1986 Six-Pac MC-100SC 8'

bumblebus

Observer
I recently got a 1986 Six-Pac MC-100 S/C 8' camper and thought I'd make a long term resto/adventure thread here since there is virtually zero information about this specific camper on the interwebs, which is hardly surprising since it's from the pre-internet 1986 days. This camper is in immaculate shape. I'll be the third owner and the previous owner has owned it most of it's life and is a family friend so I know how well he took care of it and it was lightly used. No wood rot at all. All sub-systems work great etc. I'm essentially just going to be "upgrading" things like LED lighting, solar, in-line water filtration etc. and cleaning/replacing water hoses etc.

I'll post many more photos in times to come, but, for now, it's sitting on the side of my house until I get a pickup for it. The rear width is 64" to accommodate the massive grey/black tank underneath. I have yet to find any current pickup truck with a bed opening that wide and I've been measuring every single pickup bed I see in town lately (LOL). Nearest I've found so far is 60" in full size Tundras/Super Duty Fords etc. I can most likely shave off 2" at either side of the rear since it's just wood and there is room to trim without effecting the grey/black tank, but I'd prefer to just find a new(ish) truck with a 64"+ bed width (the new 2016 Titan long bed I hear is 67" wide maybe?!?!). Possibly just get a flatbed too. Stay tuned.

This thing is light as 8' campers go (at least that I've seen). 1335 "dry" and 1535lbs "wet" according to the manual (taking it to the scales one day will prove that maybe haha), but even tacking on multiple-100s more in cargo etc. it's still a sub-2,000lb self contained hard side. That's a big reason why I bought it for it's light weight & bathroom etc. (and that it was only $1,000). Anyway... more later.

Lot's of talk lately of light weight campers and why no one is making them currently (or trying to/marketing as such, but really failing). I feel like Six-Pac really got it right 30 years ago, but then went to pop-ups with FWC etc., which makes sense, but, to me, there is still a HUGE market for people, like me, that require hard sides (full door), want a bathroom etc. etc.

Gotta think of a name for it. ;-)

IMG_2144.jpg

IMG_2175.jpg

IMG_2129.jpg
 

hayduke

Observer
Nice camper... that 64 inch wide truck bed can be found on just earlier trucks... how bout a mint little older truck? 1997 ford f250 manual for example....... or a prime 1993 dodge cummins...... I have a friend who has a fwc grandby from the 80s on a 2003 tundra mounted on a box sticking a little farther out to accomidate the wider 64 inches, seems to work well.
 

bumblebus

Observer
Hi hayduke. I like the mid-2000s Fords and some older Rams, but the 2005 F350 I really like locally last week on Craigslist has the dreaded 6.0L diesel that was such a nightmare. It's also been quite "tuned", which is a red flag for me. The opening is at the gate is 60", but what really bums me out is that it seems *all* of these newer pickups have these little inner flares at the tailgate (as seen in the photo below) and I can't figure out what purpose they serve other than to annoy me LOL. If I got a pro welder/grinder to take those out (are they even structural??) I could make this F350 bed just over 64" and this Six-Pac camper would fit just about perfectly. Who knows... possibilities galore though. I'll find the right pickup eventually.

ford.jpg

In the meantime I pass the time with tiny little projects like putting in a new porch light haha. LEDs are the best. Also took some old ebike lithium cells I have laying around to make a 3S10P test house battery and that worked great. I turned on every light, every fan, the furnace etc. etc. and even just this little pack ran it all just fine for a really long time. Going to take the 180+ other 18650 cells I have and make a 3S50P house battery with at least 54AH useable weighing about 15lbs. Easily enough for 3-4 day boondocks. 32gal fresh water tank & the black water tank is at least that big. This camper has great capacities.

IMG_2208.JPG

[video]https://youtu.be/BF9yFL-c8ec[/video]
 

bumblebus

Observer
Going to look at this one tomorrow:

http://kalispell.craigslist.org/cto/5295346948.html

Lotta miles, but it's the 7.3 instead of the dreaded 6.0 powerstroke and if he has service records that mileage might not scare me off (if the tranny has been re-done especially). F-250 non-modded payload is about 2,400lbs so add a sway bar and some airbags and that's plenty for this light weight Six-Pac.
 

bumblebus

Observer
Thanks. Slow going on upgrades during the Montana winter/dark time. Did manage to get my house lithium battery built finally. Charges to 12.6v topped up and has about 50ah useable. I'm noticing that my furnace (beyond just having the pilot light/fan going) won't trip and ignite the main heater element on battery. There is only like .3-.4 volt sag on the battery even with all systems go so I think the furnace just needs a higher voltage to trip. I haven't tried with the full 12.6v as I just got my 3S lithium chargers the other day and haven't wired that up yet. Looking into that. Most normal 12v lead house batteries are gonna be more in the 12.8-13v area. Hmm. I can probably lower the "trip" voltage of the furnace with some research, but hopefully it will trip at 12.4-12.6v.

IMG_2219.jpg

IMG_2220.jpg

Also yanked the horrible linoleum at the front door and on the bench and put in more warming/comfortable outdoor carpet. Contemplating a cork floor for the main cabin area, but the current linoleum, sadly so I don't have any excuse to upgrade LOL, is in almost perfect condition.

IMG_2217.jpg
 

bumblebus

Observer
I can probably lower the "trip" voltage of the furnace with some research, but hopefully it will trip at 12.4-12.6v.

So the Duo Therm furnace main burner switch does not trip at full 12.6 voltage from the battery. Bleh. This explains the off hand remark from the seller as I was pulling away, "the furnace works great, but needs a strong battery". Two options... get rid of the lithium battery and just get a big old heavy lead bastard that'll trip it at 12.8+v or...

...hack the Duo Therm switch to trip at a lower voltage. That sounds like MUCH more fun. Just gotta figure out how on page 7 of the manual. :wings:

Duo Therm 66xx series PDF manual
 

bumblebus

Observer
Winter sure is long in Montana haha. Been dreaming of summer and test driving stuff lately and we felt like the 3/4 tons were just too much truck for us as I'll be using this vehicle as a daily driver as well. Opted, eventually, for a very clean, relatively low mileage (68k) 2008 GMC Sierra 1500 Work Truck trim 6.5' bed, 5.3L V8. So far we love it.

After lots and lost of research and measuring we're pretty certain it'll handle the Six-Pac 8' camper without sweating too much. I'm going to be trimming about 4-5" from the front part of the wide side of the back of the camper (if that makes sense) so that it'll sit flush with the end of the tailgate length-wise (slide in a little more) and we're having a family friend that's a welder help us fabricate a little tailgate reinforcement and weld in the turnbuckle holds to the truck frame. The stock tailgate is rated to 300lbs so I think it should be okay.

CoG shouldn't be too far back from normal and we'll manipulate fresh water (way up front) and grey/black tank (over the tailgate) as needed to play around with weight as needed. I doubt we'll ever load the full 32 gallons in either (~250lbs) tank unless parked somewhere for awhile.

We're going to leave the suspension stock for now, but add Timbrens to replace the small stock bump stops and the tires that came with the truck are 10 ply E rated Toyos (sweet!) so I think we're good there too. No frills, semi-burly "1/2 ton" truck with a 1,730lb stock payload/7,000lb gvwr. We'll be over the top a fair ways I'm sure fully loaded up for camping, but we'll see how it goes on short weekend local camp trips first before adding a leaf etc. The official "fully loaded" weight as measured/placarded by Six-Pac is 1,775lb with full water tank, "75lbs of ice", full propane bottle etc. etc. So we'll be over 75lbs + passengers/camp gear. I've seen/read about a lot worse than that. Crossing fingers.

Thinking of naming the Six-Pac "Dumbo" as it just looks like a dumbo sitting on the side of the house. LOL. Gonna let the better half pick the final name of course. Looking forward to summer!

2008gmcsierra.jpg
 
Last edited:

muskie

New member
instead of Timbrens, just put air bags in place of the bumpstops, on my truck when hauling a load , i just air up the bags up to when the helper spring lifts off the main two springs ( 3 spring pack, 2 long,short helper spring. so also the truck is siting level doing it this way.. which is good for the fridge,, also when installing air bags use 2 filling lines. this way you can level the load too.. if you tee the lines together it will make the sway worse...
just trying to help...
 

bumblebus

Observer
Thanks for the feedback muskie... I'll look into airbags more. A family friend put Timbrens on their Silverado 1500 and that's what clued me into those. They said they liked the simplicity of the Timbrens and heard that the airbags were more prone to failure/ripping etc. Who knows, but I do like simple whenever possible.

I'm currently researching camper tie down solutions for the truck frame also, but really don't want to spend as much on the tie downs (Torklift etc) as I paid for the entire camper! Haha. Thinking maybe I can get a welding friend to fabricate something much cheaper.

Lots to think about...
 
Improperly installed airbags may give you some issues, but if done right they can last very long. Heck look at any 18 wheeler, they run bags on trailer, tractor, cab and seat suspension systems. Yes there are failures, but these rigs are getting around 100k miles a year worth of use. Just watch out for rubbing and bottoming them out and run the lines in a way that they wont get hurt and you are good to go.
 
Thanks for the feedback muskie... I'll look into airbags more. A family friend put Timbrens on their Silverado 1500 and that's what clued me into those. They said they liked the simplicity of the Timbrens and heard that the airbags were more prone to failure/ripping etc. Who knows, but I do like simple whenever possible.

I'm currently researching camper tie down solutions for the truck frame also, but really don't want to spend as much on the tie downs (Torklift etc) as I paid for the entire camper! Haha. Thinking maybe I can get a welding friend to fabricate something much cheaper.

Lots to think about...

The torklifts are nice, but if you know someone with good welding skills and have access to the right tools, it should be a nice weekend project. Heck, I dont remember where but I saw one truck where he had a set of real stout rock sliders built for the truck, and had a slot cut in the back to double as the attachment point for his front camper tie downs. Real nice and incognito when the camper was off.
 

muskie

New member
well i have about same truck (chevy 2008 1500 sb 4x4 z71 )same frame.. I used torklift. easy installation. also used Firestone air bags . just a note on my air bags. when i installed the upper bracket (the one that takes place of the bump-stop (l-shaped ) their is about a 3/16 inch gap on the upper part were it rests next to the frame. when i was installing them it seemed off to me... well after a week they were lose,, so i took them off and shimmed then drilled and taped the l bracket, set screws red locktighted... at the time the part numbers were the same for 1500 and 2500 series trucks, so i think with the bigger frame on 2500 trucks they just use the same bracket of 1500 series..
anyway their was no sense sending them back because the was only 1 bracket for the rideright air bags
just sharing my experience at the time, maybe they changed brackets,,Ps I really like my air bags..
http://riderite.com/-/media/www/riderite/files/Install%20Manuals/W217602430_RRInstallManual_EN.pdf
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,529
Messages
2,875,555
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top