1978 Starcraft Starflite 6

[Romy]

Hi all,

My renter moved out and left a Starflite 6, which I've now dragged home. The serial number and year of manufacture is faded off, and I don't have a title, so I have no idea what year it is. The Starflite appears like it was only made from 70 to 79, and that checks out based on the upholstery inside. I'll get a lien title, but if anyone knows how to identify the year without the serial (or the more obvious 'year of manufacture') please chime in.

I've never had a pop up (hence why it followed me home) but have camped in VWs, truck campers (pop ups and hard sides), roof top tents, larger RVs/toy haulers, backpacking tents, bivys and foxholes. I'd like to try it out; my friend has a pop up and it has a huge amount of room in it. I kind of want to lift this thing up a little and use it as an off-road camper. The pop up part doesn't work; the steel cables are all broken and dangling underneath. But whilst peering at the undercarriage, I was surprised how stout the frame appeared. And so the 'lift it and throw big tires' idea manifested itself.

Anyhow, if anyone knows anything about cable replacement in the Starflite models, please chime in. I found some manuals on popupparts.com and it would appear the cables are all the same length for the pre ~84 Starflite and Starlite 6 models, but confirmation would be appreciated. Also not sure what's up with the lug bolts, but they appear to be some standard thread, maybe something like 1/2-13 or so (didn't take them off, just noticed they were grade 5 bolts).

-Romy

 

[eoleson1]

My first pop up was a 1972 Starlite 6. Dad bought it brand new and I inherited it when he and mom quit camping.

I replaced all of the cables on it, but that was in the late 80's or early 90's so I don't recall a lot of details. I seem to recall that I used bulk cable, rather than having to buy model specific cables.

The lug bolts should be available at any non big box auto parts store.

 

[Raycfe]

I would think the lugs are ½-20
Welcome from the Connecticut shoreline

 

[SteveP]

As far as the lug bolts go, just get new hubs with pressed in studs. You'll likely need new bearings any way and 4 1/2" x 5 lugs makes it easy to find new wheels. Complete assemblies are available etrailer.com. You should pull one and measure the spindle before you order. If you've ever tried to mount a wheel using lug bolts you'll agree that pressed in studs with nuts is the equivalent of sliced bread.

 

[kcsa75]

Greetings! Welcome to the forum from Midway USA.

 

[LilRed]

Welcome from NY. Personally can’t help with that model but Best to you in your new adventures!

 

[Romy]

As far as the lug bolts go, just get new hubs with pressed in studs. You'll likely need new bearings any way and 4 1/2" x 5 lugs makes it easy to find new wheels. Complete assemblies are available etrailer.com. You should pull one and measure the spindle before you order. If you've ever tried to mount a wheel using lug bolts you'll agree that pressed in studs with nuts is the equivalent of sliced bread.

Hah, yeah, no kidding. I have aircooled VWs which originally had lug bolts. Press in studs is definitely the way to go!

 

[Romy]

Ok, figured out a few more things. It's a 78 per the interior door sticker. As eoleson1 suggested, I think I can get away with making my own cables; they're 3/32". For less than popupparts wants for 4 new cables, I'm getting 100' bulk stainless steel rope, the crimping tool, thimbles, and the aluminum sleeves. Making my own should be simple enough, albeit I have to figure out how I'm going to raise the roof with 4 broken cables.

I've tested the lights and half are dead...as in, no power dead. I'll have to go through all the wiring/lighting, but if anyone knows what the original tail lights on this camper were, I'd love to know. It appears to have had a rectangular light with 3 horizontal mounting holes 4" apart, and vertical holes 4-5/8" apart. This seems to be non-standard with what's available today, and at some point in it's life, someone replaced the original lights with smaller ones. It has a mismatched (but visually similar) pair of Monarch 9060 (which I can find online) and Grote 480 (which Grote doesn't make anymore). It also has the super cool Reflect-o-lite circular marker lights, all of which are miraculously present.

I suppose I'll move my posting over to the 'restoration' section. I'm hoping to avoid a full resto (as my wife has already voiced the "I can't believe you dragged that home" comment) but I've been known to go all out once I get the bug. We bought a 92 Fleetwood Caribou 10' slide in truck camper with a Stable Lift for really cheap, then proceeded to spend an enormous amount of time remaking and rebuilding it. It's a great platform, but sometimes I don't want to deal with the F350 and basically needing hookups if it's cold/hot out (which in NV, it's almost always one extreme or the other). I kind of (read:completely) like the idea of this little tent pop up camper dragged behind my 4runner.

Honestly I dragged this little guy home because I haven't found a good, easy, weekend camper yet. We used to always camp in our VW bus, but then we got two large dogs, who think the bed is theirs. And the bus just became too small for my wife and I and the two pups. Ever since, I've been trying to find a good alternative to the bus that doesn't involve buying a Sportsmobile or Class A. We had tried a pop-up truck camper and really, those are just the worst of both worlds. The thing is attached to your truck so follows you wherever you go, so you really don't have a truck. Yet you can't sleep in it without popping the top, and unlike van campers (or VW buses), the interior is not heated/cooled. So overall kind of blah. We do have the F350 with a full size slide, which isn't great on dirt roads but otherwise hits all the marks. Really, I'm hopetimistic the little pop up is a good compromise that'll allow my wife and I (and the dogs) to ride comfortably in the vehicle whilst all our camping stuff gets towed behind, and we can comfortably continue on our dirt road ramblings.

Also, I have to say, I'm very happy a forum like this exists and is as well used as it is. It seems so many forums are suffering with Facebook taking over. Glad this place exists.