How not to get rid of a fifth wheel camper.

Bannedjoe · Sep 11, 2020

A friend of mine decided to sell his property out here in the middle of nowhere.
He hasn't lived here in almost 10 years since he bought a house in a small town about 80 miles away.
The prospective new owner said he'd pay cash, but first wants the place cleaned up and decluttered, so they set out to do such.

One of his larger obstacles was a large 5th wheel travel trailer.
He's tried for years to get rid of it.
No one wanted to buy it.
No one wanted it for free, and he couldn't even find someone to haul it off.
It was also infested with rodents.

His brainstorm?
I'll just rent a small excavator, a 40 yard dumpster, and crush the thing.

Let's just say, it didn't go nearly as smooth or as cleanly as he envisioned.

mla2ofus · Sep 11, 2020

Biggest mistake was renting one w/o a thumb!! With a thumb he could rip off chunks and drop them in the dumpster.

EastTexFrank · Sep 12, 2020

He has the track hoe. Dig a hole, crush it and bury it. What's the problem?

Jim_S · Sep 12, 2020

EastTexFrank said:
He has the track hoe. Dig a hole, crush it and bury it. What's the problem?

Smaller hole required. Doesn't need to be near as deep! :th_lmao:

pixie · Sep 12, 2020

I have the same problem at the moment. And I don't have a thumb either.

But I also know that the appliances are valuable and if I try to cram it in a dumpster, there are lots of things I would go to the trouble of removing before trying to crush it.

Bannedjoe · Sep 12, 2020

EastTexFrank said:
He has the track hoe. Dig a hole, crush it and bury it. What's the problem?

There's a lot of crap he did bury, mostly old wood that of course will decompose.
He does have a bit of a conscience about stuffing crap into a hole that isn't biodegradable.
The other thing is that he's a neighbor, and we're on the same water table.

pixie said:
I have the same problem at the moment. And I don't have a thumb either.

But I also know that the appliances are valuable and if I try to cram it in a dumpster, there are lots of things I would go to the trouble of removing before trying to crush it.

Nothing in the trailer worked or was worth salvaging.
I told him he should have hauled it down to I-40 in the middle of the night, set the tires on fire, and left it. :wink:

bczoom · Sep 12, 2020

mla2ofus said:
Biggest mistake was renting one w/o a thumb!! With a thumb he could rip off chunks and drop them in the dumpster.

In the bottom right corner of the 2nd picture, there appears to be a thumb. Was it used?

NorthernRedneck · Sep 12, 2020

Wish it was closer. We would've snatched it up just for the frame. Dad wants one to mount his truck camper on the gooseneck and have a flat bed on the back to load a couple quads then have a ball hitch at the rear for a boat trailer.

mla2ofus · Sep 12, 2020

bczoom said:
In the bottom right corner of the 2nd picture, there appears to be a thumb. Was it used?

If that's a thumb then I can only attribute that mess to operator stupidity!! Well, to be kind I guess I could say operator ignorance.

Bannedjoe · Sep 12, 2020

mla2ofus said:
If that's a thumb then I can only attribute that mess to operator stupidity!! Well, to be kind I guess I could say operator ignorance.

Must be an optical illusion.
There wasn't a thumb or he would have used it.
My friend is a mechanic who works on this machine and others for the owner of the rental company.
He has many hours on this unit, both using it and maintaining it.

The body and its contents all fit into the dumpster.
The frame is now well below ground level.

mla2ofus · Sep 13, 2020

You can still pinch demo mt'l like that w/o a thumb between the bucket and stick w/o scattering stuff from hell to breakfast.

Bannedjoe · Sep 13, 2020

mla2ofus said:
You can still pinch demo mt'l like that w/o a thumb between the bucket and stick w/o scattering stuff from hell to breakfast.

Yup.
As I said, it didn't go nearly as smooth or as neatly as he envisioned.:th_lmao:

In hindsight, he said he should have probably just dug a hole and crushed it in it.

FrancSevin · Sep 14, 2020

I have the same problem. A rat infested 32 foot camper that I cannot get rid of. It was a really nice unit with a 16 ft bump out. The TV antennae tower fell on the roof and that let water and vermin in. I'm thinking the frame would be a good flat bed bumper pull. The rest goes in the dumpster.

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq · Sep 14, 2020

I bet the metal would have been worth a few dollars (maybe not a lot) at a recycler. Or at least around here it is free to drop off in the metal recycling area at the local dump

Strip the wood out and burn it. Then you have decently small pile for the dumpster.

Bannedjoe · Sep 14, 2020

PBinWA said:
I bet the metal would have been worth a few dollars (maybe not a lot) at a recycler. Or at least around here it is free to drop off in the metal recycling area at the local dump

Strip the wood out and burn it. Then you have decently small pile for the dumpster.

Steel just isn't paying enough to have hauled the frame 70 miles.
The brush right now is very dry, and could probably be used as a suitable substitute for gunpowder.
Couple that with the winds we've had lately, and burning becomes a no go.
At this point, it's all said and done, and there's no trace of the camper except maybe a few small tufts of insulation blowing around.

How not to get rid of a fifth wheel camper.

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