New Project 4x4 Camper

Hello, My name is Jeff and I have always had a Bronco or K5 blazer since I could drive. I have been planning to build a custom one off fiberglass pop up camper for a few year now and was going to start this summer. I was on craigslist the other day though and scored on a pop up camper for only 50 bucks from this 85 year old guy who was the original owner. The camper came with everything from the tie downs to the original paper work from 1983. This thing is in great condition for the age and everything works like new. I have it mounted on the truck to test fit. I'm working on making a custom B piller panel to make a pass-through which will move it forward 6 inches so the rear of the camper lines up to the end of the tailgate so it doesnt have as much over hang and a better center of gravity. Im also going to remodel the interior starting with painting the wood paneling new wood flooring and reupholstering everything.

I just talked to a guy on craigslist with a stock topper im picking up in the next few days.  Im going to chop up the stock topper and mold it to the camper to seal the B piller to the camper and fill the gap on the bed rails.  This will also allow me to use the stock mounting bolts to mount the camper vs any of the normal camper tie downs.  Im also going to make a custom pass-through to access the camper from the front seats.

Cool, good luck on your project  /  Welcome to the Zone  >< <'>

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Yo Jeff,

Welcome!

Looking forward to your project and the pics.

The camper owner really took care of it. Looks like the commonly missing items are still intact, such as knobs, pulls, etc.

please fill out Signature with your Bronco's year, engine/tranny/Xfer case/hub type info & major mods such as a Lift, etc. for better responses.

Sounds good ill fill out the signature section now.  This camper is so complete it even has all the owners manuals and warrenty cards and everything works like new.  Even the power converter has 3 110v plug in's and came with the adpater to run off the truck battery.  I'm replaceing the electrical system though and adding a few trojan T-105's solar panels and charge controller.

Yo,

Thanks!

Here is a b pillar mod. pic in a Lite-Craft Camper in an 89; "...1994 Lite-Craft Camper; Sleeps up to 4. Propane 3 burner stove, propane refrigerator, propane heater and thermostat. Propane refrigerator. Electric lights. 6 gallon fresh water tank. Electric water pump / Sink. 2 closets and storage cabinets. Battery / electric converter. Couch that coverts to full bed. Extra storage under couch. Full size bed over cab. Removable dining table and dining table storage. Gun storage. Portable chemical toilet and window air conditioner & bracket..."

miesk5 thanks for the post with the B pillar mod info.  I'm going to start modding mine soon as the rain quits... Lets hope in the next 2-3 days.  Get this thing molded to the truck and pass-through cut out... then im gutting the interior and rebuilding it from scratch :/  Kinda bitter sweet with how nice the original interior looks but the laminate is starting to peel and the wood paneling and dark upholstery just doesnt work for me.  I'm going to try and reuse the fridge, heater, stove and sink. I just want to make new cabinets out of quality wood, hard wood flooring, changing out the insulation for closed cell foam, fiberglass paneling on the walls and all new upholstery.

I checked that link out and just like most of the internet pictures and post they dont show much on how these things are mounted to the truck.  I believe the campers that where made for these trucks like in the link dont have a floor like normal truck bed campers and just mount straight to the bed rails.  I got a good idea how im going to mount the camper while keeping the original floor for storing the camper off the truck.

Yo, ok.

You will have a very popular project here.

Suggest starting it in General Ford Bronco Discussion section.

You take great pics btw!

Will do going to start a new post in the General Ford Bronco Discussion section and Ill take pictures every step of the way on.

Yo,

Hear me clapping?

Picking up the extra stock topper today woot woot.  Its going to rain though for the next 2 days but then I got like 4 sunny days in a row to work on the camper.

Yo,

Good!

Some info for you:

Swap, between 66-77, 78-79, 80-91, 92-96; "...78-79 fiberglass with integral steel roll bar inside rear lip; sliding or fixed side windows; 80-91 fiberglass with integral steel roll bar inside rear lip; sliding (up to 83) or fixed side windows; 92-96 fiberglass with integral steel roll bar inside rear lip attached to mounting plate & alignment pin; fixed side windows; The only groups that you can interchange are 80-96 with some modifications. 80-83 sliding side windows directly fit 80-96 shells. 78-91 Broncos use 4 short bolts (8mm head, 6x1.00x40mm) on each bedrail & 5 long bolts (8mm head, 6x1.00x70mm) in the upper sections. All bolts thread into U-nuts, except the 2 upper corners & the 2 rear corners which use captive nut plates. The bedrail bolts each use a clip stamped "L" or "R", but the rearmost bolts use the opposite clip. The clips for the B-pillar bolts are not marked, but the smaller tab goes down. 92-96 Broncos use 5 short bolts (tamper T-40 head, 8x1.25x30mm) on each bedrail & 5 long bolts (tamper T-40 head, 8x1.25x60mm) in the upper sections. All bolts thread into U-nuts, except the 2 upper corners & the 4 rear corners which use captive nut plates. The bedrail bolts each use a clip stamped "L" or "R", except the rearmost bolts. The clips for the B-pillar bolts are not marked, but the smaller tab goes down. There are also nut plates in 4 of the camper shell bolt holes: the 2 rearmost, and the 2 outboard at the top of the cab. They're just a heavy plate (1/4"?) with a threaded hole...."; miesk5 NOTE; 92-96 have rear seat shoulder belt mounting points & 3rd brake lights

Cross-Section Structure pics in 80-96; Chris said that thye metal structure is about an 1/8-3/16" thick

Source: by Chris B (Blue, bronco boy) at

http://web.archive.org/web/20080508201629/http://chrisb.users.superford.org/Bronco/Projects/Cutting_of_the_Top/Cutting_of_the_Top.html

Painting info; 1 DO NOT use chemical stripper (I was stripping the entire truck) it's made of SMC(sheet molded compound) and the texture is sprayed on 2 Dont use a DA. You'll sand the splatter pattern off it 3 Scuff it with red scuff pads (3M) 4 Seal with epoxy primer (I used PPG DP-40) 5)Paint, but mix with the desired amount (25-30%) of flattening agent (PPG DX685 - this stuff is weird/smells bad but works; unshaken/unstirred it looks like a sticky golf ball soaking in what I perceive elephant *** would look like). Too much flattening agent and the top will become chalky after a few yews and too little makes it look funny (too glossy). My truck is the newer '98 Expedition white (paint code YZ maybe). I used PPG, DAU product line on this one. If you do this is how I mixed: Color (DAU)16oz; Hardener(DU2)16 oz; Flattener(DX685)10oz (up to 12); Reducer 1.5- 2 oz. The PPG DX685 Chart on the cut sheet is helpful on other PPG lines; Form P-162 (9/96)..."

Source: by j. r. Nice (J. R. N)

Thanks for the info I knew there where differences in the toppers based on what year it's off of.  The used one I got off craigslist was off a 93 and should mount just like the stock 96 topper.  I'm going to get new longer bolts with a different style head to make up the mounting depth the camper makes and so I dont got to deal with stripping the torx security style head bolts.  I hate the Torx security bolts and already replaced them on my 1990 K5 Blazer.

Yo Jeff,

Hate is a strong word...lol

I agree on torx fasteners. Ford and others used them for faster robotic production lines as well as for "security" purposes so that folks can not readily remove stuff thus increasing dealership visits.

Haha Ok maybe I don't hate them just dislike them with passion /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />  I was wondering why they switched to the torx fasteners... Damn Robots