Rear Lift Panel Fabrication and Replacement

[rich]

Hi Guys,

I've been meaning to put this up for a while but I haven't had the time but a rainy day while I recover from a tooth extraction seems like a good time to do it

I have now replaced both lift panels in my '89 Fleet. Barko has a thread going right now asking for suggestions on his panel replacement but I didn't want to hi-jack his thread so I figured I'd post the pics and suggestions here. So here we go:

First I had to deflate my tires, load a bunch of cinder blocks in the camper, dismantle and jack up the garage door to get it into my 1950's garage because I hadn't built the trolly yet and didn't have enough time to

Fit like a glove.

There was only enough room to lift one end of the camper at a time.

Here's the one to be replaced. Note the duct tape at the ceiling, that is about all that was holding this thing in anymore.

First order of business was to support the roof so that when I took the panel out it didn't come crashing down on me. It is important to get this nice and snug or else fitting your new panel in will be a real bear. I think having only one end up helped me here because I was able to push this support back like a wedge until it was snug and didn't need to be too precise in the measurements of it.

 

[rich]

Next up was to get the long side shelf out of the way so once the panel was free I could remove it easily. There are just 3 wooden blocks with 4 screws a piece in them to take this down. Mine is pretty beat and I plan to rebuild it soon and add some LED lighting to it but that is a project for another time.

The first thing I removed was the brass frame holding the shackle bolt. I am using a punch awl to punch into the rivets then stretching them up, down, right and left to make sure the drill seats in there and doesn't walk on me. Now it is time for the drilling to begin!

Marty, Jeff and Don at ATC were invaluable in helping me with this project. Instead of a punch awl they recommend using a 3/16 ice pick but I couldn't find one and got tired of everyone looking at me like I was a serial killer when I asked if they carried one.

Once the rivets were stretched out I used a 3/16 drill bit to drill the heads off the rivets. The back of the rivets would often stay slotted in the holes which we cause you great headache later so I used the punch all in the hole to shoot the back of the rivets up into the roof.

Once all the rivets were drilled out I then removed the screws along the bottom and removed the panel. My hinges were old and beat so I did not have to secure them, however, if your hinges still have some pop in them you will want to secure the top hinge to the bottom hinge every other hole with bailing wire so that when you remove it the top hinge doesn't flip back violently and rip your side liner.

Once it was out it looked like this.

A lot of 303 Vinyl Cleaner and a little elbow grease got the vinyl looking as good as new and I was able to inspect the wires for the porch light while the panel was off.

Next up was fabricating the panel which I did out of 1/4 inch Birch:

Cut out and sanded

Stained with a clear coat of polyurethane ( I like the natural birch look) and ready for the hinges.

I took the old panel, overlaid it on the new panel and clamped it in place for the drilling process to ensure that the holes would line up with the existing hinges which I am re-using. (I would recommend putting in new hinges if you are doing it but I didn't want to pay for them or mess around with fabricating them because of the springs. You can do it without the springs but then you loose all assistance in lifting the roof.)

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Nice photos. How did you attach the 3 little straps that pull the liner in when it lowers? Frank

 

[Barko1]

Nice job! I got mine all out and then found out I have to go to Oregon, via Sacramento, so I'm going to let the pro's do the final install. The final adjustment, getting the little straps hooked up, etc I decided I did enough plus my back is killing me
Now what I need is a hydraulic lift to put the cooler in!

 

[rich]

A couple more panel fab pics, I did the same process with the small panel.

After the panels are fabbed up and the holes drilled I had to take a few straggling rivets out of the old hinges:

I should have mentioned as you take it out there will be 3 rivets from the panel to the side liner, I didn't have to deal with these because the strap between them that helps pull in the vinyl when you close the top was broken already and I didn't bother to replace them.

I used 3/16 rivets to rebuild the panels and I got a piece of advice to use washers, the thought being that it would give more surface area and make it harder for the rivets to pull through the wood over time. I did that but it made it too thick and made it so the panel would not fold completely flat. Live and learn but I don't recommend using washers, just rivet directly through the wood. Rivet guns are cheap and as such I went through 3 of them before the job was done.

It is crucial to pound the back of the rivets completely flat so they don't rip the side liner or interfere with the lift panel closing down flat. I used a ball peen hammer to smash them and a small anvil used in auto body work as the pounding surface.

 

[rich]

Nice photos. How did you attach the 3 little straps that pull the liner in when it lowers? Frank



I didn't bother, my vinyl is so so and I didn't want any more pulling on it risking blowing a hole in it so I left them off. The tucking it in when I close it isn't that bad and not worth risking a hole in my vintage vinyl

 

[rich]

Nice job! I got mine all out and then found out I have to go to Oregon, via Sacramento, so I'm going to let the pro's do the final install. The final adjustment, getting the little straps hooked up, etc I decided I did enough plus my back is killing me
Now what I need is a hydraulic lift to put the cooler in!



Yeah I was a bit over budget on my remodel project or else I would have paid ATC to do it too. It was a bit of a bear but worth it in the end.

I know, coolers have been destroying my back for a long time.......that tequila is heavy stuff

 

[rich]

The final piece was to rig it to get it into the truck and I used a system that was devised by our very own BenG using bailing wire to compress the hinges.

Step one was to screw the top hinge to my work bench every other hole and thread bailing wire through the open holes. Having it attached to the work bench made it easy to use the panel itself to leverage the top hinge to its 90 degree resting angle. Note: The screws that you see beneath the brass frame that holds the shackle bolt in place were a bear to get out one this thing was at 90 degrees so when I did it a second time I didn't put any screws in that section.

All rigged and ready to thread through the bottom hinge and start twisting!

I then used screw drivers and end wrenches for leverage to tighten the bailing wire. I put on my safety glasses for this one because I did snap a few pieces of bailing wire before getting the tensions right.

Hinges in their positions, panel removed from the work bench and ready for install.

After a first dry fit attempt I realized that the original hinge holes even after being drilled through to remove the rivets weren't quite large enough for the 3/16 rivets so I went back through and reamed the hinge holes out a bit more with the drill to make the going a lot easier for the install.

In the above picture sitting on a white box in the lower right of the picture you can see the small black anvil that I used behind the panel to pound the rivets flat. I actually cut a groove out of a 2x4 as a jig to hold it from moving around which made pounding the rivets flat a lot easier.

After that, the install was easy. Set it in place, set one rivet, set one screw, cut and pull one piece of bailing wire and repeat 28 times

I hope this helps.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

You have quite a project and it looks great. I have the middle strap on the front that pulled off. Marty said bring it in and they would take care of it but i can't see removing the whole front just to reattach it. I can live with a small tuck,most of the time it does fold in by itself. Good luck with the rest of your project. Happy camping Frank

 

[UglyScout]

I owe Rich a beer or 3. I used the bailing wire compression method seen above to replace my lift panel last night. Worked like a champ!! I got away with only needing 9 wires.

I went out Sunday afternoon to pop the camper and look for something - opened the top and the rear lift panel ripped halfway off the roof! It had been in poor shape for a while and the wood finally rotted out around the rivets and came dettached from the top hinge. Since we are headed out this coming weekend I needed to address the problem ASAP. This thread told me everything I needed to know! I already had the wood from another project, so $40 for some rivets, rivet gun and bailing wire and I was back in business in a mere 7 hours (I only needed to replace the top piece of wood on the panel so it only involved drilling out 100 rivets....).

I'll post pictures later.

 

[ski3pin]

I owe Rich a beer or 3. I used the bailing wire compression method seen above to replace my lift panel last night. Worked like a champ!! I got away with only needing 9 wires.

I went out Sunday afternoon to pop the camper and look for something - opened the top and the rear lift panel ripped halfway off the roof! It had been in poor shape for a while and the wood finally rotted out around the rivets and came dettached from the top hinge. Since we are headed out this coming weekend I needed to address the problem ASAP. This thread told me everything I needed to know! I already had the wood from another project, so $40 for some rivets, rivet gun and bailing wire and I was back in business in a mere 7 hours (I only needed to replace the top piece of wood on the panel so it only involved drilling out 100 rivets....).

I'll post pictures later.


What a story.....................that most of us can relate to! It is nice to have all this helpful information available. Three beers for Rich!

 

[craig333]

Thats serious incentive to make mine last as long as possible. Not sure I'd have the patience for that work. Great job and way to go on the documentation.

 

[UglyScout]

The damage:




The workshop:



The wire job:





And that is how I did it!

 

[Qcamper]

Hi great post!!!!
I wondered if anyone has had trouble with 1/4 inch panels? The research that I have done everyone uses 1/4 inch wood. It seems the originals are 1/8 inch. I saw that FWC new composite panels look like they have a routed edge to account for the thickness difference where the hinges go.
Anybody else consider doing aluminum panels instead of wood. I might even try to track down some sort of composite or plastic to make the panels. I just think it makes more sense than the wood.

 

[AK Nomad]

Qcamper: I've had the same questions about using 1/4"....been putting off replacing my panels for a couple years. New FWC panels are high cost. When camping in cooler temps, moisture condenses on other aluminum like crazy, so I decided against metal. Saw some cutting boards the other day - wood based resin - very thin, very strong. good luck in your search, hope you report back.

 

[Qcamper]

Hi AK nomad, I am kind of in the same mindset. Something similar to cutting boards. I was looking at some folding tables that are a plastic composite material. Thinking I might be able to cut them to the proper dimensions and maybe even use some of the existing hardware to come up with a different lift mechanism. I already cut and urethaned some birch plywood to the proper dimensions etc.. but I would really prefer to find something other than wood for this.