Pugsly's FG rebuild thread

[pugslyyy]

THERE'S BEEN A LEAK!

I'm spending a lot of time chasing a leak at the front of the camper at the moment. I think I've got it figured out but need for the rain to stop and things to dry out before I fix it.

The floor of the bedroom and the very bottom part of the wall is wet where shown in red. Fortunately I had the mattress out of the camper so it didn't get wet.


I thought it might be the fantastic fan opening in the roof (there had been a leak there before that Doug had fixed) and I was also suspicious of these cracks in the vinyl covering the screw channel, but at the end of my investigation couldn't find any water coming down from the roof inside the walls (I pulled off the trim between the roof and wall interior panels)


That led me to the clearance lights on the front of the camper. I'm pretty sure that this is the problem. Rather than reseal the old ones I'm going to replace them with LED assemblies. I covered the openings (5 on the front) with foil tape until the weather allows me to make the fix.


I also ordered 100' of vinyl screw channel insert. I don't believe it is the cause of these problems, but it is beat up and needs replacement.

 

[pugslyyy]

MIRROR REFURB

The mirror bracketry was rusted and the plastic and vinyl were oxidized, so I decided to pull everything apart, clean/refinish the plastic/vinyl and powdercoat all of the metal bits. Also cleaned up all the nuts and bolts using the wire wheel on my bench grinder.

Since all the rub rails, etc were powder coated 'silver vein', I changed the color of the mirror bracketry from black to silver vein, and am very pleased with the results. It's amazing how much of a change $100 worth of sand blasting and powder coating will do for appearances.

At the same time, I also powdercoated the four foot cheater bar (for breaking lug nuts loose) - now instead of a rusty piece of pipe it looks intentional, and is a lot less likely to be forgotten/overlooked.

 

[Overland Hadley]

MIRROR REFURB
clean/refinish the plastic/vinyl

What are you using for this? I have a couple areas of plastic that need attention, but am not sure how to proceed.

THERE'S BEEN A LEAK!

Yes, water can be persistent.

 

[pugslyyy]

What are you using for this? I have a couple areas of plastic that need attention, but am not sure how to proceed.

I scrubbed with Simple Green APC using a green pad, and then coated with Mothers Back to Black Rubber, Plastic & Vinyl Restorer

 

[Overland Hadley]

I scrubbed with Simple Green APC using a green pad, and then coated with Mothers Back to Black Rubber, Plastic & Vinyl Restorer

Perfect, thank you.

I have plenty of Simple Green, and I just ordered some of the Mothers.

 

[pugslyyy]

CLEARANCE LIGHTS

In terms of exciting projects, this was not a high water mark. Today I replaced the 7 amber clearance lights on the Bigfoot, sealed them, and replace about 80 feet of vinyl screw cover insert.

I am hopeful that the new LED lights will eliminate the camper water leaks (or rather, the new sealant that surrounds them). The screw cover insert was cosmetic / prophylactic - and quite a lot of work. I still have the driver side to replace, but have the top and passenger side completed.

 

[pugslyyy]

These arrived today, you know what that means!

 

[SkiFreak]

These arrived today, you know what that means!

Does it mean that you are going nuts?

 

[pugslyyy]

Does it mean that you are going nuts?

Hey, I bought 2 Fusos within 4 days - I think that bridge has already been crossed.

Actually, after sitting in my driveway for a couple of months the green crew cab is scheduled to head out next week for test fitting of the new front axle...

 

[blackduck]

These arrived today, you know what that means!

View attachment 171973

I thought you were putting alans bling wheels on the truck ?

 

[pugslyyy]

I thought you were putting alans bling wheels on the truck ?

Exactly! These are the lug nuts for the SRW conversion.

 

[blackduck]

Exactly! These are the lug nuts for the SRW conversion.

Correct me if Im wrong (Alan)
but they look like wheel nuts that would normally fit on the front hubs
when I fitted bling wheels to get thread depth I had to fit the square head lug nuts that would normally hold the rear inners on straight onto the front wheel studs and then use rear wheel nuts to hold the bling wheels on



this is what arrived in the post for me

 

[pugslyyy]

Here's what I am putting on - http://allterrainwarriors.com/products.html#wheelsandtires

 

[blackduck]

Here's what I am putting on - http://allterrainwarriors.com/products.html#wheelsandtires

OK so you putting on Johns blingy ATW wheels
not Alans blingy aluminium wheels
you got me all confused for a moment

 

[pugslyyy]

OK so you putting on Johns blingy ATW wheels
not Alans blingy aluminium wheels
you got me all confused for a moment

Yeah, for my weight it was the only real option I ended up being comfortable with. Sorry to confuse - when I said yes I meant yes to "SRW" not "Alan's SRW", my bad.