1978 Nomad Trailer Restoration/Project: 88GMCtruck is at it again.

[88gmctruck]

Well, I'm up to another project yet again.

Here we have my newest driveway edition: a 1978 Nomad 16' travel trailer. It has a full bath, full kitchen, dinette, couch/bed, and bunk. It has a very nice and open floorplan.

I picked this up just outside of town for a whopping $250. It's been unlicenced/unused since 2003.

The good: It's in good shape outside, just needs a good pressure washing. Inside, all the fabric, fixtures, counters, appliances etc are in great condition. Everything works great.

The bad: Outside, the lights don't all work yet, but that should just be a cleaning/ground issue. the tires look to be original, as they are GoodYear 7.75-15ST tires and have LARGE cracks all over. Inside is going to take the most effort. The subfloor is toast. Stupid trailer manufacturer decided to use chip board for a floor, that crumbles with any moisture. The roof is solid, but part of the paneling inside needs replaced. One small portion of wall needs replaced as well due to some water damage. The roof obviously needs sealed.

So yeah. It's a project. The goal is to have a nice, reliable camper that I can hitch up the truck to and just take off for the weekend. I'll be towing this with the 88 primarily. So, here is the list of items that will be done to the truck and trailer

Truck:
- re-install brake controller
- buy weight distributing hitch
- buy towing mirrors
- install relay and wiring for trailer lights. I've had too many dash light switches burn out on me
- possibly install my 3/4ton springs, or re-install my helper bags with some quick disconnect
- re-gear truck to 4.56s or 4.88s. This one has been in the works awhile now anyway

Trailer:
- replace subfloor, roof skin and partial wall skin
- replace tires and inspect/replace wheel bearings and brakes
- re-seal roof and windows
- fix exterior lighting, possibly replace with LED at some point
- obvious clean and sanitize insides, fridge and water tank
- thinking about re-painting the sides something a little more modern, maybe to match the truck

So anyway, I'll be updating this as I go along, with my budget trailer resto.

 

[mangus580]

Looks great! wish I could find a deal like that!

 

[88gmctruck]

Thanks man!

Found a free set of radials that will fit it. They are off a Subaru and are the correct metric equivalent (205/70R15) to the tires on it now (7.75-15ST). I know they aren'y "trailer" tires, but they are radials and are of higher weight rating than the tires on it now. They will hold me over so I can at least tow it for the time being, until I can buy trailer or light truck tires.

Anyway, I snapped a few more picts of her, after making the 8 mile trip down a gravel road to rest in my yard.

Few inside picts.

The best part. AM/FM and 8-Track! I'm thinking that we are going replace this with a CD player....

I did get a bit of the floor pulled back. Luckily the framing for the floor is still fine. I'm going to add some additional framing in the areas where the foot traffic is also.

 

[ak diesel driver]

looks like a smaller version of mine

 

[malibu795]

nice project

 

[trouttrooper]

had a '78 Kit 22 foot trailer for a few years, lived in it one year . One of the best "mods" I did was flip the axles. Gave about 4 inches of lift IIRC. Sure helped when taking it off the pavement, didn't scrape the bottom back of the trailer.

 

[NVW]

looks like a smaller version of mine

x2

 

[88gmctruck]

Well, I spent the day pressure washing the trailer, looks quite a bit better.

Soon I will be starting to dis-assemble the insides to replace the sub-flooring. hopefully everything will fit out the door, otherwise it'll get cramped real quick.

 

[ak diesel driver]

if your going to take the fridge out be prepared to take out the door. might fit might not

 

[88gmctruck]

Well, I think the fridge SHOULD fit out, but if it doesn't It can just stay in the trailer. The floor plan will allow me to replace the front section of floor and then move larger items onto it while i replace the next section.

Anyway, here is the update. Yesterday I pressure washed the entire trailer. Looks better now. There is a few panels that will need painted as the paint is gone from sun. All the light lenses were pulled and cleaned as well, only one broken lens in all.

Then, I moved inside for a bit. Got the couch/bed out, fresh water tank and water heater pulled. Both seem to be in good condition. I'm going to pour about a gallon of bleach in the water tank and let it sit in the sun for the next few weeks. The good news is thus far, the places I can see structural wood are still solid, only the cheap chip board subfloor and some paneling seems to be bad.

Today, I picked up a set of Republic Enterprise 205/70R15 tires for free. They are in great shape, probably about 60% tread. They actually hold about 150lbs more per tire as well, which is nice. The tires came mounted on a set of Subaru wheels, but the guy wanted to keep them for a rally car he was building. So anyway, with the help of Devin (83GMCK2500) we did the redneck dismount and mount of tires. Used a piece of large lumber and a truck to break the beads and pry bars to mount/dismount the wheels. All went rather easily and they are in the truck, ready for balancing.

 

[88gmctruck]

Got alot done this morning before the temps soared and I had to go to work. I took the hubs/drums off. The brakes shoes all look good, and the mechanisms move as they should.
The bearings also looked great, and the grease appeared as if it had very few miles on it.

So I cleaned out the brakes with brake clean, and packed some more grease in the hub/bearings and re-assembled them. I even painted the hubs black so they look a little better.

And re-mounted the tires. I borrowed a 70s GMC center cap from Devin and voila, it fits. I may be looking at finding a good used set of them for the trailer.

Quick shot after the pressure washing and with the wheels back on

Water tank and water heater removed

Here is what the insides are looking like as of now. That is where the water tank was, working towards getting the other fixtures out this weekend.

Oh, and my most recent, vintage eBay purchase. Not trailer related, but its so awesome I know you guy's will appreciate it.

 

[83GMCK2500]

You know I'd probably have a complete and total runaway if I could find a square body shirt like that. I might even have to change clothes afterwards...

 

[88gmctruck]

Today was a little lax on the progress. My friend is here from home and we went on a few hour motorcycle ride this morning, but I still got more work done. Out came the dinette.

And pulled up the rotten sub floor.

Found about 5-6 tears in the aluminum, probably from rocks or something. Going to have to patch these up so no water gets in.

Found the right edge of the floor 2x2 frame is a little more rotten than I would like. It'll be replaced, along with a few in the floor itself.

Storing all the cushions in the bunk for now.

And all the cabinets/tables/dinette in the garage, with what little space I have. This pile I'm sure will grow much more.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to get the fridge and oven out, maybe the kitchen cabinets.

 

[btfarm]

Nice project! Should be real nice when you get it done.

 

[88gmctruck]

More progress. Got a few hundred dollars of supplies at the building supply place.

Where we left off

More floor pulling and disassembly

Few patch panels and JB weld

And the scary part. Some siding removed, holding the wall with jacks

Closeup of the sandwich style construction.

Floor ready for a few new floor joists, insulation and new flooring. See the daylight under the walls?

Insulated

Added additional bracing where the plywood panels will butt up against the next.

And putting the plywood in

First part floor panel in!!!

 

[NVW]

Nice work, it should be better than new:thumbsup:

 

[88gmctruck]

Added a brace where the plywood sheets are joined. instead of putting the seam on top of the existing joist, I decided the joint was better off moved farther over, where it is primarily covered by the dinette.

Laying more plywood.

Under the kitchen cabinet. Still have a little piece to add in front of the wheelwell.

3/4 done

Last part is going to be the worst, because it's the back of the trailer, where the bathroom is and there are walls hanging down...

 

[83GMCK2500]

Looking good. Does this mean I don't have to worry about falling through now? You want to raise the ceiling up while you're at it?

 

[88gmctruck]

Your golden on the floor part, unless you stand in the bathroom. The ceiling actually is about 3/4" higher than it was before, since the floor was so rotten it was sagging quite bad. I still doubt you can stand up in it...

 

[trouttrooper]

there's no camp trailer anywhere you can stand up in..........tiny