Autohomes furniture removal for seam access

[1664]

My seams are starting to go on the fridge side - not helped by the salt on the roads this year, so I thought 'nip it in the bud' as the best course of action. I did consider just treating the area from the outside and a quick lick of paint but from reading threads on here it seems that's just flogging a dead horse.

Righto I thought, whip the furniture out and get at the back and do a proper job on it. Might aswell rewire the old camper electrics aswell, perhaps installing some cable containment to allow future hassle free wiring too.

In my old Leisuredrive, getting the furniture out was a piece of pi$$.......but not this little lot. I now have a half dismantled chinese puzzle of wood which still refuses to come out in one solid piece. I can now see virtually everywhere but for the life of me I can't see a 'simple' set of fixings to unscrew and remove it en mass or at least in sections. Surely conversion companies constructed the furniture outside the van and fitted it in sections - I find it hard to believe they simply started at the camper wall and built outwards as if it was a one off bespoke affair.

Anyone took their Autohomes furniture out and was it that complicated, or can't I see the trees for the wood?

[mininut]

Bugger! Needing to do similar to mine Bren. Thought it would be easy........ish

Sorry can't help yet but, I'll watch your thread with great interest

[AngeloEvs]

Its a pig! and the units were assembled in situ. Water tank first and fridge last......crap design and like you say, a nightmare! Best of luck. Loads of plastic right angle blocks and mild steel brackets, some screwed some riveted to the van body/floor.

[dwayne]

Also think I have mine to do , gonna be the same as yours bren , I have MOT on tue and think it may well fail on the same sill you are talking about .

I have had all of the interior frontage off and some of the carcass for the gas cupboard and under sink , I also looked to see if there was any way to remove intact and couldn't . I took a bit off and took photo and so on , what made it easier was to use a 90 deg attachment on an power screwdriver to get in those awkward corners .

If the van fails MOT tue then I'm gonna rip it all out and strip the van back to bare metal , windows out and sort it out good and proper . Got no work at the moment so ideal time

[jaylo264]

Yep, you're right, it seems to be a swine to remove -- having taken out my water tank to get at a wee hole caused by the underside foam acoustic deadener flapping off ( wire holdon thingys totally effed )and to get at left side rear inner arch , i realised how difficult it would be to get fridge side out , so have just done drivers side outer sill with all furniture and fridge in situ ! No problems with fire , used a bit of argon putting out severe waxoyl smoke is all, had extinguisher and hose at ready per Mocki/harry mann good advices.
jaylo

[Fozzie]

Oh, it's not just me then.

I had to remove the middle cupboard to get the water tank out. I too ended up with a sort of wooden jigsaw on the floor. Strikes me they designed it as they went, adding another bit of wood/angle bracket/set of screws any time they discovered they'd left a gap or something wouldn't fit.

I have yet to tackle the fridge/sink unit. What I'm hearing does not fill me with confidence...

I've now thrown away those silly undersized sliding doors on the cabinet and am putting back the vital components (top work surface and trays underneath) according to my own design which - since I anticipate having to do the same again at some point - will leave the whole thing a 5-minute job to remove. Happy to share the plan/progress if anyone's interested.

[1664]

OH BUGGER!!

be easier to dismantle the van...........

[rainman]

I removed mine last week, I started by carefully unscrewing all the plastic joints etc. and keeping track of where everything went so I could put it all back together. A few hours later I was hacking lumps out of it with a claw hammer and decided, as above, to build my own units around the components I want to put back in. I'm no joiner but the quality of the stuff I ripped out (literally!) wasn't up to much anyway.

[jaylo264]

Fozzie, yes please .
jaylo

[1664]

Right, I have decided that since I'm off camping at Easter I will remove it all, re-assemble it outside the van and refit it in sections with my own fixings to enable it to be removed at the (comparative) drop of a hat. I'll do the seams after Easter. Needs a bliddy good clean first!!

Not a happy bunny though............

[timthetrader]

Eventually we will all have the same problem with rust! Probably stupid question BUT with all the rust on seams near fridge would it not be better to cut out panel and weld a new one in leaving the interior units untouched? Now before you all jump down my throat it was just a thought! Also would it be possible to make these vans into twin sliders so we could simply open door to expose rust,rear of fridge etc?

[DentedDevon]

Did mine last year,
Proceed in this order , if I remember correctly.
1) remove hob lid & lift up tops
2) remove strip along back of kithcen to which to tops were fixed
3) remove hob,sink & drainer.
4) remove fridge
5) disconnect both sections of the rear seat - they will stack on top on the rear cushion.

The cabinets come out in 2 parts , the cooker/fridge unit & the narrower storage unit.

Both units are secured to the wall below the windows , look carefully for all the screws.
They are also secured to the floor with corner fixings.
The units are also secured to each other + some screws from the wardrobe through to the end of the narrow unit.

It goes without saying that gas & water pipes + wiring will have to be unthreaded or disconnected .
The cover for the fresh water filler pipe has to be removed
The gas storage cupboard door & surround has to be removed.

6) The cooker/fridge unit came out first - very tight fit , especially getting past the cables running from behind the drivers seat.
7) The narrow cabinet came out easier .
8 ) remove wall board behind cooker/fridge unit
9) remove wall board behind narrow cabinet (had to cut - its trapped behind the wardrobe)
10) cut and peel off floor lino .
11) cut and remove floor boarding - on mine the boards were nailed throug the floor ! I had to cut round the nails and remove them later.

I am sure there are points I will have forgotten , go carefully , if things arn't loose there are usually more fixings to be found.

Hope this helps

[1664]

Did mine last year,
Proceed in this order , if I remember correctly.
1) remove hob lid & lift up tops DONE
2) remove strip along back of kithcen to which to tops were fixed DONE
3) remove hob,sink & drainer. DONE
4) remove fridge Sort off - Threw me teddy out ; Saturday now
5) disconnect both sections of the rear seat - they will stack on top on the rear cushion. Was hoping to avoid that

The cabinets come out in 2 parts , the cooker/fridge unit & the narrower storage unit.

Both units are secured to the wall below the windows , look carefully for all the screws. Found them - but only after units were half dismantled
They are also secured to the floor with corner fixings. DONE
The units are also secured to each other + some screws from the wardrobe through to the end of the narrow unit.

It goes without saying that gas & water pipes + wiring will have to be unthreaded or disconnected . DONE
The cover for the fresh water filler pipe has to be removed WILL DO
The gas storage cupboard door & surround has to be removed. DONE

Thanks for the advice Richard - I'll print it off and read it as I go......maybe I should take a few photos and add anything else to your list and get someone to 'Wiki' it to save others the frustration in the future

[DavidPallister]

Most of my screws were so rusted that i couldn't get them out, so ended up dismantling the units in situ, then rebuilding them afterwards. I had to butcher some parts to get them out, but after removal i've given them all a total overhaul to strengthen them and modify them to make them more practical (proper backs to the units etc). Most of the laminate is wrinkling and peeling off so i'll probably end up relaminating then in a nicer colour (maybe westy grey?). I can now get the units in and out in less than an hour when i'm doing work on the van. TBH I'm not that fussed on the autohomes interior so i have been designing my own interior but time and money have prevented me from making it so far, plus i have far more important things to do, such as Scooby engine, bodywork, etc

Dave

[Fozzie]

Happy to share the plan/progress if anyone's interested.

Well, here it is. Almost finished anyway. It works exactly the same as the original, but removal is now a matter of:
1. removing 2 screws which hold the top module (work surface and "drawers" under);
2. undoing waste from drainer, and
3. lifting the lot out. 3 minutes work.

Pictures show:

Finished unit, except that the sliding doors aren't actually fitted into runners (which I had to order specially from B&Q), but you get the idea...

1.jpg

Same with the doors removed, showing access to the interior - much better than the original

2.jpg

Same with top lifted off as one module. Note it sits on the angle aluminium bracket just visible on the left (and another out of shot on the right) plus the (removable) divider in the middle.

3.jpg