viking cr lift arms

[bubbarandi]

Hi

 Does anyone know how to remove cr style lift arms. It looks like you have to remove the interior roof trim to get to the bolts but i'm hoping that isn't true.The camper is a 1982 viking little gasser.

Thanks
Bubbarandi

[chrismarques]

I guess you are talking about the spring loaded arms, not a crank up roof?
The roof is held on with "blind nuts" there are no bolts on the inside of the roof but they may spin if the surrounding wood is starting to rot. If they are spinning you may be able to get a pair of vise grips in the blind nut between the roof and canvas and then unbolt the arms ( be careful they are spring loaded)
Here's a bunch of pic's of my '82 Viking being redone last summer. We just took it on a 7742 mile cross country trip this summer.
http://s36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/cmarques1/
If you need to know anymore I have seen my camper just about inside out and can show you some easy ways to do what you have to.
Chris

[bubbarandi]

Thanks for the info Chris. By the looks of the pictures i have the same exact camper as you. I have to take off the arms to repaint them as the cost for replacements is about $350.00. Any tips on resealing the roof?


Thanks
Bob

[chrismarques]

The arms are originally a baked on type of enamel. We stripped them and just primed them and painted with white Rustoleum paint. They look o.k. but the paint rubbed off where the arms pivot. The  original paint will also peel off inside the arms so check for rust. The arms on mine were disassembled and stripped the paint off the inside of the arms too ( what a pain) then sprayed a rust preventer and PB Blaster down the insides of the tubes and on the springs. If you decide to disassemble the arms they are a pain to put back together with the springs but not bad after figuring the first one out.(I'll be glad to give you some tips if you decide to go that route also) You can still get the gray plastic guards for the "elbows" on the arms from //www.canvasreplacements.com. they cost about $5 each and I called and had them to my door in about 2 days.
I originally resealed the roof with Kool-Seal and it looked o.k.. I did it more to cover some scrapes due to the way the camper was stored. I decided later the bright white roof was too much and wanted to tone it down a little. I re-prepped the roof and rolled on several coats of Glidden high gloss enamel from Lowe's. The "off white" is almost an exact match for the sides of the camper and looks 100% better. The white aluminum edging  on the roof is new and sealed with the butyl roll caulking just like original then I ran a bead of latex caulking on the edges before painting.

[chrismarques]

BTW How long have you had your Viking? My parents bought ours new in 1982 when I was 12 so it has a little bit of sentimental value. Here's a link to some of the history on it I wrote on another PUP site last summer
http://www.popupportal.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6246&FORUM_ID=21&CAT_ID=18&Topic_Title=Update+on+%22Project+Viking%22+with+pics%2E&Forum_Title=Miscellaneous+Repairs

[bubbarandi]

Chris
I have only had the camper about 2 months but have been camping with it and it seems to be in good shape. The canvas is in great shape but the lift handle on the right side rear is falling off and the area it attaches too feels soft under the metal. I suppose its rotted so I think i'll wait on this until winter. They must have made these campers well because i know this was used a lot by the prior owners and it has held up pretty good. Do you know if the twist clips that hold the door to the ceiling are still available?
Thanks for the tips on the arms and the roof .

Bob

[chrismarques]

I don't know about the twist clips because we still have the originals. They look like something that can be matched up pretty close.
If you end up taking off the lift arms off the camper body, behind the left hand side of the countertop is a 1/4x20 bolt/nut in the track the bunks slide in. Take that bolt out and you can slide the forward bunk in an extra 6 or so inches and actually get your hands into the front "well" of the box and save cutting your hands.I learned the hard way