Front Storage Box Repair

[BigDogLittleDog]

Jman,
I just had to replace my entire front box (including firewall) and just wanted to thank you for the excellent postings you made for yours. Your guide and pics were invaluable to me as I went through the process. Hopefully, with all of the information and tips you provided, my storage area will last another 15 years, or more.

 

[jman1200]

Jman,
I just had to replace my entire front box (including firewall) and just wanted to thank you for the excellent postings you made for yours. Your guide and pics were invaluable to me as I went through the process. Hopefully, with all of the information and tips you provided, my storage area will last another 15 years, or more.

You are welcome. I'm glad to hear that the time I took to document all my work is helping others.
I appreciate your message. Post a pic of your box.

 

[mar-ine]

After long preparation during the winter at home now the camper is at working location.

 

[jman1200]

After long preparation during the winter at home now the camper is at working location.

Good luck !
Did you keep the old box to use it as a reference? What are your plans?

 

[mar-ine]

I kept all the old parts.
The plan.
Rebuild front storage incl firewall
Rebuild kitchen
Rebuild dinette
Change the side bank into a big cabinet.
New flooring

Hopefully we get it finished before he has need for the bootstorage again.[emoji1]

 

[Yukon Joe]

@jman
Awesome rebuild. Thanks for the detailed write up and photos. I plan to use your method to reinstall the storage box lid.
Do you remember how well the hinge bolts fit the holes in the storage box? The holes in mine seem to be well over sized. I'm assuming the butyl tape is taking all the load of the lid and hinge? And the small torx bolts act only alignment pins.

Thanks,
Yukon

 

[jman1200]

The bolts have a pretty lose fit. I guess otherwise it would be a pain to align them all.

 

[mar-ine]

I placed the bolts in the same place. The wood inside is new, zo those wholes wil dit again.

Coleman
Cheyenne

 

[jman1200]

So my thread was affected by Photobucket's policy change (in nice terms...), there are so many pictures in this thread that I honestly didn't feel like fixing it.
I recently received a PM from a member of this forum asking me for details on my build and how he read it and used his imagination to understand it. That reminded me how helpful the pics from other post had been to me when I attempted repairs, mods or projects so I decided to fix it, thanks @Dweeb for the motivation.

I'm still learning how to use Flickr, I did find it more user friendly than Imgur to embed pics in forums.

Hope that now the pics are back, this thread keeps helping other brave campers that attempt to rebuild their storage boxes.

 

[Halford]

good job!!!! My 2nd popup had a leak... the branch fell between the lid and roof, right in middle and cracked it. I used MEK but did not take off the lid... I did not a good place to store camper and do the work on the crack.

 

[wolfman13]

Thanks for the post. Now that the temps will reach double digits tomm., I'm going to the storage unit to start the demolition process. Our 2000 Coleman Utah has all the ABS roof issues and water damage in the front storage box, and slightly down left side. So we bought another 2000 Coleman Utah with the warrantied replacement roof, and are selling our other 2000. Now that I am going to tackle these repairs, realize I may have bought early, but it was a good deal. Anyways, need to do the work to make it sellable. I originally was going to attempt to patch in some wood on the floor and left side door panel, but see that I should probably do it right and break it down like you did. (Although I'm still worried about that front panel) Thanks for the dimensions, but my question is, did you ever hear from anybody to say if the measurements were different for the Utah? Thanks again for the post, I may have a question or two along the way, but will try not to be a PITA. Who knows, maybe I'll do the repairs, and end up liking it and selling the other??

 

[jman1200]

There was another member who said the dimensions were slightly different, I believe he also had a Utah. Use them as a guide.
PM me if you have any questions, it's Winter and I don't frequent the site that often.

 

[MontanaBound4657]

Front storage box renovation of a 2004 Fleetwood Laramie. In a nutshell, I ripped the entire, rotten, front storage box off and replaced it with marine-grade plywood, covered the front w/ diamond plate, and slapped a truck box on the front.

 

[megcabra]

Front storage box renovation of a 2004 Fleetwood Laramie. In a nutshell, I ripped the entire, rotten, front storage box off and replaced it with marine-grade plywood, covered the front w/ diamond plate, and slapped a truck box on the front. View attachment 34683 View attachment 34684 View attachment 34685 View attachment 34686 View attachment 34688 View attachment 34689 View attachment 34691 View attachment 34692 View attachment 34693 View attachment 34694

Great looking mod, thanks for sharing!

 

[Campaholic18]

Front storage box renovation of a 2004 Fleetwood Laramie. In a nutshell, I ripped the entire, rotten, front storage box off and replaced it with marine-grade plywood, covered the front w/ diamond plate, and slapped a truck box on the front. View attachment 34683 View attachment 34684 View attachment 34685 View attachment 34686 View attachment 34688 View attachment 34689 View attachment 34691 View attachment 34692 View attachment 34693 View attachment 34694

Did you do rivets again or did you use something else to put everything back together with?

 

[MontanaBound4657]

I scrapped all that stuff (plastic box held together with glue and rivets) and replaced the front storage box with a diamond plate truck tool box. To replace the front of the camper, I used marine-grade plywood and the same nuts/bolts that I removed to latch it onto the front (and place diamond plate over it). Long story short, no rivets used in reconstruction

 

[dscONE]

Not sure if this is the best place to put this... If not, please point me in the right direction.
I just obtained a 2001 Coleman Utah in pretty good shape, but there are cracks in the lid of the storage box leaking water. With inspiration from this post and others, I'm attempting to repair those.

The main set of images that have helped me are here:
http://www.popupportal.com/threads/front-storage-box-repair.90016/#post-893441

I'm currently trying to remove the top cover piece, and...well, it's not as easy as I hoped it would be (such a newbie). I was able to remove the aluminum rail, but the adhesive holding the sides of the top cover is not so easy to get through. jman1200 shows a photo as says to use an "exacto knife to cut through the tape that holds this section in place". I've worked on it for at least an hour, and I don't seem to be getting anywhere. Any tips. I read somewhere else that some heat might help.

Here are a couple of pictures of my project. Thank you for any advice you can lend. I have really appreciated this portal in my short time here.

 

[kmbarreiros]

I will tell you when I pulled apart the front box I was really surprised at how well the adhesive was still holding on. Since I am rebuilding the front without the box I was able to just pull the crap out of it.

You may need to apply some heat to get the adhesive more plyable.

 

[Terry32L]

Nice job Montana Bound. I recently performed a StorageBoxectomy on 1997 ColemanFleetwood Niagara. The ABS all around the top of the storage area and bed slide was cracked when I purchased it. This allowed water to seep in and rot the particle board underneath. I decided to perform a full removal and replacement. Tore out (bad pick) the entire front storage box and used a grinder to remove the bottom edge of the frame (very sharp). I framed the new bulk head buy using 2x4 and plywood. Used plywood for spacers for electrical and bedstop anchors (really important). Wiring was tricky at first but just used the green and white for running lights. Terminated the black wire after removing the switch and light for the old box. Let me know if you need the wiring diagram. I went to a local supplier and purchased a sheet of diamond plate. We scored the sections Where we wanted to make the bend and bend it by hand (time consuming) since we could not rent a break which could handle the thickness of the diamond plate. Bought a new 60" diamond plate toolbox and cut a hole for the water heater. Placed composite decking on the front frame and then the new box. Cut holes for gas and water then mounted the water heater. Trimmed out with aluminum angle.

 

[MontanaBound4657]

@Terry32L Nice mod! I like the composite decking under the truck box... wish I'd thought of that!