Project "Problem Child"

poriggity

Explorer
This thread will be used to document the build and restoration of a project I've dubbed "problem child".

The project in question is a 1988 Lance LC980 slide in truck camper. I inherited this from my in laws. They were tired of paying storage fees on it, so my father in law told me that if I stored it at my house, I could have it. Score!! So, first matter of business was to get the camper out of the storage lot in the desert. Since the truck already had tie downs installed, and I knew the turn buckles were in the camper, I removed my tailgate and we made the 1.5 hour trip to the desert and picked up the camper.

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First thing we noticed is that the turnbuckles were not going to work, as they were too short, so we devised a temporary plan for securing the camper to get it home. Combined all 4 turnbuckles to hold down the rear of the camper, and red necked up some ratchet straps for the front. As you'll see farther down in this thread, this has been rectified.

Here she is at home.. squatting the rear end of my 2500 pretty hard...

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It was apparent that after a very squishy ride home, the first thing to do is to add either airbags, timbren Suspension enhancement or something else. After a lot of reading reviews on all the major products out there, I settled on timbrens. The cost to effectiveness ratio seemed good, and all the reviews on them have been positive. They replace your stock bumpstops and I'll say they work great. Took me 30 minutes to install, and that included looking for all my tools and putting them all back away. They definetly help with the ride while loaded, as well as getting rid of most of the squat in the truck.

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Before timbrens:

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After timbrens:

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To be continued in next post....

Scott
 
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poriggity

Explorer
First matter of business was to clean the inside and make it somewhat liveable. Its been in storage for the better part of 15 years, so the wallpaper was falling off the walls, and there was dust and dirt everywhere. I've been cleaning and cleaning, and as of today, it's about 99% liveable. I need to get the bathroom cleaned. Here are a few pictures of the interior layout.

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First "mod" I did was to change all the small interior bulbs to LED to help with power consumption.

Led on left, incandescent on the right..

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And I got rid of the ratchet straps and went to chain and turnbuckles. This configuration will change at some point to some sort of fastgun turnbuckles only with no chains.

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In non exciting news, I also spent some $$$ on a new group 27 deep cycle marine battery for the camper, since the current battery was dead and 15 years old. As I do more, I'll continue to update this thread.

Scott
 
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poriggity

Explorer
Wow. 15 years in storage in the Midwest and it would have been junk. Looks nice!
It's in surprisingly good shape, we've already had some thunderstorms, and rain with no leaks, and from what I can tell there are no structural issues. So far I've only found one small water leak under the sink, and easy fix.
 

poriggity

Explorer
Up early today for some more cleaning. Its amazing home much dust and dirt can accumulate in an enclosed camper that's been sitting. First matter of business, pitch the original mattress in the trash. Not only is it worn out, who knows what kinda bugs it's got living in there! Don't mind the window shades, those will get replaced soon enough.

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Regcabguy

Oil eater.
Looks pretty good for 15 yrs in storage.
E-rated tires,a Hellwig Big Wig swaybar and some Thuren 2.5 Kings valved for your load will help heaps.
 

poriggity

Explorer
Looks pretty good for 15 yrs in storage.
E-rated tires,a Hellwig Big Wig swaybar and some Thuren 2.5 Kings valved for your load will help heaps.

sway bar is immediately in the works, and once I wear these tires out, I'll go to load range E again. I went to these because I got them for a price I couldn't pass up... (Free). The Timbren's helped a ton, but it can definetly use more help.
 

poriggity

Explorer
I left home early this morning with truck and camoer to head to galaxy campers in Ontario, ca to have the owner, David, wire my truck up for the camper, as it wasnt yet completely wired, and i was using magnetic tow lights as my brake/turn lights. David was awesome. He quoted me a price and stuck to it, and the work he did was top notch and very professional. To top it off, he saw my turnbuckle and chain arrangement, promptly pulled some longer threaded hooks out of his pile of stuff and said "Here, take these and that will allow you to get rid of your chain arrangement.. ", I was willing to pay him for them, but he gave them to me and said it was because the job took longer than he originally quoted. It took longer because he had a customer from that heard about him, from canada, with an emergency. So, he helped them out for a bit, which I was totally cool with. Overall, an awesome experience, and I can tell you any and all camper service I need will be going through David at galaxy campers.

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Scott
 
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poriggity

Explorer
Pulled my tail light lenses today and cleaned them up a bit.. They were caked in dirt pretty badly.. Here's a before and after picture. I also ordered some more LED bulbs for the tail lights, and for the 4 side outer lights...

Before cleaning:

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After cleaning:

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Camera takes horrible pictures. Didn't get much time to work on the camper today as I promised my wife I'd keep the kiddo out of her hair so she could get some stuff done.

Scott
 

poriggity

Explorer
And some more pictures of the other side of the camper, and the back, for those of you who requested pictures. I took pictures in a turnout on my way home today. Never mind the vinyl trim falling iff, I gotta fix that. It came loose on the way home.
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Scott
 
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trail-explorer

Adventurer

poriggity

Explorer
I'm running this in the same style tail lights on my cargo trailer: http://www.ledtrailerlights.com/stt_1157.htm

Looks like you are in need of a few marker lights as well.

These get high marks over on some of the RV Forums because they are totally sealed: http://www.ledtrailerlights.com/cm-1a-s68.htm
Thanks for the links. The actual clearance light bases are in tact, and working, so rather than disturb them and the sealant, I ordered lenses and some led bulbs, which should hold me over until I decide to upgrade completely.
 

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