New Scamp 13 owner in OH

[FJ40Jim]

Yes, welding directly to the axle tube would be bad. That was a serious concern.

To prevent melting the rubber inside the tube, the bulk of the bracket was cut off about 3/4" away from the actual tube, leaving a flange still welded to the axle tube. Welding was done using the spaced backstep method, allowing cooling between rounds of backstepping. In the end, the axle tube itself never got near the melt point of the rubber inside, or the paint outside. Live testing (wife jumping up & down in trailer) shows that the suspension actually moves now.

By comparison, the original axle was stuck in the fully compressed position. Bouncing the trailer only deflected the tire sidewalls, no movement of the axle was observed.

The operation was a success, but it took all day. In retrospect, I would have been better off ditching the wrong axle on Craigslist and re-order the exact correct axle. Actually cutting off the OE axle and welding on the new axle took less than 2hrs.

[Donna D.]

I'm cheap and proud of it! Sounds like you knew all the stumbling blocks with the axle and how to deal with it, fix it. Good for you!

[FJ40Jim]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

cheap and proud of it!

Yes, we're both very cheap... err, I mean thrifty!
Yeah, that's it, we're very thrifty, hence the purchase of a used egg.

We had a "cheap" used camper that was traditional stick & aluminum foil construction. It turned out to be no bargain as it rotted apart.
This 'glass egg seems so much better by comparison.
We our egg!

[Thomas G.]

Nice job and congratulations.

Congratulations, too, for so far evading the safety police, after posting a photo of your tow vehicle.

[Ed Harris]

Originally Posted by Thomas G.

Nice job and congratulations.

Congratulations, too, for so far evading the safety police, after posting a photo of your tow vehicle.

Now this is a truly useful post Tom.

I am not sure the others are as eager as you to pick a fight?
You seem to be going out of your way lately to troll up a fight.

Anyway Jim I want to see the FJ Wagon you towed it with in the first place,is it an FJ45?

I loves me some Cruzers

Ed

[FJ40Jim]

The Cruiser is an FJ60 wagon with the usual suspension, ARB bullbar, winch, locking diff, etc. It is slow & ponderous on pavement, and pretty much exactly the same towing the little egg. I don't think the dismal 15MPG fuel consumption would change dramatically when towing, since the little trailer fits entirely within the "wind shadow" of the Cruiser.

An FJ45 pickup truck is in the works to act as a cool vintage TV.

On the VW, the owner's manual says 1500# max trailer weight for base model Golf/Jetter.
Trailer allegedly weighs 1100#.
The hitch is attached to the factory hitch mounting points.
Wiring & safety chains are done per standard methods.
Is there something else to it?

Cruiser porn is attached below.
In the patriotic wagon picture, mine is the blue beater on the right.
The second picture is my FJ45 Pickup stored at a friend's warehouse. Parts are being gathered to update all the mechanicals so it will be a safe modern driver, while still looking like 1963.

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Ed Harris

Now this is a truly useful post Tom.

I am not sure the others are as eager as you to pick a fight?
You seem to be going out of your way lately to troll up a fight..................
Ed

Stick around - we will be hearing about that poor kid in Colorado before long, 'cause the posse just can't help themselves.

I did see someone trolling today however - right here: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...tml#post385679

[Ed Harris]

Originally Posted by Thomas G.

Stick around - we will be hearing about that poor kid in Colorado before long, 'cause the posse just can't help themselves.

I did see someone trolling today however - right here: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...tml#post385679

Yeah

"Pot this is the Kettle calling....Your'e Black!"

Ignore me,Please

[Ed Harris]

Jim
I was just guessing based on your handle here that it was a 45?

I have had a few 40 too and now an 80 which is a little too highbrow but still a pure beast!

I was pulling my first FGRV with it on I-75 through Atlanta once when I felt a lurch and one of the trailer wheels passed me,oops!

The Cruiser could not understand why we stopped?

There is nothing else like them for sure.

Ed

[FJ40Jim]

I've had countless FJ40's, but don't own one now. They've become too collectable for me to pick up for $500, fix & sell for $2500. Now it's more like buy a pile of rust for $4000 and wait for it to break in half.

The FJ60 & FJ80 are good value now, and they are infinitely more practical than FJ40 or FJ55.

[PNW_Yeti]

Hey,

I look forward to seeing some pictures on this one. I too will be towing with a turbo (gas), and from the forums for my car I don't think I will see any problems. You should be just fine with a TDI, we used one to move ours from PO to it's current location (30 miles) didn't even know it existed back there.

Good luck with the reno.

[FJ40Jim]

Josh, my biggest concern w/ the TV is the oil temp. I initially thought "A bigger oil cooler is gonna fix this problem.", but not so sure now. The sender unit on this car is in the sump, soi oil temp is being measured after the oil has been squirted into the piston crown or run through the turbo. That superheated oil then falls into the sump and lays there, cooking itself, until it gets picked up and shoved through the stock cooler then back into the turbo or pistons. So the oil is only seeing the cooled temp for a millisecond before it goes back into the fryer.

My racecar has the same oil cooling setup, but the oil temp sender is located in the filterhead. On that engine, the post cooler oil temp never exceeds 110*C, even after 12hrs of flat out road racing.

The immediate plan is to move the oil temp sender to the filterhead to read the oil temp going into the engine. If the post cooler temp is reasonable, then a method of cooling the sump temp down needs to be devised.
Or just drive slower (duh).

[FJ40Jim]

Got a few more things moved from "to do" over to "to done".

Ditched the puffy warped fiberboard dining table in favor of a 1/2" marine ply 2-piece table. When removing the wall mount hardware from the original table, a screw driver was not necessary. The MDF was so puffy w/ water damage that it had become LDF and the rusty screws were just grabbed w/ pliers and yanked out.

A new table top was cut from a scrap of 1/2" smooth both sides waterproof ply. It was sized to be a few inches longer than the original table for increased sleeping comfort. Then the longer table was cut to give a folding leaf about 9" wide at the end. Old mounting clips were blasted & painted w/ zinc prime & silver paint. New stainless screws were used to install the mounting clips and new stainless piano hinge.
The main tabletop could not be any shorter and still have the support leg fold up without hitting the wall. When not in the bed position, the leaf folds under and is retained by the release handle of the leg mechanism.

All ideas cribbed from other members of this fine board.

Summary: new table is more water resistant, sturdier & bigger bed, 11lbs of ply vs 20lbs of MDF.

[FJ40Jim]

The other thing was a tabletopper to cover the stove when not in use, and hold a microwave if we are going to a CG w/ 120VAC. It's a simple square of 3/4 x 1-3/4 sticks and a skin of 1/4" tigerply stuck together w/ titebond & 1-1/8 brads. It's sized to completely cover the stove and go to the front edge of the counter. This made it more useful than having a 2" wide ledge of counter in fromt of the stove counter. The picture shows the structure that precisely locates it on the edge of the stove, and includes the additional 2" of coverage along the front. The 2 black nylon sockets are chair leg tips from the hardware store, sized to securely cup the 2 back legs of the microwave, held on w/ SS wood screws.

I realize I neglected to take a pic w/ the microwave in place, oops.
Maybe tomorrow.

[KevinPete]

Really nice work, Jim. MDF has its uses, none of them in an RV, as far as I'm concerned. Little bit at a time, until you get it perfect for you. Then you can get a new rig to customize!

[FJ40Jim]

Couple more pics of a project that was done last month,
Fulton drop down stabilizers bolted inside rear bumper.

Bought them lightly used from an ebay trailer part seller "canvasreplacements".
He's still got some:
Fulton Stabilizer Jack | eBay

In use pics:

[FJ40Jim]

Last weekend we took a little trip with the scamper in tow.
The National Road (Rt.40) yard sale was on, so we thought we'd wander westward on Rt. 40. Friday afternoon we went out to Springfield OH, got some provisions, then set up camp at Buck creek S.P. Nice campgrounds, big lake with beaches, marina, etc. Best of all, not very crowded.

Day 1 distance was about 90 miles and was very similar to our previous scamp trip, driving into the teeth of a severe storm, tornado & thunderstorm warnings, etc. Yuck.

Saturday the weather was better. Cooler (less use of AC) and no rain.
Filled up at the edge of Springfield, then continued wesward on Rt40. We stopped at several yard sales, but didn't see anything we had to have. Stopped at the indiana vistor center on Rt40 on the eastern edge of Richmond. Grabbed some maps and state park info. From there we rolled on toward Indianapolis. We decided it was getting late in the afternoon, so didn't go all the way to indy. Instead we diverted slightly northward to Summit Lake State Park, near New Castle. It was a nice facility, but we accidentally wound up in the loud&drunk section of the campground.

Sunday dawned very quiet as our fellow campers were sleeping off their poor decisions. We had a quick breakfast, then hitched up & got rolling. We had to make it all the way back home today, and didn't want to use the 75MPH interstate if it could be avoided. We're learning that this TV & trailer is very happy around 60MPH. So we wandered down southeast in the general direction of RT40 & home, just using the GPS as a compass.

We bumped into I-70 around Richmond and thought "Let's see what it's like on the interstate today". We got on I-70E, and set the cruise at 64MPH and found that we were not the slowest vehicle on the road. We were able to roll along in the right lane, in between semis, without any trouble. Took I70 from IN to about 60 miles into OH, jumping back onto Rt40 where it crossed under I70 just past Springfield. We rolled along on 40 with no traffic, cruise set at 59MPH, steady tailwind, absolutely perfect conditions. Stopped at a few more sales, bought a few odds n ends.

The big find was a going out of business sale at an old fashioned small town hardware store. Everything left in the store was 80% off (no typo). I filled a box with tubes of caulk, spray paint, sandpaper, electrical connectors, bits & bobs. Walked out $16 lighter, score!

From there we drove through Columbus on Rt40, all the way out the other side to Buckeye Lake, had a picnic at a park there, then a few miles south to our house.

Dropped the trailer in the driveway, then went 4 miles into town for groceries and to fuel the TV.
Miles since last fill up: 319
Fuel burn: 9.59 gals
MPG: 33.3!

Differences since last 2 trailer towing tanks: Lighter right foot, better weather, less wind, slightly lighter packing, winter tires off & LRR summer tires on.

I was gonna post a pic, but can't find the camera. Hopefully its still floating around in the backseat of the car.

[FJ40Jim]

I did get the microwave holder/stovetop cover painted with a couple coats of clear lacquer. Here's a pic with the microwave in it's official spot:

[FJ40Jim]

A few more projects got done recently in preparation of a big trip to eastern PA.

Knowing the terrain would be mountainous, installing the Electric Brake Controller in the TDI moved up to the top of the list. A new Curt, made in US controller was acquired for a very reasonable price (~$85) online.


Due to other projects in the way, the EBC didn't get installed until a couple days before departure. There is no out of the way spot to mount the EBC in a small modern car, so it needed to be easily removed when not in use. This required a plug-in pigtail (CURT Brake Control Harness, Packaged #51516) that did not come with the EBC.
Fortunately, it was in stock at the local CarQuest store, so we were able to proceed with install the next day. The EBC is slapped on a velcro patch on top of the dash, and the EBC pigtail connects to the 51516 vehicle pigtail that pulls out from beside the steering column when needed. The worst part of the whole install is blowing apart the interior to run a fairly large wire from the dash to the rear of the car. The EBC is installed & has been tested in the mountains. It worked great, and the little Scamp brakes, while they won't lock the tires, are noticebly better than no trailer brakes.

The fridge has always worked fine on propane, but the electric did nothing. Testing revealed the heating element was open circuit (burned out) on both the 120V and 12V legs. A new heater was sourced from an online vendor for around $80. Installation was very straightforward using the instructions in the Dometic service manual. It works fine now, although the cooling ability seems slightly lower on electric than propane. I do like being able to run on 12V while traveling.

The outside fridge door was long gone, and a PO had replaced with a homemade sheetmetal & window screen cover screwed to the original frame. Functional, but not as nice as a factory built solution. A new door assembly was sourced off an ebay seller and riveted in place. The original frame was drilled out and removed. The new door frame was a good fit in the opening, but the holes were all spaced different. The new door & frame was riveted in place with 2 rivets, then all the other holes were drilled & riveted. Worked great.

Her's a pic taken on our recent 5 day OH,WV,PA,MD, PA,WV,OH trip. The new fridge access door is shown.



Our campsite in the primitive group section at the Twin Grove KOA:

[Kenny in Ohio]

Jim,
I appreciate you posting the restoration work you've been doing. Are you going to the rally in Sept. at Dillon State Park? I would like to see the table modification you did, as I have been considering doing one myself.