The "What Did You Do To Your Pop-Up Truck Camper Today?" Thread!!!
- Thread starter Sock Puppet
- Start date
1stDeuce
Explorer
That's freaking AWESOME!!! I'm doing my stove too!!! (I hope they have a kit with 3 sparkers...)
Sock Puppet
Adventurer
Excellent, Bill! Thanks for the info and video!
F350
Observer
Over the weekend I removed the old stereo w/ cassette and the CD Changer. Neither worked. Discovered a huge space behind the panel so I'll be making a door and cutting out a hole in it to access the space. Also replaced the porch light with a LED bulb. Now I can leave the light on for hours and not worry about it.
Sock Puppet
Adventurer
Finally built a door for my old Northstar. It was missing one when I bought it, so a trip to the local hardware store netted some aluminum diamond tread, foam, and a barrel lock. It took longer than I expected, and isn't perfect. I'm not a carpenter, and it turns out I'm no superstar with metal either. But, hey, it turned out pretty good and functions well. I'll take her for a shake-down one-nighter tomorrow.
Custom Bed
Made the deal last night with local off road fabricator, to custom build a new flatbed / utility bed, building around my '09 FWC Grandby. Antone know where i can sell the OEM bed? On here maybe or a company?
This 3 week build is gonna kill me. i havent been away from truck that long ever haha
Made the deal last night with local off road fabricator, to custom build a new flatbed / utility bed, building around my '09 FWC Grandby. Antone know where i can sell the OEM bed? On here maybe or a company?
This 3 week build is gonna kill me. i havent been away from truck that long ever haha
Sock Puppet
Adventurer
Sounds great, share some pics when done. I imagine Craiglist would be a good bet to sell your old bed.
Sock Puppet
Adventurer
It was painfully obvious that my Happijac camper jacks needed a little TLC, so I followed the instructions here:
http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/camper-tech/ask-the-expert-maintaining-happijac-camper-jacks
I popped off one of the plastic tops to start the process, and realized just how dry and crusty things were around the gears. The picture makes it look a little better than reality.
There was no good way to clean them when vertical, so I removed all four jacks from the camper, I then set them at an angle so I could scrape out the gunk and flush with brake clean. Mucho better afterwards!
I then lubed as instructed. I would have liked to sand and paint them, but no time for that at this point. They function much better now! It probably took me a couple of hours from start to finish. All ready to be re-installed:
http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/camper-tech/ask-the-expert-maintaining-happijac-camper-jacks
I popped off one of the plastic tops to start the process, and realized just how dry and crusty things were around the gears. The picture makes it look a little better than reality.
There was no good way to clean them when vertical, so I removed all four jacks from the camper, I then set them at an angle so I could scrape out the gunk and flush with brake clean. Mucho better afterwards!
I then lubed as instructed. I would have liked to sand and paint them, but no time for that at this point. They function much better now! It probably took me a couple of hours from start to finish. All ready to be re-installed:
Sock Puppet
Adventurer
I (mostly) finished the exterior compartment door overlays; I still need to replace the locks as i am not a fan of the little retaining clips they used to hold them in instead of nuts.
My original plan was to build new doors with the diamond tread aluminum (as I did on the driver's rear door pictured in an earlier post) but that was more challenging than I expected. I decided to use the aluminum as an overlay over the existing doors (these were still there, just not in great condition.
Pics before and after:
My original plan was to build new doors with the diamond tread aluminum (as I did on the driver's rear door pictured in an earlier post) but that was more challenging than I expected. I decided to use the aluminum as an overlay over the existing doors (these were still there, just not in great condition.
Pics before and after:
Sock Puppet
Adventurer
Shelf Addition
C'mon everyone, share what you're doing!
I don't want this to be the Sock Puppet Show, but I did one more little mod tonight. The under sink storage in my PU is ample, but it got messy pretty quick.
Do to the drawer configuration and plumbing, I couldn't really add a full width normal shelf. I decided on a half-shelf, and picked up a wire closet shelf at a thrift store for $4.
I flipped it upside down to keep things from sliding off, cut it to fit, and trimmed where needed to go around plumbing. Working with the wire was quite easy. I used metal cable clamps to hold it up on the right side, and one L bracket in the back. Now I had one end just sticking out unsupported, and I didn't want to brace it from the bottom and break up the bottom storage.
My less-than-elegant solution was to drill a hole in the end of a trim board so it would slip over the top wire on the shelf, then screwed it in to the cabinet above. Pretty? uh...not really, but it works!:sombrero:
If I need to work on the plumbing/sink/etc, I remove the one screw, bend the little metal clips out, and remove the shelf. Should take less than a minute. Overall, it turned out OK for a $5 mod.:victory:
C'mon everyone, share what you're doing!
I don't want this to be the Sock Puppet Show, but I did one more little mod tonight. The under sink storage in my PU is ample, but it got messy pretty quick.
Do to the drawer configuration and plumbing, I couldn't really add a full width normal shelf. I decided on a half-shelf, and picked up a wire closet shelf at a thrift store for $4.
I flipped it upside down to keep things from sliding off, cut it to fit, and trimmed where needed to go around plumbing. Working with the wire was quite easy. I used metal cable clamps to hold it up on the right side, and one L bracket in the back. Now I had one end just sticking out unsupported, and I didn't want to brace it from the bottom and break up the bottom storage.
My less-than-elegant solution was to drill a hole in the end of a trim board so it would slip over the top wire on the shelf, then screwed it in to the cabinet above. Pretty? uh...not really, but it works!:sombrero:
If I need to work on the plumbing/sink/etc, I remove the one screw, bend the little metal clips out, and remove the shelf. Should take less than a minute. Overall, it turned out OK for a $5 mod.:victory:
Camelfilter
Explorer
I did a "quickie" install of my 100W solar panel.
Wired it into a solar controler which charges the house battery.
House battery is hurting, but hopefully can be saved.
Not sure how I'll permanently rig up the house power yet. Probably an outlet/fuse bank off of the solar controller. I'm pretty certain solar will be fine for my power needs (once I have the battery sorted), so the house battery will not be charged off of the alternator.
I also replaced the two rear work lights. Same power consumption, but they seem brighter (maybe new fangled LEDs or something). They draw about .8A according to the charge controller.
Wired it into a solar controler which charges the house battery.
House battery is hurting, but hopefully can be saved.
Not sure how I'll permanently rig up the house power yet. Probably an outlet/fuse bank off of the solar controller. I'm pretty certain solar will be fine for my power needs (once I have the battery sorted), so the house battery will not be charged off of the alternator.
I also replaced the two rear work lights. Same power consumption, but they seem brighter (maybe new fangled LEDs or something). They draw about .8A according to the charge controller.
Last edited:
Regcabguy
Oil eater.
Mine are like new as they live in the garage.It was painfully obvious that my Happijac camper jacks needed a little TLC, so I followed the instructions here:
http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/camper-tech/ask-the-expert-maintaining-happijac-camper-jacks
I popped off one of the plastic tops to start the process, and realized just how dry and crusty things were around the gears. The picture makes it look a little better than reality.
There was no good way to clean them when vertical, so I removed all four jacks from the camper, I then set them at an angle so I could scrape out the gunk and flush with brake clean. Mucho better afterwards!
I then lubed as instructed. I would have liked to sand and paint them, but no time for that at this point. They function much better now! It probably took me a couple of hours from start to finish. All ready to be re-installed:
You did a good job.
Regcabguy
Oil eater.
When new we lined our cabinets with that rubber liner so everything sorta stays put.C'mon everyone, share what you're doing!
I don't want this to be the Sock Puppet Show, but I did one more little mod tonight. The under sink storage in my PU is ample, but it got messy pretty quick.
Do to the drawer configuration and plumbing, I couldn't really add a full width normal shelf. I decided on a half-shelf, and picked up a wire closet shelf at a thrift store for $4.
I flipped it upside down to keep things from sliding off, cut it to fit, and trimmed where needed to go around plumbing. Working with the wire was quite easy. I used metal cable clamps to hold it up on the right side, and one L bracket in the back. Now I had one end just sticking out unsupported, and I didn't want to brace it from the bottom and break up the bottom storage.
My less-than-elegant solution was to drill a hole in the end of a trim board so it would slip over the top wire on the shelf, then screwed it in to the cabinet above. Pretty? uh...not really, but it works!:sombrero:
If I need to work on the plumbing/sink/etc, I remove the one screw, bend the little metal clips out, and remove the shelf. Should take less than a minute. Overall, it turned out OK for a $5 mod.:victory: