1978 FWC New Owner

[Portercassidy]

Damnit, I need to read up on linking URLs to share photos.

 

[LuckyDan]

Welcome fellow vintage FWC owner. Mine is an 89 Grandby. Nice thing about vintage FWC is you'll get the resto/remod experience with less work and cost than a vintage trailer, car or house. Looking at your overhead floorboard, something to consider when you replace it is the d-bulb gasket mod around the front of the camper. Sometimes when driving in the rain/snow, water gets forced up the gap between the top and camper body and finds it's way inside. The new models come that way, and there are a couple threads on here about it and replacing the floorboard.

Welcome and good luck.

 

[Portercassidy]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I am sure I will be looking for a lot of places to purchase replacement bulb seal, led light fixtures. It doesn’t have a electrical system, but does have wiring going to a few different light fixtures, so I will have to track those down.

Turns out my suspicions were correct. It is a Fleet model, as per the original partical board over the cab. The overall width is pretty good on my Tundra, but the floor could be deeper and wider. Good thing I do not have a Tig welder, otherwise I might tear it down to the frame, and modify the bottom of the camper to better fit the bed of the truck. I guess I may just have to get creative and utilze that space differently.

 

[Portercassidy]

I now see how it is super easy to keep on getting sucked into taking off one more layer on these campers. At list point new insulation is just right there.

 

[Portercassidy]

Good Hell, what did I do. Wondering how hard it is to just replace the Foundation wood. Looks like there are a few layers of plywood now.

 

[shellback]

Good Hell, what did I do. Wondering how hard it is to just replace the Foundation wood. Looks like there are a few layers of plywood now.

I assume by foundation wood you mean the plywood floor pack? With the camper looking pretty well gutted, it shouldn't be much of a project. My brother and I had my floor pack built in less than a day. IIRC, you need to remove the trim pieces and then the screws that hold the floor pack to the aluminum framing. Of course you will have to provide some type of support for upper body and roof once you separate the two. I built mine out of 5/8 plywood, and stapled and glued the joints, same as the original. One of the easier tasks when completely rebuilding a FWC.
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[Portercassidy]

I assume by foundation wood you mean the plywood floor pack? With the camper looking pretty well gutted, it shouldn't be much of a project. My brother and I had my floor pack built in less than a day. IIRC, you need to remove the trim pieces and then the screws that hold the floor pack to the aluminum framing. Of course you will have to provide some type of support for upper body and roof once you separate the two. I built mine out of 5/8 plywood, and stapled and glued the joints, same as the original. One of the easier tasks when completely rebuilding a FWC.
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Did you build the floor pack separately?

 

[shellback]

Yes, my build was a complete demo to the aluminum skeleton, then build from the ground up. I only used the aluminum frame, windows, door frame, and the roof. My floor pack was shot, plus I had to narrow the aluminum frame to fit my newer pick up tailgate opening. I have a table saw, radial arm saw, compressor and 1/4" crown stapler, so the floor pack build went very well.I started my floor pack build on 2x4's ripped to 3 inches running front to back. Reason being, I needed the extra height over the bed sides, plus I most often take the camper off the truck and lower it to accommodate my handicapped wife.

 

[Portercassidy]

Thanks for the Info.

It wasn’t my initial plan, but the current plan is to widen up the floor pack to fit the maximum width between the wheel wells. I will also add another 4” to the height of the camper, so that I do not have to shim it up with 4x4’s when I brought it home from Durango.

It also looks like I need to do a little frame work, while I have it apart.

 

[shellback]

One thing to consider when widening or increasing height is the siding. I found the cost to duplicate the original siding and have it crated and shipped to be prohibitive. Of course I'm on the east coast, and most suppliers seemed to be in the west.

 

[longhorn1]

Could you not increase the height in the floor pack so you don't have to mess with the siding? Then you could purchase white flat stock aluminum to cover parts of the floor pack at the back of the camper.

 

[Portercassidy]

Could you not increase the height in the floor pack so you don't have to mess with the siding? Then you could purchase white flat stock aluminum to cover parts of the floor pack at the back of the camper.

That was my thought too. The only area that I would be concerned about adding more siding to, would be below the door, and the sides on the back. I am pretty close to being able to completely eliminating a 90 degree turn in the floor pack.

 

[Living The Dream]

Go Go Go!!! You are in it to win it now! Way to dive right in. This is sure to be another amazing rebuild! I'd say go for the new floorpack too. It is the only thing I did not do before, and I have done so much now I kind of wish I just went for it.

 

[Portercassidy]

So many broken welds in the front of the camper, I not sure that it will support the weight of the roof while I build the floor pack.

I have a good welder that lives 15 miles away, I thought I may be able to strip the floor pack off, and take it to him to have some minor adjustments.

A full Sheet for the floor 4x8. Cut a little off the length, and the 48” should be about perfect. Just need to move a couple of the aluminum supports a few inches.

 

[shellback]

Here's my frame before going to the welder. You will see it on a trailer and that I used 2x3"s to keep it from collapsing. Not much strength or rigidity to it without the floor pack. If you do some cross bracing on the sides and ends before you remove the old floor pack, you should be fine. That's the old floor pack behind it in the picture.

 

[longhorn1]

You guys are really living the dream, sorry for the pun. I'm having a beer as a toast. Happy building. jd

 

[Portercassidy]

Thanks for the encourangment guys. It is at that point where I am second guessing my aggressive demo.

Talked to my welder, sounds like he is a few weeks out, but I will drop it off at his place (whether he likes it or not) on Monday.

Probably going to start building the floor pack soon, and have it ready to put in.

I only paid $350 plus gas for the camper, so I am still feeling OK about my efforts.

 

[shellback]

I'll be 70 y/o next month, talk about second guessing a project, I know exactly where you are coming from! Many days it was, "what did I get myself into. Then you hit a milestone, such as the frame sitting on a new floor pack, and it gives you the push to hit the next milestone. I had 2 truck campers before my FWC and knew exactly what I wanted, and what I didn't want. I knew I had to build one pretty much from the ground up. I can honestly say that after my first trip last month, the camper was everything I wanted it to be. I will say I spent darn near as much time sitting inside it planning as I did actually building. Getting back to the siding, I was going to just replace what I needed to with white aluminum, but the rest of the siding was rough anyhow, so I did it all in white aluminum.

 

[Portercassidy]

Made a little progress. Probably finish the floor pack tomorrow.....

 

[PokyBro]

Hey Porter,

Sorry I haven't joined in on the chorus by now. As Tim and Shellback have expressed, several of us have been involved with our builds during the same time period. I just wanted to encourage to keep up your excitement and enthusiasm, it will be your driving force to move through the build process. For those who enjoy projects and working with your hands, there is a substantial amount of satisfaction you get on these campers as you complete one phase of the rebuild after another. and down the road, it is another big thrill to finally put the camper to use. Four Wheel Campers are unique in many aspects, and when you rebuild one it is a one of a kind. Anyhow congrats on your find, and good luck on your build. If I can offer any help on anything, just let me know.

A couple of other things. I had the window you're needing, but gave it away already, and disposed of the rest of them as well, so can't help you on that. Like Shellback, I tore my 81 Grandby down to the Frame, and rebuilt it from there, including moving the front wall back one foot so it would fit a 6 1/2 foot bed. When you take yours to the welder, make sure you know what he's charging. Mine was extensive because of a lot of additional metal I added, and took about 11 hours, so it ended up being one of the larger single expenses. It looks like yours will be much less if your just re-welding broken joints is all. One tip is to use a magic marker or Sharpie to highlight where you want welds to be done. It helps if you're not there supervising. The floor pack is not too hard if you take your time and plan it out well. I used 5/8 inch plywood, and it seems adequate. A staple gun and ample glue makes the project come together nicely.

Once again, congrats, and good luck.

Poky