did you have to lengthen the stabilizers? i think mine would be to short if it went much higher
cheap wanna be off road pop up
- Thread starter ginericLC
- Start date
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nice window shot. did she know you were taking pix, or are we just lucky?
Damnit.........I'm very disappointed in myself.....i had to go back and look at the picture, I totally missed it!!
By the way, great wheel choice!!
- Thread starter
- #24
Yes they need to be lengthened. this is on my to do list. Right now I've been using jackstands in the rear and the jack in the front. I've also used blocks of wood. However, I found some on a bigger camper that will work perfectly. I just haven't been to the RV dealer to look them up in their catalog.
rusty_tlc
Dain Bramaged Member
8 Ply or 10 Ply?BTW I got a lead on a 2000 Jayco 8" box for $2K. We are going to take a look at it Friday.
If you plan on lifting your camper the stabilizer jacks are a MUST especially if you want to get up high in Colorado, it's hard to find level places up there. These look promising and similar to what the Jayco Baja uses. You can get them up to 31" but need to expect to pay up to $350 for the set.
- Thread starter
- #28
BTW I got a lead on a 2000 Jayco 8" box for $2K. We are going to take a look at it Friday.
8 ply but rated 10. What I wonder about is what the 10 ply ones would be rated?
rusty_tlc
Dain Bramaged Member
good question. I'm reminded of the classic exchange from "This is Spinal Tap";
Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don't know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.
Great thread and thanks for the inspiration. Any more updates on the Starcraft buildup? We have a new-to-us a 2406 (12 ft box) Starcraft Venture that we just purchased this year. We've only used it 3 times but I'm already day-dreaming of modifications to lift and extend the frame in a similar fashion.
Ditto on the request for pics and summary of the spring over lift. I already have one saggy spring so I'd like to lift and install trailer brakes this winter. Still Can't believe that brakes were an option on a 2700lb trailer.
I was thinking of keeping the tongue intact and moving the batteries to the inside somewhere and then moving the propane tank forward a bit to make room for a single platform to mount a dirt bike. I like the extend idea though to allow for the option of mounting another bike or a quad for my wife and kid(s)- my daughter is 10mos old so I've got a few years before that is a concern.
Ditto on the request for pics and summary of the spring over lift. I already have one saggy spring so I'd like to lift and install trailer brakes this winter. Still Can't believe that brakes were an option on a 2700lb trailer.
I was thinking of keeping the tongue intact and moving the batteries to the inside somewhere and then moving the propane tank forward a bit to make room for a single platform to mount a dirt bike. I like the extend idea though to allow for the option of mounting another bike or a quad for my wife and kid(s)- my daughter is 10mos old so I've got a few years before that is a concern.
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- Thread starter
- #32
I was just thinking about this last night in my sleeplessness. I haven't done any further mods. I can tell you one thing. Don't do a SOA with the stock springs. They will bend. I did that at first with the stock axle. When I put the new axle on I used longer springs and I cut the old mounts off and then centered the new mounts adding in for added length using the original mounts as a guide. I'm going to build a new A for the front of the trailer to extend it to put a custom box for my wife's art work. I'm thinking of making rollers for it so we could pull it out to get to the paintings quickly. I've also decided I will build the box out of plywood and then polyurethane it inside and out and then bedliner the exterior with aluminum corner trim and some diamond plate splash guards. I have a front hatch from an Aliner expedition that I might use for top access to the compartment. I'll just have to see how the winter goes.
alia176
SILVER Star
Just curious, are you folks trying to turn a popup into a serious offroad unit or simply after a "little" more ground clearance? If the answer is a serious offroad unit, then it seems like a pretty serious task! These things are just tad too heavy and wide for serious offroading. However, if you want more ground clearance for clearing the plumbing and travel the occasional dirt roads with small rocks and ruts, then a spring over makes sense.
Again, just curious....
Again, just curious....
- Thread starter
- #34
The first reason for doing it was to get it to line up with my 80. Even with an 8" drop hitch I couldn't tow it without dragging the rear end.
The second reason is that I travel on a lot of forest service roads and gravel roads. When I want to camp I might be crossing a small ditch or have to go over a rock or two to get where I want to go.
There is no way to make a pop up into what I consider an off road trailer. Trying to drag a pop up through the Rubicon or like trails would just be insane. Even the guys who drag the dedicated small off road trailers through a trail like that have issues. The spotting involved to get a trailer through a tough trail would thoroughly exhaust my wife. And if she isn't camping with me I just sleep in the Cruiser or the tent. So it would be pointless to drag it along.
The second reason is that I travel on a lot of forest service roads and gravel roads. When I want to camp I might be crossing a small ditch or have to go over a rock or two to get where I want to go.
There is no way to make a pop up into what I consider an off road trailer. Trying to drag a pop up through the Rubicon or like trails would just be insane. Even the guys who drag the dedicated small off road trailers through a trail like that have issues. The spotting involved to get a trailer through a tough trail would thoroughly exhaust my wife. And if she isn't camping with me I just sleep in the Cruiser or the tent. So it would be pointless to drag it along.
Well put GenericLC! I don't do any serious wheeling with the trailer attached - just want to get off the beaten path occasionally when we camp so we can let our Boxer run free and not have to worry about other campers if our daughters cries in the middle of the night. There is quite a bit of plumbing, cabling and wiring underneath these things and I've already had one camping trip almost completely ruined when we tried to take our first pop-up (a vintage '85 Starcraft) through some mildly rutted trails and almost ripped the rear bumper off. When we got to our camp-spot and tried to crank the roof up, I realized one of the cables had snapped. Luckily I had some spare cable clamps and was able to MacGuiver it but I don't want to be in that predicament again.
- Thread starter
- #37
The Fleetwood RV is a lot nicer camper than what I have. The sunbrella rather than vinyl. The chassis is a lot more rugged. There were a lot of things I liked about it. But it still has the same problems as mine does, it isn't really an off road tent camper. I guess it could be considered off road, just not by my definition. My definition is it is a road if it has ever had any maintenance done to it.
true, but a step in the right direction.....
giver the Fleetwood a suspension lift and bigger rubber?
Cactus, a simple spring over does quite abit to get an older popup off the ground. Others call it flipping the axle. Afternoon worth of work. My dad did that to a 70 something Starcraft, it has seen alot of country that way.