forgive him... he really shouldn't post when he has a headache!
alright... yeah. we fixed the stair, which was alot easier than i thought it would be. i brushed the rust from the front hitch and painted it.. it looks a TON better. and i tackled the rat's-nest that was the wiring-harness pigtail. i found out exactly WHY there was no battery in the back! one of the trailer's POs had rewired it with a 6 pin harness... and left the "charge" line disconnected from anything! well, i cut all that MESS out... ran a wire to the back for reverse lights, and hooked up everything *hopefully* correctly. i'll test that tomorrow.
the pictures are: a shot of the roofing membrane hubby mentioned in a previous post that we used to seal up the floor area with, a shot of the bracing hubby rigged up to lift the rear body temporarily so we can get the floor into the channel again, a shot of the repaired and repainted step (it was a really nasty shade of RUST color before we started), before and after of the work i did cleaning up and painting the hitch area, and oh yeah..... my parent's dog, looking cute. the very last picture is the drawer pulls (the center one, smooth rounded with dimples in the middle) we're going to use thru-out the trailer i saw those at Lowe's and said "those just SCREAM "Airstream"!" with the smooth curve, shiny silver, and the little dimples reminiscent of rivets! had to have 'em!
Got the floor in the front of the trailer down (and it's raining today, so no work) but that sets the pace of the rest of the floor, which should go better then what has been done before.
As it stands, I just need to remove the old floor stuff (Insulation) and put a new floor down.
We got the wall insulation now, so that should go also quite fast.
Just need to seal the windows and so they do not leak (Any suggestions would be good), and then the walls go back in.
But first, the power lines need to be run, not sure what that will involve, but this floor seems to be dragging on and on, I need to get this finished for my own sanity.
well... i tested the wiring i did the other day (by the time i finished the wiring the day that i did it, i was freezing cold and TIRED, so i called it quits that night without testing right then... didn't manage to get the truck backed over to hook up till tonight), and something's wonky.
the running lights came on ok, but then i noticed that my brake controler was registering a number (which meant it was applying the brakes). i turned on a turn signal, and EVERYTHING blinked... even the brake controller. i was very careful about trying to follow the wiring diagrams i had available to me... so i'm kinda at a loss over this one. its almost as if everything is wired TOGETHER... which i know for darn certain that i didn't do. perhaps something isn't grounded? or isn't grounded properly? any assistance would be wonderful.
and speaking of wiring... hubby knows house wiring, but we're both a bit hesitant about stepping into the realm of 12v, but we know we have to. does anyone have any kind of, even totally basic, diagram we could take a look at to get an idea how to wire everything together? (keeping in mind we will no longer have a univolt, seeing as how we purchased a regular 30amp converter with the circuit pannel and fuse blocks built in)
another question...everything about this trailer seems to be turning out to be a mystery. in this case, the windows. i've looked on vintage trailer supply, and inland RV center, and a few other places, and nowhere have i seen exactly what i have! that wouldn't bother me so much, except for i have a couple of them with stripped out gears. one of the odd things about my windows is, there's no way to latch them shut. i had called inland RV to order a few parts i needed (including a new set of axles) and the person i talked to on the phone (thanks for the keychain! ) insisted that my windows should have had some kind of latch on them... well the entire shell is out of my trailer, and i see no latches, and not even anything for the latches to catch into.. no slots, no catches, no nothin! the windows that WORK just seat into the weatherseal gasket and are held shut by the crank. (so obviously, the windows that are stripped just hang open). the window has a little square-shaped actuator which sits at the top of the window, inside the sill... it doesn't project into the coach at all, only the handle does. an arm comes off that and down one side of the window. also on the square is a round rod that spans the top of the window, with another arm identical to the other one down the other side of the window. (on my trailer these arms are all slightly crooked to each other, so all my windows open slightly "off") i can get pictures if this explanation doesn't make sense... the windows that WORK... close just fine, even if it does take a bit of effort to get them completely closed... the ones that don't work.... well, they were actually screwed shut by the PO (leaving me with yet ANOTHER leak problem i have to figure out how to fix) if anyone has any clues what i should/can do about my windows... please let me know...
and one more thing... how much of a pain-in-the-butt is it to replace the roof AC unit? i'm assuming we probly need a taller ladder... because i shudder to think of trying to haul that heavy-#$@ thing up there and on top of the AS when hubby could barely reach just by himself.
yeesh. this is really turning out to be alot of fun!
and one more thing... how much of a pain-in-the-butt is it to replace the roof AC unit? i'm assuming we probly need a taller ladder... because i shudder to think of trying to haul that heavy-#$@ thing up there and on top of the AS when hubby could barely reach just by himself.
yeesh. this is really turning out to be alot of fun!
really, not too bad. I did have some help getting the unit up the ladder, but most of the work is doable by one person. Taking the old unit down can be made easier if you take it apart in place and take the compressor down as one item.
This is what you should have:
To the left of the water filter, you can see the latch that would hold the window closed. There should be one on both sides of the window.
Here's a scan of the electrical system from my '64 manual: (click it to make it larger)
wow... thanks for the great informative post about AC replacement! i was concerned about the "hauling it up onto the roof" aspect of the project... cuz i've picked that thing up... and DANG its heavy!
anyway... i examined my wiring in the light of day, and made the discovery that where the white wire (ground, i believe) comes out of the "harness" at the back, it just terminates in a ring terminal. its not grounded to anything. i think it WAS connected to something before we started, but i'm not sure what. could this have been causing my problem? (i am totally clueless when it comes to electrical wiring... and hubby is out right now, but i was charged with "finding the problem" before he left... and this was the only thing i could see, so any insight would be great )
AS far as the wiring harness goes, I used a couple different diagrams. First I tried one I had downloaded/found on the net. Then I tried the one in my manual. Both "worked", kinda - if you don't count blowing the fuse on the tow vehicle and having no lights 5 minutes down the road . Finally I looked at the replecement plug end I had purchased and it was stamped with the color of each wire for each spot - tried that an presto everything works properly!
ok... after more testing and examining, and some help from dad, it seems that there is a short or connection or something between the ground (white) and the brake control wire (yellow). upon examining that connection, i have no idea what's going on there. my ground wire is connected into the yellow wire at the brakes connection... its this correct? if not, what should i do about it? thats what the first picture is.
the other pictures are of my mystery windows. i have examined every window in the trailer, and found nothing even remotely resembling the latch pictured here:
nor do i see anything that could even be described as a possible place such a latch were to catch on the window. color me confused
the very last picture is one of the holes left behind by the oh-so-wonderful last PO's solution to a window that wouldn't shut... a screw right thru it!
WOW - big difference from mine - is yours a Clifornia built, or an Ohio? Your window setup is completely different from mine. I'm not familiar with that style.
I don't have my AS nearby, or I'd take a look at my wiring harness, but no, the yellow hooked to the white doesn't sound right. The white (ground) should be ground to your frame.
Here's a pdf file for the plug. Keep in mind on the plug wiring that the positions of the wires may not be the same as pictured, but it may help as far as what color goes to what.
Quick Links
one of the trailer's POs had rewired it with a 6 pin harness... and left the "charge" line disconnected from anything! well, i cut all that MESS out... ran a wire to the back for reverse lights, and hooked up everything *hopefully* correctly. i'll test that tomorrow.
i saw those at Lowe's and said "those just SCREAM "Airstream"!" with the smooth curve, shiny silver, and the little dimples reminiscent of rivets! had to have 'em!
) insisted that my windows should have had some kind of latch on them... well the entire shell is out of my trailer, and i see no latches, and not even anything for the latches to catch into.. no slots, no catches, no nothin! the windows that WORK just seat into the weatherseal gasket and are held shut by the crank. (so obviously, the windows that are stripped just hang open). the window has a little square-shaped actuator which sits at the top of the window, inside the sill... it doesn't project into the coach at all, only the handle does. an arm comes off that and down one side of the window. also on the square is a round rod that spans the top of the window, with another arm identical to the other one down the other side of the window. (on my trailer these arms are all slightly crooked to each other, so all my windows open slightly "off") i can get pictures if this explanation doesn't make sense... the windows that WORK... close just fine, even if it does take a bit of effort to get them completely closed... the ones that don't work.... well, they were actually screwed shut by the PO (leaving me with yet ANOTHER leak problem i have to figure out how to fix) if anyone has any clues what i should/can do about my windows... please let me know...
)
. Finally I looked at the replecement plug end I had purchased and it was stamped with the color of each wire for each spot - tried that an presto everything works properly!
