Camper door opens while in tow. - Page 2 - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

r67northern · 11-14-2017, 02:17 PM

"r67n, your rebuild looks miserable, unless u enjoy it"

Well, I inherited the trailer and knew about the problems. I like restoration projects but definitely not for everyone! Good that you've got a solid trailer to start with, that makes thinking about how to improve it a lot easier. I really like the idea of a new cable (or 2). That's a cool solution, I hadn't thought about that.

I've seen some outriggers as well, and now that you mention it, that would help too.

Now you've got me thinking...

marininn · 11-15-2017, 04:36 PM

I think 2 more cables are the best solution, and a great insurance against one broken cable severely damaging the camper, which I have seen in pics.

This will have to be shelved for a month or two.
When I do, though, it looks like I can run the new cables between the wheels, which will bisect the table also, and I will have to cut a hole in the bottom of the upper cabinet so the pulley can clear. I plan to mount the pulley on top of the railing, since I dont want to cut into the walls. The other side will be through the kitchen counter, so less intrusive.
Big job, welding involved, possibly drilling.

But-
Saw this on Craigslist. I am asking about the process. Looks like diamond plate above the weak door, and there seems to be no sag there. Likely this is what it is for. There were no pics of inside above door. I wonder if there is matching plate inside.
This is a Towlite, but I assume it has similar construction to HILO.

marininn · 12-07-2017, 12:06 PM

Since I have wall exposed for water damage repair, I think I will fix the sag with a giant piece of angle iron. I plan to run it the length, front front to where rear cable is (at the bathroom wall). Angle iron will give some vertical strength, and support the ceiling tubing also, which i rusty. I will have to do this in two piece then plate together, plate will be inside cabinet, so not cosmetic issue.
Over the door I can put a thin steel plate, not unlike the pic in last post,just over the door though, at the ends his plate is mounted to nothing but the siding, as the frame is just at the door, on mine. His might se stress on the panels, which could bend.

sam · 12-07-2017, 08:02 PM

I see in your picture that you have the bunk bed. If it was me I would unbolt it and remove for safe keeping. Take pictures of the hardware placement for some months down the road install. Perhaps a mattress place could give you a plastic mattress bag to store it in.

marininn · 12-07-2017, 10:30 PM

Thanks, thought about taking it out, but thats a lot of trouble, and I think I can use the bunk platform as bracing to hold the ceiling in place while it dries.
Without the mattress or board in there then there is plenty of space to stand and work between the gaps with bunk down or up. I threw old mattress out cause PO was gross.
Steamed cleaned dinette 3 or 4 times, removed couch completely. Washed walls with vinegar - stopped short of an exorcism, but all is clean and fresh now.
It won't be months, after the demo I hope to be within a week.

See my other post about the renovation, this thread more about the door sag.

marininn · 12-16-2017, 12:19 PM

I glued and bolted in a 4 inch steel plate on wall to help with sag.
I was only able to get wall to move a little bit with a jack, after that the camper just lifted. There is still sag when looking at how the the two clam shell halves line up, but the plate will help and help prevent future sag I hope.

I was hoping to lift the wall past straight to pre-load the steel plate, but it just wold not move that much.

The new wall will cover this and cabinets will cover where Im keeping wall. Will also give a solid place to bolt things, like bunk bed cable…
The plate is pretty thick and has a 45 degree bend on top, which gives lateral stability, keeps wall from bowing. It resembles a vinyl floor molding you see in commercial buildings, but heavy steel instead.

Close up of plate.
I plan to run a crossmember, as mentioned before, similar to the bathroom wall ceiling board. I can now weld a bracket to this plate for the board on this side (on other side will have to run a vertical support down to ledge)

Not sure how much this plate will sag when I remove the jack, I will let glue dry overnight before finding out. i bolted the plate in the center, above door, first, then the right side, then pushed up, preloading the plate, as hard as I could before bolting in the left side, so maybe that will help.
Door dead bolt engages now, so will see what happens…

***Update a day later..
After glue drying a day, I let the jack down. Good news is that it only sagged less than 1/4 of an inch when the jack lowered. The dead bolt locks into the hole easily, something it did not do before without lifting strongly up on the door (maybe part due to hinge sag).
Hoping it does not settle further with the coming days.
Some odd things happening - front side of door rail is higher than rear as measured against the lower half rail, but I'm not looking for things to complain about at this point.
I think this fix is sufficient for the life of the trailer.

r67northern · 12-16-2017, 07:45 PM

Great looking plate, sweet work.