'74 Argosy 20' Motorhome restoration/rebuild

[chevy2man]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Al,



Straightening the door is one of those tasks I haven't tackled yet. Mainly because I now have three doors to choose from so I'm hoping one of them will fit nicely!



Depending on how bad your gap is there are two ways that I've heard of that might work. One method can be seen in this thread where someone is straightening their trailer door.



I can't find it right now but there is a video put out by Airstream showing how to straighten a door as well.



If your gap is like the gap that my current door has then at a minimum you will need to remove the rivets from the inside skin that is attached to the door. You would then have to tweak the door itself until the gap is removed and then you re-install the inner door skin using new holes. You don't want to try and put rivets back in the old holes as that would just allow the door to return to it's old shape.



That's about all I know on door straightening.



Brad

What about door hinge bushings? Are they replaceable or will I have to buy new hinges?

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by chevy2man

What about door hinge bushings? Are they replaceable or will I have to buy new hinges?

To my knowledge there are no bushings for the door hinge pins. I will admit though that I've never really looked that close at their construction. I've got a couple of hinges that are loose in a box that I can look at to see how they are made. Some people including myself has added nylon washers to fill the gaps so the doors don't sag. I don't know if washers came originally or not. I just found that info on several posts here on Airforums.

If I remember correctly the hinges are still available from Airstream for around $75 to $100 each.

[chevy2man]

Originally Posted by bkahler

To my knowledge there are no bushings for the door hinge pins. I will admit though that I've never really looked that close at their construction. I've got a couple of hinges that are loose in a box that I can look at to see how they are made. Some people including myself has added nylon washers to fill the gaps so the doors don't sag. I don't know if washers came originally or not. I just found that info on several posts here on Airforums.



If I remember correctly the hinges are still available from Airstream for around $75 to $100 each.

Ok. I was wondering. My hinges are bolted firmly to the door frame but there is quite a bit of play in the hinge itself. Enough that the door will not latch like it should. Sounds like I need to just get some new hinges.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by chevy2man

Ok. I was wondering. My hinges are bolted firmly to the door frame but there is quite a bit of play in the hinge itself. Enough that the door will not latch like it should. Sounds like I need to just get some new hinges.

New hinges would probably provide the best end result. The cost of machining the existing hinges for bushings would likely be higher than for new hinges.

[mayco]

Originally Posted by bkahler

New hinges would probably provide the best end result. The cost of machining the existing hinges for bushings would likely be higher than for new hinges.

Yup! You really don't want to do this job more than once. It's a bit of a pain accessing the nuts from the inside. Another tip to be aware of, when replacing the hinges on my '82 310, I found that the hinges are stamped "U" for upper and "L" for lower. These hinges are labeled for trailers and on Motorhome s they install the opposite way. The U hinge will go on the bottom and the L hinge will go on the top. They came with no paper work warning of this......I got kinda pissed off after an hour or so until I flipped them. Then I found out the correct info from a fellow forum member. I assume the same is true for Argosies but Brad can tell you if they use the same hinges.
But as Brad says, go with new hinges. they get a great deal of wear/use and you don't want to have to fight it six months down the road.

Mike

[chevy2man]

Awesome info! Thanks fellas!

[bkahler]

Yep, trailer, Argosy or Classic the hinges are the same.

[Isuzusweet]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Yep, trailer, Argosy or Classic the hinges are the same.

Just to add.......John and I added a 1/4" aluminum plate, drilled and tapped to accept the hinge bolts, that we vulkemed in place, instead of using nuts on the inside of the wall. The reason being, should the hinges have to be replace again, you only have to unscrew the hinge and replace, instead of ripping apart the interior wall to get at the nuts.

Cheers
Sidekick Tony

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Isuzusweet

Just to add.......John and I added a 1/4" aluminum plate, drilled and tapped to accept the hinge bolts, that we vulkemed in place, instead of using nuts on the inside of the wall. The reason being, should the hinges have to be replace again, you only have to unscrew the hinge and replace, instead of ripping apart the interior wall to get at the nuts.

Cheers
Sidekick Tony

I was planning on doing something similar but instead of using vulkem I was going to rivet the plate in place. I think I like the vulkem idea better and will likely use that approach.

Brad

[Isuzusweet]

Originally Posted by bkahler

I was planning on doing something similar but instead of using vulkem I was going to rivet the plate in place. I think I like the vulkem idea better and will likely use that approach.

Brad

No sense drilling another potential leak.

Cheers
Sidekick Tony

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Isuzusweet

No sense drilling another potential leak.

Cheers
Sidekick Tony

Leak? Are you saying these things leak?!

[Isuzusweet]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Leak? Are you saying these things leak?!

Sorry, my bad. Airstream Classic motorhomes leak, Argosy's don't leak, they perspire.[emoji6]

Cheers
Sidekick Tony

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Isuzusweet

Sorry, my bad. Airstream Classic motorhomes leak, Argosy's don't leak, they perspire.[emoji6]

Cheers
Sidekick Tony

Yeah, that makes me feel better.....

[chevy2man]

Great ideas there fellas! I will look into doing that.

[bkahler]

As previously discussed in Keyair's thread I've decided to do the amber turn signal mod to my Argosy. I'm using tail light housings from a 73 trailer. The trailer housing originally had a reverse light, brake/turn light and a red 3-1/8" reflector. I had previously changed the reflector to a 3" LED light that had two settings, bright and dim. Dim for parking/running lights and red for brake light.




Part of the conversion was swapping the reverse light lens with an amber lens and switching to an amber LED bulb. That part of the task is done. That left me with the problem of what to do for reversing lights.




Sometime after 1984 Airstream added separate reverse lights under the tail light housings. They used the same light assemblies as the scare/porch light. So I've decided I'm going to add those same lights to my Argosy. I will also relocate the existing license plate light/holder assembly to the same location as used on the later 345s.




That leaves me with one problem, what to do with the 3/4" and 3/8" holes from the original license plate location.



Other than just patching the holes, does anyone have any suggestions on what they could be used for? My initial thought was some sort of small camera. Oh yeah, that left rear quarter panel will be replaced with a new panel so the dent and patch panel will be gone!

Thanks!

Brad

[Isuzusweet]

Punch them in a bit to look like bullet holes; that way you'd fit right in with all the road signs in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Kentucky. You might get some serious respect from people trying to figure out how you took a 20 mike mike shell and survived.

Cheers
Sidekick Tony

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by bkahler

...
Sometime after 1984 Airstream added separate reverse lights under the tail light housings. They used the same light assemblies as the scare/porch light. So I've decided I'm going to add those same lights to my Argosy. I will also relocate the existing license plate light/holder assembly to the same location as used on the later 345s........

Brad

could you not use that location for the reverse Light or is it right on top of a frame?

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Isuzusweet

Punch them in a bit to look like bullet holes; that way you'd fit right in with all the road signs in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Kentucky. You might get some serious respect from people trying to figure out how you took a 20 mike mike shell and survived.

Cheers
Sidekick Tony

Ok, you got me laughing with that comment

Now you know why the back of the drivers seat has 1/2" armor plate attached......

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

could you not use that location for the reverse Light or is it right on top of a frame?

There is a vertical frame member in that location.

[chevy2man]

Originally Posted by bkahler

As previously discussed in Keyair's thread I've decided to do the amber turn signal mod to my Argosy. I'm using tail light housings from a 73 trailer. The trailer housing originally had a reverse light, brake/turn light and a red 3-1/8" reflector. I had previously changed the reflector to a 3" LED light that had two settings, bright and dim. Dim for parking/running lights and red for brake light.



Attachment 337004





Part of the conversion was swapping the reverse light lens with an amber lens and switching to an amber LED bulb. That part of the task is done. That left me with the problem of what to do for reversing lights.



Attachment 337002





Sometime after 1984 Airstream added separate reverse lights under the tail light housings. They used the same light assemblies as the scare/porch light. So I've decided I'm going to add those same lights to my Argosy. I will also relocate the existing license plate light/holder assembly to the same location as used on the later 345s.



Attachment 337005





That leaves me with one problem, what to do with the 3/4" and 3/8" holes from the original license plate location.



Attachment 337003



Other than just patching the holes, does anyone have any suggestions on what they could be used for? My initial thought was some sort of small camera. Oh yeah, that left rear quarter panel will be replaced with a new panel so the dent and patch panel will be gone!



Thanks!



Brad

Hey Brad, I’m assuming it’s too difficult to find good Argosy tail light trim pieces? The plastic piece that runs across the back of mine is cracked pretty good. I guess going with some old airstream trailer light fixtures is the way to go?
Thanks,
Matt