96 10' cab over

[David Gendron]

Good day, I'm new here and new to Alaskan camper world.... I bought a 10' 1996 cabover front dinette, just got back from a 6000+ km round trip to get it. The thing is in really good condition and love it already, but I have a few questions and concerns!!

First, the doors, they don't close square to there frames...

Second, I had some snow drifting in, mainly at the jct of the cabover and the main part, where the wire braid are in the front corners... It was snow this time but I'm worried that dust will come in during the summer months....

Third, I was wondering what is the best lub for the tracks, the stuff on it now is frozen solid....

I'm in touch with Brian to, but i would like to have different opinions!!

 

[nixfwc]

Welcome to the Alaskan world and congrats on your new purchase. The doors on Alaskans often don't fit square for several reasons. There can be some spread in both the bottom and top halves over time and the hinges tend to wear out. Sometimes you can compensate for bottom half spread by putting shims under the camper at the rear outer corners. Spread in the top half is harder to fix. Replacing the hinges will help but sometimes you have to shim the hinges near the bottom to get the latches to line up. Both my 76 and my 2014 COs have had this problem. Check the fit of the seal at the front of the cab over area to be sure that the cabover has not shifted and left a gap. There is usually a rug seal there. I use RV slide out lube for my tracks; it goes on liquid then drys. You don't need much lube as the tracks are guides and not load bearing. Cleaning old lube out of the tracks is a chore; some folks believe they need allot of lube to make the top go up evenly. That is not the case. Also check for loose screws in the tracks that could hang on the track. Good luck and let us know how you do with your new Alaskan.

 

[David Gendron]

Thank you for the infos, I will try the shims for the bottom door... I think it will take a bit of adjustments in the different area to get it the way I want in terms of seals and doors and all the little details that will make it a great rig!!

 

[hangster]

hi david..welcome aboard.
Can't help with the cabover part,
but my doors are slightly out of whack.
they both measure square as well as the entryway but my
hinges look tweeked, even though they are screwed tight they sag.
I'm gonna replace them eventually.
I see nixfwc suggests a shim in the above post.
I'll have to try that

 

[David Gendron]

Thank you. As for the doors, I notice that it is worst when the camper is tie down to the truck feels like the tie down splay the the bottom part open!! The thing is it is way to cold this time of year to play with that, but I'll gather as much info as I can till the spring to be able to trouble shoot all that it needs so we can get it working A1 for the summer!!

Solution so far are shims under the back corners, Rv slide out lub for the tracks.... Keep bringing ideas!!

Thank you

 

[nixfwc]

When timing down the camper, only tighten the two front tie downs. Leave the rears just hand tight. The fronts carry the major load. In tightening the front tie downs, tighten them by hand first, the use a wrench to give them a quarter turn more. I presume you are using spring loaded tie downs attached to the jack points.after backing off the rear tie downs you can measure the top and bottom the door opening to see how much splay you might have. Then try shimming under the rear corners between the camper and the truck bed to see if you can compensate for the splay. You might have to add as much as a quarter on an inch thick shim under the rear corners.

 

[David Gendron]

all my tiedown were hand tighten, but they were as tight as I could get then, but just by hand.

I took the camper off for the winter and when on the jacks only the splay went the opposite way... then I lowered the camper on some pallets stacked 5 high, and fully level and the top door is good close to perfect, the bottom door is splayed at eh bottom...

I will figure things out slowly, but I will....

I'm most concern about the seals and the snow that managed its way in the camper, cause if snow could get in, dust will surely make its way in during the summer months and that is a real concern!!

 

[hangster]

I hate dust..
Throw a level on your camper floor, see if you have a slight bow.

 

[David Gendron]

Look like the floor is pretty straight wile sitting on the pallets, but seams to flex quite a bit when only supported by the jacks or on the truck bed(back tie downs tighten by hands but quite tight!!)

I will take more pictures today and try to up load them... I have an idea that might work to stiffen the rig up but I want others opinions!!

 

[David Gendron]

 

[David Gendron]

In the picture above, the camper is sitting on a piece 2x6 on top of the pallet stack, the jacks are backed down so no weight are on them, the bottom door is 100% square to its frame... So, my idea here is to have a piece of angle aluminum welded across the 3 2x3 aluminum tubing to create a cross beam that would hold the shape that the camper is in at the moment! Of course the piece would have to be large enough to have sufficient strength!! I was thinking 3x3 1/4" thick.... Would it work?

 

[nixfwc]

You probably have already done this, but check the angle iron at the rear bottom of the camper as it often cracks at the door edges. Not clear about your alu angle idea; not sure if it would help the splay. Camper looks bit shaky sitting on those pallets. Be careful.

 

[David Gendron]

You probably have already done this, but check the angle iron at the rear bottom of the camper as it often cracks at the door edges. Not clear about your alu angle idea; not sure if it would help the splay. Camper looks bit shaky sitting on those pallets. Be careful.

Ok, I din't see any angle iron, I wouldn't know where to look.... As for the pallets, it is super sturdy, you can't even shake it not even a little!

 

[Ripperj]

Older Alaskans usually have a piece of 2x2x1/8” ? Steel angle iron that spans the width of the floor. It’s bolted thru the rear wall of the lower section and the floor, it’s notched our for the lower door and cracks in the corners of the door notches when the camper starts spreading out. I’ll see if I have a pic

 

[Ripperj]

Can be seen here if you zoom in, rusty grey

 

[David Gendron]

Can be seen here if you zoom in, rusty grey

I don't see the picture... But I know what you mean, I think on mine it is an aluminum piece. I talked to Brian and reinforcing the added bottom frame( the past owner added 3 3x2 aluminum tubes/rails running the length of camper to sit higher in the truck bed to clear the cab) with cross pieces would be the solution to help with the bottom shell splay.

As for the top door splay, he suggested to add some shims behind the door hinges starting at the bottom with thicker shims and working my way up with thinner ones.

Regarding the snow drifting, he says that snow is definitely more prone to get every where than dust thinking snow storm here no only driving in the winter. Blowing snow might be "lighter" than dust.... Anyway, he suggested that I add some small blocks of foam between where the upper and lower meet at the front to seal the minute gap that is there and hard to seal!!

 

[flyboykev]

my door alignment issues are resolved when the truck is leveled using tire wedges. I also have a drop 2x2 wood stick that hangs below the width of the back camper under the door so it sits evenly on the tailgate.
when storing, support the level the bottom either with your pallets or saw horses only putting 10% of the camper weight on them. 90% on your jacks.

flyboykev

 

[PackRat]

Conventional wisdom is that the side/front/rear-to-floor joints are where the AK has issues...it is important to support the perimeter as well as the middle of the floor to prevent failure. With that in mind, any off-truck dismount for extended work on the camper needs this exact type of support...meaning a 4x8 sheet of at least 5/8" plywood and then rear, middle and front support....which to me would mean 4x4s extending out past the edges of the plywood. One in front, two in the middle and one at the rear.

When I picked up my AK the door indicated tub splay when mounted in his truck and the PO had had to use slightly less wider than 48" plywood sheets to get it into his truck and then used ratchet straps connected to eyebolts someone else had installed to mount the camper. This along with the visible two cracks in the rear "L" angle iron of the camper did splay it out and the door made that easy to see that when closed.

However....I had made a riser of 2x6s with 5/8" plywood on it and when we set the camper into my truck...the splay went away as the sides and rear were now supported as they should be.

No matter if you had Reico TITANs or the old cable jacks....do not leave 90% of the weight on them during your restoration or off-season dismount. Put 90% of the weight on a SOLID base and put 10% of the weight on your jacks if they are corner jacks (4 of 'em). That will be the easiest on the AK and more closely mimic the needed support it has in the truck bed and how it was designed to be stored.

 

[flyboykev]

thanks for the reply on weight distribution, I must have wrote down the reverse when I asked Brian at Alaskan Camper for off season storing. I will amend my notes - good to know

10% on jacks
90% on solid base

what is your recommendation for off season storing regarding having the top raised or lowered?
does it matter?

thanks

 

[Oryguntroutbum]

thanks for the reply on weight distribution, I must have wrote down the reverse when I asked Brian at Alaskan Camper for off season storing. I will amend my notes - good to know

10% on jacks
90% on solid base

what is your recommendation for off season storing regarding having the top raised or lowered?
does it matter?

thanks

I don’t think it would matter too much as long as your Pirelli seals are in decent shape. If you decide to store it up just remember to have the weight of the top sitting on the pins and not held up by the hydraulics alone.