natjwest
Contributors
I am finally home after a brief but too-long trip to purchase my Grandby camper. I started off in Portland on Thursday Sept 30th at 5:30 AM. The tailgate was off, gear packed, a quick three-day jaunt to central California to pick up the camper, stopping by Bend on the way home for some mountain biking.
One hour in, I realized I had forgotten my mountain bike at home. I texted a friend to see if he would bring it with him. Three hours in, the truck shut off in the middle of the freeway. I pulled over in Sutherlin and got a diagnosis of a faulty fuel injection pump control module. Expensive, laborious, but not damaging if I continued to baby it along. The sensible thing would have been to turn around and get it fixed in Portland, but the seller was getting anxious and kept remarking that he priced it too low and there were 15 people, all local, ready to buy it. I figured that I could get to California and fix it there.
The truck proceeded to shut off three more times before I found myself at a mechanic's shop in Grants Pass. Trouble was, the mechanic (Mike Ramirez, in case you're ever in Grants Pass with diesel problems) was super helpful, but had no time to help me. In the end though, he let me use his parking lot and some tools I didn't bring, did some diagnostics, sold me a fuel filter and helped me get back underway. I was back on the road in about an hour with no more fuel system troubles.
I had no other problems getting to Grass Valley (east of Yuba City), and I hit no traffic. I got to the seller's great garage-shop at 7:30 PM. Before driving down, I found a handyman-mechanic on the local craigslist and paid him $75 via paypal to check out the camper in person. He took good pictures and gave me a good report, and the camper was everything I had imagined, except...
The seller didn't mention a few things:
-Factory mounted boat/luggage rack (not the Yakima/Thule system)
-Dometic 2 cu ft 3-way fridge instead of the advertised icebox (he has never used it)
-Two roof vents, one being powered
-Optional driver's side window (which I don't like since I'm going to put more storage and counter there which would just cover up the window)
-Onboard battery, in a box, with a charge
We had the camper loaded in my truck (backed under it first try) and I drove away in less than an hour. I had dinner at the closest eatery, drove to the FWC factory, jumped the curb into the parking lot as Stan suggested I do, popped the top, got on the wi-fi for a bit, then cashed out for the night.
I woke up at 6:30 to find myself surrounded by employee's cars.
I found Stan and Chicali and Terry. They were all super helpful. I spent about two hours there buying a few missing parts (table hardware, bump stops, porta potty, etc), getting a close look at the dinette models, and having Stan show me around the camper. He thought it had most every option available in 1991. As I was leaving, he tossed a water drain valve and roof rack end plugs into the camper for free. Gave me a cup of coffee for the road and off I went, happy as a clam. Couldn't have been a better experience at the factory.
The previous evening, I thought I had heard a funny noise from under the hood, but I willfully ignored it. Now that I was on the road, it was obviously a problem. But I couldn't figure it out so kept driving. As the day warmed up, I turned on the air conditioner to discover no cold air coming out. I just replaced the AC compressor in June so was a bit baffled about this.
I stopped in Red Bluff, opened the hood and saw the serpentine belt barely turning the compressor pulley. It was pretty well locked up, but the belt looked good at this point. I called the mechanic who did the work in June, got the details of the Kragen warranty and 5 hours after I pulled over, I had a new compressor installed and was back on the road. I didn't get it properly hooked up to the hoses and refrigerant since that would have been potentially longer than a day's work and I just wanted to get home. I made it home at 1 AM, stopping only in in Grants Pass to cook some eggs for dinner, get more diesel and some moutain dew.
In the light of the day, I am very glad I made the trip and got this camper. It's in great shape for a 1991. The only immediate projects are:
-Fix the semi-rotten bottom of the door (Chicali gave me pointers on it)
-Clean out the furnace
-Get the fridge to light
-Lube the vent fan (squeaky)
-Fix the leaky smelly propane in the cabinet
-Open up the awning and figure out what's busted on it (Stan and Chicali both said it looked like it was missing parts)
Medium-term projects:
-Install second battery with inverter (with an eye to future solar)
-Rehabilitate the sticker-peeling particle board cabinets
-Assemble an inside shower kit
-Repaint the exterior plywood for weatherproofing
-Gently straighten one edge of the roof
-Repair a few small pinholes in the upper
Longer-term:
-Rip out the couch and settee and do the dinette remodel with potty cubby
-Helper lift struts
-Tear out original vinyl floor and put in a new cork laminate floor
-Install 65-80 watt solar panel
One hour in, I realized I had forgotten my mountain bike at home. I texted a friend to see if he would bring it with him. Three hours in, the truck shut off in the middle of the freeway. I pulled over in Sutherlin and got a diagnosis of a faulty fuel injection pump control module. Expensive, laborious, but not damaging if I continued to baby it along. The sensible thing would have been to turn around and get it fixed in Portland, but the seller was getting anxious and kept remarking that he priced it too low and there were 15 people, all local, ready to buy it. I figured that I could get to California and fix it there.
The truck proceeded to shut off three more times before I found myself at a mechanic's shop in Grants Pass. Trouble was, the mechanic (Mike Ramirez, in case you're ever in Grants Pass with diesel problems) was super helpful, but had no time to help me. In the end though, he let me use his parking lot and some tools I didn't bring, did some diagnostics, sold me a fuel filter and helped me get back underway. I was back on the road in about an hour with no more fuel system troubles.
I had no other problems getting to Grass Valley (east of Yuba City), and I hit no traffic. I got to the seller's great garage-shop at 7:30 PM. Before driving down, I found a handyman-mechanic on the local craigslist and paid him $75 via paypal to check out the camper in person. He took good pictures and gave me a good report, and the camper was everything I had imagined, except...
The seller didn't mention a few things:
-Factory mounted boat/luggage rack (not the Yakima/Thule system)
-Dometic 2 cu ft 3-way fridge instead of the advertised icebox (he has never used it)
-Two roof vents, one being powered
-Optional driver's side window (which I don't like since I'm going to put more storage and counter there which would just cover up the window)
-Onboard battery, in a box, with a charge
We had the camper loaded in my truck (backed under it first try) and I drove away in less than an hour. I had dinner at the closest eatery, drove to the FWC factory, jumped the curb into the parking lot as Stan suggested I do, popped the top, got on the wi-fi for a bit, then cashed out for the night.
I woke up at 6:30 to find myself surrounded by employee's cars.
I found Stan and Chicali and Terry. They were all super helpful. I spent about two hours there buying a few missing parts (table hardware, bump stops, porta potty, etc), getting a close look at the dinette models, and having Stan show me around the camper. He thought it had most every option available in 1991. As I was leaving, he tossed a water drain valve and roof rack end plugs into the camper for free. Gave me a cup of coffee for the road and off I went, happy as a clam. Couldn't have been a better experience at the factory.
The previous evening, I thought I had heard a funny noise from under the hood, but I willfully ignored it. Now that I was on the road, it was obviously a problem. But I couldn't figure it out so kept driving. As the day warmed up, I turned on the air conditioner to discover no cold air coming out. I just replaced the AC compressor in June so was a bit baffled about this.
I stopped in Red Bluff, opened the hood and saw the serpentine belt barely turning the compressor pulley. It was pretty well locked up, but the belt looked good at this point. I called the mechanic who did the work in June, got the details of the Kragen warranty and 5 hours after I pulled over, I had a new compressor installed and was back on the road. I didn't get it properly hooked up to the hoses and refrigerant since that would have been potentially longer than a day's work and I just wanted to get home. I made it home at 1 AM, stopping only in in Grants Pass to cook some eggs for dinner, get more diesel and some moutain dew.
In the light of the day, I am very glad I made the trip and got this camper. It's in great shape for a 1991. The only immediate projects are:
-Fix the semi-rotten bottom of the door (Chicali gave me pointers on it)
-Clean out the furnace
-Get the fridge to light
-Lube the vent fan (squeaky)
-Fix the leaky smelly propane in the cabinet
-Open up the awning and figure out what's busted on it (Stan and Chicali both said it looked like it was missing parts)
Medium-term projects:
-Install second battery with inverter (with an eye to future solar)
-Rehabilitate the sticker-peeling particle board cabinets
-Assemble an inside shower kit
-Repaint the exterior plywood for weatherproofing
-Gently straighten one edge of the roof
-Repair a few small pinholes in the upper
Longer-term:
-Rip out the couch and settee and do the dinette remodel with potty cubby
-Helper lift struts
-Tear out original vinyl floor and put in a new cork laminate floor
-Install 65-80 watt solar panel
