Fleetwood Neon

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Dec 25, 2005
Threads
194
Messages
1,547
Location
Just past the middle of nowhere in South Texas
Anyone have experience with the Fleetwood Neon pop-up campers and can share what you think about them? I'm looking for a low budget camper I can pull behind my 100 series that will sleep 3 to 4 people (2 adults 2 kids). How do they pull at highway + speeds?

What's a fair price for one that is 5 to 6 years old in good condition?

Thanks!
 
What kind of camping are you planning? I rebuild and repair all sorts of pop-ups and don't see to many that will take rough roads and stay together for to many years. Stick and staple construction is what we call it. Some of the older trailers used sheet metal and tubular frames that aren't as susceptible to rattling apart.

Also, things they put into these newer units are a little strange to me, from a practicality point of view, such as an indoor toilet and shower. An outdoor shower stall and porta-toilet allows the use of the trailer even when someone has to go poop without gassing every one and offers a higher degree of privacy and more living space.

Additionally, Fleetwood used to make their pop-ups in Rialto CA under the licensed name of Coleman. These two companies sued each other for several years with Fleetwood losing. I don't know the particulars of that but would seriously question a start-up "Neon" model. You might be able to search out a second hand Fleetwood Scorpion which was marketed as an off-road trailer. These were a little stronger build.

I suggest you shop Craigslist and don't, I repeat, don't, buy the first one you see. Things that will always need to be R&R'd are the up and down components so I would plan on doing that before going out. Clean and disinfect everything and replace the tires. Four years old max. You can find these on the shelf at Redneck Trailer Supply and Wally World for about $85 each including rim.

I have a 1984 Coleman on the rack now that the customer paid $700 for. The up and down system is being converted to an electric winch for $650. Sweet deal and he will have less than $2000.00 invested after it is all dressed up. An employee of mine just hurt my feelings yesterday after he paid $200 for a 1999 pop up purchase at auction from a storage facility.
 
Thanks for the advice. The neon I was considering was a little older model that the owner "improved" to manage offload conditions. I spoken with him a few times and he seemed pretty straightforward on things. He ended up deciding to keep it.

Going to be doing more research and will take my time so I'm happy with what I end up with. Much to my wife's unhappiness, I am steering clear of any with indoor lavatory and shower facilities. Just seems like issues waiting to happen.

Thanks again.
 
I would love a Neon, they are just hard to find and kind of expensive typically. From what I understand the Neon was built on a better chassis than other pop ups, along with the Cobalt and Graphite from the same line.
 
From what I have seen the "off road" pop up trailers are built exactly like the regular pop-ups but with a SOA conversion and hub upgrade.

We bought a used Starcraft pop-up with a 10' box and I did the SOA and hub conversion my self. We went from a 4 lug 10" wheel to a 5 lug 14" wheel, this is substantially stronger and adds clearance.

mschliebs is 100% correct that the cabinet construction will not hold up to rough roads. As stuff falls apart I am repairing with screws and glue. :meh:

The other failure point I have found on regular trailers is the frame, I had to gusset the corners on our 13' travel trailer after a few years of Forest Service roads. The main frame has two heavy sections that run inside the wheels, the rest of the frame extends off the main frame rails and supports the walls etc. This part is usually lighter metal and the welds into the main frame are the failure points.

FWIW I barely know the trailer is behind my 100.

This thread on Expedition Portal covers my trailer build

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...Bird?p=276182&highlight=goony+bird#post276182
 
Back
Top Bottom