Guess How I spent my weekend? Been trying to finish with the second coat of POR-15 on the frame, but the last bit in the can dried out, so I decided to work on outside lights. Replaced all the running lights and pullled the stop/turn signals.
The running lights all appear to be original and are (were) in really bad shape. Believe it or not, Wally World had exact duplicates for about $3 each. The tail lights are a different matter. Only one of the four was working a little bit. After taking them apart, it's not hard to see why. Rust has fused a couple of the bulbs to the sockets and ruined the ground. Anybody know where I can find the sockets? Stopped by the local Advance Auto and they just looked at me really funny and asked several times "and what did this come off of?"
AS always, thanks for the advice.
Jim
P.S. That black cable in Pic 4 is of the almost mythical fiber optic cable that runs from the tail lights to little "light" on the roadside of the trailer. The cool part is this is still working after all these years.
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What is that line from "Miracle on 34th Street"? Something like "Maybe he's only a little crazy, like those men in Washington."
so...that last pic, is that taken from inside the trailer? you have the inner wall panels removed?
how'd you get the "cans" out of the tail light fixtures? I have 1 light that is as you describe with the socket frozen in place, rusted beyond repair. (its one of the reverse lights, so it isn't "critical"). I tried to remove the whole "can" from the outside, but I couldn't get it out. I drilled out the rivets that appeared to be holding it in place (tail end of pop-rivets, put in place from the inside), but its frozen in place without them. tugging on it from the flange around the edge just made it start to break apart. so I stopped there before I made it any worse.
I did manage to get the old socket out of its hole, but lost the wire that powers it in the process. no way to fish it out of there....unless, maybe, I can get the can out. Or, I go in from the inside, which simply isnt going to happen any time soon.
Yea, the inner skins are out (Everthing is out of the inside). Look back a few pages and you'll see a few more pics. That last pic is from the inside looking at the curbside light cluster. The light with the fiber connection is the stop/turn/parking light.
As to how I got them out, I simply used a screw driver and gently pried around the edges until they popped out. The sockets are going to have to replaced on a couple of them, so I have begun the search for new ones. First place I looked was at Advance Auto. They have an almost exact duplicate of the "can" assembly. You might try there and "adapt" as needed. IIRC, the three red wires under the fiber all power the two sockets. I'll take a look tonight and try to post a couple more pics. You can probably fish around for one of the red wires and locate the other two.
Jim
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What is that line from "Miracle on 34th Street"? Something like "Maybe he's only a little crazy, like those men in Washington."
Finally got this part of the project finished. once I got the cans outa there, I cleaned 'em up, sanded 'em, removed the old sockets and gave 'em a coat of POR-15. They look pretty much like new, now. Here's a couple of pics. Poor quality,sorry.
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What is that line from "Miracle on 34th Street"? Something like "Maybe he's only a little crazy, like those men in Washington."
In case anybody is wondering, the sockets for the bulbs were available at NAPA. They only cost about $2.50 Once I got the cans out, I removed all of the old sockets, sanded the cans using sand paper and the 'ol Dremel, painted with Metal Ready, then a coat of POR. I used epoxy to "glue" the new sockets in place. The old sockets were "pressed" into place and I had no way to duplicate that,so out came the epoxy. One hint, epoxy the sockets in place before PORing them.
The first picture is of the cans ready to be rebuilt. You can see the NAPA auto part numbers on the boxes.
One other thing, many folks here have said that the main problem with lights is grounding issues. That was certainly true here. Not only had 3 of the 4 sockets lost ground to the trailer, but the fixture holding the curbside light cans in had lost ground as well. The solution was to place a dedicated ground between the fixture and the inner wall of the trailer. I simply drilled a new hole in the fixture, made up a ground wire and riveted it to the inner shell. You can see that in the second pic.
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What is that line from "Miracle on 34th Street"? Something like "Maybe he's only a little crazy, like those men in Washington."
OK, Big question. Has anybody out there actually ever replaced the fresh water tank in this model trailer? Trying to find a clone of the original is really bumming me out. The big problem is the depth of the tank. Since it fits in the floor,you only about 5" to 6" to shoe horn that thing in there.
Any ideas on where I can find a resonably close model? Any other ideas short of a major frame modification?
Here's a pic.
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What is that line from "Miracle on 34th Street"? Something like "Maybe he's only a little crazy, like those men in Washington."
Jim- You can clean the interior vinyl clad panels and outside safely with spray CLOROX CLEAN-UP--- I used it on both interior and exterior and it really got rid of the mold, funky smell and made the outside look pretty darn good for being a 40 yr. old trailer! A word of caution about the inside- wear a respirator if you have one or the fumes will really get to you. John
I thought I remembered reading that bleach was a no-no for the aluminum. That's good news that it can be used safely. I think bleach would be perfect for the vinyl and the interior of the shell. Thanks for the hint.
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What is that line from "Miracle on 34th Street"? Something like "Maybe he's only a little crazy, like those men in Washington."
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The building is concrete block construction. The good news is I have 2.5 acres with room for a pole barn or other type structure.
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