Evening everyone. Here's the plan: 77 c10, early 70s De-lar.inc truck camper from maine to California via rt. 66.We plan on taking sept. 2016 off and spending the month out on the road. Gas will be expensive but whos counting fuel right?Yesturday we brought home our TC for the first time. Fit the truck well but I need to upgrade to some LT tires and repair the rear springs. Has plenty of power but sways a tad in the turns lol.We got it home and have started stripping the interor. Some water damage to the roof structure and a lot of mouse nest in the cealing. The plan is to totally gut the insides and build it to suit us. Going woth a white/blue theme. And on the plus side, our neighbor has a TC that he's using for storage and said we can have all the appliences for free. Water heater, fridge, water tanks, ect!

Awesome rig. :CKeep us updated on your progress.

Any recommendation on how to build the interior light yet sturdy? Rather a certain material or a way to build it?

How about pictures of interior?You don't need to worry about roof leaks coming to California :B

Only pic I have. Now the rig is about half gutted. Some rot in the structure.

Sounds like quite an undertaking. I guess we know where you'll be spending your spare time for the next year.

California or bust with early 70s De-Lar | Good Sam Community

JoeChiOhki
Explorer II
Aug 23, 2015
bwc wrote:
HJGyswyt wrote:
Not to burst your bubble with this cool retro project, but you need to understand the difference between a 3/4 full floating axle and a half ton semi floating axle. You can prop up the back of any truck with springs or airbags, but you are still asking 1/2 ton bearings to carry a load bigger than they were designed to do. Many people get away with it, but truthfully, 1/2 ton axles were never designed to carry that kind of weight. All the best with your project.

X2. I would never have a slide in camper if all I had for a truck was a 1/2 ton. If axle breaks your rear wheel/tire assembly comes off and passes you on the hwy. Too much weight for that truck my friend. LT tires etc will not change the safety factor. A lot of folks talk about tires, springs but first things first, full floater or nothing for me, IMHO.

All depends on what the scales say. If he's under his axle rating, then it comes down to brakes and tires.
bwc
Explorer
Aug 22, 2015
HJGyswyt wrote:
Not to burst your bubble with this cool retro project, but you need to understand the difference between a 3/4 full floating axle and a half ton semi floating axle. You can prop up the back of any truck with springs or airbags, but you are still asking 1/2 ton bearings to carry a load bigger than they were designed to do. Many people get away with it, but truthfully, 1/2 ton axles were never designed to carry that kind of weight. All the best with your project.

X2. I would never have a slide in camper if all I had for a truck was a 1/2 ton. If axle breaks your rear wheel/tire assembly comes off and passes you on the hwy. Too much weight for that truck my friend. LT tires etc will not change the safety factor. A lot of folks talk about tires, springs but first things first, full floater or nothing for me, IMHO.
a_graham52
Explorer
Aug 21, 2015

With only two hours od daylight, getting the skin off and in one piece is very time consuming.

On the subject of the axle,I'm doing the homework on it. Iv got the larger axle I know that. Everyone's opinion I can find on the truck forums suggest the biggest factor in the GVWR is the tires and springs.
Mike_Hohnstein
Explorer
Aug 17, 2015
HJGyswyt wrote:
Not to burst your bubble with this cool retro project, but you need to understand the difference between a 3/4 full floating axle and a half ton semi floating axle. You can prop up the back of any truck with springs or airbags, but you are still asking 1/2 ton bearings to carry a load bigger than they were designed to do. Many people get away with it, but truthfully, 1/2 ton axles were never designed to carry that kind of weight. All the best with your project.

Might want to pay close attention to this very important post.
DWeikert
Explorer II
Aug 17, 2015
niftypkg wrote:
The propane tank storage area should be sealed so there will not be any leakage in to cabin or when fueling.

By "sealed" I hope you just mean isolated from the living area. My propane compartment has a roughly 2" vent pipe in the bottom to allow any propane to escape as opposed to being trapped in the compartment.
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Aug 16, 2015
Shearing are horizontal forces applied on different level.
In this case your floor sits firmly on the trailer or ground, while strong winds might push high sides at the top. There is nothing that will hold the structure from crippling beside couple of staples on 2x and siding.
This can be addressed by strap or lumber attached at 45 degree (or close) or by nailing plywood on the wall with lot of small nails.
Solid insulation will help as well.
Here in CA we deal with those things on daily basis.

Cripple walls
a_graham52
Explorer
Aug 16, 2015
The picture causes the crooked appearence. It's on the trailer and it's not level. Neither was our porch in which I was standing on.

Explain this "no shear" structure. Originally there were cabinets, clauses and shelves from halfway point to the rear. But yeah very little support on the roof. Not something we will be walking across.
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Aug 16, 2015
Maybe dropped camper accelerate the damage and looks like your vintage camper have thicker lumber than mine having aluminium skeleton, but on the interior picture showing front wall, the top window piece looks pretty crocked.
Question might be if it was manufactured this way, but the wall seems to have no shear-bearing members beside the siding.
Something I would like to see enforced.
Too bad about the cent value, but heck, who complains about 9,800 % profit gain ;)
niftypkg
Explorer
Aug 16, 2015
I thought I had a project! My 3 cents. The propane tank storage area should be sealed so there will not be any leakage in to cabin or when fueling. Seal any lines exiting from the storage area. Same for the battery box if it can vent into the cabin.
a_graham52
Explorer
Aug 16, 2015
I looked on ebay and found a bunch for $.99. Unless I have something special it seems usless. As far as the bulge in the siding, I suspect damage from being dropped did that. Then mouse nest filled the void and would not allow it to go back into shape. The frame on the inside looks good in thay area. Also to note... the jack is in the center on that side and not on the corner