HiLo fun chaser need help?
 

I just picked up this Hilo camper for free. I got it to keep the guy from tearing it apart and scraping it. It has been sitting since the mid 80 in the same spot. I got it home and would like to fix it up and have it next year to go camping. There is some water damage on one wall. I will fix it first so it don't get worse. I'm mainly wondering what all needs to be done after sitting this long? The lift system still works fine. Which is amazing lol. The 2x4 on the bottom of the top half is rotted a lil. That is where the leak is at that window. Can that be replaced easily? I do not have owners manual or anything so any information would really help. I don't know anything about it really and this is my first camper.

Welcome to the forum. Here is the pre buy checklist. Look in the reference library in the forum under owners manuals for your year model or one that is close to the same year. They didn't change too much between years.

Basically, start with the visual items –
1. Exterior
• Look for water stains and discoloration on inside walls and around ceiling anywhere vents, skylights, windows, etc. exist.
• Push and prod with your hand on the inside walls for soft spots (which could indicate a water leak and a damaged or rotten interior wall).
• Check for bubbles in the wallpaper (a sign of delimitation or water intrusion)
2. Interior cleanliness of the unit-
• Look for water stains and discoloration on inside walls and around ceiling anywhere vents, skylights, windows, etc. exist.
• Push and prod with your hand on the inside walls for soft spots (which could indicate a water leak and a damaged or rotten interior wall).
• Check for bubbles in the wallpaper (a sign of delimitation or water intrusion)
3. Test appliance functions –
• lights
• fans
• refrigerator
• air conditioner
• heater
• water pump
• range hood
• stovetop
• oven (if equipped)
• microwave (if equipped)
• stereo (if equipped)
4. Lift System-
• Does the unit raise and lower properly
• Check the lift system for hydraulic leaks (puddle under the trailer)
• Check the lift cables to see if they are in good shape and not frayed
• Check the seal between the upper and lower body halves for tears or damage
5. fill the tanks to the top and check for leaks
6. Battery
7. Solar Panel (if equipped)

Wow! Glad you got it for free. I cannot see why anyone would let a trailer get in such bad shape, appearance-wise. But, from what you've said, the damage may be more cosmetic than functional.

I would think you could replace or repair the 2x4 without too much trouble. If the damage is localized, there are products like Bondo that can repair the wood rot. Otherwise, you'd need to prop the top up on 2x4s so that you could remove and replace the damaged section.

I don't know what you'll have to use on the outside. Maybe you could rent a sand blaster?

- Jack

I pressure washed the outside after these pictures. I didn't spend a lot of time on it. Just trying to get the majority of the stuff gone. I want to get leaks fixed first and other stuff then I can get outside painted. When I get home I'll post pictures of inside and outside. Yea it's a shame that people buy these things then just let them rot.

A pump up sprayer with some bleach and water will do wonders for the outside. I have the same model trailer. Before moving it around a lot I would jack it up, remove the wheels and pack the wheel bearings with grease. If it's been sitting that long the grease is bound to be dry. You are gonna need to take out the windows and reseal them with new butyl rubber tape and then caulk them with a sealant that will stay flexible. If you use silicone make sure its paintable if you plan to paint the outside. Mine was leaking the most where the upper plug for the AC is on the outside. Check everything that is mounted to the outside and I would suggest recaulking all of it. Check the roof for damage or pinholes. Getting the outside sealed up is the best place to start before beginning the inside.

My buddy is a roofer so we're gonna get started on the leaks. The wheels and tires that were on it were completely flat and dry rotted. I borrowed this set of wheels to get it home. So it's on blocks now with wheels back off. Can I not just caulk around outside of windows instead of taking them out?

Taking them out is not as hard as you think. The inside trim ring is all that holds them in. Take out the ring of screws on the inside, remove the garnish ring, and the window comes right out. The old butyl rubber gets dry so you may want someone outside or put a few pieces of duct tape between window and outer wall when you remove the trim ring in case the butyl rubber is no longer holding. You don't want the window to fall out. Remove the window and scrape off the old butyl rubber from window and outer wall. Acetone and a rag cleans the residual butyl rubber off the wall and makes a good clean surface for new butyl rubber tape to seal to. The tape is not very expensive. One thing I don't like about our siding is that it isn't flat so the sides of the window doesn't want to seal well in the low spots. As you replace the screws in the garnish ring, I found that using a criss cross pattern of tightening the crews seemed to help pull the window in tighter and squish the butyl rubber better for a better seal on the sides.

That awning is in amazingly good shape. That alone is worth at least $600. Mine didn't have the original on it and it's a small fortune to replace. You did great getting that trailer for free. What year is that trailer?

I have no idea on the year. I would like to find out. Yea I don't think this camper was used much. I'll post better pictures in a minute. It is in good shape to be sitting for 25 to 30 years.

Where can I get that rubber at?

My 1981 camper looks similar to yours. When we bought it, was very moldy and few leaks in the ceiling, like misfit429 suggested, mixture of bleach and water works great and that is what I used on mine, in the attached picture, the tinted window is the only one I removed to seal with new butyl rubber tape, because when it rained, that window was letting water in, and after the window removal and reseal, it was still letting water in, and it turns out that the sheet metal few inches above the window had small hole in it, I sealed it with flexible sealant. so it was not necessary to go thru the process to remove the window, but that was for mine, yours may be different. enjoy your camper.

You can buy the Butyl rubber tape at any camper supply or online at any number of RV supply dealers. One of my favorite online places is adventurerv.com. They seem to have cheaper prices than most places. You dont have to remove your windows and reseal them but about 90% of forum members would recommend it. That is typically where most of these trailers develop leaks.

There should be a data plate somewhere giving the model number. First 2 digits of model are the length and last 2 are the year model

Here are some pictures. I'm posting more

Here some more lol

And some more

I will look into fixing window. But I lowered the camper so me and my buddy could fix the two small leaks in the back. At the shower vent and the sewer vent. Well when I went to raise it back up so we can start working on inside the cable that supports back half broke. The camper came down and luckily nothing is damaged on inside. But I have no idea about how to replace these cables. Has anyone done this? For the mean time i have it all supported by wood so weight is off hydraulics. Also found out cannot get the fridge to work, heater comes on but don't get hot and the stove does work.

Rebuilding a HiLo
 

Wow!! What a mess. It is all fixable. The question is how handy are you? How much time do you have? Do you have enough money to complete the project. Is it worth it? only you can answer these questions. If you want to proceed then I can give you posts to look up and advice. We have done extensive repairs to our HiLo including water damaged walls and removing all windows. The windows were then resealed. We also had a HiLo near us that was left to rot. The owner was a wealthy business man and just didn't care. You tube has a video on removing and resealing windows. It can easily be a DIY job.

I want to fix it. Considering I didn't pay anything for it I can't lose much money. I know cables can be replaced but I'm curious about how would you replace 2x4 that goes along bottom of the top half?

To replace the cable you have to jack the top half off the bottom half and put 2X4s across the corners then set top half on those. Then the top will be high enough to expose the 2X4 you want to replace. Cables are available through a company called Midget RV or JR Repair although JRs website is under construction and I haven't had any luck in getting an email response to my cable inquiry. Midget RV wants about $350 for a set of cables. May be possible to make your own cable but I wouldn't know how to go about it.

Why is it $350? Can't go buy steel cable same size online or at hardware store?

Yes, you can. And, you can actually increase the diameter a small amount if you want for more strength, I think. Ideally, you want aircraft spec cables, which have better quality control in the manufacturing process.

You have to swag loops in the ends of the cables with compression swags and a swagging tool, or, you can use the bolt on swags which don't need the special tool. This is a DIY job and you can save serious bucks doing it yourself.

You did a GREAT job cleaning the outside! I was ready to write it off when I saw the first "before" picture! A little paint, and it will be pretty again.

Looks like some pretty serious wall damage above the window and possibly in the ceiling. The cabinets in that area look pretty damaged too. It's fixable, but it will take some time.

Sounds like the heater is not lighting, but the fan is running? Mine has an electronic ignition, but I suspect the older ones may have had a propane pilot light? It's possibly just not lit.

The refrigerator makes no noise, so it's hard to tell if it's running. It will take a day to get cold if you are running it on shore power or on propane. DC operation is only for when you are towing and underway. It's possible the ammonia coolant has leaked out and I have no idea how to check it. Mine has a small inline fuse that is accessible from the outside and it is located at the bottom of the compartment. Look for a vent on the lower half of the trailer that can be removed. You could feel "carefully" for heat at the evaporator through this vent access. You might also be able to feel the fins in there, which should be warm if the thing is working. Other than testing for electrical power, and/or the gas flame, these are the only ways I know to check for operation. I'm sure other members have better ideas.

- Jack

The loop end of the cable which attaches to the top isn't hard to accomplish. The opposite end runs to a threaded shaft that goes through the frame and is how the top heigth is adjusted. I don't know how you would attach that end to the bolt other than cut a bit of cable off and use cable clamps to hold the cable together. Sounds a little bit scary to me. But it could be done.

Yea I will start getting the top jacked all the way up so I can work on the cables and 2x4. I just leveled the back after it broke so it wasn't sitting sideways last night. It's a project but it's in good shape so I hated to scrap it. I wanted to make a nice trailer out of the frame. But I thought it was in worse shape after sitting long as it did.

Pressure washers aren't recommended but I reckon you couldn't do much more damage. With pressure washers, you could be forcing water into pin holes, etc., causing more water damage. You did a great job on cleaning it up.

Yea I figured it wouldn't hurt since I'm going to fix water damage anyway. I didn't spend much time cleaning. Just took pressure washer to it. I will scrub outside later on to get it looking better.

Thanks for posting the link I need all help I can get.

Ruben found the pdf where making new cables is described and, you can see it's pretty simple. In my opinion, the hardest part is getting the length right. I think if I were doing it, I'd use the old cables to set the length - possibly shorten the new ones a bit to compensate for any stretch in the old ones.

The only way to apply enough force to stretch the new cables would be to use something like a chain link fence stretcher. There's no way you could do it by hand, like it was described in the pdf.

That was a good find, Ruben. I know I'd seen it before at some point, but I wasn't energetic enough to look for it again.

Edit: Just had a thought - you MIGHT be able to get enough pull by stretching the cable with a ratcheting cargo strap. I have four of these in my truck and find them useful for all sorts of tasks.

- Jack

I repaired my cables and I don't believe they were any where near $350. I think you will find that the cables from JR are about $30 each.
I was going to do the cables myself and the price difference amazed me. Not worth the hassle.
Plus you will get the correct lengths.
DO NOT PULL ALL OF THE CABLES AT ONCE. Do one cable at a time. There are more 2 different lengths.
When you do this remove and clean and re-grease ALL of the pulleys. There are many!!!!
Purge and refill hydraulic pump. This is accomplished by loosening the fitting on the end of the ram mechanism, and running the pump BRIEFLY until no more fluid.
Transmission fluid absorbs water from the air and will damage your pump. Leads to freezing.

The cost was right. Now the man hours need to be put in.

It is all do-able by a DYI guy.

The $350 price is off the Midget RV website. As JR's website is still under construction and they haven't returned my email inquiry I don't know what they charge. As I need to replace my cables over the winter I hope they are that much cheaper. That would be great! The article posted above about replacing the cables doesn't go into how to attach the bolt end to the cable which was my concern about building your own cables. He bought his cables and just had to make the loop end where it attaches to the top. Anyone know how to attach the bolts to the opposite end?

Couldn't you replace the OEM adjustment bolts with eye-bolts? Then, you could create the loop in that end through the eye. This is the approach I'd try first.

Another option would be to use the OEM bolts with a length of the original cable, which you would form into a swagged loop at its end. Then, you could create the loop in the new cable through this loop in the retained portion of the old cable.

- Jack

Misfit,

I see that you live in Texas City. There should be a few marine rigging places close to you. Look for those that specialize in sailboats. They can make cables with the proper threaded fittings swaged on one end.

Moreover, you can purchase swageless fittings that you can assemble yourself: do a web search for swageless stud. If you use these make sure that you also use the correct type of cable. Don't combine plated steel with stainless.

The eyebolt idea is a good one as long as you could find a good hardened steel eyebolt. The stuff you buy at HD or Lowes is made of a grade that I have a feeling would slowly be sawed by the cable and would eventually be cut through. I'm sure there are some marine rigging places around here and I may have to check into that. If the cables from JR are as cheap as someone else posted here, I don't know if you could have them custom made for that price or less. I wish JR would get their site up so I could get their pricing. It's been a couple of months since I sent them an email inquiry about their cable price and never heard anything back. I would like to replace the entire kit with pulleys and all but Midget RV wants over $500 for the entire kit of cables and pulleys.

Looks like JR has gotten a bit further along with their site but no pricing. They do have a number for parts pricing so I may give them a call and check it out.

Got an answering machine. Left a message for a price on cables and the entire cable/pulley kit. If they return my call I will update this thread with their prices.

I had a great dialog with Rob. He responded to my emails ASAP. Try giving them a call. He had my items packed and ready to ship even before I had paid for them and this was just about a month ago.

J and R TRAILER REPAIR
13230 Wooster Road Mount Vernon OH 43050
Phone 1 : 419-883-3001
Phone 2 : 740-392-1600
FaxLine : 740-392-1333

Email: jrrepair@centurylink.net

Website: https://www.jrrepair.embarqspace.com/

There would be next to NO relative movement between the cable and the eyebolt while the cable is in tension. You only have severe tension when the top is up, and, there is no relative movement there during raising or lowering either. I agree, hardened steel is best, but I doubt it is necessary.

And, the bolt itself does not need to twist when adjusting length. It just moves in and out.

- Jack

A couple of comments...

You need an eye bolt made for lifting, not a regular eye bolt. You can get load-rated lifting eye bolts at an industrial or fastener supply house.

The small diameter of the eye bolt material will put too much strain on the cable. To prevent a failure from bending/overload or fatigue you should use a thimble: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nd_ferrule.jpg. Thimbles sometimes need to be carefully opened up to get them around an eye bolt.

I could have done it myself and used a "wire rope" outfitter here in town for the swagging of the tension bolt.
But the length is the issue for fitment.
And after all of the sourcing of materials is was still way cheaper to get from J&R.
There are many pulleys for each wire, appox5- 6.
Remove and clean /regrease. I wouldn't buy new unless you have an issue. Do check them as they get deeper in the groove when under load. the cost was about $15 /per for the ones I needed. I didn't buy them.
But I am cheap!
They may not have for all models in stock but I believe they make the wire rope in house as needed.
They are busy and would love your message for their business to succeed. New building, etc
I have found them to be helpful, however hard to get a hold of. Call them back.
A typical eye nut tensioner from any store is a disaster in the making. Use the correct parts!!!!!

I agree Ren. There are some places you just shouldn't scrimp on. That's what holds the whole thing up. That would be like framing your house with particleboard to save some money.