...It feels really good to have things starting to back together!!!
i know the feeling, man! once the DEstruction stope and the CONSTRUCTION takes off, things get fun. i can't WAIT to get the skin done and move inside. each step gets more rewarding than the one before it. the frame part seemed to take forever.
are you going to replace any skin panels? what did you decide to do with the belly pan? are you fabricating everything new?
Here is what I'm planning for the floor. I have used plywood that is 1/32 thinner than the 5/8" that was original. It is exterior grade so has water proof glue. Next I'm going to laminate the floor with sheet aluminum. One complete sheet to cover the hole floor. My thought is this will give me the best protection from water leaks. I'm even planning on wrapping it around the edges for added protection. Edges will be epoxy sealed as well. The aluminum will be sanded with heavy paper to prepare it for the linoleum. I am planning on redoing the inside to original. I have already found the paints needed to reproduce the interior wood finish. I will probably redo the zolotone as well. At this time I am planning on the aluminum foil insulation on the shell. Maybe I'll try the same thing on the floor. I am not planning on replacing any skins. They are all in good shape. There is a dent in the panel by the door. Suicide door opening when not planned. Some time in the past. I believe I can work the dent out. I probably should replace the belly skins but haven't decided yet.
What do you think about my lamination floor idea?
definitely sounds interesting, that's for sure! i don't think i've ever seen any floor treated that way. on my floor, the only area that was really bad was near the edges, where the water wicked into the untreated wood, particularly at the front, on mine.
if you do go this route, be sure to tuck the edges in really well. i had to re-do my belly pan around the curves to get things perfectly vertical (very important when you re-fit the shell!)
as for your suicide door dent, you will probably want to replace some of the channel there. my door did the same thing, and the channels were so badly bent, there was no way to salvage it. the dent was so extreme, it actually effected the way the door closed. you might get lucky and not have a bent section. on mine, the door handle hits almost directly on the horizontal breal between the lower and upper panel. i made mine, as per original. 040, 1 1/2" wide, 3/4 edges. be sure to drill out the holes for the wiring and reinstall the grommets before you put the channel back in. i didn't realize how bad the dent was until i replaced the channel. it's much stronger now as well. i have a similar dent on the streetside that i'll be addressing today when i rivet in the upper panel.
I had several discussions at the Beverly Beach rally on my axel and wheather it should be replaced or needed to be replaced. During the discussion I decided that the axel had been replaced some time in the past because of the size of the spindle. Here are some right and left pictures of my axels. Would like comments from anyone who has an idea. Also two suppliers were mentioned. I have forgot who they are. Would like info again. You know senior moments!!!The space between the Spindle shaft that connects to the axel and the steel stop is as follows: left two fingers, right one finger.
That is definitely not the original axle. The torsion arm looks nothing like the old arms, also they are dangerously close to the stops (cut them off, quick) Henschen puts a tag with a serial number and axle capacity on their tubes, I should think the other manufacturers would also, a phone call with the S/N should give you the information you need. The Henschen axle for that year was 2500# rated with a 25° down start angle, spec'd with 10" drums and 5 lug on 4 1/2" bolt circle though I have seen 4 lug drums on some and the 1964 Bambi II.
Torsion axles are avaialable from Henschen (original) Dexter, Hayes (Alko Kober) Axis and I'm sure others. Your axle mounting plate will probably not match up to anyones mounting bracket but drilling new mounting holes is not hard. Use grade 8 bolts and nuts. Good time to increase the starting angle and up the rating a few hundred pounds too.
Looking for input. I took tons of pictures as I took our Bambi apart. I am ready to put on the new flooring. After looking at my pictures I have made the following decision. The galvanized fenders go on first. Next the floor panel that is aligned with the fenders goes on. Then I will work toward the front then the back piece will go on. When I make the new floor pieces using the old floor pieces as a pattern, I was very careful to align everything including the holds for the bolts etc. The floor was in such bad condition things don't line up as well as I would like. This is the second reason for starting from the fender section and working from a more central location. I was once taught that working from centers is always better. I'm also going to caulk between the floor and the steel frame members. It is obvious that water had set in this area before and caused damage. Caulking should help prevent this in the future. Anyone have any thoughts?
I'm also going to caulk between the floor and the steel frame members. It is obvious that water had set in this area before and caused damage. Caulking should help prevent this in the future. Anyone have any thoughts?
The water you noticed under the crossmembers was most likey trapped in the insulation that was originally squished between the floor and the frame. No worries if you're not going to install the same insane insulation.
Starting from the center seems like a decent idea. I started from teh front, since that was teh only real reference I had. The sheets lined up very well with the crossmembers. I don't see a problem starting the floor install wherever you want. You've got an easy job, since your trailer is so small.
Today I started the new floor. 5/8" exterior plywood. The first step was to clean and repair the fenders. I had noticed small cracks in the corners of the fenders near the outside/bottom corners. It is my thought that these cracks had been caused by the following: 1. As the floor was deteriorating, the shell was slowly sinking around the floor. This caused excess load on the fenders. Causing them to be pushed down. The extra load caused the corners to begin to crack. 2. The excess load was also evident by buckles that appeared in the top curved section of the fenders. 3. general load and vibration as the trailer was in motion. I made repairs by using techniques used in aircraft repair of vibration caused cracks. The first step is to find the end of the crack and stop drill the crack. This is done by drilling a 1/8" hope at the very end of the crack. This will prevent further cracking. Next a "doubler plate" is placed over the area of the crack. A doubler plate is a plate of similar sheet metal that is large enough to cover the cracked area in all directions. Next the doubler plate is riveted into position. This reinforces the area an removes load on the cracked area. Most of the floor is profited and holes drilled. Tomorrow I will caulk around the fender areas and reassemble and bolt in the floor. It's great moving on to a different part of the restoration!!!
One more step down!! Yesterday I was able to mount the fenders and set them im place with caulk. I allowed them to dry overnight. See attached. Today I polted down the floor. I found that counter sinking the elevator bolts worked better than just cinching them down. I broke a couple before I made this decision. Finally I applied wood filler to the holes and sanded them down. I would like to some additional filling and sanding the floor. I will be putting lineoleum down as a finish floor. I would like to use a filler that will allow the lineoleum to stick well to the filler as well as the wood. Anyone have a suggestion? Here a few pictures of todays work.
In you would like to see what our 63 Bambi looked like when we bought it go to the following site. I hope this works. http://www.flickr.com/photos/5945706.../1336620/show/
I am currently working on one of the total dismantle. It wil be followed by one of the restoration.
markdoane, Thanks for the info on VersaPatch. That should get me going for tomarrow.
In working toward finding the correct placement for the C channel on my new floor, I discovered how to find Blind rivets before you start drilling out the rivets on the outside shell. First a short review of what the steps are to get to the place where you need to ask the question about Blind rivets.
1. Remove all interior items until you get to a hallow shell.
2. Remove all lower interior aluminum panels.
3. Remove insulation.
At this point you can identify the places where you will find blind rivets. If you examine the C channel you will find places where the inside vertical part of the channel is bent down flat to the bottom horizontal section. The blind rivets will be located under the outside skin in these areas.
Here is a suggestion for the next person needing to remove a shell. You might be able to use a Drumel tool and cut the back side of these rivets off before you get to the outside. In my Bambi I found that all these Blind rivets were in a vertical rib that went up the side of the trailer.
Here is a picture of piece of channel showing the folded section of the channel.
Quick Links
The space between the Spindle shaft that connects to the axel and the steel stop is as follows: left two fingers, right one finger.
New Floor installed/ filler question
How to find Blind rivets
Linear Mode
