squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

[Tom Slick]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

sub directory isn't working ? I get to your home page, but can't see the avion dir

[Tom Slick]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

sub directory isn't working ? I get to your home page, but can't see the avion dir

is working now - and admit to being a bit jealous. That's going to be cool. Looks to be in pretty dang nice condition.

[squirrel]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

Thanks! It has definitely had some water inside, but it's not very bad as they go. no mold, or smells, or animals have appeared yet, so it should be relatively easy to get it all working again. The guy I got it from said he had it about 10 years and never did anything with it. He said he covered up the missing roof vent...but I kind of doubt it was covered very often (the day I looked at it the vent was open to the sky, and it was sprinkling as I left)

I got it off the trailer, it's resting precariously 3 feet up in the air on some steel saw horses and jack stands. I have to design a rolling box to set it on so I can wheel it into the shop, the door is 9' tall and it's higher than that right now (and will be when it's on the truck, too).

And I have to figure out jacks so I can get it back down. I used the floor jack, resting on the car trailer, to get it up as high as it is now.

But I'm off to the high school to help the kids figure out what kind of robot to build. I'll be pretty busy with robots the next 6 weeks, most likely.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

two stacks of pallets are your friend when loading/unloading (just above the level of the tailgate when unloaded)..... I retract what I say about its weight.... Avion/Airstream were known for their aluminum skins and aluminum frames - there were really light compared to the other campers (of which I've had 2).

I'm quite jealous as avion is the high end airstream (which was top of the market). Best part about water in your camper, if it is the aluminum frame, is you just have to replace a bit of sheeting on the inside of the walls

[squirrel]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

It looks like the only water damage might be the plywood at the floor and "wings". It does look really solid overall. But there are quite a few dents on the outside skin.

I guess I need to find some pallets....hmmm.....thanks for the suggestion!

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

when you load it - jack it just off the front pallets, back up to the back pallets, lower the jack, move them back to center, then lift the entire camper and back the rest of the way under... then when if it falls, it just 'falls' into the bed.... (stupid campers and their spindly jacks >)

[Tom Slick]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

I think it's been suggested already... but if you have to put it on 4x4's to get it to clearance, can you put forks on the dozer?

[squirrel]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

I doubt the bulldozer is going to be helpful with the camper....the bull in a china shop comes to mind

But I did get some of the hydraulic camper jacks working. I need to take them apart a little bit and see if I can tighten the packing nuts. The company that made them is still around, I was able to download the repair instructions. But the jacks are not original, and there's a serious stability problem--they pivot, but don't have the original tripod bases, so when it's on the jacks, it will fall over. I need to figure out a solution...either attach the jacks firmly to the camper, or add wide bases to them. Or get some other jacks or something.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

the side jacks, even with the wide bases, are terribly unstable - thus the suggestion about pallets.

your camper has an issue that makes it a bit difficult - no straight, tight corners where you can attach normal camper jacks...

[squirrel]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

I was thinking about it more, I will see if I can make some braces to attach to the lower part of the main jack tube, and also to the camper, at a 45 degree angle (in the same plane as the side of the camper). This will keep each jack from pivoting in it's "socket", so it can't fall forward or backwards. The sockets and the pins on the jacks will keep it from moving sideways while raising/lowering.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

I always wondered why they didn't make folding jacks that attached to the flat point that is over the rail. 80% of the weight is on the front jacks - so realistically you could make feet for the back that fold down (where the floor is behind the bumper) and jack just the front up 2 or so feet.... would be far more stable....

you haven't lived until you've had a camper start to walk on you while you're trying to load or unload it... :-\

[squirrel]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

The more I think about it, the more difficult it gets.....but I sure do appreciate reading about your experiences

[Tom Slick]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

I'm thinking boat house lifts and wondering if that might be adaptable? The one I'm thinking of had a central electric motor driven rotating pipe that the cable / straps wrapped themselves around like a winch drum.

[milner351]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

Jim - how often do you think you'll be taking the camper on and off the truck?

I'm thinking of something more simple like a free standing frame you back the truck into, then use bottle jacks or floor jacks in a progression to change the load bearing from the truck to the stand.... or even just deflate the trucks tires sufficiently to "unload" the truck and load the stand, then drive the truck out from under it.

[squirrel]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

I'm not sure how often I'll be taking it on and off, that's a good point. I'd figure a few times a year, but that's just a guess.

Interesting ideas....I'll keep thinking

Another possibility is building a lean to off the side of the shop, make it strong enough to hang the camper off of for raising it off the truck. I'd like to either take it off the truck to store it in the shop, or make a place outside with sufficient clearance to put the truck and/or camper in, to keep it out of the weather.