it our sliders would have pushed that stump or whatever out of the way for them and all would have been fine... But even if you do catch something, unless it's a big rock or something equally well planted into the ground the leg braces you add will help the legs survive the encounter.
norcal*PWRstroke
Adventurer
I have been watching your thread, and seeing what you did with your camper and truck really made me want to get a small camper of my own. What you have done looks great. I really love the harbor freight jack stabilizers in the rear, great ingenuity.
I have been working on some king of brace to use, thank you for the tips! You are right the clearance is much better than I was expecting, I dont think that I will move them, I have a 6" lift on my truck with overload springs, so Im fairly high off the ground
norcal*PWRstroke
Adventurer
My dad had some old scissor steps that he has been kicking around the shop for years. He almost threw them away a couple years ago and I told him I would get a camper someday so he finally gave them to me for free and was happy to get them out of his shop. Mounted them up today with stainless hardware. Drilled an tapped 4 holes in the bumper for the bracket that allows the steps to be removable.
IMAG0882_zpspbfomfvx by PWRstroke_smoke
IMAG0883_zpsyltdasbf by PWRstroke_smoke
IMAG0884_zpslyfnpbtt by PWRstroke_smoke
IMAG0882_zpspbfomfvx by PWRstroke_smoke
IMAG0883_zpsyltdasbf by PWRstroke_smoke
IMAG0884_zpslyfnpbtt by PWRstroke_smoke
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Colorado_Outback
Adventurer
The jacks make the camper a lot more comfortable with a couple people in it, takes all the bob out of the suspension.
I like your stairs, I I'm in need of something similar my truck is stock height and its still a long way down from the camper.
I like your stairs, I I'm in need of something similar my truck is stock height and its still a long way down from the camper.
norcal*PWRstroke
Adventurer
Got all the rot pulled out today, and went to home depot and bought a bunch of 2x4's and plywood to rebuild the bed area tomorrow. Also got some 2x4's to reinforce the roof at the main seam. Someone walked on the roof and broke some of the supports so water was pooling at the seam and leaking. Not much wood holding these roofs up!
I think I will do a coat of snow roof too.
IMAG0819_zpsuta6t1yh by PWRstroke_smoke, on Flickr
IMAG0820_zpswsaax2gv by PWRstroke_smoke, on Flickr
IMAG0897_zpsyfyeclhw by PWRstroke_smoke, on Flickr
I think I will do a coat of snow roof too.
IMAG0819_zpsuta6t1yh by PWRstroke_smoke, on Flickr
IMAG0820_zpswsaax2gv by PWRstroke_smoke, on Flickr
IMAG0897_zpsyfyeclhw by PWRstroke_smoke, on Flickr
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underdrive
jackwagon
Nice steps. Just make 110% sure they can't unlatch and extend while driving. Seen it happen, not quite as dramatic of a show as a tractor-trailer with the landing gear down flying down the interstate in a shower of sparks, but not that far off either
I think your rafters look smaller than ours, but then again your camper is also smaller. We seriously beefed ours up, and added plywood under the alu skin and above the rafters - not a fun job at all since we chose to leave the roof skin in place and do all the work from inside, but it's doable...
I think your rafters look smaller than ours, but then again your camper is also smaller. We seriously beefed ours up, and added plywood under the alu skin and above the rafters - not a fun job at all since we chose to leave the roof skin in place and do all the work from inside, but it's doable...