Excuse spelling if wrong. I had an "expert caravan repair man " come and have a look over my swift challenger 470 se 1989/90 model. The only thing he noticed which i never pointed out to him was that when he put the back legs down then bounced the front of the caravan he said the walls had come away from the chassey. I have read all of yours and other very helpful sites but not head of this. Is it repaireable with welding or do I have to scrap my lovely caravan. This chap wanted £1000 to fix and seal to get me out and about next season. Has anyone had these sorts of problems who could point me in the right direction. Thanks.
seems very odd to me, i thought when they made the vans that the chassis was done first then the floor put down and then the walls attached to the floor, i could very well be wrong, best thing i would say is to get a second opinion on it before spending that sort of money on a van or that age, its not really worth it is it?
Don't think the guy knows what he is talking about and £1000 is a nice convenient round sum. How long did it take to work out this estimate. Why did you ask him to look over the van. Was there something that caused you concern?
I think if a so called expert put the back legs down on my van and then started bouncing the front I'd ask what the flipping heck he though he was doing.
I've heard of something like it where the walls come away from the floor at the front . If the floor has come away from the chassis i would think it would require some big washers and just bolting back down again . If the floor has come away from the walls it will need a floor repair as the floor batten the walls screw into has probably rotted . If you can either email me or post on here pictures of the front and sides of the caravan looking up from underneath .
atb
Wizard
Ps i am not a expert , just a normal caravanner trying to help .
I have spoken to our local mobile service engineer today about this one.he tells me that what your man has done is to test wether the caravan floor has come away from the chassis.quite a common thing with older vans.the van is only attached to chassis with bolts through the floor.but he said a cheap easy repair as long as the floor isnt shot.a case of new bolts through a metal plate on top of the floor.so perhaps for safety sake you should check the van is safely attached to the chassis.
Something similar had happened to our van at the front offside, the wall had come away from the floor.
I think the water heater may have leaked and soaked into the floor and bottom rail of the wall, the screws on this side then corroded and let go, this left only the screws on the other side to hold the front of the van which duly snapped under the extra stress, there is generally nothing holding the front bulkhead wall to the floor.
Result was the 'body was laughing at the floor' as the phone call went!
Cost me £1350 to have it repaired and both awning rails resealed, that was very much a trade price as well!
had a problem like this on our old Bailey ,the large steel screws holding the walls to the floor had rusted out result walls dropped .we where fortunate the foor was sound just had to replace wrotten timber in base of side walls and use Stainless steel screws and silaflex sealent to fix them back .
just read about your fault on your challenger,,me and my brother in law just scrapped both of ours as swifts had alloy chassis in these years and they have a common fault of splitting near front end of chassis,this was shown to me by a technician who works at a swift dealership,please check yours to be on safe side