Camper day! @Capt Ron posted up about the latest camper find over in the photo a day thread. Our fellow desert rat buddy Ian had made the call for us to find a camper for him after last year's trip. Ron and I have both been looking. We've had a close miss on one, the rest seemed to be priced to the level of insane or too far away to make it work. Last week Ron found a gem. The ad was on Craigslist and lacked pics. It worked to our advantage as most skipped right past it. But Ron worked the phone and finally got through. He made the deal and paid the guy for the camper. Ron would bring it down to his shop and we'd swap Ian's top and gate to the Blazer and he would take it back to the guy. That was the plan at least. Having a couple of days pass since the deal was done the seller started getting cold feet, even after money had been exchanged earlier and bill of sale in hand. Near as we can tell, the ad was still up and the seller had the realization he could get more than the agreed price. Ron and his son had that covered with a quick phone call to the lawyer for the company he works for. With the seller's attitude reset, Ron's son expressed interest in the Blazer and paid the difference to the asking price. Title in hand they hooked it to his tow truck and hauled ass out of there.
Ron brought it to his shop at work and got the camper ready for removal. Ian and I boogied up in the CUCV this morning. First thing after checking out the camper was to get the topper off of Ian's truck. Sharp eyes may pick up on the white top vs the camo'd top he had on there. Larry had the white top laying in wait for his Blazer project and it was thought better fitting on the other K5 since he was going to paint it black for his anyway.
The heavy lifting begins...
Someone's couch is missing a couple of leather cushions by the way..
Onward to the extraction. As one could guess this is the sketchiest part of the operation. When the Blazers are of such different heights we have to prep for the tallest one. We have to get the side rails of the camper 60" off the ground to clear the truck as Ian backs it in. Which means we have to take a few tries getting the balance right or else the whole thing is going to come crashing to the ground.
Much like pulling an engine finds the tensile strength test of any wire you forgot to remove, pulling this monster had some things hanging on. Rubber weatherstrip upfront and outback and creative use of expandible spray foam between the back wall and tailgate jamb. Oh, and a CB antenna cable run into the camper from the cab.
No pics were taken with the camper free standing as we all had our hands full at that point.
Hard part done, now comes the fun to get the camper actually bolted down. After a little pushing and shoving we got it lined up enough to lock it down with a nice mismatch of bolts all over. They did at least have 3 bolts going forward into the back of the cab unlike mine having none.
Looking good!
We got Ian's top and gate swapped onto Ron's son's new to him Blazer. Being the option nerd I am I usually peek into the glove box to take a look at the SPID label. What to I discover? Oh yeah, seems like GM didn't want us putting campers on Blazers back in the day. I'm pretty sure that's GM legal's dose of CYA to save us from ourselves. Plus, as Larry said it's not really a slide-in camper anyway, it bolts on.
Behold Crawlabago's 2 and 3.
All in all it went pretty smooth. Ron proved yet again he kicks ass. Ian is super happy and thankful for Ron's effort. The 8.1 didn't know or care if the camper was on there. We just motored down the road just like we drove up.
Ron brought it to his shop at work and got the camper ready for removal. Ian and I boogied up in the CUCV this morning. First thing after checking out the camper was to get the topper off of Ian's truck. Sharp eyes may pick up on the white top vs the camo'd top he had on there. Larry had the white top laying in wait for his Blazer project and it was thought better fitting on the other K5 since he was going to paint it black for his anyway.
The heavy lifting begins...
Someone's couch is missing a couple of leather cushions by the way..
Onward to the extraction. As one could guess this is the sketchiest part of the operation. When the Blazers are of such different heights we have to prep for the tallest one. We have to get the side rails of the camper 60" off the ground to clear the truck as Ian backs it in. Which means we have to take a few tries getting the balance right or else the whole thing is going to come crashing to the ground.
Much like pulling an engine finds the tensile strength test of any wire you forgot to remove, pulling this monster had some things hanging on. Rubber weatherstrip upfront and outback and creative use of expandible spray foam between the back wall and tailgate jamb. Oh, and a CB antenna cable run into the camper from the cab.
No pics were taken with the camper free standing as we all had our hands full at that point.
Hard part done, now comes the fun to get the camper actually bolted down. After a little pushing and shoving we got it lined up enough to lock it down with a nice mismatch of bolts all over. They did at least have 3 bolts going forward into the back of the cab unlike mine having none.
Looking good!
We got Ian's top and gate swapped onto Ron's son's new to him Blazer. Being the option nerd I am I usually peek into the glove box to take a look at the SPID label. What to I discover? Oh yeah, seems like GM didn't want us putting campers on Blazers back in the day. I'm pretty sure that's GM legal's dose of CYA to save us from ourselves. Plus, as Larry said it's not really a slide-in camper anyway, it bolts on.
Behold Crawlabago's 2 and 3.
All in all it went pretty smooth. Ron proved yet again he kicks ass. Ian is super happy and thankful for Ron's effort. The 8.1 didn't know or care if the camper was on there. We just motored down the road just like we drove up.
