345 Interior views you normally don't see (warning graphic pictures)

[bkahler]

As some of you probably know I've been dismantling a wrecked 1986 345 that we bought as a source of replacement/spare parts for our 310. I have to remove the fridge cabinet, toilet area and drivers side bedroom closet and that will pretty much empty out the interior.

After that it will be time to remove all of the windows and then I'll start cutting the shell up, saving various sections for spares.

The following pictures probably aren't for the faint of heart




I'll be posting more pictures as I remove the windows and then the shell. The final result will be having the miscellaneous metal components that aren't worth saving hauled off to a scrap yard.

One thing that I found very interesting was when I removed the shower stall and the passenger rear closet I realized that just about ALL of the interior rivets for the inner skin had been sheared. From the wear patterns on the wall it's pretty obvious the shearing was caused by movement of the interior components while the motorhome was in motion. This is something you would never see unless the interior components are removed. Sort of makes me wonder just how prevalent this is and what the long term ramifications are for our motorhomes.

Brad

[92landyacht]

What are you planning on doing with the exta parts?

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by 92landyacht

What are you planning on doing with the exta parts?

The parts that we aren't saving or using on our 310 have been posted for sale in the classifieds. 1986 345 - parting out - Airstream Trailer Classifieds

[92landyacht]

From the list I'm assuming that the two front captains chairs are sold.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by 92landyacht

From the list I'm assuming that the two front captains chairs are sold.

Yep, wish I had more of them to sell.

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by bkahler

....

The following pictures probably aren't for the faint of heart
....

Brad

Wow, you have been busy. The third picture reminds of craigslist ads I see sometimes...."Nice exterior, interiors needs a little TLC"

[Jenniflow]

Great pics! Very helpful, keep 'em comin'!
I have been thinking about revealing the aluminum interior walls if at all possible. Are you planning to attempt that at all? Have you tried to separate the wood from the aluminum?

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by PeterH-87MH

Wow, you have been busy. The third picture reminds of craigslist ads I see sometimes...."Nice exterior, interiors needs a little TLC"

Peter, you definitely have craigslist figured out

Yeah, I've definitely been busy. Tonight I should be getting most of the windows removed and then it just walls and floor to tear down.

More pictures when I have time.

Brad

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Jenniflow

Great pics! Very helpful, keep 'em comin'!
I have been thinking about revealing the aluminum interior walls if at all possible. Are you planning to attempt that at all? Have you tried to separate the wood from the aluminum?

The wood is not attached to the aluminum. What airstream did is build the normal shell with aluminum panels inside and then in the places they wanted wood they found ways to fasten the wood in hidden areas. If you look at the pictures I've included you should get a good idea of how the wood is attached. I would think it wouldn't be difficult to add wood paneling to the interior. The only problem I can see is if you tried to add wood paneling around the the door opening. You would likely have to trim the aluminum paneling away from the door opening so you could slide the wood paneling underneath the trim.

I'll try and get some better pictures of how the wood is finished around the door opening.

Brad

[t7389sg]

I could use a picture of the door bolt servo/actuator you show in the second picture. I need to replace mine and I would like to just cut an access hole instead of removing the whole kitchen and then removing the wall. Where exactly is the servo located and how is it fastened to the wall. I suspect it is riveted to the rib near the door. More pictures when you remove the inner wall would be perfect. I thank you in advance. Steve

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by t7389sg

I could use a picture of the door bolt servo/actuator you show in the second picture. I need to replace mine and I would like to just cut an access hole instead of removing the whole kitchen and then removing the wall. Where exactly is the servo located and how is it fastened to the wall. I suspect it is riveted to the rib near the door. More pictures when you remove the inner wall would be perfect. I thank you in advance. Steve

Steve,

No problem. I should be getting to that soon. I've been wanting to document the whole door lock mechanism and pictures like you've requested are going to be included.

Are you 100% sure the servo is the problem? I thought the servo on our 310 was bad or weak and it wasn't until I removed the dead bolt assembly from the 345 that I realized the problem was in the dead bolt mechanism. The dead bolt is made of up two parts, the first part is the lock mechanism in the handle and the second is an external box that has a deadbolt inside. The problem was/is inside this box. On our 310 you could rotate the dead bolt from inside using the internal handle but you couldn't rotate it using the key nor would the servo move it either. You could hear the servo try but it wouldn't budge.

Turns out there is a little strip of spring steel inside the deadbolt box that breaks and causes a binding point for the rest of the mechanism.

I'll see about posting something on this issue in the near future.

Brad

[bkahler]

What I plan on doing with this thread is to post as many pictures as I can of how the Airstream motorhome is constructed. As I continue to dismantle the 345 I'll take pictures of anything interesting that I find.

If anyone has an area they would like a picture taken let me know and I'll try and accommodate you. Keep in mind that 90% of the interior furniture and appliances, etc have already been removed.

I will be removing a good portion of the interior skin panels and removing the insulation so I should be getting some good pictures of how the wiring and plumbing is routed inside the walls.

Needless to say it's been an interesting process so far.

Brad

[t7389sg]

Wow that would be great. My dead bolt works from the inside and from/with the key side. I do get power going to the servo from the control box when you dial the combination but the servo doesn't move the dead bolt. When you turn the knob to lock the dead bolt I can hear and feel the gear in the servo. I look forward to your post and I thank you for your service to this community.

[92landyacht]

Just curious as to why the 345 was being parted out? I understand that you needed parts for your 310, but what was so wrong with the 345 to make it a parts only MH? I'd love to have a 345 some day. Don't get me wrong, the 92 LY I have now is OK, but the idea of a later model aluminum can 345 makes me excited.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by 92landyacht

Just curious as to why the 345 was being parted out? I understand that you needed parts for your 310, but what was so wrong with the 345 to make it a parts only MH? I'd love to have a 345 some day. Don't get me wrong, the 92 LY I have now is OK, but the idea of a later model aluminum can 345 makes me excited.

The 345 had been parked (abandoned) around 10 to 15 years ago on a wooded lot in Oklahoma because it had been wrecked in the front end. Everything from the front of the radiator forward is/was gone including the windshields and any and all metal. The left rear of the 345 was damaged when the new owners of the property decided they wanted it moved from one part of the property to another. They moved it with a dozer pushing on the rear. That wouldn't have been so bad but the guy couldn't figure out how to release the parking brake so the dozer tore the left part of the bumper off and the shrouding in that area.

When we decided to buy it we looked at the probable cost to rebuild the front end and felt that from what we had heard about prices just to replace a section of skin that it would likely cost way more than the coach would be worth, assuming you could even get some of the structural components that were gone.

Once we got past the fact that it would be just to expensive to rebuild the chance to get it for spare parts for our 310 and a source of 345 parts for everyone else was just to good to pass up. We've removed a lot of good parts from it, sold a bunch of parts to people that really needed them and still have a lot of parts to sell.

Bottom line, if the 345 would have been worth rebuilding we probably would have tried to sell it as a fixer upper. Finding the right person to take on a task like that and then getting it to them would likely have been almost impossible.

The worst part of this whole deal was the massive amount of tick bites I got while crawling under it in Oklahoma while changing wheels. I came away with some where around 75 tick bites Threw my clothes away and itched for several weeks.

Yes, I'm sorry to see a Classic 345 being torn apart but I believe that if we hadn't bought it, it likely would have been sold to a crusher. I don't remember if I ever posted the story of what it took to get it out of the woods. If I didn't I'll have too in the near future. Needless to say it's not something I ever want to do again.

I hope that answers your question

Brad

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by bkahler

................ I don't remember if I ever posted the story of what it took to get it out of the woods. If I didn't I'll have too in the near future. Needless to say it's not something I ever want to do again.
Brad

I bet that story would make for some pretty good reading
I can not even begin to imagine, how you did that, especially with all those tick bites...

[bkahler]

A few pictures of the front cab roof area. The good news is I could find no indication that any of the roof penetrations leaked. It appears that Airstream does a good job of sealing the penetrations.

The back side of the aluminum roof has some sort of brown substance on it that I'm assuming was some sort of brush on or spray on adhesive used to hold the pink insulation in place.



The second picture shows the back side of the front ceiling liner. The liner is incredibly light and somewhat flimsy.



It looks like something caved in the area around the spotlight mounting point. I'm going to have to get up on the roof to see if I can figure out what might have caused the damage. Even so it doesn't look like water ever came through any of the openings.



A black tarry substance was used to seal the wires going to the running lights.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by PeterH-87MH

I bet that story would make for some pretty good reading
I can not even begin to imagine, how you did that, especially with all those tick bites...

Well, you can read all about it now What we go through to keep our Classic motorhomes running.

[bkahler]

Now for some pictures on how the side view mirrors are mounted. On our 1984 310 and 1974 Argosy the bolts for mounting the mirrors are on the outside of the coach so I at least have the option of unbolting them and installing different mirrors. For the later classics like this 1986 345 the mirrors mount from the inside with three studs.

I can only think of two ways to remove the mirror mounts, from the outside use a grinder and just grind away at the aluminum mount until you can push the remainder of the studs inside the coach. The other method would be a lot more painful in that you would have to remove the entire inside wall including any trim to get at the nuts holding the mounting studs in place. Talk about a pain

You would also have to deal with all of the sealant slathered on and around the nuts and wires. I'm not complaining about the sealant because from what I can see this 345 didn't really have any water making its way through any of these openings. It's just messy to deal with.

Anyway here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what the inside mounting structure looks like.




One thing of note is on this 345 the actual mounting plate seems to be made up of two plates. The larger one closer to the outside appears to be about 1/4" thick and the smaller plate that is just large enough for the foot print of the mirror mount is about 3/8" thick. I do not know if the arrangement is the same on any of the other models or years.



Brad

[bkahler]

Now for some pictures of the rear camera mount. Again this is something Airstream obviously didn't care how an owner could remove for service or upgrade, etc.

Instead of using studs protruding from inside to outside they used bolts protruding from outside to inside. This arrangement is similar to how they do the door hinges. It would have been so nice if Airstream would have given at least a little consideration to work/repairs after the sale.

The only way I can think of easily accessing the nuts would be to cut a hole on the inside of the storage compartment. At least the access hole would not be visible when the sliders are down.

You would also have a problem with the cable that sticks through the skin. They used a large amount of sealant to keep it from leaking. That means you will have a difficult time trying to pull more cable out, assuming there is any slack inside.