My Wolf Pup mods

[Karzai]

Life as Ben - I'm interested in what you did to fabricate a ladder to the upper bunk. My son got his exercise climbing up and down. Also, what did you modify for the refrigerator heat deflectors? We noticed our refrigerator took forever to come to temperature and the outside temp was no higher than 75. I took the covers off the side when it got windy and the fridge cooled right off. So we obviously need better airflow.

[1201alarm]

Mod #11 - install TV. Like others, I found a cheap flat panel TV and installed it beside the door. A 28" TV is about as big as you can fit in this area. Cables are routed up and over the door behind the door top trim. You can also see the front upper cabinet next to this location. Here I removed the fixed panel beside the tv to create a quick storage space accessible without opening a door and to hold a media devices.



Mod #12 is a grab bar for the front bed. I'm a large guy and I sleep towards the front wall. When my spouse is sleeping I have to sit up in bed and go around her feet. This is tough to do sometimes so I added a grab bar to pull myself upright. I had a surplus curved aluminum handle from a dish washer that matched the decor of the trailer and installed it centered on the front wall. There was a wooden cross support under the paneling in the perfect location so it's attached with a couple screws into the cross bar.



Mod #13 is to the table. I always wondered why FR used two floppy table support post for such a small table and did not attached one end to the wall as in other campers I've seen. I decided to change this and installed a 1" aluminum angle under the table near the wall which rest on a cleat attached to the wall. This cleat has a grove that the angle fits into to hold the table snug. I then removed one of the support post leaving the outboard one to support the end of the table. The table is now tight to the wall added a couple inches of width in the "hallway" and there is more room below for your feet without the second post.



Next up will be a kitchen drawer opposite the heater below the bottom bunk.

[K2Kevin]

Attachment 135809

I finally built a stove top cover. Used a cutting board previously, but this gives back the entire space. Some scrap wood and old can of stain/poly (Dark Espresso).

[1201alarm]

Originally Posted by K2Kevin

Attachment 135809

I finally built a stove top cover. Used a cutting board previously, but this gives back the entire space. Some scrap wood and old can of stain/poly (Dark Espresso).

That looks nice! I made mine only as big as the cooktop but I like how clean your bigger cover looks. Good job.

OK... I just showed your cover to my wife and now I have to replace mine. Thanks.

[K2Kevin]

Originally Posted by 1201alarm

That looks nice! I made mine only as big as the cooktop but I like how clean your bigger cover looks. Good job.

Thanks... The downside to my design, if you want to use the cooktop, you'll have more to move off the cover. Shows how much we use that cook top, like never!

[K2Kevin]

Sorry about the attachment post. And of-course this forum won't allow you to edit a post after people see it or whatever timeframe.

[K2Kevin]

Dinette Storage:

Time to pop out a few panels on dinette, I was going to build a box, then decided to simply finish the inside cavity with some plywood and line the bottom with rubber mat material.

[1201alarm]

Mod #14 is a drawer for the kitchen area. We wanted a drawer for storing heavy items and a good place for this was the front part of the rear bunk garage.



I started by making a face frame that fit the panel space between the bunk support wall. I then cut out a hole in the paneling, installed the face frame and then inserted a drawer unit into the hole. This drawer unit attaches to the floor of the bunk storage area with a couple screws so it could be easily removed if I needed the full length of the bunk storage in the future.

As it is, the drawer is around 16" wide x 16" deep x 12" high and fits in front of the carpeted wheel well in the front of the storage unit.








When closed the drawer handle is a few inches away from the open bathroom door.

The drawer face frame was constructed out of stained poplar similar to how I did the front drawers below the bed. They are sized so the drawer is 3" above the floor and 3" below the bunk bottom.

[maxpower29]

Made this bracket to keep people from taking the battery which I have heard is a problem sometimes. We never have to remove it until storing it for winter so its simple and easy. 1.5" aluminum flat bar, aluminum rivets with isolation pad between that and the steel, a bolt to hold it tight and a pad lock for security

[K2Kevin]

The backside of the stove cover (Wall and cabinet sides)... I didn't finish with the trim. Instead I recessed those edges giving room to feed/hide power cables around it.

Originally Posted by K2Kevin

Sorry about the attachment post. And of-course this forum won't allow you to edit a post after people see it or whatever timeframe.

[K2Kevin]

Originally Posted by 1201alarm

Mod #14 is a drawer for the kitchen area.

The drawer face frame was constructed out of stained poplar similar to how I did the front drawers below the bed. They are sized so the drawer is 3" above the floor and 3" below the bunk bottom.

I must learn how to construct a cabinet door! This was a great idea and very nice work. Ive been thinking of ways to gain access to this area of the camper since purchase. I often wish we could just lift the lower bunk from the interior. I thought about removing the hinge, looking into some sort of dual hinge (Open inside or out), or just removing the lower panels.

[maxpower29]

Originally Posted by K2Kevin

I must learn how to construct a cabinet door! This was a great idea and very nice work. Ive been thinking of ways to gain access to this area of the camper since purchase. I often wish we could just lift the lower bunk from the interior. I thought about removing the hinge, looking into some sort of dual hinge (Open inside or out), or just removing the lower panels.

Was just thinking of this the other day also. Would make it harder to access from outside obviously but I feel like I would rather it be easier inside

[1201alarm]

Originally Posted by maxpower29

Was just thinking of this the other day also. Would make it harder to access from outside obviously but I feel like I would rather it be easier inside

Well the bunk is basically a piece of plywood captured inside the bunk that rest on 2x2's on each side so I think it would work if you remove the hinge and install a second set of pull straps and hooks. This would allow it to be opened either way... from the inside or the outside. Since there is no hinge keeping it from pulling away from either wall when opened you would need to add 2x2 (or 1x2) cleats to each end wall as well to support the plywood. Dropping it back down you might have to flop the plywood a bit to get it to drop into place as the outside cleats might catch the edge. Its no different then a dinette seat board this way.

[K2Kevin]

Originally Posted by maxpower29

Was just thinking of this the other day also. Would make it harder to access from outside obviously but I feel like I would rather it be easier inside

From the inside... there's just NO access at all. I think I may just unscrew that hinge and see if more support is needed. An easy to ad pull cord (Screw in a short piece of nylon webbing/strap) should do the trick. Moving the hinge, or adding a new hinge to the other side might be a nice touch.

hmmmm

[RND]

Can you post a picture of the bug screen you installed and what did you use? And, how did you do it? Wanting to do that to my Cherokee. Thanks. Great work by the way. Love reading your thread and checking out your mods. Awesome ideas. Thanks for sharing too.

[1201alarm]

Originally Posted by RND

Can you post a picture of the bug screen you installed and what did you use? And, how did you do it? Wanting to do that to my Cherokee. Thanks. Great work by the way. Love reading your thread and checking out your mods. Awesome ideas. Thanks for sharing too.

they are the Camco insect screens like these. $8 on Amazon but you can find them elsewhere.

[RND]

Thank you. I'll check them out.

[1201alarm]

Today I replaced the stock Chinese load range C tires with USA made Goodyear Endurance trailer tiles. I moved up to load range D from C and the new tires are rated for 75 mph. This will add 540 lbs of capacity to the trailer which should cover the weight creep caused my all my mods.

The new tires are much stronger/stiffer/heavier then the old so they should not flex/squat as much in use. The past few camping trips on the old tires were 100 mile plus runs and though I kept the speeds down to 60 the tires were pretty warm compared to the tow vehicle.

Goodyear Endurance are new this year so there is not a lot of long term feedback. I strongly suspect they are an upgrade to the stock so at least there is that.

Cost was $105 a tire installed. This was reduced from 120 a tire after I asked if they could do better as I'd seen them lower online. Never hurts to ask.

Also, the new stabilizers I put on this spring had no problems lifting the camper off the tires compared to the stock stabilizers. Those were damaged over winter storage when someone rolled my trailer backwards a few feet and twisted the stabilizers all to hell in the process. The replacements were about twice as heavy which shows you that FR minimized the weight of every single piece of the wolf pup in order to fit it on a 3500 lb. single axle.

[maxpower29]

Finished most of the mods I wanted to do. Thanks to many good ideas from people on here. Heres some pics
New D rated tires because the Cs are a joke. Hard to find any here in NS so i had to settle for these
TV mount with the PAWs international bracket
Dual propane tanks with battery on/off switch
Rebuilt the under bed with 2x3s framed and thin board for sections
Paper towel holder
Burner cover
Shelf in the big cabinet because of the massive waste of space it had
Thin medicine cabinet home made with a cheap ones mirror attached on
Moved the table supports to tuck the table in further, not sure why they had it so far off the wall, also used a spare 1x1 piece from under the bed to brace the back
Moved the backing under the sink to get more space, they had them backwards for some reason cutting off the space. Cut out a hole for a cheap garbage can so it sit on the shelf with the lip and out of the way of everything.

[maxpower29]

Few more
Put a cover on the bathroom vent to keep it open all the time
Removed the front piece off the bottom of the seat and nailed it to the sides for somewhere to put our shoes and sandals
Reinforced the bed better with 1/4" - 3/8" plywood