ANDY! I wish you lived in Tulsa!!!

[75Airstream500]

I know Andy injects a lot of knowledge and information to this forum. I wish he was close so we could have him give the AS a once over. Anybody out there in AS land know someone in the Oklahoma area with as much knowledge?

We recently bartered for a 75 Excella 500. We thought, cool, Clean it up...put in some new flooring, matresses and recover the sofa and we've got a pretty cool lake cabin. hahahahaha! WOW! Silly me.

This is a quote from an older thread:

"1. Frame sag-- this is simply a problem caused by (insert a multitude of debateable causes) resulting in a bend to occurring near the axles which affects of the entire rear half of the trailer. One of the ways to assess this is by the tell-tale buckle along the sides near the wheelwells. It is fixed by installing a "fish plate" around the frame near the axles. The axles have to be dropped in order to do this."

My question is, what do these "fish plates" look like, I am curious if they have been installed already on the unit I have. I don't think we suffer from rear end sag. BUUUUUT, I know we suffer from rear end seperation. Also, after pulling up the carpet, we have found a couple of places where the plywood flooring has rotted through and now that I found that we have seperation I suppose the floor in the bathroom is also rotting because I can stick my fingers through the gap over the trunck and am able to scratch away splinters of plywood.

So, my second question is...can we just successfully patch these areas of rotting floor and call it good or do we have to completely strip the entire inside, lift the shell and replace the floor. The later just seems more extreme than I have time or money for. I have read several threads and KNOW what I SHOULD do. But is there a less extreme alternative?

And lastly, if I plan to sit the AS on a lot at the lake without traveling with it, it there a temporary solution to my seperation problem so no further damage is done until I can get it done right?

[59toaster]

Search sag and seperation. Many posts on this. Basicly the Fish plate is a pice of steel you attach to the frame and bolt it back through the floor into the U-Channel. The frame can also crack neat the axles and there is a pre cut patch plate to reinforce this area. That's what needs the axles removed to do. It's tow different problems but often the both happen on the coach.

[wingfoot1]

Welcome,

I will give you a name which I am aware of but, have never had service done there.

Griffith R.V. Service, Inc.
8113 S.W. 15th.
Okla. City, Ok 73128
1-405-495-2590

"since 1964 with all makes of RV's"
"Certified service & parts: Airstream, Dometic / Duo-therm, and Others."

www.griffithrvservice.com

"Airstream body repairs"

I have copied their business card for you. My understanding is that the senior griffith has retired ( met him in south texas this past winter) and the son has taken over the business.

Goodluck

[RivetED]

OK Cty is closer, but there is an Airstream 'repair only'/former dealer in Carrollton TX (I-35E): North Dallas RV. Pat Moore (owner) & Randy (shop foreman) are the contacts there. They have been around for 'decades', do everything A/S...not inexpensive @$85.-/hr.