Andy's Fleetwood Neon project

[SALT]

Awesome build Andy. I saw your post on the Expo trailer group on FB. Very cool. I'm hoping to do something similar to our Fleetwood Graphite. The Neon is an awesome size, but our family is 5 including the dog! Anyway, nice work man.

Cheers,

Salt aka Nels

 

[BADDANDY]

Awesome build Andy. I saw your post on the Expo trailer group on FB. Very cool. I'm hoping to do something similar to our Fleetwood Graphite. The Neon is an awesome size, but our family is 5 including the dog! Anyway, nice work man. Cheers, Salt aka Nels

Thanks Salt. I like the Cobalt too, but it's just me and the Neon is a great trail pop-up. Looking forward to your build.

 

[BADDANDY]

I finally got it out to camp. 1,000 mile trip. All highway to the first 2 nights, then lots of gravel forest road to and from the next 2 nights, and finally some rough fire road and Jeep trail from the last night's camp. I'm happy as a clam as how she rides behind the Jeep. Seeing the suspension work on the trail was awesome. I can also drift the trailer on gravel! I do need to see if I can lessen the hobbying on bumpy roads though. My battery setup worked perfect running my 12v fan for hours a day.

 

[trail-explorer]

Have you thought about upgrading the lights inside to LED?

 

[BADDANDY]

Have you thought about upgrading the lights inside to LED?

I already did. Bulbs are LED from my friends business; ledtrailerlights.com
I believe in using LED for lights powered by a battery as they are such a low drain, but as I've never had issues with regular bulbs for vehicle lights, I think it's a waste of money to replace those lights that are powered by an alternator.

 

[Jeepinaaron]

Andy, did you just stick with 1150 springs or did you add a leaf?

How has that worked out?

 

[BADDANDY]

Andy, did you just stick with 1150 springs or did you add a leaf?
How has that worked out?

I stayed with 1150 springs and did not add a leaf. They work wonderfully with shocks.
Fully loaded they haven't set any more than stated earlier.

 

[BADDANDY]

I bought a HF side crank tongue jack. Got tired of racking my knuckles on the tongue box. Cut it off the mount and rewelded it one mount width higher. Also bought an 8" inflatable tire swivel to mount to which I cutoff the stock ears and welded the swivel onto the left over base. I reamed out the mount hole and pins holes a tad to mount the assembly to the existing base which is welded onto the frame from the factory. Painted the work, done. So much better now.

 

[jscusmcvet]

Nice work on that jack. Sometimes it is the simple mods like this that make the experience so much better right? Trailer looks great.

 

[BADDANDY]

Nice work on that jack. Sometimes it is the simple mods like this that make the experience so much better right? Trailer looks great.

Yup, I thought it wouldn't bug me as much as it did. 3 campsites in 6 days was enough knuckle banging.

 

[Petrolburner]

That was cool to see the spring swap. I've considered doing something similar to my Aliner, except using junkyard springs from a small pickup like a Ranger or Tacoma for even more travel. If I stick with 245/75-16 sized tires on the Motovan, I'd run the same tires and wheels on the camper. This seems like a more cost effective route than doing a fancy trailing link setup with coil-overs.

 

[pokealong]

I crawled underneath and lubed all the pulleys, bent out some of the pulley bracket edges, and inspected the worm gear drive assy. I also found that a PO had replaced a crank drift pin with a 3" nail bent into a S which was wearing a ring into the frame and removing some wood from the floor. I replaced it with a bolt, washers and nut, and did the same to the next drift pin about an inch away that was ready to fall out. She cranks 50% easier now.

Just an FYI here...I discovered on a trip, that the pin was coming out, so did something similar. About 8 years later (last August), I get to my campsite at 8pm on a Friday and found that the entire piece was gone. Sigh. Slept in the back of the car.

Had a local guy make a new one, he installed it with a pin. Guess what? In the 600 miles from CA to OR, it fell off. So the guy fabricated something else for me and bolted it on. You better believe I will check it every time I leave camp!

In the process of all of this, I found that my trailer was missing a part from the get go (based on pics I saw, schematics I researched, etc). Too bad Fleetwood popups is out of business...that frame warranty would have come in handy. I think that there were many of us that had mis-manufactured crank attachments (or rather crank assemblies with missing attachments).