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Dennis, Thank you so much for posting your progress on the Sovereign. Altho' we'll probably not tackle as much as you are, I enjoy seeing what our trailer looks like underneath and how things function. You have given us a solution to a problem. We have two batteries on the inside in the front. They are accessed by doors behind the propane tanks. We tho't about moving them to the tongue, but hadn't tho't about marine battery boxes. Terrific solution. We have a shallow console in the front to hide them and the fuse box. This makes the living room quiet tight. By removing this we'll have room for a sofa. Yeh! Thanks again. We'll enjoy continuing to watch your progress. Gale
Things are proceeding slowly, but at least I am not backing up....
or, at least not backing up too much.
First picture is a close up of the new leads to the battery. I used a fairly heavy duty (4 gauge) wire to minimize line loss. I also had a suspicion of a bad frame ground (power jack was intermittant - but there was some corossion under the flange) - so I took the opportunity to split off of the negative wire to the battery and ran a piece of 4 guage to a lug on the frame. The three wires go vertically through the "C" flange, the steel angle on the frame, and both the 1/2" and 3/4" plywood. The electric box on the lower right is the new receptical box for the 110 to the Univolt - the old receptical was in the plastic Univolt box that has been removed. The new receptical will be switched, with the switch located at the junction of the gaucho and the table, between the front and driver side curtains.
The second pic shows the 12 volt system during construction. Since the standard 12 volt fuse panel is already wired for dual batteries, with both the positive and negative legs of each battery fused with separate 50 amp fuses, I took the opportunity to fuse the output of each leg of the Univolt to the unused second battery fuse lugs. The wire bundle sheathed in red goes to the Univolt.
The third picture is a closeup of the 12 volt fuse panel. The sub-panel to the left (five separate in-line fuses) is mostly for the exterior lights, with the wire bundle going to the left (street side) mostly connecting to the Tow Vehicle umbilical line. The middle five fuses are bussed to the positive battery/univolt leads. These middle five fuses are for the house 12 volt systems. The four larger glass fuses to the right are the 50 amp fuses to the positive and negative legs of the battery and the Univolt. The two breakers to extreme curbside are the protection for the Tow Vehicle Charge Line (upper breaker, the blue wire connects to the TV), and the breaker to the power jack (lower breaker, with the orange wire).
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Dennis
"Suck it up, spend the bucks, do it right the first time."
Recieved an RV box and light indicated switch from Colaw's today - Installed same, and am now ready to button up the front.
First Pic is the Reese Dual Cam I fitted over the weekend.
Second is the RV electric box and the light indicated switch. I will use this to switch the Univolt on and off. When the trailer is here at the house I like to keep it hooked up to 110, but do not want to keep the Univolt buzzin' all of the time - battery overcharge and all of that.
Third Pic is a close up of the switch ready for the cover. I cut the hole in the wall by drawing the outline of the box on the wall, drilling a 1/8" hole at the four corners and each mounting ear (top and bottom), then I enlarged each hole to 1/2". With the 1/2" holes in close proximity, I was able to cut the box outline with a set of Aviation Snips. Final installation was accomplished with 4 pop rivets.
Fourth Pic is the switch installed in the wall under the dual outlet receptical. This location is on the front street side, where the forward curtains meet the side curtains - this position seemed to be the most logical for convenience and access.
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Dennis
"Suck it up, spend the bucks, do it right the first time."
Well, I advanced the finish date by getting the indicator switch from Colaw's, but I took two steps backward due to installing a non-functional switch. Mumbled a loud "Crap" and fell back to plan "B", installed a combo switch/receptical unit - will add an "Indicator Light" (will probably use an attractive nite-light) at a later date. The good news is that the front end is now REALLY ready to button up - everything tested.
Also made some progress (and regress) in the rear demolition.
Dropped about half of the rear belly pan - no surprises (nor rodent carcasses), but still a nasty job. All of the rear lower interior panels are removed, and also all but two of the rear hold down bolts. Had pretty good luck by grinding off the heads of the bolts from the underside - most of the middle section of the bolts exhibited major corrosion. The rear of the wood floor is in pretty good shape, just about a foot on the drivers side and about half of that on the curb side is all that appears to require replacement. All of the bad wood is right up against the "C" channel.
I did, however, discover a potentially dangerous situation. Two of the three conductor lines inside the shore power line were worn through to the copper wire, exposing the white "neutral" and the green "ground" wires to a possible short to the trailer - made even more dangerous by a previous "repair" where the neutral and hot leads were switched at the plug - I am sure that this "wire wear" complicated my initial trouble shooting when installing the Univolt Switch. The wire was worn in the areal under the floor, but before exiting to the "storage trunk" in the rear, so it was not easily seen - this might be a good thing to check during a pre-purchase inspection (or any time during an update).
First pic is the shore line plug, with the white and black leads reversed from their proper position.
Second pic is the worn (exposed) shore power line - the white conductor was actually "hot" due to the leads being reversed in the power plug.
Third pic is the (original) cable entrance - this was the worst area of floor rot in the rear area.
Fourth is a corroded (mainframe 3/8" "C") floor bolt from the underside.
Last is one of the 1/4" "U channel" floor bolts after grinding off the head from the underside.
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Dennis
"Suck it up, spend the bucks, do it right the first time."
Removed the bumper, cleaned out the rest of the rear underbelly, and took out the two remaining rear bolts prior to cutting the bad section of wood out. One of the bolts torqued off, on the other the nut actually ran all the way off with only a rachet - I thought sure I would have to break out the impact tools.
The more I poked around at the wood in the rear the more I found needed replacing - actually, more damage was apparent after I removed the rear underbelly.
Pic one - Bumper and trunk removed.
Pic two - Rear underbelly exposed.
Pic three - Wood damage from underneath.
Pic four - Black tank bulkhead.
Pic five - Curbside interior rear panel removed.
Pic six - Rear center panel removed.
Pic seven - Rear floor damage - driver's side (rear) interior lower quarter panel.
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Dennis
"Suck it up, spend the bucks, do it right the first time."
....The more I poked around at the wood in the rear the more I found needed replacing - actually, more damage was apparent after I removed the rear underbelly....
Finally had a chance to put a couple of hours into the project - upon removal, the rearward 6" of plywood was found to be in really bad shape - much worse than the surface inspection indicated.
Pic one and two are shots of the plywood that was under the rear "C" channel.
Pic three compares the original plywood to a five+ ply I found at the local Homer Despot. I would hesitate to use the now common "Three Ply" construction plywood for a flooring installation in the Airstream. Both the original and new plywoods are true 1/2" thickness.
Pic four and five are before and after shots of the installation - overall size of the replaced section is 6" X 60". The 60" spans the center line to center line of the main frame channels. Since I have the material, I will probably install 1/2" plywood doublers under the three center sections of the rear, and tie them to the frame with welded angles. This should add about 40 pounds, but make the rear a bunch stronger.
I did find a couple of #8 screws in the "C" channel that were not evident before - they had rested and degraded to the points that the heads of the screws were level with the bottom of the aluminum channel - "hidden screws" certainly need to be checked carefully by anyone anticipating a shell off renovation.
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Dennis
"Suck it up, spend the bucks, do it right the first time."
.... those (Axle) pictures don't look too bad. Am I missing something here?
...
The angle of all of the torque tube/spindle arms is just about "flat".
I have not yet had a chance to "ride" in the trailer and evaluate just how harsh the suspension is, but some thought has been given to an update to the the overall ride system, including tires, wheels, and the axles themselves.
I guess I need to ask a couple of questions -
First - is anyone experiencing a satisfactory "ride" with a flat or negative angle on the spindle arms?
Second - How much of a "Positive" angle does a fully loaded "new" trailer exhibit?
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Dennis
"Suck it up, spend the bucks, do it right the first time."
Very interested in your progress as I begin on 2nd (and hopefully final) project which is '73 Sovereign center bath.
Just removed the belly pan tonight in the rear and have some rear floor rot (not like my Overlander thankfully) but also have quite a bit of rust on frame cross members. (In fact, will probably require some fabrication and welding.)
Would like to add gray tank while I'm at it but before I "freelance", it'd be nice to know where Airstream would've put it. I've been told they started in '73 but mine sure doesn't have it (though it looks like it could have).
The dump valve is on the street side below the black tank and has two gray drains (1-1/2") feeding from the front and rear. Seems that while it is all exposed, now would be the time to do it.
So....
Where should I put it?
How big should it be?
Where should I get it (if you know)?
...Would like to add gray tank while I'm at it but before I "freelance", it'd be nice to know where Airstream would've put it. I've been told they started in '73 but mine sure doesn't have it (though it looks like it could have). The dump valve is on the street side below the black tank and has two gray drains (1-1/2") feeding from the front and rear. Seems that while it is all exposed, now would be the time to do it....
Here is a small .jpg from a service manual....the gray tank, in the bay behind the Potable Water tank, is listed as being 13 gallons, the black tank, just behind the grey tank, is listed at being 23 gallons.
Hope this helps.
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Dennis
"Suck it up, spend the bucks, do it right the first time."
My black tank is above the floor under the toilet, so I guess I could use the center space for the gray tank.
I'm having second thoughts though.
I mean, if the gray tank fills up, I've got to move the trailer to dump it vice dragging the blue portable. With a large family, I can't see making it much past a day with the gray tank.
I suppose I could always go back later, right? (yeah, right)
Finally was able to put some more time in the 78 Sovereign.
I installed 1/2" plywood "underlayment" (3 pieces 18" X 42") between the rearmost floor supports, securely screwed the panels into the existing 1/2" floor, and then welded angle under the new plywood for strength and rigidity.
I intend to install a "room size" bed in the rear of the Sovereign, and I might have to place a support someplace other than an existing reinforced area.
I have added about 50 lbs to the rear, but I think that the reinforcement has worked out best in my case. Total time for this job was about 3 hours.
Picture #1 - Angle (1 1/2" X 1 1/2" X 1/8" X 36") and Plywood.
Picture #2 - Plywood installed from underside and screwed to existing floor.
Picture #3 - Angle under new Plywood and welded to existing Floor Support.
__________________
Dennis
"Suck it up, spend the bucks, do it right the first time."
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