 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / RVs / September 2006Replacing springs on old pop-up
I have an old 1969 Skamper tent trailer. It's so old that it's the spring-loaded kind (you push up each side by hand). Now, both springs are gone on one end, which makes it very heavy to lift. I've called around to various RV mechanics, but nobody in my area knows anything about how to replace the springs. Any help would be very much appreciated. Lynne  Signature~ BACK TO BASICS ~ "You are what you eat" Sugar Substitutes ~ Recipes ~ Milk Myths Natural Healing ~ Disease Prevention & Reversal http://www.geocities.com/mayflower1ca > I have an old 1969 Skamper tent trailer. It's so old that it's the > spring-loaded > kind (you push up each side by hand). Now, both springs are gone on one > end, which makes it very heavy to lift. I've called around to various RV > mechanics, but nobody in my area knows anything about how to replace the > springs. Any help would be very much appreciated. What can you tell us about the springs? What I'm picturing in my head is something like a miniature garage door spring (the kind that wraps around an axle) that helps you to lift the bed end on a hinge. I'm probably wrong. Draw us a word picture (or take a photo and post a link to it) so we can see what we're dealing with. Austin >> I have an old 1969 Skamper tent trailer. It's so old that it's the >> spring-loaded [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Austin Instead of cranking up the camper using cables, the whole unit is lifted by pushing each end up by hand. There are 4 sets of outside poles in each corner. There are 2 poles to each set and they are hinged with a spring way down inside the lower pole. The springs make each end go up very easily. When both springs are gone on one end, you have to lift the whole weight of that end, which is very heavy. The poles are riveted, so can't be separated to get to the spring. It seems that the springs and poles come as one unit, but someone who has experience with this type of pop-up would know for sure. Lynne The springs on my old camper were on the outside they acted like a scissor so when you pulled on the bars the spring was a helper. The other one I looked at had a preloaded spring underneath the unit at each end and worked like a garage door spring. I did replace mine as they were a bit light on help and had heavier ones put on. One note if you have them heavy enough you need more people to close it then open it... like 3 just to hold the top down to clamp it in place. It's funny to watch people when you open it though and only need a finger to lift it full upright and locked. Merlin it might help if you started with the make and model of the camper may give us some type of idea what you are dealing with and pictures would help a lot. Post them in one of the sharing sites and post only a link to them. >>> I have an old 1969 Skamper tent trailer. It's so old that it's the >>> spring-loaded [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > > Lynne > The springs on my old camper were on the outside they acted like a > scissor so when you pulled on the bars the spring was a helper. The [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > pictures would help a lot. Post them in one of the sharing sites and > post only a link to them. As stated, it's a 1969 Skamper (they didn't have separate models that far back). Here's a link to a pic. I don't know if that would be much help, as it's not a very good one. You can see the upright poles at the ends of either sides of the box. (Of course, there are two more on the other side.) The springs would be in the bottom pole with a hinge to the top one. When working, one person (even me!) can easily put it up and down. http://geocities.com/mayflower1ca/camper.html >>>> I have an old 1969 Skamper tent trailer. It's so old that it's the >>>> spring-loaded [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >>>> the >>>> springs. Any help would be very much appreciated. >> Instead of cranking up the camper using cables, the whole unit is >> lifted by [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >> >> Lynne From the Pic it looks as if it telescopes or do the lift arms fold in the middle? >> The springs on my old camper were on the outside they acted like a >> scissor so when you pulled on the bars the spring was a helper. The [quoted text clipped - 48 lines] >>> >>> Lynne > From the Pic it looks as if it telescopes or do the lift arms fold in > the middle? They fold in the middle where the hinge is, so the poles looks like > or < along the sides of the camper, when down. >>> The springs on my old camper were on the outside they acted like a >>> scissor so when you pulled on the bars the spring was a helper. The [quoted text clipped - 49 lines] >>>> >>>> Lynne I don't know if they still carry them, but Camping World used to sell a complete replacement set for this type of lift mechanism...lots of the old campers (Skamper, Nimrod, Wheel, etc.) used them. Check out the CW website, or give them a call. Warren S. Moore 1995 Coleman arcadia > I have an old 1969 Skamper tent trailer. It's so old that > it's the spring-loaded [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Lynne |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.