75 Overlander Improvements Journal

[steve46]

My ‘76 Trade Wind has this feature which I think is very cool, and useful—an “ahead of its time” way to monitor brake and turn signal lights. Mine work fine and the black rubbery plastic housing for the two lights was still pliable and cleaned up nicely. I did purchase a replacement aluminum “cap” for the unit, but don’t recall where—likely OODM or VTS. I did have to move mine back just slightly as I needed a bit of slack in the “cable/line” to remount properly. Here’s a photo.

[dbj216]

Thanks Steve46: It looks nice. I ordered one from OODM and I shall see what I get. I assume it will be plastic, but I hope it is aluminum. The thing makes a great water scoop while towing in a heavy rain. Mine has a 1" grommet that the fiber optics glass penetrates the exterior wall with a big hole for water to enter. It appears to be a significant leak source.

The old plastic one almost crumbles if touched. It is very brittle maybe from UV exposure or something else. I will seal the new one up good.

David

[dbj216]

I received the new fiber optic light cover from OODM today. It is aluminum which is very pleasing to me. It is much more robust that that think plastic one Airstream used in 75.

I will get it installed soon including plugging the obvious leak sources.

David

[dbj216]

I splurged and purchased a Blue Ox Sway Pro hitch for the Overlander. The very old hitch didn't have a sway control feature, and my pick up is too big to get a decent towing attitude (slightly nose down please.) I need a long shank with 3" of drop. How the Blue Ox controls sway is a bit of a mystery to me, but it does.

I hitched up and took the Overlander for a "test tow". I was very impressed with how the hitch performed during my test. I towed the Overlander down the tight switchbacks in my area, down rural black top roads, down the canyon highway which also had tight turns at 7% downhill grades, and then on the interstate at 65 mph. The trailer stayed right behind me. I looped around and came back home going up. I backed the trailer into my shop up the steep drive way. No hitch drag at all. Tight turns were no problem.

The only beef I have as others have mentioned it the effort to load up the spring bars. My tongue jack is my friend. I jack up the back of the pick up about 8" to allow my chosen chain link to slip into the rotary spring bar tightener. I could change a tire on the truck.

Then I crank the spring bars up and set the pin. Finally I simply lower the tongue jack which effectively loads the springs bars with little effort on my part. You can see from my photos that the Blue Ox spring bars are truly spring bars. They are well deflected like a leaf spring. They level out the truck and trailer nicely.

I use my breaker bar with a socket on the nut that rotates the chain holder tight, both loading up the spring bars and then releasing the load. There is a lot of stored energy in those bars. My tongue jack takes a lot of the danger away.
Think garage door spring or car suspension strut spring. Careful, careful with stored energy. It can bite you hard.

Overall, I like the hitch so far.

David

[Atomic_13]

Welcome to the BOSP club, David. I really like my sway pro. I still have a manual jack but plan to get an electric jack next season. Should make the sway bar de-tensioning easier.

Good advice regarding being careful with stored energy. Funny you should mention it, I just helped my son replace his coil-over struts on his Tacoma this weekend. It’s possible to decompress and recompress the coil springs in these trucks with a floor jack below the lower control arm without a spring compressor. I was skeptical but he had plenty of evidence to suggest it works. He’s the engineer; I just have enough ignorance to try it.

[dbj216]

Hi Brian: Just think how big your arm will get cranking the back of your truck (with all that human cargo) and the front of your trailer (with a full tank of water) all the way up to relax the spring bars. We'll call you Popeye arms. You don't need a sissy power tongue jack.

I use a sissy spring compressor on my coil springs so I know they can't get loose on me. I suppose being careful with a floor jack would work for he-men.

The Blue Ox Sway Pro seems to work quite well. I need more experience with it. I am having trouble with the chains getting caught between the rotating plates when disconnecting. The chain is binding up on the head of the pivot pin between the plates, I think. Maybe you have experienced this, or don't have any of this trouble at all.

David

[wcronin4]

David

It has been my experience, unless things have changed, that Blue Ox has some of the best customer service in the industry. That is unless they sold to someone else as is so often the case.

They were a big help with installation issues.

[dbj216]

My son (with the 69 Globetrotter) hitched up the "family Airstream" and took off for a weekend at the lake with friends. Good for him. He was getting covid depressed being cooped up all the time. We figure being in your own trailer alone, and maintaining distancing, masks, and hand hygiene his risk was reasonable. A guy has got to be cautious and assume all humans are silent carriers of the virus.

So far, so good. He reports all systems are working. It is a significant upgrade over the Globetrotter 21' wet bath, no air conditioner. I'll let you know how his trip turns out.

Trips like this is why I renovated this Overlander. The 66 Trade Wind was too "delicate" for such duty, especially the windows.

David

[dbj216]

Well, the son drove right by our place and headed for the mountains for some cool air and good views. He just stopped by the side of the road and spent the night. He thinks he heard a bear outside but didn't investigate. One of the advantages of an Airstream in the mountains.

Nothing like our Airstream trailers for a little solitude.

These are phone pictures which don't upload the greatest.

David

[dbj216]

The family Overlander made it back safely after six nights out; three in Nebraska and three in the Colorado front range mountains. My son had a great time and reported all systems worked as planned. No plumbing issues or tank issues. Electrics all worked. The beds were comfortable. The AC kept up in the hot Nebraska sun, and the catalytic heater worked well for those cool mountain mornings in the 50s.

He reported no sway events with the Blue Ox keeping the rig in line. There was the usual wavy, out of flat concrete on I 76 causing a bouncy ride at times, but the hitch won't fix the highway.

This trip built confidence the Overlander is ready for the next adventure.

David

[chrisetmike]

Camping has been my salvation this summer. It is great to be out there but with your own bathroom. Nice to see your progress on your Overlander.

[Minno]

Yaay!! Done! Well, as much as any older trailer can be done, anyway. Seems here's always something to do....


Kay

[TouringDan]

Eight night’s camping and nothing needed tweaking! Good job David. Well almost too good. What are you going to do now?

Dan

[dbj216]

Thank you Airstream friends for the nice replies. Even my wife says the Overlander is a nice "little" trailer. I think traveling by Airstream especially in bigger campgrounds is safer than traveling by car or plane. Come on vaccine!

It is true vintage Airstreams won't ever be as nice as the late models, but it is fun to put them back on the road as a conversation piece.

I want to polish the Overlander this winter (ugh) and I need to ensure I am getting full 12v to the magnets in the 10" drums. I'm a bit disappointed in the braking performance of my new axles, but I got to make sure the electrical is correct. I may have a high resistance ground or a corroded joint under the belly pan (double ugh). I like to skid tires of the trailer with full braking force and I'm not getting that.

David

[dbj216]

Well, the Overlander sat all winter while I renovated my son's 69 Globe Trotter. Maybe this winter I'll work on the Overlander. Hope so.

We're going to a vintage Airstream rally next week. So I am "re-commissioning" the Overlander getting ready for the rally. During the winter I removed the KT lock from the Overlander and installed it on the 69 Globe Trotter as the old Bargman lock on the Globe Trotter was broken. The KT lock on the Overlander seemed in pretty good shape, it was working well enough and would lock okay, both inside and out. The KT lock keeps the Globe Trotter looking vintage as that was the lock Airstream started using in 1970 I think.

It was several afternoons work to install a new, standard Korhee lock on the Overlander. The Korhee lock seems more robust than the KT lock, is still a lever action lock, has a built in deadbolt that operates with the same key, and has a inside door pull which the KT lock doesn't have. I installed a inside door pull on the Globe Trotter as using the KT opening lever to pull the door shut puts a lot of stress on the KT lock in my view

Here are photos of the new lock on the Overlander. I'm pleased with the result. Now I can worry about something else.

I started a thread in "doors and locks" category on the Forums to explain the steps of my Korhee project. Here is a link to that thread if you are interested in the details.

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f45...ml#post2498423

David

[dbj216]

I purchased new LED marker lights for the Overlander maybe two years ago. About time I got them installed. I thought it would be an east tasks. Wrong buffalo breath. Some previous owner buggered them up pretty good. Three of the eight lights had 7/32" or bigger holes drilled with the lights riveted to the exterior skin. I had quite a job figuring out how to attach the new lights with those huge holes. I finally found a blind nut that would fit in a 1/4" hole and went that route.

I will say the old marker lights certainly weren't cheapies like the new ones I installed. The old ones had a aluminum cast base, a pretty fancy light bulb holder, and the plastic snap on cover. The corner lights has a very nice cast holder for the marker lights. The old marker lights had a nice gasket behind them too. I was impressed.

The new ones are twice a bright as the old ones. This is the main reason I wanted new ones. Visibility while towing is important to me.

David

[Matteo90]

David your thread has been a real inspiration for the dedication that can go into a beautiful unit like yours. I am just starting out and your thread has been an eye opener for sure! Thanks for sharing all your experience.

[dbj216]

Thank you kindly Matteo90: Looks like you have a mid seventies Overlander 27' also. My trailer has the factory layout for a rear bath twin bed. But every cabinet was "overhauled" to make it strong and good looking again.

And welcome to the vintage Airstream hobby and these Airstream Forums. What are the plans for your Overlander. Will you renovate it, or maybe is it in good original condition, which would be rather unusual.

If you are going to start a project, I'd recommend the Knowledge Base near the bottom of the Forums page where you found my project thread. This Forums category is great for a project as people respond to all sorts of questions from things like "what's rear end separation" to how to fix a KT lock.

David

[Matteo90]

I have started my own build thread as I like to keep track of it for myself too. I have done this on the Jeep Wrangler I built, the Jayco tent trailer I fixed up and now this AS.

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f26...er-225790.html

I plan to fully renovate the interior and fix anything I may run into. I plan to update with newer cabinetry and newer furnishings. Your thread has given me a good knowledge start and some insight of what to watch for.

I am really excited for this project!

[dbj216]

We have always just stacked our plates, bowls, glasses and cups in the galley overhead locker. They can bounce around as we hit bumps on the road. So I decided to get a bit organized and help protect the dishes from getting chipped up and the like.

I made a "storage box with plate shelves" that fits in the overhead cabinet and a storage rack with holes for cups and glasses. It was a an interesting project and kept me busy for a few afternoons this winter.

Maybe late model Airstreams come with dishes organizers in the galley. And maybe you folks have built your own dishes organizers for your vintage trailers.

I don't have an Airstream project for the first time this winter since 2014. So I'm looking for something to do. Next up is installing a new blind on the galley window. The DW didn't like my pillow case and duct tape idea for a curtain.

David