I've added a links section, toward bottom of page are links to others project pages, forums, other sites and my other pages. If you've stumbled across this and haven't visited the RV.net forum - check them out-a wealth of information!! Whether your a tinker or not.

                                   
Virtual Campers visiting last revision 09/13/09

Site map Simple list of pages, not as descriptive as below, but if your searching for something in particular might be easier. Below are listed by date most of the modification/additions to our camper.

04/22/01

Add air springs to truck.
When I left the waiting room to see our newly installed camper on the truck....Oh-Oh, sure is a lot bigger on truck. "Oh your truck will handle it fine" (yea well the salesman didn't have to drive it), trip home with our new camper was SCARY. I had ordered air bags when we decided on camper but hadn't installed yet. Got home and installed air bags. This helped tremendously with the camper bouncing on the springs, and virtually got rid of the really bad lean going around corners. Pretty straight forward install. [update: add in dash control, see below]

05/14/01

Raise main wardrobe closet door 2" over bed and add spacer to bottom of opening to allow more room between door and bed. Lying anything on bed or extra blankets got to be a pain.

05/01

removed under bed storage (was flip up platform entire bed X 6" deep ~75#). More headroom & this allows us to sit up in the bed +plus got rid of weight especially off nose of camper. I've used some of the wood in other mods. Kinda defeated the raising of the closet door.

05/01

added several shelves in various cabinets, the cabinets by the bed didn't have any. Add shelf & spring loaded rods in front of under sink cabinet, Stuff was always falling out when you opened the door. Added shelf in tv cabinet. (We were using a 5" tv and the cabinet was wasted space.)

05/01

Installed folding Alum scissor steps (our 4X4 diesel with basement camper is a LONG ways off the ground)

06/01

Install new Swing out TV shelf to outside of TV cabinet (freeing up cabinet for supplies). Had to move cable plug to outside of cabinet which involved cutting hole thru wall and installing receptacle from outside. Shelf swings over small bed cabinet, resting on trim and latches to wall for traveling.

06/01

Add a fold out hand rail to aid walking up the steps.

06/01

Add a second battery to camper with Perko switch. Enlarged existing cabinet in rear of camper for larger door. Add battery box, rewire for both batteries to main switch. One camper battery didn't cut it plus now I turn them off (or select 1,2 or both)

06/01

add Rancho 9000 shocks to truck-unbelievable difference in the sway and the way the camper rides.

09/01

add bullet reading lights over bed.

04/02

Add second water pump switch and pilot light in bath,.... rewire so that either switch can turn on/off the water pump from either location (Sometimes we now play dueling switches) Just 1 to many times had to go back to kitchen to turn water on....Used 3 way switches added led to bath switch. Original switch in kitchen now only functions as pilot light (see added switch in pic). Hardest part of this mod was having to wire the main switch in the kitchen from the back side of the drawer cabinet. The main panel is in a solid wall so new wires go from under sink to drawer cabinet to switch

04/02

Change light over dinette to Florescent (see also 12/04 added over kitchen area)

05/02- Update 04/08

Remove spare tire hoist, rotate so it points to right rear fender well, reinstall. With the over hang of the camper and being to close to the bumper for other options you couldn't insert the rod into mech to lower spare tire. Others have used flexible cable, left rod in and use ratchet, if you do a search on the forums you'll find lots of post. I seem to be the only one I can find that simply rotated the hoist assembly. It was pretty simple on our 01 F250. All of the other options I've seen would require me, at least on our unit, to lay on the ground to access the hoist, and still would be difficult. I had already moved previously installed air bag fill fittings from bumper to fender well.

06/02

Camper slides, underbed rail lights. Cut strips of PTF and attached to bottom edge of camper. Also pics of under bed rail lights for loading camper at night, sst tailgate pillar covers & reinforced bed cargo tiedowns

06/02

Install exterior 110 volt weather proof receptacle to rear of camper

07/02

Add a slide out topper, our camper didn't come with one. Made a HUGE difference in the amount of sound. Now we can actually sleep when it rains. Before the rain was soooo loud hitting the slide out roof. It also keeps some of the debris off.

09/02

Changed generator door screen to louvers.

09/02

Screened all vents. At same time changed gen screen I hot glued window screen to all vents, water heater/refer/heater etc. We were camped some place and got invaded with these lil brown beetles. They literally filled up the gas tube of the water heater, couldn't get it to light, when it finally lit -whooommphh, and blew out a cloud a lil fried beetles. I don't know why they were in there but they caused the gas to build up before the ignitor. I've had wasps in the refer vents.

06/03

Install back up lights-rubber tractor style mounted to rear camper bumper.

07/03

Painted bottom of camper & rear over hangs ,flat black & textured.

07/03

Add Tork-Lift camper tie downs. I had removed Happy jack mounts to have re powder coated when we lined bed of truck and noticed they had started bending up the outside of the bed+plus rear Ford bumper you had to tighten turnbuckles till the bumper touched truck to get any resemblance of being tight. This style of mount is the only way to go for a heavy and especially a tall camper. Its now tied to the frame and not mounted to sheet metal. It feels much more secure.

02/04

Add air bag compressor and in dash controls to truck. After airing down to level truck last winter- re airing rear air bags in major storm convinced to put on in dash controls. Added kit with 2-gal air tank. This project took 2 weekends. Its a 2 hr bolt in but I did a custom fab'd mount for tank and compressor (with the help of a good friend) up between walls of bed. Cut dash to install switches and rout air intake behind seat.

02/04

Add "special temporary" CB Antenna mount I was using a magnetic antenna on truck that was chewing up the paint. Decided to finally fix so I could use radio with camper on or off. I added an new antenna mount to truck, and at the same time I added a bracket to the roof rail for camper antenna. Modified the truck mount so there's a female connector on it for plugging in camper antenna. When camper goes on I remove truck mast and screw in camper ant wire.To-do..I've yet to add a plate on roof, hard mount antenna& wire and run wire thru camper to forward bulkhead. Currently its a small magnetic antenna with wire running outside-down camper wall.

06/04

Cut dinette blinds scalloped foo-foo valances to minimum. They arched down toward the corners-some one was real proud when they designed these and they kind of interfered with the viewing area out the window. Looks a lot cleaner- you can see modified valance in cushion pics. I had already cut the one over the bed, was always banging my head on it. Pic of modified valance on dinette (next) page.

10/04

Built a LARGE back cushion for dinette. Now you can lean back comfortably-almost recline. Biggest gripes with truck campers is no place to sit very long comfortably. Its a separate cushion so we can move it. I've noted on some new campers you can actually get recliners.

11/04

Change light over sink to Florescent. I had bought leds to change out bulbs but they put out 1/3 the light so they got placed in fixtures over the bed. They were pricey-there designed to replace bulbs in flat fixtures that are in most RVs-other than the out put there kinda cool- but I was really disappointed in the output

12/04

Built camper stands Camper is real unsteady on just the jacks. I didn't trust it at all plus cant be good for the structure. These camper stands take most of the weight when parked in the drive.

12/04

Add Pur water filter to kitchen. Simple unit that screws to faucet. Seems like most places the water isn't that great. We carried a lot of bottled water

02/05

Add switches to power supply for Atwood jacks The only way to turn them off was to shut down whole camper, Plus I didn't know how the jacks were wired or where the fuses were.

04/05

Well finally picked up a small scooter (read small scooter-50cc step thru). Spent a couple of weekends building a rack. Bought a Hidden Hitch front receiver, added a plug for turn signals on the rack. Pretty cool for getting round the camp-running short errands-registering, gettin to the trial head etc. Its not rated for hiway & and were thinking we shoulda got a small M/C maybe. But it'll work for awhile. Kinda don't like seeing the bike in the front but it rides ok. Lots of fun though. Ill be great for sightseeing short trips.

05/05

The dreaded Dometic refrigerator "check light" syndrome.
Finally got tried of refer check light -every time you turn around it'd be on. Forums clued me to the "Dino" control board replacement. Worth the money-.

07/05

Replaced old AC/DC VCR combo tube tv

11/05

Added a rear awning to camper. Keeps the water out in the rain, offers a bit of shade for back of camper.

12/05

Added a small accumulator after water pump. WOW HIGHLY recommend this

02/06

New door glass Replace opaque glass in rear door.

03/06

Install Wave 3 heater in camper. Replace furnace that used way to much power. This also allowed us to build/add an additional & much needed larger drawer and cabinet space.

06/06

Reading lights, updated-added Littllites 18" flexible gooseneck reading lights.

09/06

Solar Panel
We bit the bullet and added a solar panel  

12/06

Replaced camper batteries-yes a maintenance item. Now have 2 group 29 batteries-kinda hard to find. My solar controller is actually reaching float stage, never did on old batteries-and max holding was 12.2volts, for bout 2 hours. Yup, time to replace.
I also rewired entire system. When I added second batt previously (06/01) I just ran + to batt selector switch and - to common ground. Though it worked, batteries probably never really equalized (plus stock batt was a 27). Since solar made selector functionless I decided to rewire for true Parallel, tieing both the batteries together, + to +, - to -. Camper & solar each now grab pos. from batt 1, neg. from batt 2.

12/06

Install Torklift superhitch We picked a boat so needed a extended receiver, plus now I can tow.

02/07

Adding some adjustability to our scissor steps for unlevel ground, plus be able to raise when camper is way off the ground and steps don't reach.

05/07

Pick up a portable tote along auxiliary holding tank, added a mounting bracket.

04/08

Dual Rear Wheel Conversion with Arrowcraft kit.

05/08

Water filterRelocate added exterior filter, new mount.

09/08

Saved by Valley Ford, mechanical breakdown on road almost ruined our vacation but for the efforts of the folks at Valley Ford In Hanford CA.

01/09

Install weather proof antenna connection box When installing new DTV box discovered I had no antenna, replace problematic roof coax connection.

01/09

Installed insulation, on 'tin' boxes, sealed wall penetrations, generally try to make more cold weather tight. (15 pics)

01/09

Increase slide step storage While doing the Insulation I had to access area in slide step box. Hey I could move that lil divider....easy 10 min job (lil heavy on pictures)

02/09

Add refrigerator relay controlled by truck to turn refrigerator on/off while on the road.

02/09

Wire in a constant duty solenoid for new 12V charge line.

03/09

Rubber wheels & tires for portable tote along waste tank.

03/09

Modified wire rack for dvd storage to hang on wall at foot of bed.

08/09

Upgrade Converter Replace Magnetek 6345 converter/charger with Progressive Dynamics PD4645 3 stage converter.

08/09

Added a "deck lid" water tank access port.Cut a hole in our water tank and add the screw in clear lid. For cleaning, just looking at the inside but mostly for refilling the tanks in those far away lands

09/09

Replaced stove vent hood fan motor with CPU muffin fan/motor assy. quiet

10/09

Replaced Slide out topper fabric Margaret & I replaced our delaminating slide topper fabric in bout 30 minuets

10/09

Repair roof seams with sealing tape Cover front edge seam and redo rear seam.

10/09

Paint rear door window frame. Use spray paint for plastic to freshen up yellowing plastic window frame. Theres no real information here. just spray painting, the ONLY reason I added to this page is for some (like me) it just may not have occured to simply paint the offending piece(s) of plastic....

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We really like our camper- mods mostly are things that make it more comfortable for us. So its your camper-DO-IT.

Plans for the future-


• a sliding battery tray to make it easier to check batteries/water.
  
• I'm sure something will come up.

  
  Comments/question/suggestions: ...
  

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  LINKS All (but my other pages) links will take you outside of our site-bookmark if you'd like to come back

  If you've been here before you'll note the list is short. I've come across some great personal Camper project/mod/repair pages, and would list them here, unfortunately folks give up/ move on or decided there not worth keeping and the info (and page) no longer exist, Keeping a links page current can be difficult, I've heard that most personal pages/web sites have a life span of a few months. A list of dead links is frustrating so Im not adding any new ones. The WWW is amazing, how much info is out there is just mind boggling, however its just not easy at times to find it. So if your looking for something specific, try different search engines, TRY the forums.....

  Forums have sections that are general and sections that are specific to Rv type.
  THE RV forum!
  Trailer Life another link to forum
  projects page listing of threads to project specific topics on the RV.net forum
  Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum Ford truck forum
  Ranger-Forums.com Ford Ranger forum (My commuter)
  RCCrawler.com Yup a forum for every thing, this is dedicated to radio control Rock crawling rigs/scalers-too much fun

  Organizations

  North American Truck Camper Owners Association, Check em out.

  Online mags/info
  Truck Camper Magazineon line mag-pretty cool

  A few Good home Camper modification pages (I know what I said-but if you like ill add yours here...)
  NETBOYs project page, individuals home page with lots o trick ideas
  pics of mods/550 & camper4-way pivot solar mounts I'm copying!
  Nice home built battery slide tray
  pics of refer board install (dino board replacement), storage ideas & more.
  The 12Volt side of life excellent reading-good info on yer basics

  For the REAL 'Do It Youselfer" Fun stuff
  Glen L RV plans to build your own camper! Shells/trailers & Truck campers & more, lots of choices
  Tear drop trailer plans-Just very cool...Tear drop.net

  My other pages
  Our f250 (tobedone) This is basically a list of the modifications made to our truck. Most because of the camper.
  Axial AX10 Scorpion, One of my other hobbies, radio control rock crawler. built a jeep body for it to resemble our 82 CJ7
  My 04 Ranger Current commuter, retired the F250 truck to camp & work stuff instead of daily driver
  Our '82 Jeep CJ 7 page
  San Luis Obispo County Four Wheel Drive Club aka SLO 4-Wheelers 4WD club were a member of
  

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