Reality check on the canvass/door seal, and other issues.

[cruiserpop]

First PU-older Jayco (1977)
1. Just got the PU back from the dealer. The canvass/door frame overlap is almost nonexistant. Is this normal, and just seal it with duct tape, or do i have a problem?
2. How in the *&*&%!!! do you get the back levellers down? We did the lucy/ricky thing yesterday-got the top popped w/o putting down the levellers. the two of us sat on the bunkend, and whole camper rocked back onto the bumper. Laughed like after we got up.

[mike4947]

First PU-older Jayco (1977)
1. Just got the PU back from the dealer. The canvass/door frame overlap is almost nonexistant. Is this normal, and just seal it with duct tape, or do i have a problem?
2. How in the *&*&%!!! do you get the back levellers down? We did the lucy/ricky thing yesterday-got the top popped w/o putting down the levellers. the two of us sat on the bunkend, and whole camper rocked back onto the bumper. Laughed like after we got up.

Not so much of a problem as simply old age. PU's of that vintage (and two of mine are still on the road) tend to have the canvas "shrink" and the fit goes out the window. If your feeling in a DIY mood, you can loosen the upper and lower places where the canvas hooks to the roof and the box along the entire side and try to "adjust" the position of the canas to move it toward the door from the ends.
 
As for the *&*&96!!! levelers, ain't they fun?
The pull, drop and bar to raise friction levelers are subject to rusting. A couple of solutions are to spray them with a good brand of penatrating oil and bang on them with a rubber mallet for a couple of days, then try and work them, or do what I've done.
Take them off and buy a set of BAL crank down levelers. The BALs are available in a bolt on version, but the originals are usually welded on and need to be cut off.
 
All in all it's better to have them stuck up than drop down. They bend like you wouldn't believe at 60 mph.

[Gone-Camping]

I had an older Starcraft where the canvas had shrunk to the point it didn't quite reach the door jambs. What I did was take a small 1x1 piece of Aluminum angle iron, and pop rivet it to the door jamb to make the jambs face a little wider, then I put new sticky velcro on the new metal pieces, and this allowed the canvas to reach the widened jambs, and it worked like a champ!!!
 
I've long sinced sold the trailer to a friend, and they are still using it, and the canvas still reaches the widened jambs. It's a simple mod, takes about an hour of your time!

[Steve-o-bud]

First PU-older Jayco (1977)
1. Just got the PU back from the dealer. The canvass/door frame overlap is almost nonexistant. Is this normal, and just seal it with duct tape, or do i have a problem?
2. How in the *&*&%!!! do you get the back levellers down? We did the lucy/ricky thing yesterday-got the top popped w/o putting down the levellers. the two of us sat on the bunkend, and whole camper rocked back onto the bumper. Laughed like after we got up.

Here was the procedure for our '77 Jayco:

With trailer attached to Tow Vehicle, pull onto leveling blocks to level side to side.

Chock the trailer wheels to try to hold in place.

Using the tongue jack, raise and unhitch the tongue. Move TV to clear the hitch/tongue.

Lower the tongue all the way down, tilting the trailer forward, to raise the rear end.

This gives clearence to allow the swing down stabilizers to clear the ground. Lock them into place.

Crawl under, and fight the stabilizers to extend them down, since they were a bit bent and sticky on one side. Extend them enough just so they make contact with the ground.

Then, using the tongue jack, level the trailer front to rear. You should be all done!

Please note, everything I've read, says not to use the stabilizers to level the trailer. I would have a devil of a time leveling side to side, because of the small, 8" wheels. The wheel chocks didn't do well holding the wheels in place, especially on the leveling blocks, so when I'd unhitch, the trailer would typically rotate off the leveling blocks.  For such a small trailer, it would furstrate me a bit to get it leveled and stabilized.

Even though our current PU is much bigger, it is much easier to level and stabilize. We use the BAL leveler to level side to side, and the tongue jack to level front to back, pop the unit up, and then stabilize before we go inside.

Good luck.