This Old Sunline

kanyonkitty · 11-07-2009, 10:42 AM

OK, the wrecked 299SR is now sitting in the yard. Photos will be posted as we work on this project. It truly is amazing how well it handled the wreck. The ride home was fine, at one point I almost reached 45MPH, but most of the trip I tried to stat between 35-40mph. Right now, we are working out there trying to just remove what is "totally ruined", so that we can see exactly what is what.

Kitty

EMD_Driver · 11-07-2009, 03:36 PM

Here are some of the pictures we promised. I opted to display only thumbnails and have them clickable, since there will be so many of them. If you click on the thumbnail picture, it will open the image in my Photobucket account. They can be viewed full size there.

It took us two hours, to get the wheels and tires on it and get it here. The manual tongue jack broke it's roll pin and would not work, so I had to have the loader/forklift to raise it onto the ball of the hitch.

Here, it's up on the loader and getting the tires/wheels put on.

There was a Coachmen RV in the way, so the guy on the loader moved it for us..

Here's the new addition to the family, when it arrived at it's new home.

Kitty had to pull up the driveway and back down the road, to turn it around..

Side by side Sunnys!

At the top of the driveway, we have a carport. I knew we could get the 299 behind it, but it was a tight fit!

Here she is, all in place..

Fits nicely!

Before we could drop the trailer, I had to put our spare power tongue jack on it. I used my battery booster as a power supply.

Time to start cleaning it out a bit. Here's what's left of the awning.

And this is AFTER all the bed frames and closet wood was removed.

The slide presented a huge problem. It's top right corner had popped into the camper and was wedged in very good. It took some unconventional tools and techniques to get it out. I first tried to power it from the converter, using only the wire marked slide room and a ground. I got nothing, so I took JohnB's suggestion and powered it directly at the slide mechanism motor. Once free from the inside of the camper, the slide mechanism and the whole room itself came out perfectly!

More to come!

EMD_Driver · 11-07-2009, 04:41 PM

We did manage to get the water pump out, as well as the water heater. I had to remove the oven, to get the water heater out. The hole in the siding wasn't nearly big enough. I have no idea how Sunline ever got it in there.

I was unable to get the fridge out. I got the two screws out of the header and the two bottom screws had their heads broken off. I just found out that there are two screws in the rear of the unit, at the base. I'll have to see if I can find them.

My son also worked at removing all the lights from the coach. Kathy.... Here's your lights!

EMD_Driver · 11-07-2009, 04:53 PM

John,
One thing I forgot to mention, was the crack I saw the other day. I got a good, long look at it today and it's in the frame itself. It's also about four inches long. The crack is there the vertical part of the frame meets the bottom horizontal piece.

Also, when we looked at the camper the other day, it was in a different place then it was this morning. Some idiot used a loader/forklift to pick it up. When they did, they ran one of the forks up through the floor. The other fork was directly under the fresh tank. Needless to say, it's collapsed. There doesn't appear to be any holes in it, but the steel support is holding it in it's current state. It will be a while, before I get back to it and see if the tank itself is damaged.

The gray water tank has a huge hole in it. I don't know if Kitty's tank repair method will be able to work, but we'll see...

**Sunline Fan** · 11-07-2009, 05:05 PM

Wow, that does look like quite a project.

Kitty, is this the first time you've ever had two at once?

Jon

EMD_Driver · 11-07-2009, 05:51 PM

Sunline quality is unbelievable! Even with this much damage, it was able to be towed home!

EMD_Driver · 11-07-2009, 05:53 PM

Lots of great woodwork, still in decent condition!

**JohnB** · 11-07-2009, 05:56 PM

WOW, you have been busy....Double wow.

Looks like a very productive day and then some.

H'mm, first Kitty has never had a slide camper. Then this year she gets one. A beauty I might add. Now today there are 2 of them in her yard complete with a police escort on her madian and maybe last voyage!

The other interesting thing to see in these pics is how the camper is constructed. The little nitty gritty details behind everything. We normally do not see them unless some one is doing reconstruction.

Gary, glad the slide came out OK. I take it the walk on roof at least goes up to the slide area? And a High Effec. AC unit?? Wonder what that is.

A frame crack, h'mm, pics here goes a long way.

Glad things went well for you all today.

Oh and here is one other thing, bumped into this last night. A 2006 T299SR for sale. Nice looking TT. They have quite a few pics of it on this site. http://www.sunlinervs.com/rvinventor....asp?id=601724

Good luck

John

EMD_Driver · 11-07-2009, 06:01 PM

John,
I have not yet gotten any pics of the frame. We were hurried at the salvage yard...

The AC... Here's a pic, that I got.

Also.... I refused to be on the roof, behind the bathroom. Not that I don't trust the Sunline construction.. Damaged Sunline construction is a whole different animal!

Here's the other pics I got from the rooftop..

EMD_Driver · 11-07-2009, 06:31 PM

One thing I forgot to mention.. Just as we were leaving the salvage yard, I was approached by a man, that asked why we bought the 299. When I told him, he told me that he was the one that had bought the microwave, cooktop and cushions. He told me that he had a 1950 and wanted the parts for it. He also told me that they wouldn't work for him and wanted to know if I wanted them back.

I'll be calling him next week and getting back the missing parts!

partimcmpr · 11-08-2009, 07:09 AM

As I said, I would be back from time to time. When I first saw this, I thought your trailer had been wrecked! I will look around for other posts related to this, but I'm glad to see you still have your other trailer as well.

That was a good looking one for sale someone mentioned as well...

Later,
David

Former Sunline owner
(And yes - I miss it)

EMD_Driver · 11-08-2009, 05:12 PM

We got the fridge out this morning and Kitty got it exceptionally clean! I put it in the garage and hooked it up. Within seconds, on AC power, it started gurgling to life. It took a couple of hours, for the exhaust tube to heat up.

We went to town and checked it when we came back. The freezer was below freezing, but the fridge was still warm. The fins weren't even cool. It was then, that Kitty told me about the sensor being off. We got it on and I adjusted it. As of right now, the fins are cold.

I also hooked the unit to a 20lb LP cylinder and switched the unit to gas. Within 5 seconds, it was trying to ignite. Once it did, the flame looked great. You can see it, when you look down the exhaust tube.

I switched it back to auto and will check temps with a thermometer tomorrow.

I also finished draining the water heater. It's amazing how much is left in the tank, even after the drain plug is removed. The black part of the mounting frame had gotten bent and the door was unable to be fully closed. I was able to straighten it out and get the door fully closed. It will need a new screen for the exhaust, but I believe it should still work. I will have to do some reading and figure out how to test the water heater, while it is out of the coach.

Gary

Poppy & Nana · 11-09-2009, 11:11 AM

I like the play on words "This Old Sunlinee" sounds like This Old House.....are you going to make a series out of it? Hope so.....very interesting photos so far.

Kitty I sent you a PM

EMD_Driver · 11-09-2009, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppy & Nana

I like the play on words "This Old Sunlinee" sounds like This Old House.....are you going to make a series out of it? Hope so.....very interesting photos so far.

Kitty I sent you a PM

As long as we have a supply of Sunlines, I don't see why we couldn't do a complete series on each one! Bring them on!!

As a matter of fact, Jon (SunlineFan) sent me a link to a slightly used T-280SR that has some possibilities.

http://www.salvagedirect.com/asp/vie...itemid=743296&

EMD_Driver · 11-09-2009, 02:19 PM

I checked the fridge temps today and got some great numbers. The fridge part was at 41.1 degrees, so I adjusted the sensor a bit more. I'd like it to be at, or just below 40.

The freezer floor was -5.5 degrees. That's cold!

Edit: The more we think about it, the more we are wanting to keep the fridge. It might come in handy, if the power goes out..

Edit 2: After adjusting the sensor, the fridge temp is now at 38.0 degrees and the freezer is at -6 degrees.

EMD_Driver · 11-20-2009, 04:05 PM

We haven't had much time this week, to get much accomplished. With work and all the rain, there hasn't been much progress. We had a whole hour to work on it, after getting home from work and we got some more of the slide taken apart.

I started by getting the siding off. It's amazing, how many staples they used to hold the siding on. There was no chance of it ever blowing off!

Once the siding was removed, the insulation was also taken out. Here's what the slide looks like, with no siding or insulation..

These two pics show all the screws, that held the overhead cabinet on. Trust me, there were almost as many on the inside too!

Inside shot of the wall. We are waiting until the dinette is out, before we remove the wallboard.

The OSB in the ceiling is where the overhead cabinet was attached.

More pics to come tomorrow... Hopefully!

**JohnB** · 11-20-2009, 06:36 PM

Gary

This is neat stuff understanding how the slide was made. If you can, take sort of close up's of how the roof rubber was installed and the Darco on the bottom. Some day some of us may need to get into those areas and knowing before hand a few clues on what it might be is very helpful.

Your progress is doing going good.

John

**Sunline Fan** · 11-20-2009, 08:08 PM

With that dinette out it'll be just one big sideways shoebox!

Thanks for all the detailed pics of the construction.

Jon

EMD_Driver · 11-21-2009, 06:11 PM

Today's work was dedicated to getting the slide out of the camper. Sunline didn't cut any corners, when they built these slides!

JohnB asked about the rubber roof and here's a corner shot, with the flange removed:

The only thing on the top-side, was an aluminum trim piece and a healthy dose of putty tape. The flange area was different. The rubber was folded down several inches from the rooftop and there was wallboard stapled over it. The flange piece was over that and had putty tape/caulk/eternabond type tape to seal it down. The top rubber is glued to a piece of luan, which is glued/stapled to the slide framing.

Along the bottom framing lumber were several screws. They all came up, from the OSB slide floor. This pic shows one of those screws, as well as two of the carriage bolts that mount the slide to the slide mechanism.

There were two OSB fascia boards, that were behind the lower siding piece. Here's a pic with one removed. The remaining one in the pic, is where the wire holders were mounted.

Next, it was out with the carpet and padding.

The metal edge is constructed of heavy gauge steel. They are screwed onto the top of the slide floor. This metal is where we put the rug boards, in our 320. After seeing how the steel plates are mounted, I'm not convinced that the rugboards wouldn't cause them to separate from the OSB.

Next, it was time to take the carriage bolts out of the slide mechanism. These four bolts are what connect the slide mechanism to the slide itself. Of special note, is the fact that ALL FOUR of the nuts on these bolts were loose! I would advise anyone with a slide room, to get a 1/2" deep well socket on an extension and make sure the four nuts are tight. Sunline didn't use a lock washer on these, but I intend to add them to the slide on our 320's slide.

Can you tell it is muddy, under the 299's slide??

Now, it's time to remove the slide's framing and roof as one piece..

There were a few screws, that I missed. They were all that was holding the thing on at this point.

Once off, it had to be moved....

My son cut out all the window frames and studs. After thinking about it, I may just have to make a shelter out of it. I have several barrels of oil, to make fuel for my truck. This shelter would be perfect for them!

EMD_Driver · 11-21-2009, 06:22 PM

As if taking the slide out wasn't enough work for one day, I decided to take the shower out as well. It was too dark for pictures and maybe it was a good thing.. The shower surround was so well-glued in place, that there was no way to get it out intact. Once that was out, the interior of the camper really opened up.

I fired up the 1,500 watt light and started getting some of the plumbing supply lines out of the way.

I also wanted to remove more of the wall and ceiling board, to help show how this Sunline stood up to the collision.

I also found some water damage, outboard of where the shower skylight is.

I also know that Sunline wasn't afraid to use as many screws as they wanted! Kitty counted 16 screws, in the piece above one end of the tub surround.