Richard's Pop Up Mods

I just got home and the parts are here!

do you need any help?

Richard wrote:I just got home and the parts are here!

Woohoo, glad to hear that your parts have arrived. Now the work begins.

Richard, give us a ring if you would like to have some help. Most evenings, we are free except Wed. 276-679-1473 home

Hey Richard would like to help right now I have pulled my black tank cut hole in floor to access in tank fuel pump have gas hoses dry rot sucks air. By doing it this way no need of dropping a fifty-five fuel tank which is full. After that will have to make a cover in floor so wife calms down. Boy did she have a fit LOL told her its men stuff right. I should be done in a couple of days, then I'll help if needed.

That's the spirit Crawford. I once had a pickup truck (International) with a hole cut in the floor to work on the transmission. Manly stuff indeed!

Thanks for all the offers of help, but I don't really know what anyone could do. I have my child labor that can hold the wrench on the top side while I work on the underside. They do pretty good. Jon really likes taking screws out of things. I have to be sure he doesn't take out the wrong ones.

We built the scaffolding. Not as elaborate as my plan. I stiffened up by running boards to a tree and to my house. Taking the rails off to get to the lift arms was a pain in the backside. Two of the bed slides had to come off, which meant still more temporary bracing. Three of the four lift arms were screwed up, and one was in like-new condition. It's a good thing, as one of the four new lift arms was damaged. Still, I've got four working lift arms installed now.

I got the new lift push-spring track installed. This is the one that takes the bulk of the weight on the built in pully. The new one has a nice steel reinforcement welded to it. I'm clearly not the first one to have trouble with the original design if the new ones are made stronger.

Today I put a new winch cable on, and modified the spring plate that holds the cable tight to the winch. This should facilitate it winding more smoothly. I got a new cable because the old one had a few places that looked rough. It was only $10 for the new cable. Now I'm working on getting the four lift cables to all have the same tension on them, so the four corners will all lift the same amount and at the same time.

I've inspected all my pulleys, and they all spin. I'll tweak the lift cables for about an hour or so (hopefully that's all) tomorrow, and take the braces off. Then I'll run her up and down a few times. Assuming that goes well, I'll take her on a little drive around the neighborhood, level up and run her up and down a few more times. If that all goes as planned, I'll put the cabinets back together. I'm planning on getting all this done by Wednesday.

Then I can start on mods again.

Well, she goes up and down. I added a generous helping of silicone spray to the lift arms and she goes down much better now. I've discovered why its important to keep a little tension on the cables. If not, the slack cable tends to want to loop a bit and it can get tangled over the pulley-brackets for other cables. That could have been my main problem this whole time. The winch also works much better since I tightened the spring that keeps the cable tight to the spool. Maybe she'll work awhile this time.

While at it, I made the steel safety braces out of the metal that Butch gave me. Thanks Butch, now I can close the flaps over my lift arms, and won't have the wooden boards holding up the roof.

Now to put the cabinets back in. That won't be fun, but it's straightforward, and I'm really practiced at it. Then I have to get my camping stuff out of the Garage and back into the PUP. I hope I remember where it all goes. Plus I need to find a home for the toaster oven and the oither new goodies I've gathered over the winter.

Oh, Darlene, I gave your bunk-end light/fan a test run. You are going to like it!

Well glad that things are going good on your repair, Mr Clark. Now for the ultimate test. You must complete 3 camping trips, in a row, without a repair. So, are you up to the challenge?

Boy if Richard fixes his camper what will we be talking about then.LOL

Crawford wrote:Boy if Richard fixes his camper what will we be talking about then.LOL

I would guess it would be new mods, but I am not going to bet that his repairs will end.

I am looking forward to seeing it. Are you going to make the Smokey Bear trip Richard??

Of course I'll be at Smokey Bear. I got it all done. She goes up and down, but it's still not as smooth as I'd like. I think the sides of my roof may have become bowed out a bit, which is causing the lift arms to bind just a bit. I put silicone spray on them and it helped a lot, but still not "good as new". The arms seem to be rubbing a lot more on the outside edge than the other edges. It seems to cause more problem with going down than with comming up. Then again I still suspect the frame is a bit warped, which could cause the same issue.

Still, I'm ready for the first trip. I'll bring my lumber, just in case.

Added on edit:
I've long admired the u-shaped seating some campers have. On the back end, my pop-up has the dinette on one side and a couch on the other that opens into a twin bed. I've always wished there was a way for the dinette bench to span the gap so I'd have a u-shaped seating arrangement too. Well, I put in a couple of 1x2 braces and built a 13.5" by 17" filler that fits the space. This filler-piece can easily be removed so the couch still pulls out for the bed.

The odd mod material involved? My wife has all these nice thick upholstered pillows that she likes to use on our bed. One of them fits perfectly for the seat, and one fits perfectly for the backrest, from the dinette all the way over to the couch back. I thought these pillows were untouchable. I can't believe she agreed to let me have them. She's changing her decorating style from French Country to American Country, and says that she won't be using so many pillows on the bed anymore.

She swears that she's selling the old stuff for more than the new stuff is costing us, so I'm apparently making a profit on this whole switch. I know that I've got two really pretty (and expensive if I recall correctly) seat/back cushions in the pop-up now.

Looks like I may be changing the PUP's decorating style from "Standard 90s POP-UP" to a blend of that and French Country. I wonder what else Miss Danger will get out of this change.

Sounds like the Clark Family Clubhouse is back in action. I look forward to seeing you and the kids at Smokey Bear. BTW, Macy says hi to John John

You might be a redneck camper if the seat cushions are worth more than your pop up. Sorry, just had to say that.

I don't think I can fit the 9-foot mirrored armiore in there. She'll have to sell that at her antiques booth (Inside Nooks and Crannies in Kingsport).

Richard wrote:I don't think I can fit the 9-foot mirrored armiore in there. She'll have to sell that at her antiques booth (Inside Nooks and Crannies in Kingsport).

Nice shameless plug, once an advertising man, always an advertising man!! lol

You caught that, huh? She won't let me near it. I've never even seen it. She says it's her booth, not our booth, nor Richard's booth.

Maybe you could set you up a booth next to hers selling used camper parts. The money would not necessarily be in the parts but the advice. I know I would pay.

Richard wrote:You caught that, huh? She won't let me near it. I've never even seen it. She says it's her booth, not our booth, nor Richard's booth.

I guess that since you have your camper, she can have her booth.

I'm not allowed in the building, Alan. Besides, some of my mods don't work. Tim may have a point. I'm not allowed in her booth, and she won't go in my camper. The last part is a combination of not wanting to camp, and having seen it fast-fall a few times.

I keep telling her that that only happens when I don't have the safety braces. My pup looks kinda funny with the new steel braces that Butch gave me. The flaps over the lift arms are all closed and neat looking. I may even wash her again. It's only been four months or so since she had a bath, though. Perhaps I should take this "new look" thing slowly.

I think I may finally have Miss Danger fixed up just the way I want her. It took a lot of hard work to get her to this state, but I think the look is finally "me". The picture speaks for itself.

Richard, I think the "shrubbery" might be just a bit much. You might want to remove it, it might attract the wrong kind of "bugs"!!

I actually think that might belong to one of my neighbors!!

I like the no-canvas approach, although it may be a bit awkward when using wildfire!

GASP! Alan, I cannot believe you called my new mattress "shrubbery". Wildfire is behind the full fiberglass shower stall, beside the full size house stove. If the paper supply runs low, the mattress might get thinner.

With all that dry shrubbery around, you better be careful with a device called wildfire..