1991 Classic 350 LE

[bkahler]

Yep and its not that hard. You have a choice of mechanical and electric gauges. I prefer the electric type that uses a transducer which would allow you to mount the gauge inside the cockpit where you can monitor it while driving.

You should be able to find one for around $100 or so.

Brad

[wxbuoy]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Yep and its not that hard. You have a choice of mechanical and electric gauges. I prefer the electric type that uses a transducer which would allow you to mount the gauge inside the cockpit where you can monitor it while driving.

You should be able to find one for around $100 or so.

Brad

Brad,

I have been doing research and will definitely go with a electric one since the last thing I need is a fuel leak in the cockpit!

I am having a hard time finding a gauge with readings that low. The newer diesels are pushing 32 to 40 psi where mine is 4-5 psi. Need something accurate enough that I can tell a 1/2 psi difference.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by wxbuoy

Brad,

I have been doing research and will definitely go with a electric one since the last thing I need is a fuel leak in the cockpit!

I am having a hard time finding a gauge with readings that low. The newer diesels are pushing 32 to 40 psi where mine is 4-5 psi. Need something accurate enough that I can tell a 1/2 psi difference.

Check this one out.

15 psi gauge

Brad

[wxbuoy]

Brad,

Thanks!! Cant see an image and need to find out the proper sending unit fitting size and it could be a winner.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by wxbuoy

Brad,

Thanks!! Cant see an image and need to find out the proper sending unit fitting size and it could be a winner.

Link with photo

I would imagine the transducer probably has a 1/8 npt male fitting.

[wxbuoy]

Brad

Thanks! Gonna go down tomorrow and confirm the size.

[wxbuoy]

Well the port for the fuel gauge looks like 3/8th. But is has been crazy busy at work so haven't had that much time to spend on it or eve research the right stuff.

Fuel tank was dropped and old bad fuel emptied. He didn't charge me for disposal since he pumped it right into the tank he uses to heat the garage in the winter. He said it will burn anything so why pay someone to come haul it off.

All the rubber fuel lines were replaced. The one from the tank forward had a really strange loop bend in it like they made due with a hose that was too long. All of them were in pretty bad shape. The tank does not have a pump like the gas ones. He said he can put a racor system inline if it ever becomes a problem but it has done well so far so why screw with it.

Replaced the rubber fuel lines up forward as well. All were pretty much shot.

Went to prime it and the priming lever wouldn't take a prime...... Most likely the diaphragm is bad. New mechanical fuel pump was got from Cumins for $134... He will also get me the replacement diaphragm so I can fix the old one (my homework next week-end) and keep as a spare.

Once the new pump is installed and everything runs well, we will start on the bell cranks and suspension stuff. He only wants to do one project at a time on this since on older vehicles you have to follow a linear path.... Don't create work that isn't there because you are screwing with too many systems at once.

Went down on the weekend and put on adapters to make the windshield wipers accept the new style blades available everywhere instead of the $30 one you can only get from camping world. $7 for the adapters, a no brainier!


Old wiper blade set up. Buck riveted on....


VERY carefully drilled out the rivets with wood and gloves as backing. I was so afraid I would slip and hit the window...


Both drilled out.


A quick sanding and hit it with naval jelly to dissolve any remaining rust. Then primed with rustoleum primer.


spayed with some "chrome" paint and attached adapter with 3/4" #6 screws. They are just temporary. Will replace with rivets when I am am sure it will work.

Here is the complete installation. I cut some pipe insulation to size to help protect the wiper blades when not in use. There is a lot of downward force on the rubber that curls the blades.

[wxbuoy]

Well, I guess I am way over due for an update! So here we go (this is for you Monty, thanks for keeping me honest!)

I left off when I went down to work on the windshield wipers in June. So by this time, we had packed up the house in Memphis to move down to South Mississippi for my new job in New Orleans. Felicia was now living in our house 6 hours south and I was in a small 1970’s hotel room they call the Bachelor Officer Quarters…. Can’t complain too much since it was very reasonably priced!

I was living in the barracks and visiting the Moho on week-ends. We finally replaced everything that needed replaced; bell cranks, steering stabilizers, engine mounts, we also dropped the fuels tank, cleaned it and ran new lines all the way forward (replaced everything that was rubber.) The lines were run in a nightmare fashion. They were looped up and over and twisted, etc. no rhyme or reason. Also tucked way up in the back where you couldn't see it was a small inline fuel filter just forward of the fuel tank… What the heck, how would anyone ever know it was there! There was nothing in the literature about it….

Went to prime the engine and nothing…. The priming lever felt like it wasn't attached to anything. The rubber bladder/gasket that creates the suction had deteriorated. So off to the parts house for a new one (kept the old one to replace on my own and have as a spare). New fuel pump in and wa-la we have ignition! Good deal! It was now mid-July. Plans were to drive it to the rv shop to have the new A/c’s put on and some other work done that my skill or my back wouldn’t allow me to do!

So Thursday July 18th Felicia takes the train up to meet me. Plan was for her to follow me in my car on the way to Ohio to get the work done. Then we would both drive back to Mississippi together. Picked up the rv Friday after my going away lunch at noon hoping to make it as far as Nashville that night. Filled it with fuel and got on the highway and it lacked oomph… Ok crap now what. No boost or turbo kicking in…. Just what I need! Called my mechanic and we agreed the engine is bullet proof and the most likely culprit was that the turbo just bit the dust… Great, make it back to his shop just as he was closing, handed him the keys and said, “let me know the damages when you get in on Monday” Felicia and I jumped in my car and headed south to our house 6 hours south in Southern Mississippi. I couldn't be upset since it happened when I picked it up and not 200 miles into a 600 mile trip!!

How much was this going to cost me! I had about $3500 in it already with all the new stuff (bell cranks, shocks, engine mounts, steering stabilizer, complete fuel line replacement, new primary fuel pump, and fuel tank cleaning…). I can’t complain since he did the work for dirt cheap. I was expecting to pay over $6k with all the time his guys spent on it with me.

So I get the dreaded call Tuesday. He didn’t work on it Monday since he wouldn’t get the turbo and have to put it in till next week anyway. I was expecting the $1000 bill for the new turbo and a couple hundred for labor, maybe less if he could get it done with just replacing the cartridge…..
So he say’s “It’s fixed” What??? How much?? Nothing… The hose clamp holding the air intake on the turbo finally gave up the ghost and let go. Everything shifted a bit and instead of a 6” pipe providing air, it was a 6” pipe restricting air. New hose camp 2 minutes shop time and 58 minutes running it around making sure that was it. The fix was on him since it never should have left like that. Really, he could have screwed me for a new turbo and shop time and he just put on a new hose camp and no charge?? Reminds me I have to buy him lunch again! Ribs and brisket does wonders!

So we make plans to do it again 2 week later. We get up to Memphis on Friday around 1pm. Pick it up and get on the highway. Start driving and make it about 20 miles and it just doesn’t seem to have the power it did…. Here we go again, a quick call…. Turn around go back pick him up do a test run on the highway and nothing. They look over it and everything is perfect. It is getting over 20 lbs of boost…. Maybe it is just my imagination… great, now I am paranoid! So the wife and I saddle up again and head out to points north.

So off we go. Get to Memphis (shop was south of Memphis) and it seems sluggish again. What the heck. Well, I was gonna wait till something was really wrong so everyone wouldn’t think I was paranoid. It started to run fine. Good speed, RPMs minimal boost to maintain. Was that way for a hundred miles then it seemed to bog down again….. So I started playing the mind game of what could possibly be wrong…… Watching all the gauges when I felt the sluggishness…. Then I realized it was only happening when I was going up hills! Wait a second, I never had any issues before when I came across the Appellation Mountains. I was passing cars going up the steepest grades with power to spare! So now I was having the same fuel issues that all the gas ones were having. How the heck could that happen? Brand new fuel pump, new lines, new filters. I didn’t have a boost fuel pump. Nothing. Lines were replaced with the exact same size and kind. Everything was replaced new and put back in just like it was when it was taken out.

Then a light bulb went off in my head about 45 minutes later. The Inline fuel filter they took out. It wasn’t a fuel filter. Well, okay t was a fuel filter but it was a boating fuel filter! Meaning it had a large screen fuel reservoir and a, wait for it, a check-valve! When I was going uphill there was no check valve in the line to prevent a negative pull on the fuel moving in the line from the tank to the fuel pump. Problem solved. Well not solved, but figured out. (Editor’s note; problem turned out to be something else this just masked the signs. Full disclosure in future post) I would be resigned to take hills at the same sickly slow speed as other RV’s and trucks. The wife loved it since I didn’t lose her going up hills! The bigger the hills the worse the power.

Everything went well till we got about 3 hours south of our destination. We stopped at a rest stop and when I hopped back in, it wouldn’t crank. Great! ( I actually didn’t day “great” but you get the idea) I flipped the switch to use both battery banks and it grudgingly turned over. Off we went. When we stopped 2 hours later to use the rest rooms and waste some time so we wouldn’t be too early (we were dropping off on Sunday and didn’t want to early). I left the moho running. I guess the first shop back in February that the moho was at killed the battery. They jumped it several times (and jumped it to get me out of there to take it to my mechanic). It was a brand new heavy duty AGM high CCA battery (800) since the diesel needed the power to turn over. Those guys not only wasted 2 months of my life but cost me $200!

The drop off went well. Told them what I wanted done, new A/C’s and Fantastic fan were the old vent was center coach. Gave them the wish list of things I would like to get a price on, not that we could afford it, but you never know. I also mentioned the issue with the battery. Explaining that a truck repair shop had the coach for 2 months and constantly discharged the start battery by leaving the stairs on automatic. The shop owner had a 350 years ago and knew exactly what I was talking about.

To be continued.....

[mayco]

Oooooooooooooooh my

[HiHoAgRV]

Glad to hear that you are making progress, even if it is 3 steps forward and 2 back...

[wxbuoy]

Urban Dictionary: part deuxThe saga continues……..
So the shop get the new A/c’s one, the center fan replaced with a fantastic fan and resealed everything on the roof….. It killed me to pay someone to do it, but with my back, lack of friends with lifting equipment and work schedule what was I gonna due. The new A/C’s were critical to the rehab since it is being done in Southern Mississippi!!! And I wasn’t about to do anything inside while I had a chance of a leak ruining it all. It was a hard pill to swallow, but we did it…

So the week before I was supposed to pick it up the shop calls. “Do you ever have any issues starting it?” I says “ No, why do you ask?” “Well it was real slow cranking over and just died…..” Crap! Really??? Double crap! So the guy from the shop says they threw a new battery in it and nothing… They are gonna replace the starter on it and go from there. Didn’t hear anything the rest of the day. So I called the next moring. “ So how is the motor home, does it start?” The shop guys says “ yeah, got a new starter from Napa and put it in yesterday. We do it all the time on the tractors around here, no big deal.” (note: they charged me $156 for the started and one hour of shop time to put it in. Oh, and nappa is a 45 minute one way drive!) It was cheaper than it would have cost anywhere else. So glad it died there! The guy says “it’ll be all ready for you when you get here” Plan was to fly up there on Saturday, remember we used to live in Memphis, the places was a drive north of Memphis and we moved 6 hours south! So I had a 2 day minimum drive back. The DW couldn’t get off soooooo….. Used my miles, hotel points and last of my sanity and set up a pick up date. Settle up on Monday morning and away I go. So any way I would arrive Saturday night, do the pre-flight on Sunday and do a few things (TEST DRIVE).

So 2 days before I was to leave (Thursday) the shop calls… “The new convection oven doesn’t fit….” Really????? You just figured this out? (note: taking out the old microwave and replacing it with a convection microwave was one of the other items we asked for a price on. Since removal was kicking my butt! ) OK, let me check amazon and see what I can find… Maybe I can get it expressed shipped there (prime member) and you can put it in on Monday and I’ll leave a day late. I check, there is nothing in the unique size available… Did I say crap already? So, Crap! Forget it, I will deal with it when I get home.

Finally the day arrived, so off I went. Made arrangements to get access to it on Sunday so I could make sure everything was ok, check the fluids, pre-flight it, etc….. Get there, everything looks good. Little sluggish starting (same old battery) So, off I went to Napa and pick up a new 800 CCA battery and cables and install it. Note: when the starter went out I did research on line and the most common cause of starters going out is high amperage draw due to small cables & or corroded connections. The next was heat…. I brought some exhaust wrap with me since the fricken exhaust pipe passes 2 inches from it on its way from the turbo!!! Yeah, it was getting hot alright.
New cables, new battery and VRRROOOOMMMM! Starts better than it ever has! Took it for a quick test drive and it ran great. Will wrap the exhaust the next day before I leave. Should only take a few minutes and I really needed to get dinner and have a glass of wine…..

So Monday morning I went over to the shop at 08:00, pay them bill minus the microwave/convection oven debacle. I wasn’t happy about that since now I had to fabricate/tweak the mounting bracket to hold the new one (if I could find one) So the guys says to me “what about you put the convection oven somewhere else. It will open up the stove area allot and look a whole lot better.” Well, that’s a good plan and what I will probably do it. It really was a colossal eye sore and I am not about to take on the task of rebuilding a structural mount for a microwave….. I am really good in word, not so much in metal and mechanics (unless you count J.B. Weld!) So I am thinking to myself “so what’s your point or are you just pointing this out to bring attention back to the job you started and didn’t complete.” So if it sounds like I am whining, I guess I am, but I am trying to give you the “behind the scenes” part of the story….Since I didn’t do any of the work, all I got is the story LOL!

So he says “ how about you put it somewhere else and we can just put a fan/light up there.” Well OK, but it is Monday, how are you gonna get anything….. Hmmmmm…..Well, he has that very thing in his 30 trailer and wants me to take a look at it. If I like it he will put it in mine……. No charge……. Ohhh Kaaay. So we go look. It looks great. He finds some old wood from the same era of trailer mine is. Cuts some pieces and makes a face plate where the microwave was. Took most of the day, but you couldn’t tell it wasn’t original from the factory. Great workmanship. It just cost me a day travel time. Since I budgeted 7 for a 2 day trip I was still ahead of the game (or so I thought at the time).

Anyway, after all is said and done, I leave not with what I wanted but something that is far better and more functional. Had I only thought of that a few months ago!! So the new plan is to remove the forward door of the hang up closet to the right of the galley, install pantry shelves and a spot for a small convection microwave. Was thinking about doing that anyway since we have far more use for food storage then a place to hang suits and dresses. Oh and did I mention that when the guy was putting in the new light/vent hood where the microwave went he cut a hole in the op back of the cabnet and moved the microwave power box next to it. So there is now an easy access plug outlet to plug the convection oven into. All very well hidden as well.

So anyway, I leave bright and early the next morning. The MoHo is running well. Doesn’t seem to have the power it had on it’s maiden voyage, but oh well. Get halfway home and decide to stop for the day. I am mentally and physically exhausted. Allot has happened in the past few days. Up again early the next day and might make it home that day if I really push it…. Well around 12:30, the MoHo decided to change my plans a bit…. It started to really struggle going up hills. I was in the slow lane with the heavy trucks. At times I was down to 45 mph going up steep grades. Great…. So I pull over take a break let things cool down and mentally walk through what could be wrong…. Well might as well keep pushing onward.

So off I go and the MoHo is running normally for a while, then it starts to bog down on hills again. Rpms are dropping to 2400 turbo boost is down to 12.. Wel, it can’t be the turbo since there is boost and there is not noise (other than the high pitch whine of the turbo). Seems to get better after I stop for a while.. Could it somehow be the overheating and the water pump is wacko? Who knows….. Finally it is getting to the point where I am now down to 50mph on the strait-a-ways……. Not again! So before I completely break down I pull off at the next exit and call Good Sam….. Plug for For Good Sam, they are worth every penny! So I call, they get a technician on the line. He doesn’t think I need a tow and will have a mobile unit call me.. Ok So within 5 minutes a mobile repair truck calls me. I go over everything….. He thinks it might be the filters or bad fuel….. So I explain, I just had everything replaced/cleaned/redone less than 500 miles ago….. Ohhhhh he says…. Even I know that’s not a good sound for a tech to make! So, he wants to call an expert real quick and double check…… Great….. What is he doing running a credit check on me! So he call back and say’s We think it is the high pressure pump (that’s good cause I just had the lift pump replaced……Really are the airstream God’s that mad at me????) So now what. He tells me that one of the best shops in the country is 20 miles from me and if anyone can fix it, they can…. Yeah, right. What is it, your cousin Ernie’s shop?

So he gives me the address and how to get there. Tells me he will be glad to come out and follow me and standby, but all Good Sam covers is the call for him to show up. After that it is on my dime. And frankly he knows I will have no issue getting there and if I do just call his cell and he will be there in 10 minutes. But this way I have a chance of saving some money on this venture. O.K. so maybe he isn’t trying to rip me off or he would have come out and spent an hour poking around and then another to take me to the shop he was going to send me to anyway. So with address in the GPS Off I head. Doing okay since I have been stopped and shut down for 45 minutes. Starting to think it is in my mind. But then I have the slowing down again going up the last hill before my exit. So I get there just before 4pm. It is a large industrial building with all types of vehicles and machines around. No cars, just trucks and such of every make and vintage. The place is called Dixie Diesel…. No I am not making this up!

So this older gentleman in a service station type uniform comes up to me (I found out later he is one of the owners) Says, he has been expecting me since the tech called. He is slammed solid with work, but will try and get me into at lest look at it to see what we are looking at. It may be a few days before he can actually do the work if it is extensive…….. As I am quickly making note of needs (rental car, hotel room, ebay add hahaha!) I notice all these folks scurrying around. There were only 3 large bays in this place, and this is far more mechanics than that would require. So I ask “what are all the people for, you only have 3 bays?” “Well” he says “we only work on Cummins diesels and we rebuild most of the fuel pumps on the East Coast. Whatever make, model, year we can and often do it. We have a benches and test stands in the back that we do the work on”

Well, now I wasn't expecting that!

To be continued.....

[tevake]

WOW Dave quite the epic tale of work done, expense paid, and frustration.
The up side of this process of elimination is that once you do finally do locate and fix your fuel supply problem. The rest of the system will have been renewed and should be trouble free for years to come.
One idea has occurred to me is venting of the tank, seems like most of the problems happen after some running time and at times of high fuel needs. Could there be a vacuum building up and fighting the pumps? Just a thought.

There does seem to be a pain/ pleasure ratio involved in these old classics, and you have been building up lots of points on the pain side of the equation.
Once you cross over to the pleasure side it should come in wonderfully large measure.
I think we will be relieved for you once this culprit is vanquished, and you are once again charging up the hills. Hang in there Brother!

Cheers Richard

[wxbuoy]

Originally Posted by tevake

WOW Dave quite the epic tale of work done, expense paid, and frustration.
The up side of this process of elimination is that once you do finally do locate and fix your fuel supply problem. The rest of the system will have been renewed and should be trouble free for years to come.
One idea has occurred to me is venting of the tank, seems like most of the problems happen after some running time and at times of high fuel needs. Could there be a vacuum building up and fighting the pumps? Just a thought.

There does seem to be a pain/ pleasure ratio involved in these old classics, and you have been building up lots of points on the pain side of the equation.
Once you cross over to the pleasure side it should come in wonderfully large measure.
I think we will be relieved for you once this culprit is vanquished, and you are once again charging up the hills. Hang in there Brother!

Cheers Richard

Richard

Your right it is kinda masochistic kinda hobby! Gonna try and finish up the story tonight..... I am still amazed at the cause..... But everything hasn't tipped the scales to the hate side of this love hate relationship!

[wxbuoy]

Finally the end to this long diatribe……

So I go over everything that has been done to the coach with the fuel system (dropped tank, cleaned, replaced all fuel lines, lift pump etc and what the symptoms were that lead to that work). So he says he won’t be able to get it in till tomorrow morning and will call me. So not being one to sit around, I showed up at the shop when he said he would call. He said the hooked a fuel pressure gauge on it and a vacuum line back by the tank and ran it forward so they could see what was happening. His tech went out and drove it for a bit and didn’t notice anything to amiss. Then his tech took it for a quick ride and didn’t notice anything too amiss on the gauges. When he returned he drove it right into the bay and let it run and a high idol. Then it happened. The fuel pressure dropped to 1.8psi, but the vacuum didn’t budge. Like it was drawing from the pump but unable to deliver the fuel….. Couldn’t be the lift pump. They checked all the new lines and said the last shop did a great job and ran everything the way he would have. He also nixed my idea about a check valve.. .. oh well I thought I had something there. I thought I might have even actually figured something out....But nope no such luck. Still can’t figure out why airsream put the inline filter were it was; completely inaccessible without dropping the tank. In a way finding it now saves a huge potential headache down the line!

He said it should still have no issues even at 1 psi of fuel pressure, but he couldn’t figure out what it could be since my shop did everything he would have done for the issue. He asked how much I have filled the tank since the work was done. I told him only once. I filled it initially when I left the shop the first time and then filled it before the morning the issue was getting really bad. So he wanted to do one last thing and he understood if I didn’t want go along with it since most folks wouldn’t in my situation. He wanted to change the new fuel filters (with a few hundred miles on them) again and leave them in a pan over night ??? What the heck, might as well. He said he has never come across bad fleetguard filters, but there may be a first since I have had this issue and everything else was done and new filters put on.

So I go back the next day (thank goodness for all my hotel reward points!)

He says “Take it for a run, and explains the gauges he installed to me so I can check the readings while I put it through it’s paces…. OK.. So off I go, and all I could think of was “Baby the Beast is back!’ I was flying up the hills with no issues at all. So I go back and say what gives? Well, he says the first issue I had that lead me to my shop back in Memphis to do all the work was a crack in the old fuel line that would open up when I hit the gas causing more vacuum. And the only solution was what I did, replace all the rubber parts (lines) of the system. And since I had the tank dropped and cleaned it lead him to the current cause. The second problem was that my mechanic put 5 gallons of diesel in it and it ran great, because he used his diesel. Good clean diesel. BUT when I left there I filled up and the new fuel I got was crap! Not only crap but loaded with sediment. Couldn't have found a worse source if you tried.

WHAT!

Look, he says and takes me over to the fuel filter. There was a mud type sludge in the bottom Of the secondary filter (10 micron). What happened was as I used that initial tank of gas it basically clogged my filter. No one thought of it since everything had just been done. Also it was small enough to pass through the first filter but large enough to get trapped by the second filter. So when it sat overnight, or for 20 minutes or so, the sediment fell off of the membrane and into the bottom of the filter and as long as I was just on a strait away, no issues since fuel demand was minimal, but when you went up a hill the fuel consumption went up enough to pull that sediment off the bottom of the filer to block the membranes again. Every time you stopped, it would reset itself and the process would start over. We spun some of the fuel in the tank and what you have in the tank is good. This is all from the first tank. We put some stanadyne lubricity formula in it just in case. Just change the filter again when you get home or if you have any decrease in performance. Here is my personal cell number call me if anything at all happens on the way home and we will help you figure it out and get you home.

Really??/ The first place I went gave me not only bad fuels but really, really crappy fuel after having everything redone….. What are the fricken chances!

The next 300 miles flew by without one problem. Although I often caught yself and worried about getting a speeding ticket when I would look down and realize how fast I was going.. Oh the speed limit was 70mph When I got home, I replaced the fuel filter as directed. There was a very small amount of stuff in the secondary filter but obviously it was some remnants from the first tank. I filled up locally at a known good source that I got all the diesel fuel for my truck from. Oh, and I carry 3 extra filters (of each type) with me now!

Experience is a good if not costly teacher…. I feel okay in the fact that after everything was done to the fuel system, who would have thought (other then Dixie Diesel) that it was a fuel system problem and a cheap one at that!

But, I am thankful for that every time I have had an issue I seemed to be at the right place with the time to handle the problem.. Still can’t figure how over a several hundred mile trip I managed to break down a few miles from a shop that not only specializes in Cummins but Cummins fuel systems and that is all the do and they are the best at it.

So now it is parked in out driveway (and has been for a few weeks… took a while to be able to relive this story by putting it down in writing PTSD?).

Now I can start working on building the new beds this week-end. I have a long list of stuff to do and I finally have it at my house where I have all the tools to do the work!

[dadstoy]

Onward and upward!


Sent from my iPad using Airstream Forums

[mayco]

Dixie Diesel n Dewars

[streamquest]

Gotta love these stories where the good guy always wins in the end.

[wxbuoy]

Originally Posted by mayco

Dixie Diesel n Dewars

Columbia, TN. IN the middle of nowhere.

[wxbuoy]

Originally Posted by streamquest

Gotta love these stories where the good guy always wins in the end.

Yeah, I feel pretty lucky. I don't know about the good guy other then I had the good fortune to run across not only one but two of them at the different shops!


Now my next goal is to determine what wood to make the beds out of and what design. Strait box would be the easiest, but I kinds dig the drawers idea. I will most likely use birch plywood to lighten it up a bit. 1/2"should be strong enough or should I use 1/4" on a 2x2 frame. Any thoughts?

[mayco]

I used 1/2", east-west, over the exsisting rear couch platforms for a queen.