1983 keystone build in Bigsky Country

Replaced the halogen 1156 bulbs with some led bulbs to help reduce battery consumption.

IMGP0286 by bigskyxj, on Flickr


Wired a pigtail for the tail lights on the camper. I think I will eventually switch these to LED Lights but for now I had to get them working so I don't get pulled over.

IMGP0289 by bigskyxj, on Flickr

Another thing that was pretty neat was that this camper came with a cool little passage that goes between the sliding windows on the front sliding window of the camper and the truck.

IMGP0285 by bigskyxj, on Flickr
 
And here's a mod that I installed from my previous camper that's just handy. Its a stereo unit that has a backup camera. It also works great for hooking up trailers.

IMGP0297 by bigskyxj, on Flickr


IMGP0296 by bigskyxj, on Flickr

And lastly just a couple clear pictures of the camper on the truck with the lights working.

IMGP0293 by bigskyxj, on Flickr

IMGP0294 by bigskyxj, on Flickr

The entrance door to the camper was all jacked up and crooked so I took it apart and screwed all the corners together and made it more rigid. I also took the door knob off and installed it correctly. The previous owner put the knob in there the wrong way and it would just fly open going down the road. I forgot to take picture but it really wasn't that exciting.

Next up will be to straighten out a couple parts of the roof that got bent up from the previous owner and start work on the EMT roof lifters.
 
I got my "house battery" charging system hooked up. Everything there is working great. Here a short video explaining how it all works. There are links to the components in the video description.

[media]
 
Ok I also had to replace the hoses that go into the water tank because narrowing the floor pack made them 3" too short. I also added a new tank drain valve inside the camper because there wasn't a tank drain on the back of the camper. Now I just need to add a way to secure the tank from sliding out from underneath the fridge. Any ideas on that would be great.

IMGP0301 by bigskyxj, on Flickr


IMGP0303 by bigskyxj, on Flickr


IMGP0304 by bigskyxj, on Flickr


IMGP0306 by bigskyxj, on Flickr
 
Or use a piece of angle aluminum to hold it in place. Won't work if you go over a big bump, but should help in most cases.
 
Vic Harder said:
Or use a piece of angle aluminum to hold it in place. Won't work if you go over a big bump, but should help in most cases.
Click to expand...

Great idea. I happen to have some aluminum angle that would work perfect. The fridge sits pretty tight on top of the tank so vertical movement isn't an issue.
 
One small issue that I ran into after narrowing the floor was that the front couch cushions wouldn't fit anymore. They were 6" too wide so I pulled some staples back and peeled the fabric back and cut one cushion down to the appropriate size. it makes for a pretty short couch. but it will make a great sleeping area for my youngest son.

Before:

IMGP0311 by bigskyxj, on Flickr


After:

IMGP0313 by bigskyxj, on Flickr
 
There are a few pieces of the aluminum siding that have holes in them from things hitting the camper. Does anyone know where to get new siding and also how the different pieces of siding are attached to each other? They almost look like they just overlap but have sort of a groove on each piece that hooks together but I can't quite figure it out.
 
Bigskyxj said:
There are a few pieces of the aluminum siding that have holes in them from things hitting the camper. Does anyone know where to get new siding and also how the different pieces of siding are attached to each other? They almost look like they just overlap but have sort of a groove on each piece that hooks together but I can't quite figure it out.
Click to expand...
I have an old Granby we re did.. I thought I was going to keep the siding as it had a few holes.. just depends where they are.. It is installed top down, typically with 3 pieces.. impossible to get top one out without removing bottom pieces. Its pretty cheap to get new siding, maybe $350 for full camper here in Denver. Any RV siding place will have it.. Matching existing is a completely different story.. What do you have more of? Time or Money..
 
BBZ said:
I have an old Granby we re did.. I thought I was going to keep the siding as it had a few holes.. just depends where they are.. It is installed top down, typically with 3 pieces.. impossible to get top one out without removing bottom pieces. Its pretty cheap to get new siding, maybe $350 for full camper here in Denver. Any RV siding place will have it.. Matching existing is a completely different story.. What do you have more of? Time or Money..
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. All my holes happen to be on the bottom layer. As far as matching goes I'm not too worried about that.
 
Yesterday I started making the new lifter panels. I decided to go with the EMT Conduit Lifter panels.

Obviously my factory lift panels are pretty deteriorated. This is what the rear looks like. The wood was pretty warped and the top hinge was starting to come detached.

IMGP0325 by bigskyxj, on Flickr

The front is even in worse condition and in deed of replacement too.

IMGP0322 by bigskyxj, on Flickr


IMGP0321 by bigskyxj, on Flickr
 
After drilling out ll of the rivets along the top hinge and removing all of the 1/4" screws along the bottom hinge I was able to cut the short fabric pieces that pull the canvas in while the top is being lowered. All the years of moisture building up behind the lifter panels have stained the material behind it.

IMGP0329 by bigskyxj, on Flickr


IMGP0330 by bigskyxj, on Flickr


Next I decided that I wanted my lifter panel to be slightly wider than the middle three aluminum roof beams. I measured everything out to make sure I knew where my pivot points were going to land and proceeded to make my first two bends on the lower lifter panel.

IMGP0331 by bigskyxj, on Flickr
 
After I made the bends on the lower panel I bent the top lifter and used electrical tape to hold the two pieces together so that I could take them over to my drill press and punch a couple holes without everything moving around on me.

IMGP0332 by bigskyxj, on Flickr


IMAG0549 by bigskyxj, on Flickr

Unfortunately I screwed up and drilled the holes for my center pivot point 1.5" too low and it wouldn't allow the two pieces to collapse correctly. I had to take everything back out and drill the center holes in the correct place. It wasn't a real big deal and I am pretty happy with how it all turned out. I learned a few things and it should make things a little easier when i do the front panel now that I have made a few happy mistakes.
 
On a side note, does anybody have any ideas as to what I can use to clean the inner fabric to remove the stains caused by all of the years of moisture?
 
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