1979 Lance TC

there are manuals out there, you just have to find them. I have the manuals for my 91 camper, my buddy has all the manuals for his 1972 frame mounted camper. if you are hoping for wiring and plumbing diagrams thoes you wont find in the manuals, they are just a real basic info on operation and care, and the apliance ones are just about the apliances.

I found a wiring grembling with my camper where for some reason all my lights work except the hazards so somthing isnt run right for newer vehicles. I am almost at the point where Imay just rewire the whole thing and make the lights a seperat system from the camper internals. I don't use the charge from the truck so it isn't a big deal.

Steve

mkirsch wrote:

Want weights? Weigh it. Unless you're trying to haul it with a short bed F150 you've probably got plenty of truck.

Be aware that it probably won't fit in a GM made after 1987, a Ford after 1996, or a Dodge after 1993. Those are the old "squarebody" style trucks that were being built in 1979.

Fords kept the old body style through 1997.
Chevy/GMC trucks are still the old square body through 1991 if they’re a crew.cab.

Four flat is fine as long as you don't put it in reverse in front of a cop. Most people have no clue what those white lights indicate on the back of the vehicle anyway.

Shouldn't be too difficult to figure out what the heavy red and green wires are for. They do look like they'd either be for charging the house battery, or perhaps one of them is a direct line to the 12V power for the refrigerator.

There should be a power distribution panel somewhere. Gain access to the rear of it, and if there's a big red wire supplying it... There's your answer.

Something that helps immensely is having a portable 12V jumper pack to probe wires and see what lights up. That's how I figured out my camper when I got it. It has a 7-pin socket on the front but it did not follow the standard trailer wiring. When I went to pick it up I had 1 turn signal, running lights, and I think the other turn signal made the CO2 alarm turn on and off.

Four flat is insufficient. Do you have a seven pin round on your truck? Left and right stop and turn, tail, backup and ground make 5. The 5th (blue) wire on the 5 pin is backup.

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Thank you for all the answers. I know this isn't a space shuttle. I found the model number today and have contacted Lance.

There was a small leak under the sink area, most likely from the hot water heater. I am trouble shooting that. We had a heck of a thunder rain storm two days ago and I did not find any water seepage through out the camper. It's got good bones for an older camper.

The cable coming out the back has two large wires - red and green and multiple other wires . The smaller wires were spliced to a pigtail which was then spliced to a 5 flat.

The vehicle this is being attached to has a 4 flat. I'll get those re-wired. Just wondering what the bigger wires go to. I believe it may have been a house battery based on an older post in these forums that I stumbled upon. Only trying to make sure I get this wired correctly.

Thank you for the information on the vehicles this will not fit. It is not being secured to any of those. I will post pics in a couple weeks once I've gotten all the maintenance completed.

Thank you, Debora

Welcome Debora, Like any old camper it is wood and for the most part after 43 years probably is in need of some frame repair somewhere, even if you can't see it. If it has high-jackers camper jacks on it you can still buy rebuild kits for them. No matter how bad they leak they are easily rebuilt and darn near indestructible. Electric I would assume old style Atwood's that are in the same league as the others. If your going from a motor home to a TC your in for a shock cause TC'rs are generally pretty small. You probably won't realize that until your first night under your overhead cab that's a couple of feet away from your nose. Anyway welcome to the forum!

As far as your manual the best place I can think of getting one or a copy of one is Lance campers directly, LOA forum or EBay. Of course that's assuming you can get one and they had one.
The fridge is a tuff one cause camper fridges are top dollar for the bottom of the line unit but a good GE dorm fridge would work perfect especially if your going to concentrate on 110 volts. I recommend the latter. That's of course if your not planning a cross country trip just local so it doesn't thaw out.
That's a good switch off from a holding tank to a Porta potty. I recommend as well.
The cable coming out that has been cut is likely your shore line which will be 110. It should be about an inch thick but if it's smaller it may be your truck to camper cable but you should no that coming from MH"s.
I guess everything else has been covered above so good luck.

I would look for any water damage before I put a dime into it.
Joe

It's a camper, not the space shuttle. There really isn't anything so complex in a 43 year old camper to require a manual.

Like someone else said there probably wasn't a comprehensive manual for the camper. Probably just an information sheet, and then instructions for the individual appliances, which are mostly missing or replaced on yours.

Want weights? Weigh it. Unless you're trying to haul it with a short bed F150 you've probably got plenty of truck.

Be aware that it probably won't fit in a GM made after 1987, a Ford after 1996, or a Dodge after 1993. Those are the old "squarebody" style trucks that were being built in 1979.

Congrats for your new "vintage" camper!
Lance do have some historic information on their website, but only back to 1993:
https://www.lancecamper.com/owner-support/
There is online information available for many/most appliances. Find out the make and model numbers which are usually somewhere on the appliance and google for them. Of course that will not help with a missing refrigerator.
Watch out for pre-existing water damage... the camper may be dry now, but it will probably begin to leak like a sieve when it is out in the rain.
Maybe you can get better answers to specific questions when you post some pictures. You can use
http://photoposting.is-great.net/ to post pictures here and follow instructions on that site.
Good luck with your new camper!

I hate to bear bad news but most campers until fairly recently did not have 'manuals'. The idea always has been that the dealer walked you through the use of all the items. (along with recommending any service be done at their shop)

I'd contact Lance and see if they have any historical marketing flyers available for that year or near that model year. RV appliances have not changed much over the years so surfing by different OEM websites may bring up a similar manual for the appliances that are installed.

Last but not least all campers that cover the trucks tail lights will have ether a outlet or cord to be used as a 'umbilical cord' electrical attachment between the truck and camper.


- Mark0.