1997 Viking 1706 roof rebuild

[William Freeman]

A few weeks ago my family, along with my mom and step dad planned a camping trip. My mom (74yo)arrived before us and was setting up her Viking when we pulled through. We went on to our site and set up our pup, then walked over to help her out after we finished. We found out that their roof wasn't raising up evenly. Upon further inspection, I found that the lift posts were pulled out of the wood on 3 of the corners! We couldn't safely set the pup up, so they cancelled their trip and drove home.

Fast forward to today. My brother and I decided to tackle repairing the roof for her. She wanted to just sell it for parts, but I could tell she was really disappointed that they did a bunch of work to it and never got to camp in it - so we are going to fix it for her Christmas present. I forgot to mention that they bought the pup back in March I think. It needed a little work but was useable. My step dad had a stroke shortly after that, so things were put on hold.

So this afternoon, we removed the a/c, then the canvas from the inside, disconnected the wiring in the driver side canvas and lifted the roof off with the help of 2 of his shop employees. We also removed the edge trim while the roof was still on the camper.

We flipped the roof over on some parts stands so that we could work on it at a reasonable height. Upon further inspection, we found a bunch of small holes in the aluminum on the passenger side. That panel was rotten front to back - the driver side only on the corners. Both ends are still serviceable. The top was PERFECT - not even any discoloration around the A/C opening! We were able to remove the screws to get all of the hardware off. After the channel that holds the roof seal was removed, the side panels came right off with a couple of taps of the mallet (they were only held on with some staples and the corner brackets! - and of course the aluminum edge moulding).

That was all we had time to do this afternoon, but I stopped by Home Depot on the way home to pick up new hardware to put it all back together tomorrow - $27 worth of wood screws, machine screws, washers and t nuts! We are going to get the plywood and glue in the morning because it is raining today.

The plan for tomorrow is to get the plywood cut and spliced (105" long I think), new metal cut and glued on (we are going to use white coiled metal on the outside, but haven't decided on a glue yet), and possibly secure the side panels back on the roof tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully we can get that done tomorrow and get the roof back on Sunday.

 

[William Freeman]

We had a few hours to work on the camper this morning, so we went to Home Depot and bought a sheet of 5/8" plywood and got them to cut it into 12" strips. We also bought some mending strips, a foam roller (for contact cement) and a roller to firmly attach the coil metal to the plywood.

Once back at the shop, we began by cutting 9" pieces to attach to the 8' long strips (to make them 105" total length). We connected them together with the mending strips, making sure that we could fit the T-nuts around the mending strip so that they wouldn't interfere. We traced the one good side panel outline onto the new plywood and cut them out with the circular and jig saws - one at the time. We oriented them so that we would have one side with the joint in the front of the roof and the other at the rear - so that it will (hopefully) be a little stronger that way.

Once they were cut out, we clamped them together, measured and marked the holes for the T-nuts, then drilled through both panels. Since the T-nuts for the posts had to go through from the outside and would be covered with metal, we used a grinder to make an indention in the plywood so they wouldn't bee seen through the metal. We installed the T-nuts then scuffed the metal and plywood before we rolled on a coat of contact cement. Once it tacked up, we flipped the wood over on the metal, leaving a 1" overhang of metal. Then we flipped the side panel back over and rolled it well to get a good adhesion. Lastly, we trimmed the metal as close as possible to the plywood and bent the 3/16" that I couldn't trim off over on top of the plywood. Side panels are built!

I had to leave at this point, but my brother was going to stay and paint the inside of the plywood white so that it would be dry when we got there in the morning.

After I finished what I had to take care of, it was about 3:30 - not really enough time to go back and work on the camper. So I drove an hour to the nearest Camping World to buy butyl tape and vinyl molding trim While I was there, my brother sent me a couple of pics. He had painted the plywood, screwed the side panels on and installed the canvas tracks! He couldn't do anything else because he didn't have the butyl tape for the aluminum trim.

My brother suggested painting the whole camper with truck bed liner since the whole camper needed painting and the side panels on the roof wouldn't match (texture or color) anyway. Since he owns a body shop, he said it would only take a couple of hours to remove the decals, scuff it down, tape it up, spray coat of sealer and spray the bedliner.

Tomorrow we are going to get an early start. We are hoping to get the roof finished up and back on, canvas back on, a/c installed and door re hung - basically complete except for spraying it. We found a few other small things that we want to do to it while it is at the shop too. Maybe we can get it completely finished so that they can go camping next weekend - that's the goal anyway!

We had a few hours to work on the camper this morning, so we went to Home Depot and bought a sheet of 5/8" plywood and got them to cut it into 12" strips. We also bought some mending strips, a foam roller (for contact cement) and a roller to firmly attach the coil metal to the plywood.

Once back at the shop, we began by cutting 9" pieces to attach to the 8' long strips (to make them 105" total length). We connected them together with the mending strips, making sure that we could fit the T-nuts around the mending strip so that they wouldn't interfere. We traced the one good side panel outline onto the new plywood and cut them out with the circular and jig saws - one at the time. We oriented them so that we would have one side with the joint in the front of the roof and the other at the rear - so that it will (hopefully) be a little stronger that way.

Once they were cut out, we clamped them together, measured and marked the holes for the T-nuts, then drilled through both panels. Since the T-nuts for the posts had to go through from the outside and would be covered with metal, we used a grinder to make an indention in the plywood so they wouldn't bee seen through the metal. We installed the T-nuts then scuffed the metal and plywood before we rolled on a coat of contact cement. Once it tacked up, we flipped the wood over on the metal, leaving a 1" overhang of metal. Then we flipped the side panel back over and rolled it well to get a good adhesion. Lastly, we trimmed the metal as close as possible to the plywood and bent the 3/16" that I couldn't trim off over on top of the plywood. Side panels are built!

I had to leave at this point, but my brother was going to stay and paint the inside of the plywood white so that it would be dry when we got there in the morning.

After I finished what I had to take care of, it was about 3:30 - not really enough time to go back and work on the camper. So I drove an hour to the nearest Camping World to buy butyl tape and vinyl molding trim While I was there, my brother sent me a couple of pics. He had painted the plywood, screwed the side panels on and installed the canvas tracks! He couldn't do anything else because he didn't have the butyl tape for the aluminum trim.

My brother suggested painting the whole camper with truck bed liner since the whole camper needed painting and the side panels on the roof wouldn't match (texture or color) anyway. Since he owns a body shop, he said it would only take a couple of hours to remove the decals, scuff it down, tape it up, spray coat of sealer and spray the bedliner.

Tomorrow we are going to get an early start. We are hoping to get the roof finished up and back on, canvas back on, a/c installed and door re hung - basically complete except for spraying it. We found a few other small things that we want to do to it while it is at the shop too. Maybe we can get it completely finished so that they can go camping next weekend - that's the goal anyway!
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[William Freeman]

We started working on it about 10AM yesterday morning. We applied some Liquid nails between the side panels and roof and put a couple of screws in to hold the side panels in position. Next we installed the aluminum trim/drip edge on the bottom of the side panels with a strip of butyl tape underneath. Then we flipped the roof over on the saw horses to work on the butyl tape and caulking that was left from the trim. We were able to scrape the butyl tape off, but we used an air powered pin stripe/decal remover similar to this:

to remove the remaining caulking and silicone. We also went ahead and removed the badly deteriorated "Viking" decals from the front and back of the roof. Then we applied butyl tape to the top and sides of the aluminum edge trim, removed the screws we installed to hold the side panels, and installed the trim with a bunch of new screws - turned out great! Sorry, I didn't take a close up of this.

Next, we moved the roof over the posts. We left the bunks out a little to help support the roof and give us a break. This also gave us enough room to reach under and get the post bolts into the brackets.

Then I had to raise it up to make sure everything was working correctly and to tighten the post bolts. Once that checked out(except for some ANNOYING squeaking from a pulley in the rear) and the bolts were tight, we lowered it back down to a manageable level to check the alignment. The roof was skewed a little on the driver side, so we lifted it back up a little and adjusted the position of the posts (the bracket hole was slotted to allow for adjustment front to rear). Dropped it back down and it fit pretty good. Then we raised it back up so that we could get inside to install the canvas. This was MUCH simpler than I had imagined and was finished in about 10 min!

Next we installed the door, which was a PITA! We installed the canvas securing strip about 1/4" too low, so the door wouldn't fold up to the ceiling without hitting it (which kept it from going far enough back to secure it in the travel position. We ended up cutting the securing strip out which allowed it to go back far enough to secure it in travel position, but not where it was supposed to be. At least it opened and closed correctly and was able to be secured to the ceiling.

That is it! My brother is going to try to get it sprayed (with bedliner) this week so that we can get it back to our Mom so they can go camping this weekend. I also ordered new roof latches because the original ones are rusted. Once it is painted, we will install the A/C (he's going to paint the roof to seal it too) and new latches.

Here it is in front of the paint booth - waiting eagerly for it's facelift!

I'll post some "finished product" pics when it's completely done.

 

[William Freeman]

We started working on it about 10AM yesterday morning. We applied some Liquid nails between the side panels and roof and put a couple of screws in to hold the side panels in position. Next we installed the aluminum trim/drip edge on the bottom of the side panels with a strip of butyl tape underneath. Then we flipped the roof over on the saw horses to work on the butyl tape and caulking that was left from the trim. We were able to scrape the butyl tape off, but we used an air powered pin stripe/decal remover similar to this:

to remove the remaining caulking and silicone. We also went ahead and removed the badly deteriorated "Viking" decals from the front and back of the roof. Then we applied butyl tape to the top and sides of the aluminum edge trim, removed the screws we installed to hold the side panels, and installed the trim with a bunch of new screws - turned out great! Sorry, I didn't take a close up of this.

Next, we moved the roof over the posts. We left the bunks out a little to help support the roof and give us a break. This also gave us enough room to reach under and get the post bolts into the brackets.

Then I had to raise it up to make sure everything was working correctly and to tighten the post bolts. Once that checked out(except for some ANNOYING squeaking from a pulley in the rear) and the bolts were tight, we lowered it back down to a manageable level to check the alignment. The roof was skewed a little on the driver side, so we lifted it back up a little and adjusted the position of the posts (the bracket hole was slotted to allow for adjustment front to rear). Dropped it back down and it fit pretty good. Then we raised it back up so that we could get inside to install the canvas. This was MUCH simpler than I had imagined and was finished in about 10 min!

Next we installed the door, which was a PITA! We installed the canvas securing strip about 1/4" too low, so the door wouldn't fold up to the ceiling without hitting it (which kept it from going far enough back to secure it in the travel position. We ended up cutting the securing strip out which allowed it to go back far enough to secure it in travel position, but not where it was supposed to be. At least it opened and closed correctly and was able to be secured to the ceiling.

That is it! My brother is going to try to get it sprayed (with bedliner) this week so that we can get it back to our Mom so they can go camping this weekend. I also ordered new roof latches because the original ones are rusted. Once it is painted, we will install the A/C (he's going to paint the roof to seal it too) and new latches.

Here it is in front of the paint booth - waiting eagerly for it's facelift!

I'll post some "finished product" pics when it's completely d

 

[William Freeman]

I don't know why it double posted + I can't figure out how to delete it.

 

[1380ken]

Nice work

 

[William Freeman]

Nice work

Thanks!
My brother sent me a few pics a little while ago. He has been working on it today - got all of the pin stripes and decals removed, scuffed the whole thing and ready to spray tomorrow! He's going to repaint the frame also.

We are also replacing all of the vinyl channel trim. When he was removing the old stuff on all 4 corners, he found that all of the plastic corner caps/roof bumpers (I don't know what they are called) were falling apart. This is the part I'm talking about - located on the top of the aluminum rails on all 4 corners:

If anybody knows the actual name and/or where I can find them, let me know. I emailed Coachman, but they said it would take up to 48hrs for a reply.

 

[bobinfleet]

What a great write up and job, well done

 

[William Freeman]

Thanks - we're hoping to be done with it tomorrow. He didn't get to paint it yesterday - possibly going to stay late this evening to do it. If so, I will go over there in the morning to help get the A/C back on, along with the new vinyl trim strips and roof latches. Then we can deliver my Mom her "new" camper tomorrow evening or Saturday morning!

 

[William Freeman]

My brother and I knocked out the last few items at his shop Friday morning. We installed the A/C with new gaskets and put the Maxxair cover back on, installed the last of the vinyl screw cover trim on the aluminum trim, installed the awning rail and awning bag and reinstalled the A/C inside components (heat kit also). We also installed the new roof latches. Then I hooked her up and dragged her home.

I had a couple of hours to do a few more things to the camper over the weekend before I returned it to my Mom. So yesterday, I opened her up to install some plastic cable clamps on the A/C power cable to hold it to the ceiling. I tidied up some of the wiring that my step dad did when he took out the 12v converter to convert it to straight 120v. I did a little cleaning (the ceiling was particularly dirty) inside. I replaced the screws around the door frame because half of them were rusty. I lubed up the bed rails and lift posts, I scuffed and painted the frame. I greased the cable system and winch. I repainted a couple of other items (tongue jack handle, rear stabilizers, step and door handle). The last thing I did was to install eternabond tape over the corners of the aluminum top rail. I figured this would suffice to keep it watertight until I can order replacement caps for the corners - or maybe permanently.

Here is a close up the bedliner sprayed side panel -I think it turned out as a great match:

And a close up of the rear:

And a couple of the outside:

She looks a little plain in all white right now, but my wife is going to try to cut some new "Viking" decals once we determine which type of vinyl to use. In the meantime, I am going to return her to my mom so that they can finally go camping!

 

[COL Tom]

Nice Job! I recently discovered rot in the side panels of my roof. I'm curious as to how the sides are attached to the roof? How likely is it that the edge of the roof has rot too? Is there a way to fix without taking the roof off? Thanks!

 

[firetom563]

I have a 2001 Viking Legend w storage box and was wondering if you guys have a template you made of the sideboards for the roof that I could use to make new ones for my Viking

 

[William Freeman]

Nice Job! I recently discovered rot in the side panels of my roof. I'm curious as to how the sides are attached to the roof? How likely is it that the edge of the roof has rot too? Is there a way to fix without taking the roof off? Thanks!

Sorry about not answering until now - I haven't really been on the site in awhile. The side panels are nailed or stapled to the side of the top, then the aluminum trim is attached with butyl tape and screws. It is completely possible that the edges can be rotten. I imagine that fixing can be done without removing the roof, but it would be much easier to go ahead and take it off for the repair.

 

[William Freeman]

I have a 2001 Viking Legend w storage box and was wondering if you guys have a template you made of the sideboards for the roof that I could use to make new ones for my Viking

Sorry, no I don't. Our original panels were still intact enough to trace them onto the ones we built.

 

[firetom563]

Did you ever find th corner parts at this post
http://popupportal.com/data/xengallery/33/33953-6a19d643e3f607cc8403b0dfb4248083.jpg?1540928300

 

[William Freeman]

I tried to find the reply, but couldn't locate it, but I posted somewhere about help identify this part and someone replied with where to buy it. I also received a reply from Viking, but that email has since been deleted. I would try them first.

 

[MacFam]

Hello,
I have a 1998 Viking and I have been searching for a picture of the metal piece that lifts the roof and the brace that holds it to the roof. If that makes sense. I received a pop up from a friend that had previous work done and each side had the connected differently. Is there any way you can get a picture of yours? I’ll put a picture of mine so you know what I am talking about. I had to redo the roof since it was all rotted out but I don’t know if the bracket goes inside or outside.

 

[William Freeman]

Sorry, it is my mom's camper - we won't be camping together again until Nov 22nd. I can take some pics then if you still need them. I don't remember what the difference was between them - I do remember that 2 were adjustable to make the roof fit correctly - the ones in the picture you have.

 

[vdotmatrix]

Wow this was a great post. I only have one side that needs rebuilding. How in the world did you remove the roof. So nice you have a place to work on it like that.
I am just now scouring this section for as much info and to research this job before I try it.

That corner piece of plastic would be a nice to have. looks like a 1 1/2" plastic end cap with the sides cut off.

 

[vdotmatrix]

be cautious of popupparts.com but I saw that part...contact goshen lefts for parts pertaining the lift system.