1982 Starcraft Venture trailer help

[airmanwilliams]

Need help guys. Going to be picking up this 10' 1982 Starcraft Venture trailer on monday to bring home and would like to find some places to get replacement and upgrade parts.

Erin and I will look it over and assess what it may need. Possibly paint in a few areas, new formica, repaint in a few areas, inside reupholstery, and a few other small things. Some possibilities if I can find them cheapish will be an awning, solar panels with inverter, basket on tongue for gas and water cans or fire wood, and a small lift and slightly bigger tires to clear some dirt road/back country exploring.

 

[Cascadia]

Just flip the axle for a lift. And if you want new upholstery on the cheap but good quality go to Penny seat covers in Orem. About 1050 n. State on the west side. The do all my boat upholstery's. You can pick pretty much whatever color or design you want and it's a little cheaper for cash.

 

[airmanwilliams]

Just flip the axle for a lift. And if you want new upholstery on the cheap but good quality go to Penny seat covers in Orem. About 1050 n. State on the west side. The do all my boat upholstery's. You can pick pretty much whatever color or design you want and it's a little cheaper for cash.

Wife is/was a home ec teacher and enjoys reupholstery work, not sure what her plans are with this but he says she is ready to have some fun with it(kinda scary and hope it isnt too girly). Thanks for the heads up though because if it turns out too big of a job for her I will look them up.

 

[Maverick]

Awesome! We had a '77 Venture "Canterbury" for several years when I was a teen. Many good times.

 

[phatfoto]

http://www.canvasreplacements.com/ http://www.popupparts.com/ These are great for parts.

http://www.popupportal.com/ and http://www.popupexplorer.com/ Are both great popup forums. TONS of info.

I have a 1972 Starcraft Starlite in the garage right now, getting new cables (was sent the wrong ones actually...) and possibly a roof refurbish. Its a dead basic box on wheels with its own' tent. No gas, electric or water to mess with. But it really needs some wood replaced from dry rot. Not sure I want to do that this year or not. I've had it for a few years and never used it yet. I'm looking to pick up a 84 Starcraft project to build into a more offroadable trailer. I just hope that project doesn't take me so long to get started as this one did.

Many tent trailers have a slight curve in the axle, so a spring over will require a new set of perches welded in. But this is good for 3-5" of lift if you have leaf springs and depending on the axle you have. If you have a torsion flex axle, spacers between the axle and the chassis, will net whatever lift the spacer is.

Biggest things to look for with older Starcrafts is check for floor rot under the lift posts. And, make sure all pulleys are still rolling. On mine, only half are still rolling so I am replacing them all.

 

[airmanwilliams]

Got the trailer down to our place today. Found out that if I take this up to idaho for a family reunion I wont be traveling real fast and it will take awhile(going up the mountain by draper on the way home I was only able to go around 55mph in my sidekick). There are a few cosmetic items to look at but nothing REAL major.

List of possible things to do on it in the future:

1. Caulk around the roof and down sides needs cleaned up and redone alittle cleaner.
2. Rope for the S hooks under each bead on the outside needs replaced.
3. Frame ground and repainted.
4. Install new weather stripping between door halves.
5. Harbor Freight spare tire carrier and jack installed.
6. 2 marker lights replaced.
7. 4pin wiring adapter spliced onto the trailer.
8. Ceiling needs repainted.
9. New linoleum flooring.
10. Buy jack handle for the rear jacks.
11. repaint outside and redo the vinyl striping and original decals.
12. Replace refrigerator.
13. Straighten rear bumper.

All in all I think we got a good project for us to work on.

 

[airmanwilliams]

Anyone know if there is an adapter to be found for these two connections? Trailer has the round connection and Sidekick has the smaller hitch plug.

 

[Unimog]

Anyone know if there is an adapter to be found for these two connections? Trailer has the round connection and Sidekick has the smaller hitch plug.

I've only seen the reverse of what you are seeking. Check out State Trailer on 34th south Redwood. If they don't have it, they will have cheap components to throw an adapter together.

 

[sixstringsteve]

What does the trailer weigh? How does the sidekick do pulling that thing?

 

[airmanwilliams]

I havent had it weighed yet but the door of the trailer says 1800 pounds. Pulled ok from Layton and was able to keep atleast at around 68mph but going up and over the point I was pushing it and was only able to get between 50-55mph .

 

[phatfoto]

I wonder on your trailer though, with the 7 pin connector, do you have elctric brakes available on the trailer? It might be worth your time and money to add a brake controller, as that much weight behind your Sidekick might "wag the dog" if you aren't careful. I hope to tow my latest project with my Neon, well, maybe, but will want to add a brake controller for it... I wouldn't mind having one of my trailers wired for either 4 or 7 pin connectors just as a choice if I need it.

 

[Corban_White]

Best and easiest thing to do is rewrite the sidekick or rewire the trailer. The trailer will be the easiest since it is just cut the plug off and splice on the other one. Rewiring the sidekick will be only a little bit more difficult and yield much better results long term, especially if you add a brake controller.

 

[airmanwilliams]

Any of you ever add electronic brakes to your trailer. With the weight of the trailer and weight of the sidekick I think I may need some. Where did you buy the parts for the modification?

 

[Unimog]

New backing plates, hubs, and drums. Probably easiest to just find an axle with brakes. Run wiring up to the plug. Add a breakaway switch if you want one.

 

[phatfoto]

My own plans revolve around replacing the torsion axle on my project with a 3500# axle with brakes and 5x4.5" bolt pattern. Henderson's can make you a custom axle based on your needs, just let them know what spring width and wheel mounting surface to surface width you needs. Springs, brakes, bolt pattern is all up to you. But thats probably your best path. I'm a ways off from getting a new axle. As I have other tasks to get out of the way first...

 

[airmanwilliams]

Thanks for all the help so far guys. I am going to pull it up to Hendersons next week and see what they can do to help me axle wise for it.

What have you all used to seal your roof? I am looking at this thing and think all the putty type of seal around the whole thing looks like CRAP and want to redo it all as well as repaint the trailer and use my vinyl cutter to come up with some new decals for it. What do you guys use as far as sealant arount all the seams and what do you use to paint these?

 

[phatfoto]

What sort of axle do you have under it now? Straight axle with leaf springs, a mildly curved axle with leaf springs? Or a torsion flex axle? A simple call to Henderson's will tell you everything you need to know. They need an idea of the spring pad width for leaf springs, wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface, and weight rating, brake size and lug count and hubs. And if you want new springs, what rating you think you want.

Butyl tape for under the trim that screws pass through. Eterna bond materials for larger areas and various rubberized coatings for the roof. Many paint with automotive grade paints. The forums I mentioned before have MANY examples of the sealants and coatings used.