Rebuilding of a Truck Camper

[DieselCash]

I am rebuilding my 1995 Lance 990 Extended Cab.

I am using this thread to track what I tear down, rebuild, and how I do it. This camper has extensive rot on the left and right wings(the part on the back that hangs below the body line). The entire back below the rear lights. The curb side from the front all the way back is also rotted and falling apart. I am sure there is more that I will find and have to fix. I will inform myself and everybody that reads this the details as I go along.

Here is the beginning and what I have done so far from when I purchased it.

http://www.thetruckstop.us/forum/showthread.php?37947-1995-Lance-990-Extended-Cab

Here is the start of my tear down.
I already took the rear jack off. Here is the lower mount, you can see it is way down.


I had to pull the ladder to get the lower siding off.


I removed the two siding end caps.


Here is the gap I am having with the rear bumper. There was really nothing holding it on.

I had to pull door screws off to get the siding off.

Here is a picture with the lowest back curb side siding off.

More to follow.

 

[DieselCash]

I then removed the right rear light.

Pulled the generator door off.

This is the saw horses I built and are currently holding up most of the weight.


I then removed the next up rear panel and the two wing panels on the curb side. It also looks like someone has rebuilt this before.

Here is the rot I am looking at so far.


More to follow.

 

[DieselCash]

All that I see that holds this camper together is 1 1/2 X 3/4" wood and this particle board.


These 4 bolts is all that hold the generator in its home.

I am in the process of getting the generator exhaust off.

I took this picture just to document this metal thing in the bend.

I removed the long side trim and found even more rot.

I will remove the power hook up and propane line off the generator next.

 

[DieselCash]

Pulled the electric box cover, white on white, black on black, and copper on green and copper.

Bundle of control wires.

Cut wires and then you find out it has a plug.:rolleyes5: Ground wire on bottom of picture.

Positive wire, for starting.

Something is missing!

Yes, it is finally out. Needs to be cleaned.

One thing, it is next to impossible to remove a generator without first disconnecting the exhaust. FWIW! :thumbsup:

 

[btfarm]

You have alot of work ahead of you Marty. Might get some tips out of Dave's (88GMC) thread on his rebuild of the trailer.

 

[DieselCash]

You have alot of work ahead of you Marty. Might get some tips out of Dave's (88GMC) thread on his rebuild of the trailer.

Yes, I will be going over his thread and many others.

One of the other reasons of this detailed thread is to help others.

 

[JiFaire]

Nice pics and descriptions, Marty. Keep it up!

These DIY threads are great!

 

[RI Chevy Silveradoman]

Excellent thread Marty. There must be something up if it has been worked on already. Water must be coming from above and settling at the bottom to cause rot. Keep up the great work. I like the documentation.

Sounds like you were very fortunate that you did not have an issue while driving or using the camper. Hopefully you will get her all fixed up for future use! :thumbsup:

 

[DieselCash]

Today we got 3/4" of rain in about 1 hour. I do not have the camper covered.
I guess the wood can't rot anymore than it already is. At least the rain removed some of the old insulation for me.

The wood I want to keep did not get wet. The outer wood on the curve got wet but it was already swollen and needed to be replaced.

No fear, I will do more work this weekend.

 

[DieselCash]

Excellent thread Marty. There must be something up if it has been worked on already. Water must be coming from above and settling at the bottom to cause rot. Keep up the great work. I like the documentation.

Sounds like you were very fortunate that you did not have an issue while driving or using the camper. Hopefully you will get her all fixed up for future use! :thumbsup:

The previous owner must have had this in a field its entire life. I have pulled more dirt daubers out of this camper than I can count.

I have been very lucky. My kids are upset that it is torn apart. It will get more use.

Thanks! :thumbsup:

 

[Will L.]

I had an onan gen in my tool truck and servicing it was a pain... Until i removed it, mounted it to a 1/8" plate of steel that sat on top of 2 full extension pull out slides like the ones in the Mac tool boxes(wonder where I got mine). There are lighter weight but well built ones available at lowes. $25-30 a pair you would need 4 sets for the weight with those ones. Then easier to service or if you want to make it removable to use away from the camper now easy to do with addition of a couple electrical disconnects. A 5 gallon boat fuel tank from wallyworld and thier $20 motorcycle battery completes the removable system. Hope this helps. Good luck to ya!

 

[DieselCash]

I had an onan gen in my tool truck and servicing it was a pain... Until i removed it, mounted it to a 1/8" plate of steel that sat on top of 2 full extension pull out slides like the ones in the Mac tool boxes(wonder where I got mine). There are lighter weight but well built ones available at lowes. $25-30 a pair you would need 4 sets for the weight with those ones. Then easier to service or if you want to make it removable to use away from the camper now easy to do with addition of a couple electrical disconnects. A 5 gallon boat fuel tank from wallyworld and thier $20 motorcycle battery completes the removable system. Hope this helps. Good luck to ya!

Thanks, but mine runs on propane. The sounds like a good idea on the slides. I will look into it! :thumbsup:

 

[DieselCash]

I removed all the staples that hold in the generator box. I also pulled out the extra siding.
If you also look at the below picture. You will see metal trim held down with screws, on top and bottom.
Yeah, they were real fun to get out. So much fun I took very few pictures of them.

I then removed the double grommets for the wires.

To get to the propane line, 120V, and 12V wires I had to remove this cover.
Cover on,

Cover off,

I then had to remove the bottom cover

With a lot of prying and pulling and a little bit of prodding it finally came out.



Another picture of the carnage

More to follow,

 

[ak diesel driver]

pretty rotten, I'd be replacing that with pressure treated with an extra coat of wood preservative on it.

 

[DieselCash]

Here is the generator box sitting on my trailer.

These two tiny staples is all it takes to hold down the side, amazing.

This rotted out board is about to come out.

I vacuumed out the hole, it does not look to bad on top.

The rotted out board is only held on with staples. When I finally get this all done, I will for ever hate staples.

The board is out. I used a dremel to cut the staples in half. It is a lot easier than fighting with them.

This outer board will be next.

The posting fun in the A/C is done for know. Back to the heat I go! :thumbsup:
More to follow!!!!!

 

[DieselCash]

The more you dig, the more you find. In my case, more rotted wood.
I had to remove the propane tanks. I was going to take off the door and trim ring. Found out after I removed the screws I did not have to.

I needed the propane tank door and trim out of the way to remove the lower siding. I got lucky and it was not properly held on.

I got the rest of the rotted parts off the outer portion of the wing.

I got one more small trim of wood to remove and I should have all the rotted stuff removed. It is the one across the top of the opening.

Found more rot on the back. No surprise here! :rolleyes5:

This rotted out corner board is the important one. The bad thing is the rot keeps going up! :agreed:

Here is the back with the insulation out of the way.

It seems the very bottom board is rotted all the way across.

Back to the grind.

 

[DieselCash]

I removed the rest of the rotted wood I could get to across the back.

As I suspected, the rot on the bottom board that goes all the way across is rotted. All the way across.

I also removed the last rotted board and grind ed all the screws off.

I removed some siding panels. The other pictures of siding removed are too big to upload, I had three more.

I need to remove the trim that runs down the back corner,

So far today here are all the staples I have removed. Along with a couple of screws.

I am trying to get to the rotted wood that runs up the outer corner. It is hidden behind some metal.
Here is what I am talking about.


I will keep digging this rotted wood out. :skep:

 

[JiFaire]

Good pics, Marty ... you gotta get it all and find out what caused it.

This rotted out corner board is the important one. The bad thing is the rot keeps going up! :agreed:

Yep, you found it. I suspect though, that the rot keeps going down. Do you have a leak up on the roof or somewhere that can trail into that corner? Water can do some strange stuff once it gets in behind the metal...

 

[DieselCash]

Good pics, Marty ... you gotta get it all and find out what caused it.



Yep, you found it. I suspect though, that the rot keeps going down. Do you have a leak up on the roof or somewhere that can trail into that corner? Water can do some strange stuff once it gets in behind the metal...

From my so called experience on camper leaks. The number 1 cause is lights. Especially the side and front lights.
But the shape this camper is in. I am sure it has leaks in a million other places.
I plan on using the home depot version of thompsons water seal.

Thanks! :thumbsup:

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

You can also use KWIK-POLY for wood that isn't completely rotted out or in areas you need a filler. It is a very thin penetrating sealer/epoxy, and it sets up VERY quickly. I use it on boats in areas I don't feel like cutting open to replace rotten wood. I found out about it from my grandfather who uses it for restoring old wood. http://kwikpolyllc.com/