Pop Top for Chinook

[coho51]

I was looking at a 1975 Chinook at a dealer yesterday, and we could not get the top to latch when raised. Both of us were pushing up and I couldn't figure out how it's supposed to latch into place. All it did was slide up & down. So what's the trick. By the way the chinook was kept up very nice in the camper part but the engine kept back fireing when we would come to an idle and would sometimes die. There was what looked like oil all over the engine and It was dripping red tranny fluid ( auto ). I could pick it up for $1500 is that a deal for these?

Thanks, Jeff

[nhcamper]

Jeff,

The pop-up doesn't lock into place. It is spring loaded. When you push up on the top the springs assist you in raising the top and when it is in the up position the springs keep it in that position. You can see how it works by looking at the outside sizzor setup that makes it work. If it doesn't stay up on it's own than somthing is wrong with the pop-up unit.

I have a 77" Chinook and I have the same poblem with backfireing when the engine is cold, when it warms up it runs fine. The good thing about these little campers is they are fairly inexpensive to run and fix. I would take the Chinook to a trusted mechanic to find out what needs to be fixed and dicker with the dealer using this info. If the dealer wont let you have it checked out I'd be leerly of buying it for that price unless you are prepared to invest some money it. It still is not a bad price if everything works and the cab is in good condition.

This forum is a good source to keep your Chinook on the road, there are many people willing to give advice and guide you along on your Toy-RV experience.

Good Luck

Tim

[coho51]

Thanks nhcamper, I'm not sure what was going on with the top, we would push up on it and it was heavy but once we let go of the bar it would come right down. So it either has really bad springs or could it be water logged.