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Old 03-06-2010, 10:16 AM   #141
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Excited to see more photos - what a neat backstory shaping up about this one.
Won't be long now, it's going on noon here in the midwest!
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Old 03-06-2010, 10:53 AM   #142
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Excited to see more photos - what a neat backstory shaping up about this one.
Won't be long now, it's going on noon here in the midwest!
Yeah, but first they have to play with it, then remember to take pictures, then tear themselves away to post the info ... probably not till dark. (Or later if the ac power works!)
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Old 03-06-2010, 03:14 PM   #143
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Another Vintage in WI!

Jay and Gang!
Great find, congratulations on the addition.


Who knows what lurks in the woods of Wisconsin!

Can't wait to get "south" to see it.
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Old 03-06-2010, 04:20 PM   #144
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Not quite there...

Hi all! Thanks for waiting on us!

Well, what would a journey be without a bump in the road?

Jay and our friend Kirt drove up early and started working on the trailer; I followed shortly afterwards in the car with the kids once they woke up. When I got there, we realized we had a 2" ball with us, but it had the wrong shank diameter (so I wonder how we ever ended up with it?? huh... but I digress). So I ran to town with my daughter to get a new one and we left "the boys" back at the trailer to get it down off the blocks and assess everything else, including how to get it out.

Once we returned with our purchase, including a string of flamingo lights that my daughter thought would be a nice present for the new trailer, they already had towed the trailer out through the field in back (not how I envisioned getting it out) and had it sitting in the road. We removed the "masonry" from the roof, removed a tire that was pretty bad to air it up back over at the POs house, stuck it back on, and decided to go for it.

We knew 2 of the tires were pretty well spent, but we had hopes that it would last us just long enough to pull into our yard. Not so much. So, we didn't quite get it home... in fact, we only got it about 6 miles. Jay was behind me in our car and flagged us to pull over. One of the street side tires was flat. We put some fix-a-flat in it, and Jay took off to get some air from town to fill it up. We decided to move the trailer forward to let the fix-a-flat coat the inside, but instead, it took the wheel right off of the rim. Worse than we thought. So we called Jay to come back.

The spare ended up being the wrong size, and the wheels are a crazy size, so no tires around to be had. Jay went to the next farm on that road and asked if we could park it there overnight (no one was going to steal it and get too far as is!), and the man was very cordial and agreed. So we limped it into his yard, removed the wheel to take with us, and came home without her.

Our next plan (since the 14.5" tires are special orders) is to put an innertube in that tire, just to get it home. We'll special order the tires we need, but they'll take several weeks to get in, and we don't want to wait that long to get it home! I don't think that nice man wants a trailer sitting in his farm yard that long, either... So Jay is out getting an innertube right now. We have a friend who works at an auto shop in town, and he said he'd go in tonight or first thing in the morning to fix the tire for us. We'll plan to hopefully go get it the rest of the way home tomorrow.

I'm so disappointed, but at the same time, it couldn't ALL possibly go smoothly! And if this ends up being the worst of it, then we're good.

So keep your fingers crossed for us and send up a few prayers as we head out tomorrow to try it again! We'll post some pics a bit later.
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Old 03-06-2010, 04:24 PM   #145
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Yeah, but first they have to play with it, then remember to take pictures, then tear themselves away to post the info ... probably not till dark. (Or later if the ac power works!)
Bob
CORRECTION: First they have to get it home!
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Old 03-06-2010, 04:27 PM   #146
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Lot of people put 15" wheels and tires in place of the 14.5" 'ers. Just not at the same time ...
Bob
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Old 03-06-2010, 04:28 PM   #147
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CORRECTION: First they have to get it home!
Bob
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Old 03-06-2010, 04:30 PM   #148
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Lot of people put 15" wheels and tires in place of the 14.5" 'ers. Just not at the same time ...
Bob
Yeah, we thought about that too. Jay called Ed Emerick on our way home and he advised on that. But that's Jay's realm, so I'm going to let him make that call!!
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Old 03-06-2010, 04:33 PM   #149
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Well, what would a journey be without a bump in the road?
Exactly! Enjoy the additional excitement and anxiety as it makes its way home, and we'll all keep our fingers crossed that all further drama takes place in your driveway... as you find the various quirks, critters and treasures that are surely hidden inside.
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Old 03-06-2010, 04:42 PM   #150
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Exactly! Enjoy the additional excitement and anxiety as it makes its way home, and we'll all keep our fingers crossed that all further drama takes place in your driveway... as you find the various quirks, critters and treasures that are surely hidden inside.
Speaking of, we did drop a couple mice on our way down the road! But I think they jumped ship before we got going to fast, so I think they made their way back to their field
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Old 03-06-2010, 04:52 PM   #151
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So were 14.5ers common wheels? We had never heard of them... Any trouble fitting 15" wheels in the same space?

Maybe we'll ask some of the other CA WT owners... oh wait...
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Old 03-06-2010, 04:57 PM   #152
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So were 14.5ers common wheels? We had never heard of them... Any trouble fitting 15" wheels in the same space?

Maybe we'll ask some of the other CA WT owners... oh wait...
I remember you were so excited at being 1 of 8 or 10 ... but isn't better that you are 1 of 1?

I think I remember saying something about tire sizes ...
Bob
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Old 03-06-2010, 05:45 PM   #153
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So were 14.5ers common wheels? We had never heard of them... Any trouble fitting 15" wheels in the same space?
aircooled4:

The 14.5" tubeless wheels and tires were used by Airstream only on 1958 trailers. Ditch them and replace them with 15" wheels and tires, which are far more common and far more easily replaceable today. Search the Forums for others' comments and experiences on replacing their old 14.5" wheel and tires. I don't think you should have any problem fitting the 15" replacements in your wheel wells, but first see what other who have done this say about their experience. Make sure the new wheels you purchase have the same bolt circle diameter and same (or slightly larger) size center hole as the 14.5" wheels. Take in an old 14.5" wheel for matching when shopping for 15" wheels. Good luck on your continuing WT journey!
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Old 03-06-2010, 05:48 PM   #154
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So were 14.5ers common wheels? We had never heard of them... Any trouble fitting 15" wheels in the same space?

Maybe we'll ask some of the other CA WT owners... oh wait...
As near as I can tell, they were very common on the CA WT trailer. 100% that we know of.

Glad it's coming together for you.
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Old 03-06-2010, 05:57 PM   #155
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aircooled4:

The 14.5" tubeless wheels and tires were used by Airstream only on 1958 trailers. Ditch them and replace them with 15" wheels and tires, which are far more common and far more easily replaceable today. Search the Forums for others' comments and experiences on replacing their old 14.5" wheel and tires. I don't think you should have any problem fitting the 15" replacements in your wheel wells, but first see what other who have done this say about their experience. Make sure the new wheels you purchase have the same bolt circle diameter and same (or slightly larger) size center hole as the 14.5" wheels. Take in an old 14.5" wheel for matching when shopping for 15" wheels. Good luck on your continuing WT journey!
Fred, that is not so easy on the 59 models. The hub face is slightly different than most. Some of us like that low rider look and 14.5 " are very easy to find if you look under "mobil home tires"
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Old 03-06-2010, 06:00 PM   #156
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Some Pics for You!

Ok, here are a few pics from today's adventures:

Here's the route Jay and Kirt took to get it out of it's resting spot of 10+ years... that's some deep snow!


Jay tightening lugs once it was up on the road:


Hooked and ready to go:


Down the road:


Uh oh... stuck on the side of the road:


Where she sits tonight :
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Old 03-06-2010, 06:11 PM   #157
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Thanks for the tire advice! Jay also had been told that mobile homes come with the 14.5"; however, we were also told that they're not very good quality generally, simply because they're supposed to get the mobile home from point A to point B, not necessarily built for traveling.

Jay dropped off the innertube; our friend laughed and said he had put innertubes on much worse tires than what we gave him! So hopefully we'll be good to go tomorrow. Once we get it home, we're probably going to have quite some time to ponder the wheels and which direction we want to go with them. There's a long road ahead of us before we actually need to worry about regular travel!
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Old 03-06-2010, 06:14 PM   #158
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Where she sits tonight

Thank you. with the # of the telephone junction I can find the GPS coordinates, load up 4 15" tires and rims and be there in 6.5 hours ... (HEH, HEH, HEH!)
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Old 03-06-2010, 06:32 PM   #159
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Thank you. with the # of the telephone junction I can find the GPS coordinates, load up 4 15" tires and rims and be there in 6.5 hours ... (HEH, HEH, HEH!)
Bob
Actually, you could probably get a better idea from the road sign!!

Come on up... Jay would love the help tomorrow!!
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Old 03-06-2010, 06:42 PM   #160
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Actually, you could probably get a better idea from the road sign!!

Come on up... Jay would love the help tomorrow!!
HAH! You got me babe!
Bob
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