Suggestions on strengthening jack attach point.

[elgy]

My next major project is to address this.


I don't know what they were thinking about at the factory when they placed the jack in the middle of an opening in the wall! The weight was originaly taken by the plywood base (3/4" or 5/8") and a rather thin aluminum molding visible in the second picture. For a temporay fix I added 3/4" plywood above and below the original.


There is a bit of rot in the base plywood, so I plan to remove and patch that area, then to move the jack pad right to the front edge so that weigh is transferred directly from the front wall and the structural upright in the corner. I will weld an upright piece of angle iron onto the pad that will be screwed into the corner structure.

I would also like to run something towards the rear under the edge to transfer some weight of the sidewall to the jack pad and to allow me to attach my tie-down at an angle. I will also have to build a new door.

Suggestions and comments are welcome.

[elgy]

AnEv942 wrote:
WOW looks like folks have been 'feeding' that hole at the back with scraps of ply.

But back to the propane door. Though functional and looks like semi water tight Im not seeing a lot of air-if any exchanging. Cant tell in any of the pictures if theres is a vent in the floor. If there is not, a simple hole thru floor covered in 1/4" wire screen, or one one those lil round pop in vents like for eave/underhouse venting etc. Propane falls but would need another vent. Possibly another hole w/ plastic pipe riser. If box unventilated to outside it can vent inside to camper if box unsealed. Otherwise could reach combustible levels inside box (especially considering what i see as electrical connections?).

Thanks for the heads up on ventilation... now I understand why the old door fit so badly! 😉
I will put a hole in the bottom which I had planned on to pass the wiring out to the connector on the pickup.

[AnEv942]

WOW looks like folks have been 'feeding' that hole at the back with scraps of ply.

But back to the propane door. Though functional and looks like semi water tight Im not seeing a lot of air-if any exchanging. Cant tell in any of the pictures if theres is a vent in the floor. If there is not, a simple hole thru floor covered in 1/4" wire screen, or one one those lil round pop in vents like for eave/underhouse venting etc. Propane falls but would need another vent. Possibly another hole w/ plastic pipe riser. If box unventilated to outside it can vent inside to camper if box unsealed. Otherwise could reach combustible levels inside box (especially considering what i see as electrical connections?).

[elgy]

This part of the renovation of our camper is pretty well finished, here is a picture of the left front jack attach point to contrast with the one I started this thread with. I finally feel confident that when I crank that jack up, the camper will be lifted...

I am happy with the way the door turned out, I ended up putting a couple of metal brackets on the bottom that hook behind the metal structural tubes inside and the lock at the top holds it in place. I decided against using screws because I want an easier access to be able to turn off the propane as needed. Don't yet know if it will keep the water out.

Next I found rot under the rear door and started tearing it apart...


I had to remove about a foot and a half of floor and about two feet of the supporting structure, the full width of the TC. Happily it was a quick fix, one day to take it apart and another to rebuild it.


We have a reservation for Friday in 2 weeks at the KOA in Bromont, Quebec (a 2 nights for 1 special) for our first outing in this rig. We are really looking forward to it. But I have had to prioritise my renovations list, because it ain't gonna be finished in a week and a half! But I will have another 2 months to finish the rest of it before our real vacation in July.

[artfd]

Why don't you use some aluminum sheet metal screws to hold that new door to its frame? Shouldn't be much of a problem to use a screw driver or cordless drill/driver to get access to this space in the future.

[elgy]

AnEv942 wrote:
... How far back, looks like a 2x, go back?
Curious to see what you do for the door. Will you try to straighten the frame & use it and make a new door?
...

I added 2x4 gussets front, rear and middle on both sides, here is a better picture.


The old door frame was finished, and I couldn't figure how it could keep the rain out even when it was new !? I have been looking around for ideas for a new door and didn't find anything usefull, so this is what I came up with. First a frame of aluminum angle "iron" installed around the opening.


Then I made a door out of thin aluminum that slips over the frame. There is a gasket on the inside of the door that I hope will seal it. It won't be hinged, just slip on and slip off. It is a work in progress... I haven't as yet figured out how to hold it on with enough pressure to compress the gasket a bit, so while I'm thinkin' I've rigged a bungee cord (not in the picture) to keep it in place...

[AnEv942]

Looks good!. I might have added another piece of angle underneath the sill piece, stitch welded them together then notched over jack mount and welded to the upright corner. But what you've done appears it will work. I tend to overkill. How far back, looks like a 2x, go back?
Curious to see what you do for the door. Will you try to straighten the frame & use it and make a new door?

Suggestion-When you finally finish- looks like your on the downhill side-next project IMO would be supplementing the rubber snubber propane bottle attachment with something a tad more secure 🙂

[wintersun]

The camper manufacturers should have a bracketed truss at the corner on the inside and have the jack on the side pushing up, much as the way floor joists are supported with a pier and perimeter foundation. This would cradle the load and distribute the force away from the base area where the jack is located.

Obviously the manufacturers build their products to last 10 years or less and when I was looking for a used Lance there were very few that were even that old that were available.

[starcraft69]

very nice work looks like a job well done

[Super_Dave]

Would have never thought that the finished product would have been so clean after looking at the original condition pictures. Very nice work!

[Kidoo]

Looks good, big project!

[elgy]

mkirsch wrote:
$3500 Stablelift on a $350 camper???

Hey, my camper cost more than $350! ? … but the Stablelift is more than twice what I paid for it.

Thanks to all for the suggestions, I am half way through the repairs and have integrated several of them.

I was unable to use Unistrut because of the jacks that I have, so I used angle iron instead. Even before starting I found the right rear attach point had a lot of rot, even though nothing was visible before I dug into it.

What I have done is to cut out and replace the rotten plywood on the front left and right rear corners than on all 4 corners added pieces of ¾ inch plywood above and below the original plywood attachment, figuring that this sandwich will be much stronger and will spread the load along the bases of the walls. I also moved the jack pads closer to the corners so the vertical load is more direct.

The biggest challenge was the left front where there was extensive rot because of water entering through the propane compartment door (which was not original or waterproof). I dug out the rotted wood and rebuilt the sill with a couple of pieces of 1 1/8 square metal tubing. The jack pad is now right in the corner with a vertical piece of angle iron welded on to allow me to screw it into the structural wood in the corner.

I also added gussets to strengthen the bases of the walls and to give me something solid to screw into when attaching the angle iron.

Wood that was not rotten, but that had been water-logged, was given a coat of CPES.

Here is the left front corner rot.


Now with the repaired sill, gusset added to the right and the welded on vertical angle iron on the left.


Left rear, the white plywood is my "sandwich".


The right side finished and caulked.


I hope to finish this part of the renovation this week.
While doing the right side I found more rot on the wall between the floor of the camper and the wing, and the wood under the door is really rotton, so that is next week's project!

[Kidoo]

I would try to mount the rear jack at the back of the camper. You have to have a bracket that will bolt true and inside a vertical 3/4 inch plywood all the way up and down. You also have to support the camper from under. The bracket have to be bent or welded at 90 degree and bolted through plywood to support the camper. They normaly bolt through plywood and a piece of 1/4 inch metal plate. All my campers had this arrangement. You have to support it from under the camper and vertically.

For the front, it is the same principle. Mines where all bolted at front all the way up and down and the bracket bented under the camper. All bolts goes true a 3/4 to 1 inch plywool overlaping the most you can for some good anchor point.

The front is also bent 90 degree verticaly to prevent or limiting the sideways movement.

[mlts22]

For a new camper, the Stablelift system looks useful. It would make it not necessary to put cinder blocks or boards under the center of the TC. I've not seen one of these in real life, and I wonder what the downsides are.

[mkirsch]

$3500 Stablelift on a $350 camper???