New owner of a 1972 BF removable motor coach

[Hairba11]

Hi everyone, I found this forum after purchasing my new-to-me Born Free.
The date on the water tank says Aug 14 1972. The battery had a receipt rolled up in between the battery caps dated 1977.
It came with a fat envelope of appliance manuals (furnace, water heater, all in one bathroom, AC, on demand water) warranty cards, and mimeographed (purple ink) instructions for maintenance and mounting to a truck. If there's interest I'll get them scanned and posted
It even came with the custom bumper and the cam lock drawbar.
I've started doing a little renovation/rehab as the cover on the 26" escape hatch/vent is cracked in one corner and leaked on the bunk. Gotta love the fiberglass for waterproof building material. I've only had to replace the plywood in the bunk.
I'll get some pictures up once I get them moved from the phone to the computer.
H

[stevek]

Congrats and welcome.
Looking forward to seeing your pictures.
Looks like you may be the owner of the oldest Born Free, that is active here at the Forum.
Good luck. I alway have liked the "oldies", that are fixed up.

[Roger H]

Hi everyone, I found this forum after purchasing my new-to-me Born Free.
The date on the water tank says Aug 14 1972. The battery had a receipt rolled up in between the battery caps dated 1977.
It came with a fat envelope of appliance manuals (furnace, water heater, all in one bathroom, AC, on demand water) warranty cards, and mimeographed (purple ink) instructions for maintenance and mounting to a truck. If there's interest I'll get them scanned and posted
It even came with the custom bumper and the cam lock drawbar.
I've started doing a little renovation/rehab as the cover on the 26" escape hatch/vent is cracked in one corner and leaked on the bunk. Gotta love the fiberglass for waterproof building material. I've only had to replace the plywood in the bunk.
I'll get some pictures up once I get them moved from the phone to the computer.
H

Welcome to the forums!

Is this the pickup camper like this one?

Born Free campers in Algona, IA by Roger H, on Flickr

[Hairba11]

So this week, same day as the truck was stolen, I was supposed to pick up the camper. I was able to borrow my friends truck to go get it.

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Figured out it was a 1972 from the manufacturing tag on the 31 gallon water tank

The previous owner had started ripping stuff out to modernize it, but fortunately hadn't gotten too far.
Living/dining area

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Kitchen

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Even has an all in one bathroom unit:
Shower and sink

And fold down toilet

This thing is cool

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The bunk floor had been pulled out leaving a fiberglass waffle.

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I put down new plywood, a 1/2" foam pad and some outdoor carpet


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Doesn't look too bad. I'm doing carpet in the live/dine area tomorrow and filling in the stove hole and adding a shelf and mini-fridge in the fridge hole.
Bonus, the AC works!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hairba11]

Sorry for the big pics. I'm writing my posts in the Tapatalk app, then copy and pasting.
Made some decent progress this weekend.

Got the carpet in and the table anchored

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The fridge was ripped out, and since I don't have propane fired one, I filled the door with insulation in this hole
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Then built a 6" tall shelf and anchored it, then put my mini-fridge on it and screwed it down


In the paperwork was a color brochure

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[Hairba11]

This morning I knocked out a shelf where the stove used to be.

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Then today at work I got cranking on the truck to camper hitch/bumper

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The subframe on the camper has two points/pins that center in the rectangular holes

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The subframe is 10" back from where the camper widens to 62 inches. Because my liftgate is only 57.5 inches wide I have to extend where the frame hits the truck.
There is a bar with a cam lever lock that secures the camper to the Hitch/bumper

[Hairba11]

Trimmed and contact papered the microwave shelf and brought out my period correct percolator.


Also got the hitch finished up today.

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Tomorrow morning I'll work on removing the tailgate from my lift gate and adjusting the ride height of the camper axle.

Thursday my 7 pin blade truck plug and 8' cable should be in and I can splice it to the 7 pin round camper plug. Then I can check all the lights and charging system.

Friday goal is to take it two hours to dads house so his wife can sew up some curtains.

[Hairba11]

Got the liftgate tail gate off


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Got the camper axle adjusted


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And got the truck under the camper

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Intervehicular cable should be in today or tomorrow. Then I can test all the lights etc.

[stevek]

Very interesting. Enjoying your pictures... Thanks. :

[Hairba11]

Thanks!

Now this camper had a veritable time capsule of paperwork with it.

Would anyone be interested in scans of manuals?
I have:
Meals for Roving Wheels 1971
Audiovox transistorized 8-track am/fm/fm multiplex stereo
Phillips power converter PC-401-a-1, PC-301-a-1, PC-201-a-1
Sears automobile air conditioner model 470.7750 1973
Alsons 300 director install 1968
Mobil Temp G-600, 602, E/G-601 -- G-800, 801, E/G-801
Generac Alternator model 5990-0
Coleman Automatic Self Priming Pump 2238-630 install
Duo-Therm authorized service center pamphlet
Insta-Matic gas/electric refrigerator model RV-6
Mobil Temp G-602, E/G-602 -- G-802, E/G-802
Duo-Therm roof mount AC Mod. 53206-xxx, 53210-0xx, 53210-1xx
Insta-Matic service and sales point pamphlet
Kelsey electric trailer brake operation and care 1963
Coleman 2238B630 operation and install 1970
Mobil Temp service station list 1972
Monogram Bathroom Module 360, 361 p/n 275268, 275270 install, operating, maintaining 1971
Duo-Therm 61801 & 61802 operating and install
Plus a handful of mimeographed instructions for the BF 20 itself.

[Hairba11]

The camper came with a 7 round pin plug and pigtail, so I bought a 7 blade plug and pigtail to hook it too the truck.

I used wire nuts and hooked it up with camper wire colors differing from cargo trailer wire colors.

Reverse lights on right blinker and running lights on left blinker and it turns out the camper was wired like cargo.
Black 12v
White ground
Blue brake (yes. Camper has electric brakes, condition unknown)
Brown running
Red/orange reverse
Green right
Yellow left

Of course there were no reverse lights.
Or turn signals
And only 7/18 running lights.
But the interior lights worked

Popping off the light covers, apparently the PO had robbed bulbs at some point.
I spent about $8 and an hour cleaning contacts and replacing missing/burnt bulbs and have 17/18 running lights now! One side marker wasn't an original and had no voltage. Might be corrosion in the crimp connect.

Also soldered, heat shrunk, and taped my intervehicular cable once the wiring was sorted out.

Got back my propane tank a friend was borrowing and hooked it up.
The furnace works, but the thermostat isn't making contact. I'm going to pick one up today.
Should be on our way to Dad's house tonight, about a two hour drive, for a test tryout.

[Hairba11]

Survived the drive!

Took some back roads for lower speeds/less traffic/fewer cops and the hills and corners and no shoulders made for some slow progress in sports.
Checked the straps about 4 times
At some point in its life bearing buddies were installed, and I gave each about 10 pumps of fresh grease before we took off. The hubs stayed cool the entire drive.
The wheels are so rusty one tire is losing air.
DOT code on the tires is 2007, and they look pretty good.
Hit speeds of about 65 on a stretch of 4 lane, the hitch/bumper I made kept it rock solid. It feels like a class C.

[member7777]

Congrats and nice work but I believe (and I am a green newby) by all thing right and holy those tires should be replaced immediately.
best of luck with your retro rig!

[Hairba11]

So cable showed up. I got all the lights working, almost. Got it ready to take to Dad's.
I stole the battery out of my S10, and Pulled out the old Electro battery and found the warranty card filled out for 12/1977
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Topped off the tank on the way out of town for a mileage check.

Brought the curtain material with us and got help sewing the curtains
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They turned out awesome
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This thing hauled very well and was stable to at least 65mph. I averaged about 50mph over 211 miles and filled up at the same pump on the way home. Got 15.8mpg! Pretty good for 11,000 lbs of rig!

Looks good at night too
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And I was looking online and found I can buy wheels and tires for about $70/each so that's on the list too.

[whemme]

Hairba11,

On our website we have the owners manual for the Born Free 1969 thru 1979 Pickup Camper.

Click on this direct clickable link to download it: http://www.bornfreervclub.org/bulletin_ ... =86&t=4608

Is this the same manual as you have for your unit?