1957 Caravanner shell on floor replacement with a sagging rear end

[Brasslens]

I'm so happy to finally start the restoration on our 1957 22' Caravanner that we purchased last October in Toronto. Winter has started hear and so far I have removed the interior shell, replaced the seals on the 4 large street side windows, replaced 2 roof vents and removed the rear part of the sub floor. There is about 2" of sag in the rear and I was hoping that it would just be the outrigger and it seems like the trailer frame needs to be realigned.

Since I'm doing this shell on due to space restrictions, I'm thinking of starting by dropping the belly pan behind the axle to get a better view and to find what's causing the sag. Here are a few photos of the restoration so far..

[pbearsailor]

I did a shell on with mine as well. For the belly pan, I left a couple of feet of border when I dropped it to give access to the frame. Replacing the belly pan is, I think, about the hardest part of doing a shell on with this era of trailer.

Lots of info that may help you in my thread linked below. Mine is 9153.

Cheers,
Steve

[Brasslens]

Originally Posted by pbearsailor

I did a shell on with mine as well. For the belly pan, I left a couple of feet of border when I dropped it to give access to the frame. Replacing the belly pan is, I think, about the hardest part of doing a shell on with this era of trailer.

Lots of info that may help you in my thread linked below. Mine is 9153.

Cheers,
Steve

Thanks Steve! I'm going to give that a shot sometime this week. Mine is 9163. Cool stuff.

[adamfried]

Hey Guys:
I just started my remodel as well. The subfloor is in about 90% good shape and I'm debating if I want to take the shell off or leave it on. I'm not looking for perfection but I want to do it semi-right. Why did you decide to leave the frame on? I'm wondering if I can just cut out bad parts of subfloor. Will the strength of the trailer be affected by cutting out bad wood parts? What about not being able to get under the U channel? Any thoughts are appreciated! Thx Adam