Alright Crew,
Gotta get some updates on here before I take off on the first official trip with this camper! Still got lots of little crap to do, but we are CLOSE! WHEW!!!!
First gotta give a big THANK YOU to AlleyKat. He generously offered up his Saturday to help me install the new lift panel. He was a HUGE help!
Next, a big thank you to Marty of ATC. He answered our questions and gave us advice.
Finally I used this thread as well to gain some knowledge.
Great incite here. Thanks Rich.
Before you remove what you have left of your lift panel which includes drilling out A LOT of rivets, build some sort of support for the roof. This needs to be rigid in all directions so the roof does not move when you take the old panel out. I used some 2x4's and braced it off. Worked well, but looks like crap. That is fine. Scrap wood comes in handy! haha Dont forget to pre tension the spring loaded hinge. My tie down idea seemed to work pretty darn well. That is documented in a few posts above.
Also, remember there are elastic straps riveted to the canvas. When you take the panel out don't forget to cut them. You don't want to rip your canvas.
Pict of one side of the support.
Old Panel..
Panel out. Dont for get to clean your canvas! I also reinforced the areas that looked weak with canvas repair tape. I want as much time out of that old stuff as I can get.
New panel ready for infitting.
Looking good up there.
I REALLY did not want to drill out the canvas for the elastic bands and attach new ones. I felt that the older canvas would rip. Instead we came up with sewing velcro to the existing elastic band on riveted on the canvas, then sewed another peice to the elastic on the new panel. You know what. It works like a charm and made it easy to attach! SWEET, the canvas folds in still.
Now after that is done you can start getting the panel in there. Dont forget to measure like 10 times to make sure it is centered and aligns. Also dont forget to connect your new velcro straps.
Hum... I need a haircut!
We shimmed it up with wood I had laying around and got the upper hinge nice and tight to the roof. After a 12th time checking the measurements, it was centered and RIVET TIME!
New holes for the new rivets.
Marty from ATC recommended doing about 7 on top and 7 on bottom spaced evenly. Then poping the camper up and down a few times to make sure it aligns. NOTE.... Look long and hard at your camper roof and how it aligns when down before you start this project. From the factory mine was not perfect so you might want to note how yours folds before so you can compare it to folding with the new panel.
After checking it, we were pretty happy. Time to finish the job.
And here it is all nice and shiny! Also, dont forget when taking those tie downs off, the lower hinge is still tension and will snap back. Marty said use an icepick, but we found that it was easy to manually bend the hing around.
All in all it was not too bad. I cant stress enough that the support structure should not let the roof move. Also measure, measure, measure. It was a solid 6 hour project as well.
I just realized that I did not take a pict of the new handle. Have to do that later.
Gotta get a shot of both the rigs!
Happy after a good day of work!
This old camper is quite a hybrid. New white counters, old Oak veneer walls, and new birch front panel! haha Still looking good and am Pretty darn excited about the trip.
Cheers guys and let me know if you have any questions. It late and I am probably forgetting something.
Allen, chime in with anything I fogot.
