I forgot to mention that part of my frustration is due to the fact that even though my new house is bigger and the yard is bigger, I somehow wound up with an even smaller area to work on my trailer! I didn't know that was possible. In fact, due to the way the trailer had to be backed into the yard through the turn in the alley, and how the alley comes into my backyard via a "channel" (photo attached) that is barely wider than the Airstream (it's literally three inches wider in total than the width of the marker lights), the curbside of my trailer is almost right up against my back fence (photo attached). I can't even open the door all the way which makes it hard to take all the stuff out of it which I need to do in order to keep working on it.
Alright, now I'm kind of just venting!
This weekend I guess I can see if I can somehow manuever the trailer out into the yard a bit more so that I can actually get into it to get some work done. I don't think I can move it with the Jeep because there's just not enough room. I'll see if I can do it by hand or with a come-along.
seriously, summit racing sells some cradles for tires that may work with some modificatins on the axles, lowering the trailer ... I think there was a picture of Collins' GSM shop in the Vintage Thunder blog (search the pics page) where he has a dolly setup to wheel the trailers in and out of the workshop, as his door was too low with the tires on.
seriously, summit racing sells some cradles for tires that may work with some modificatins on the axles, lowering the trailer ... I think there was a picture of Collins' GSM shop in the Vintage Thunder blog (search the pics page) where he has a dolly setup to wheel the trailers in and out of the workshop, as his door was too low with the tires on.
That is a really good idea. See, it's so helpful to have these forums to bounce ideas around. Sometimes I get stuck thinking along the same lines. I'm going to go home and measure my garage on my lunch break.
And actually, my garage is supposed to be a carport, one of my home projects is to convert it back into a carport so that it matches the mid-century modern ranch house look that the house was designed to have. When converting it back, I wonder if I could raise the roof a little bit, if needed....
Nuts! I went home and measured it and there's no way. My trailer is about 9 feet tall. Taking the wheels and tires off will buy me about 6-7". The carport is only 7 1/2 feet tall, so no dice.
I guess I'm back to plan A which is trying to maneuver it around my backyard a little (to the demise of the newly planted grass) to see if I can get it away from the wall enough to work on it.
I went out today to move the trailer around a bit, if I could, and start working on taking all of the stuff out of it that I had to pack in for the move to the new house.
Lo and behold, the front curbside tire was flat. So I jacked the trailer up a bit, took the tire off, and brought it to Discount Tire, where they patch leaks for free. They told me it would be a couple of hours, so I came home, had a beer, and was doing some yardwork. They called me back within about two hours and told me that the tire wasn't leaking at all, that it was actually the rim. Apparently it has a rust hole in it. Gotta love the Pacific Northwest. I didn't know rims could rust out like that. Luckily it's only about $33 for a new one just like the one that was on there. I should have that by Monday, they say. I guess I won't be working on the trailer anymore this weekend.
I don't think the pictures I previously posted really did justice to the difficulty involved in backing my trailer into this insanely tight spot it is in now. So I took some new ones, attached. And, as always, even more pictures are at http://picasaweb.google.com/andrew.k...iforniaCruiser
that is tight! Now I see what you mean. I'm assuming your yard is on the right of the trailer. Some thoughts. I have a "powercaster" http://powercaster.com/ to move my boat into my left/right/left townhome parking spot. It works great! You drive up to the gate as far as you can, unhook, and pull (not push) the trailer into it's spot with the powercaster. By pulling, you can bring it further into the yard, away from the wall. The only issue I see would be running a thick (less electrical resistance) to the powercaster from the plug.
Best money I ever spent. It moves at a walking pace, so you don't have to worry about scratching up your trailer on those walls!
Marc
Holy cow, that thing is awesome. I've always thought it would be cool to have a machine like that. Or better yet, a robot that could park your trailer for you
But at $900, that's really expensive. I wonder if there's a place around here that would rent one to me....
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3Ms75Argosy
that is tight! Now I see what you mean. I'm assuming your yard is on the right of the trailer. Some thoughts. I have a "powercaster" http://powercaster.com/ to move my boat into my left/right/left townhome parking spot. It works great! You drive up to the gate as far as you can, unhook, and pull (not push) the trailer into it's spot with the powercaster. By pulling, you can bring it further into the yard, away from the wall. The only issue I see would be running a thick (less electrical resistance) to the powercaster from the plug.
Best money I ever spent. It moves at a walking pace, so you don't have to worry about scratching up your trailer on those walls!
Marc
Uwe bought a used forklift.. I think I remember he thought it was pretty cheap. You could probably find one to rent for cheaper than buying though.. just find out if it has a ball attachment at the end of the fork leg.
Marc
You could always put a reciever and ball on the front of your tow vehical. Sometimes easier to push a trailer then trying to back it.
Hmmm... that's an interesting idea. Probably cheaper still than the forklift.
However, I think I'm going to just cut down a tree that's in my front yard, knock down the fence in front of the house's side yard, and put a gate in there. there's tons of room for my Airstream over there. I just need to make sure I'm not breaking any codes by doing that, since I'm in an historical neighborhood....
Bah. I'm going to be selling my trailer. In addition to all of the other stuff going on right now with my house and work, there's a good chance that I'll be moving to San Francisco soon (for my work). It's just the right trailer, wrong time, unfortunately. I'm still going to keep working on it if I am able to find the time periodically, until it sells.
I'd like to recoup my investment, but the whole interior is taken apart right now and the most important thing to me is that the trailer goes to a good home.
Some day, when I'm at a different point in my life, I will tackle a project like this again. This has definitely been the most fun non-work project that I've ever taken on.
This is a sad story. Too bad things are not working out the way you wanted them to. Have you looked into the possibility of storing the trailer untill you can get some of these other issues ironed out. You have alot of time and money invested in this project. You might come out better in the long run.
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