1965 Rehab

[marzboy]

Originally Posted by wasagachris

marzboy I beg to differ. I lifted a 31 ft shell solo. Well actually 2 friends helped. Both of them were named jack. I used two bottle jacks between the cribbing to hold the shell straight and the floor. four inches at a time front and then back got it up 3 ft and the chassis just rolled out. Good luck I know you can do it. BTW I`ll swap weather with you any time. It`s snowing here now and onlt 30F. Costing $20 per day in propane to keep my shop warm.

Ha! Well you are a better man than I. Im going to get it done, believe me. I am pretty stoked! Thanks for the vote of confidance though, hopefully this time tomorrow Ill have some great shell off pics
Oh and I wouldnt change our weather for anything.

[kennyp315]

I would love to come and see your trailer sometime. I have a '65 Globetrotter that I spent two years redoing. It was in Vintage Airstream magazine Winter 2008. I did a tremendious amount of research that I be helpful 2 you. Ewe and Murray Sumner did my axle 4 yrs ago when Ewe was starting to do trailers full time. I'm at Topanga and Mulholland very close to you, All the best, Kenny

[marzboy]

Originally Posted by kennyp315

I would love to come and see your trailer sometime. I have a '65 Globetrotter that I spent two years redoing. It was in Vintage Airstream magazine Winter 2008. I did a tremendious amount of research that I be helpful 2 you. Ewe and Murray Sumner did my axle 4 yrs ago when Ewe was starting to do trailers full time. I'm at Topanga and Mulholland very close to you, All the best, Kenny

Hi Kenny. I use to live near you off San Feliciano on Cerillos. My wife and I miss that house!! Uwe is a great resource, he is extremely generous with his time. I am going to be working on my trailer today you are welcome to stop by. I would love to exchange notes with you. I will pm you my cel phone #

[ND10CentCan]

Just like Wasagachris, my husband lifted the Tross off by himself and his friends, Jack and Jack, and Jack and Jack. He told me he didn't need myhelp which is code for "Get out of here and let me do this myself."

I think he didn't want to have me see him trapped under the shell when it all came a tumbling down. Luckily it didn't. Thanks for all of your great tips Wasagachris!

[marzboy]

Ok shell is off. My friend flaked so I did it myself. It wasnt as hard as I thought it would be. Next step frame repair!

[wasagachris]

Congradulations Marzboy. See it was no trouble right. That`s some serious bending going on to the skins. I added spacers to my cribbing to keep the 4x4`s away from the skin. Are you planning to repair the frame under the shell. The reason I ask is I don`t think the wheel wells will clear the 4x4`s to roll the chassis out. I goofed on my measurements and had to let the air out of the tires to get mine out. Going back uder because of the new axles I had to raise the shell another 8 inches. I`ll be watching and await the next post.

[marzboy]

Thanks Chris, Im gonna have to raise the shell a bit more tomorrow. If that doesnt work I will have to let some air out of the tires. Do you have any pics of your spacers? Kinda bummed on the skins.

[wasagachris]

I was looking for pictures but couldn`t find any. basically I used pieces of 2x6 mounted vertically between the cribbing and the 4x4`s. They were about 2 ft long. I used carriage bolts through the 2x6 spacers and the cribbing and longer carriage bolts through the 4x4`s and the spacers. Does your c channel stay attached to the end caps. I also added a piece of 2x4 to the bottom of the channel so the shell could sit on the 4x4`s and clear the skins. I think your skins hang farther over the sides than mine.

[marzboy]

Unfortunately Chris in order to get the trailer off the frame the saw horses have to be where they are. I am going to see if I can beef up the area on the end caps to see if I can use that for the stands. My c channel stayed on the floor. I think the skins on mine hang down further than most that I have seen. Always a challenge and today is suppose to be windy, yeah.

[3Ms75Argosy]

I think the extra skins is for the belly wrap, correct? I you just leave about 12" or so and then trim the rest off, you should be much better off with the skins... and then use on big piece of bellywrap to seal up the bottom when you're done. I'd hate to see the skins rip up the sides. before you pull the trailer out, jack up your cross pieces from the wood floor, and then fashion some 4x4 spacers under the c-channel or where ever those horses are resting on to get them off the skins some more.

Also, if it's going to be windy, stake that puppy down.. you don't want it flying away from you!
Going well otherwise!
Marc

[marzboy]

@ Marc actually the extra skin is part of the side panels. Airstream construction is not very consistent. I have taken out a few more rivets just to ease the stress on the shell for now. I also beefed up the cribbing to keep the ribs in place. You cant see it, but the rear street side back support was completely gone. So when I popped the shell off it was pretty lopsided. Hopefully this weekend I will roll the trailer out and start working on the frame. Here are a couple obligatory banana wrap before pics....

[marzboy]

The shell is off! Thank God! Thanks to my friend Bob we did it. Tomorrow I will be getting to the frame if weather allows.....

[wasagachris]

Congrats Marzboy! The shell looks much better now. Are you doing a whole new frame or just repairs? One look tells me that your'e doing a new floor though. It should only be a couple of months and it will be back together. It's interesting to watch because the construction method is quite different than a 70's model. I know every inch of mine now because I built most of it myself. I'm still trying to get it selaed up for winter. Another week should do it I hope. The snow is starting to come now and I'm running out of time. I'll keep watching and offer tips if needed.

[kennyp315]

Javier, I forgot to give you the numbers for Mike, the welder and Murray elect, etc etc knows way more than most. Mike c-818.825.1968 o-818.713.0359 Murray c-818.404.2520 h-818.597.9871 see you soon, Kenny