Hondo Garage's New Thing

Exactly. I've also had some really curvy extrusions delivered.

But, it's definite that my panel has taken on some curvature while being installed. Probably a sign of struts that are too strong?

 

Here is a picture of a brand new rear hinge sitting “flat” on the space frame. The edge is raised because of the welds where the three tubes come together at the corner. I cut all the bulb seal away to try and prevent this. It was like this before as well. I don’t want to take stuff apart again. I might to cut away the hinge portion that sits on the weld.

I don’t expect this to last. I don’t see how a new sealing job fixes it.

I looked at galley hinges online. I didn’t find any with the required range of motion due to the weird shapes that keep them waterproof.

Name another camper held together by ratchet straps and duct tape, I’ll wait

 

Probably a good choice. We aren’t beta testers, we are the first customers

We were led to believe the design was more robust and final than it was. Some of the older design items I don’t mind. The tent, the rectangular floor piece to name a couple.

Everything went well for me until a couple weeks ago. I started to get worried when I saw the first hinge failure posted.

 

plastic > aluminum.

 

Idea I’ve been thinking about...
Replace with a regular henge and add some sort of think rubber gasket type stripping to the outside to keep water shed.
Smash one end of the rubber between the frame and extrusion and then add a thin piece of aluminum to squish it on the door side when you rivet it back on?

Does this make sense?
Please excuse my artwork. Use your imagination.

I wish I had a disposable camper to tinker with and try to make better. I’d really hate to take apart mine (which is fine) to try to test fit new hinges. But I might! When I get my garage to work in.

 

Ah... I see you're actually literate.

 

Does anybody have alignment issues on their camper ? Had the camper for about 1 month and it appears to be getting worse. In order to shut the tent portion I need to push it sideways to get into alignment.

 

I have the same issue but it's not getting worse. On mine the curved upper extrusion is the cause. Look closely at it and you'll probably see the slight curve. It's hard to get a decent photo of it.

 

With mine if I had the swingout open or the truck was parked on uneven ground it would be uneven when shutting because the truck’s frame was flexing. On my flat paved driveway it would come down straight and even every time.

 

What a fun day! Drinking beer, watching football and engaging trolls on TW.

 

Why a gfc?

Weight matters. I cringe when I see what people load on a poor little Tacoma. Campers or a rtt, front and rear bumpers, full steel skids and sliders, water, fuel, it adds up quick.

I wanted a hard top wedge for weather resistance and to keep the footprint of camp the same as the footprint of the parked truck.

I don’t mind removing panels to get in and out of the upstairs area.

I like the roof, dawn is one of the best parts of camping. I am always awake for sunrise.

The camper is for sleeping and sheltering once it is dark and cold. I don’t want an apartment on wheels for that short timeframe.

I think the gfc concept is best for me, the execution could use some work. Fix the hinges, leaks, and tubes full of water and it would be great (These are the common complaints, I have not experienced all of this).

Other people have different requirements from a camper and choose differently.

 

Hopefully this will be of some value to those looking to replace their hinges with perhaps something different.

I honestly don’t know the name of this particular hinge but this is what’s used on my new camper. It is extruded and bolting into place and looks very straightforward to replace.

I’ve never heard of any failures of these hinges, granted there is maybe 10% of the volume of these as compared to GFC and they’re distributed around the world.

Bottom line they are still plastic and seem very robust. Only thing is they are 100% mounted square and the way they are built they’re boxed in so no UV light effects them on a normal basis. Finally the struts on this new one only open 90 degrees so maybe that would help too.

Anyway just putting it out there that GFC isn’t the only camper using a plastic type hinge and these are built for the African Bush rental vehicle market by a company with decades of experience. It’s still a viable choice if properly executed. Let’s hope there’s a better option that comes along and we get these all fixed up right!

 

Chalk that up to the IPA. I guess I'm not perfect.

 

weight and cost were huge selling points for a lot of people. As things progressed, this went from sub 200 lbs to 275 lbs when it was actually available. The cost has steadily increased as well from $5000 to $6450+

they were one of the first to the market but now there’s a whole lot of options with similar price points and MUCH shorter lead times.

if they can get the issues fixed, they’ll likely be around for a long time but between the rust and broken hinges, there’s definitely cause for concern and going to be a lot of fixing to do for existing customers.

plus they were very open in the beginning and then pretty much disappeared aside from the Instagram stories.

hopefully they don’t become the next pelfrey

 

Thanks, I’ll check it out when I get home. Hopefully this is the issue. We are usually pulling it up while off-road.

 

Mine was like that from the beginning. Hasn't become worse though.

I have to push mine towards the passenger side.

 

If he does - I haven't seen it yet...