Hello, from Flint, Michigan

[FlintBound]

Hi everyone. I'm a new proud owner of a 1979 13' Scamp. I'd been looking for a while, and lucked into this one. It will be cozy for my wife and three small boys, but possibly combined with a tent, we'll be fine. It fits some of the needs my family needs and can be easily towed by our mini-van. I'm trying to add a picture, but I'm not sure I'm doing it correctly. I'll figure it out.



Anyway, I'm excited to take this camping and to tinker with it to make it ours.

[MC1]

Nice! You should get years of enjoyment out of this one.

Three small ones and the wife. Who's sleeping in the tent????..........YOU??? :7)

[Jon in AZ]

Welcome, Jacob!

Someone's done some nice work on that Scamp. Any idea about the axle? Age of the tires? Last bearing service?

Yup, it will be tight for the five of you, but I'm sure you'll make it work, and your boys will be having a blast!

[emij]

Very cute! You'll have so much fun in it! Congrats!

[FlintBound]

MC1, I would gladly be the one in the tent, if I can sleep there alone.

Jon in AZ, All good questions I had, too. The tires are relatively new and the bearings were repacked recently as well. I am going to check that myself. The axle is a question I had. I've read some things here about them wearing out, but I haven't dug too deeply into those threads yet.

I'd love any advice anyone had on that. I talked to my wife before we bought it and I simply decided if I need to replace it, we were willing to invest. I know a good shop here that does axle work. It rode pretty well on the way home, but it does sit a bit low, which I saw on the forums was a sign of the axle wearing out.

I don't love that they replaced the old fridge with a fully electric one. I don't think we'll use the fridge much, but it just isn't what I love. They also put a power inverter in it. I don't fully get how all that wiring works yet, but I'll be able to sort it out. I also don't love the louvered panel that I think they added to vent the fridge. Those are all small potatoes for me, though. The lights, stove, and furnace work fine.

And thanks for the nice welcome, everyone.

[FlintBound]

Oh, and thanks emij. I'm pretty excited.

[emij]

We have a power inverter in ours as well. I'm a bit lost on all of the wiring and added cables the previous owner installed, but my understanding of the inverter, is that when you switch it on, you can plug in all of your electronic devices (or hairdryer) and it will convert the battery power to regular power. We were told on our battery, if it were fully charged, we could get about 4-6 hours from it before draining it.

Lovely that you have a furnace! We are discussing a modification to add that to ours to extend the camping season!

[FlintBound]

emij, I thought that was what the power inverter did. It's just a bit loud, but I guess if we had something we really needed to run that took juice, it's nice to have. Does your inverter make a relatively loud hum?

Yes, I'm excited to extend the season a bit. I don't mind the cold, but my wife doesn't love it quite as much as I do.

[emij]

I don't know if it does or not....We haven't actually tried it! The kids really wanted to use it to charge their devices while we were camping recently (for the long drive home, no devices in use during the actual camping portions of our trips!), but we only have a four pin connector, which doesn't recharge the battery, so i wouldn't let them. At some point I'll try it out and let you know.

And I'm with your wife! I love camping, but HATE being cold. If there is a place I can get warm, it makes all the difference!

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by FlintBound

...The axle is a question I had. I've read some things here about them wearing out, but I haven't dug too deeply into those threads yet. I'd love any advice anyone had on that. I talked to my wife before we bought it and I simply decided if I need to replace it, we were willing to invest. I know a good shop here that does axle work. It rode pretty well on the way home, but it does sit a bit low, which I saw on the forums was a sign of the axle wearing out.

Two tests you can do. First is to check the clearance between the tire and the inside of the wheel well. It should be about a fist or so minimum. Second is to jack up the trailer (small floor jack on the frame near the axle is the best). As the frame rises, watch to see if the axle arms drop. Little or no movement indicates the rubber inside the axle, which serves as spring and shock absorber, is hardened and no longer provides either function. Unusual tire wear and excessive bouncing (cabinet doors popping open, stuff on the floor, etc.) are other clues.

Originally Posted by FlintBound

I don't love that they replaced the old fridge with a fully electric one. I don't think we'll use the fridge much, but it just isn't what I love...

Yup, an electric fridge would be dead weight to me, too. We've had our trailer 3 years, taken a dozen or more trips, and have yet to plug into electric hookups. The cheapest (and frequently the nicest) camping spots often lack hookups. Some options: (1) Find and re-install a new or used 2- or 3-way fridge. Looks like it originally had one, since the vents are there. (2) Buy and install a 12V-only fridge with a Danfoss(?)-type compressor. They're pretty expensive, but combined with solar they work for off-grid use. This is the high-end solution. (3) Install an icebox. You might be able to pick up a used one (the size is pretty common), or I've found a number of suppliers (including Scamp) for new ones. If I did that, I'd add some extra insulation around the box and maybe a set of plastic flaps across the opening (like commercial walk-ins) as they're not too efficient for cooling. (4) Turn it into an open cabinet for dry storage and use a portable Coleman-type ice chest for perishables. This is the low-end solution.

[FlintBound]

The cabinet idea is a good one. We planned to just use our Coleman-type cooler, though I did think about an ice box, which as certain appeal. We tend to prefer the roads less traveled that have no hook-ups. It won't be a first job, but I think it will be on the list.

Thanks for the great suggestions about testing the axle. I'll be doing that this afternoon.

[Jon in AZ]

Ours came with an ice box. It was both too inefficient and too small for four people, but we left it in place for storage of dry foods like bread, chips, etc. We have a 70 qt. Coleman 5-day Xtreme ($43 at Walmart) which is far and away the best portable ice chest I have ever used. A second small cooler holds beverages and helps minimize how often the big cooler is opened.

[Rich G. and Val F.]

Welcome to the 13' Scamp clan. I hope our paths cross at some point in the future. Please consider the Spring '16 rally at Egg Harbor, WI.

[Mike Magee]

Congrats! Now you can escape from Flint on occasion. (I used to live in St. Johns and near Ashley.)

[RogerDat]

Well Flint is in a good spot for some short road trips to good camping that's for sure.

Post a picture from the side showing the wheel and wheel well. But in a rough sense if the wheel well cuts across the tire above the rim and you can get your fist above the tire you are golden.

If you really want to measure the exact degree of wear or loss of ride height remove a wheel with the trailer firmly on jackstands. Look at the end of the axle where the arm going toward the wheel spindle is attached. Should be a square shaft coming through that arm and welded on.

Shaft is oriented so it looks like a diamond <> rather than [] when first installed the horizontal "points" would have been parallel to the trailer frame, irrespective of what the original angle up or down the arm was set to. The arms can be parallel with the frame (zero degree angle) or angled up or down at different angles (up to 45 degrees in either direction). So when someone says the have a 5 degree down angle axle they are saying the arm points down 5 degrees when the shaft corners are parallel to the trailer frame.

If you figure out what angle was originally you can then assess what the current angle is and determine how much it has settled from wear. But I really go back to my first statement. If you rim is below the wheel well and there is about 3 inches above the tire you should be in good shape. These were low trailers, hence no step in the door way.

[FlintBound]

Thanks Rich and Val. I'll look into that.

Mike, Thanks for the welcome. I think we're escaping next week to Thunder Bay, just south of Alpena. I'm excited about our first trip.

[FlintBound]

RogerDat, I've posted the best picture I've got right now. I can take a better one tomorrow. I can't get my fist between the tire and wheel well. I haven't gotten it onto a jackstand yet, though I intend to.

I'm not sure I fully understand your description of the shaft, though I may see it better once I pull the wheel off. I guess I'm not sure what you mean by the original angle. Will I see that when it's jacked up and the wheel is off?

I went to trailer/rv place today for something unrelated and talked to someone there who's helped me out before. I suggested I simply bring the Scamp to them and they'll take a look. I'm going to take him up on it, too.

Thanks.

[FlintBound]

RogerDat, Okay, I couldn't wait. I just went out and looked. The side of the wheel well covers approximately 1/2" of the rim. I reread your post again and I think I'm starting to understand the shaft orientation. I'll have to get it on jackstands, though.

Thanks again.

[RogerDat]

Best example of how it works and a neat cut away axle with tire being run on a treadmill that goes up and down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzVVqXxbGSA

About 1 minute mark note the square shaft inside the tube has the points oriented like a diamond and if you figure the outer tube gets welded to the frame with the top flat it shows how the shaft you will be able to see coming through the arm started out life.


The tire being run on a treadmill is on an arm with about 10 degrees of up angle. If the arm had a different angle the square shaft would still be in same position the arm would have a square hole the shaft fits into that was turned to provide the different arm angle.


Best pictures I have, before you can see the wheel well cuts across white wheel. Second was taken at the shop after the axle was replaced, the shaft orientation was used to figure out the original angle and from that the height so this is pretty close to stock height for a 1977 BUT they did vary some. Not made by robots so.... sometimes might be a bit different.




This second picture is right after the axle replaced, notice the wheel well cuts across above the white wheel rim. You can see a touch of black tire above the rim.




I would also add I used the camper with the worn axle once I determined it was not actually hitting the wheel well. Went slower and watched for rough roads. Short local camping trips. The one thing I noticed was with the whipped suspension every curtain rod ended up falling out of the clips.

Hope this helps.

[FlintBound]

Okay, that video was very helpful. I get it now. Thanks. I took a better picture of mine this morning. The trim either contracted or was replaced and stretched too tightly, thus the odd angular look of the wheelwell. You can still see how low it rides.

Thanks again.