I have recently bought a 1990 challenger 490/5, there are signs of damp in a few places round the van, mainly around the door. After a closer inspection I found the timbers around the door were rotten and not holding the door frame in place securley. I'm planning on takin the door out replacing the timbers and fitting new wallboard swell as resealing the whole van, can anyone tell me what thickness timbers I will need for the door? Also the van seems to be leaning to 1 side, I've checked tyre pressures and sizes and it's unladen? Any ideas guys?
The timber is only pine and you will have to check for size when you have exposed them. When I did mine I got it oversized and planed it but you may be lucky. I overlapped the joints and used car bond to stick it to the outer panel
3mm finished wallboard is readily available, got mine from olearies
Ye I've checked pressures and sizes, will get the weights checked.
Wanted 2 try and get all the bits for the door before starting really as i'll be doing it outside an garentee it'll rain on me, I will let you know how I get on, thanks
Hi Richsmith84, Could be the side frames that fix on to floor edge have rotted, had this problem on son-in laws caravan,both front parts of frame had rotted and van dropped over one inch from floor,only discovered this when I towed his van and noticed that body was flexing, even when van running on flat ground,checked it out by lowering legs and lifting body by the front handles,body moved up chassis remained stable, discovered van had been hit rear off/side moving body forward and opened up the seals,allowing water in, van cost him £1.500 we took van apart,estimated around £600 to repair, it lay in my garage for 18 month he never once attempted to help with repair,could not be done on own as timbers where 16ft long and required two when cutting them,result he ended up scrapping van, got garage back, and my little 2 berth compass on drive. Also had my first van ACE globetrotter lean to one side, and that ended up total re-build from chassis up. Sounds as if you may have same problem,
------------- If everything runs smoothly then I must have done something wrong
If in Doubt Check it Out.
PS, Try pushing against the leaning side of van, and if body moves more tham suspention, then it looks as my post above, hope thats not the case, good luck.
------------- If everything runs smoothly then I must have done something wrong
If in Doubt Check it Out.
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Topic: Damp door frame challenger
