Anyone interested in 83 Pace Arrow Tear down and Rebuild?

Step one was to cut all my short pieces for the truss. Then I decided to try using the Kreg jig, instead of running the screws through the top of the 2 x 4, like I did with the 8 foot long, 2 x 3's.

Here's what I did today. Cut the pieces and assembled 4, yes, 4, trusses, that are 16 feet long. 2 of those on one side, covered with plywood, and the other 2 on the opposite side.

The rest of the sides and the rear will be taken care of by using the 8 foot long trusses.

Amazon was here today! Wahoo!






All 2000 of them. 2-1/2 inch, and coated for use outside. Another situation of much cheaper buying this amount than trying to buy smaller amounts. These were about $80, and for that amount of money, locally, I could get just a touch over 600 screws.

I built another 5 of these today using 2 x 3's that are 8' long. Adding that to the first one I built, and I now have 6 which will yield 3 platforms to walk on.











Now, all I have to do is wait for more screws to arrive tomorrow, since I ran out today.

Building these 5 today, I used 180 screws, and I am not done! The good news is, I can reclaim the screws when I take them apart later. Wahoo! :)

Bruce Brown wrote:
Our house is built with floor trusses between the first floor and basement. Yours are close to the design of what we have. Ours runs a 28' clear span and yes, they have sagged some over the years (about 1/2") but structurally they're sound.

On mine there is no glue, nor plates to secure the top and bottom plates to the uprights. Adding those would stiffen things even more, and make it a better long term solution.

Since I will use these for this job and some other work around the house, I figured they will only be supporting weight for several hours total, so just holding them together with screws would be sufficient.

Our house is built with floor trusses between the first floor and basement. Yours are close to the design of what we have. Ours runs a 28' clear span and yes, they have sagged some over the years (about 1/2") but structurally they're sound.

Here's a look at the height of the truss.

I think I will make another to match this one, and add some plywood and test the combo, and go from there.

I still need to make a frame for this to sit on, and that frame must be nice and sturdy, so there is little to no movement when I am walking back and forth on the walkway.

So far, this portion has been fun to work on.


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This post just generated this..... Is it catastrophic? Lol...

Why would I do that? ... Read on..

First off - disclaimer here.

I AM NOT AND ENGINEER. DO NOT DO THIS BASED ON WHAT I JUST DID. I AM COMFORTABLE WITH WHAT I JUST DID, BUT AM NOT RECOMMENDING ANYONE ELSE DO THE SAME. OK???? GOT IT? OK!

As you know I bought some TPO roofing few months ago, but since it was so ugly hot this summer, I decided to wait until things cooled off a little bit before installation.

We are about there.

I have been looking for different ways to put a scaffolding around the motorhome, so I can work comfortably without running up and down a ladder all day.

So, after considering some of my options, I figured, I need a platform to walk on, some 7' or so up in the air.

Eventually I decided to "try" making a truss to help support my weight. That is why I was cutting 1 of those 2 x 3's.

This is the result of my first try. Remember, these are 2 x 3's, and not 2 x 4's, and the top and bottom is 8' long.







I did not use any glue, as I wanted to try just using 2.5" Kreg screws to hold it together. Hey, what did I have to lose?

After assembly, I added weight to the top in the center, a little over 300lbs.

Surprisingly, it did not move at all. None. Nice and sturdy. SO, I figured, I can make another one, cover both with plywood, and I should be good to go.

REMEMBER - this is only a temporary truss - it is NOT for long term use, as in a house floor or something like that.

In actuality, this probably won't see weight on it more than a few hours, and then can be dis-assembled, and the wood used for something else.

This is not assembled according to industry standards, but after putting weight on it, I am satisfied, it will do what I need it to do, for a short period of time.

I had a few 2" x 3" x 8' pieces of lumber that I had not used yet, so I decided to cut one of them into pieces, and on a 45 degree angle.

Since I was going to do a number of them, I fastened a fence stop on the one end, so all of my cuts would be the same length.