Something less than 10 percent difference of the overall weight is usually ok.
One of the ways to help the balancing, is to install the water tank on the light side of the trailer. Have it full when traveling, which they all should be anyways, and when the trailer is parked, who cares. Just enjoy.
A tongue weight of closer to 15 percent or sometimes even more, should be the goal, so that you wind up with ball park 600 pounds. That will help the proper utilization of the load equalizing hitch.
Andy
Andy, can you expand on this, never noticed it in forums befor. I'm just begining reassembly on a '64, 22'. Orig tongue weight 305#?. This weight limit screws up what I'd like to do w/interior. Shooting for less than 4k laden weight. If you insist +or-450 lbs would accually be better, well, I'd have to buy you a beer!!!!!! Will tow w/a reese, bars & sway. & V8 explorer rated at 5k#.
Well the 7 inches of snow and strong winds forecasted for the morning turned into a good breeze and some wet snow that melted away so I spent 3 hours this afternoon on the chassis.
I drilled the elevator rusty bolt mess out and pried the plywood up; only once forgetting that the fiberglass isn't load bearing and ended up standing on the ground...
So after brushing away the wet insulation remnants and rusty debris I can see what steel is left. There doesn't seem to be too much wrong. An outrigger that I'd like to repair or replace, one crossmember with an ugly hole cut in it and one with rust perforation. On top of that my welding list includes:
- some boxing in of the rails if required
- replacing 3 cross members with channel or box and some extra channel to create the tank spaces
- replacing the tongue jack
- adding plates for the bal jacks
- maybe welding the reese WD brackets in place
I'll hold off on the propane tank mounts until I'm further along and I'm not keen on a spare wheel mount so I'll skip that too.
Today I learnt that I'd rather not sandwich fiberglass between the frame and the floor.
I'm not 100% loving the tear down part but very very shortly I should be free of all gross old stuff and ready for fresh solid materials.
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preparing for the maiden voyage in 2010...
I like your interior layout. If I had a gutted trailer, I'd pick the same-big rear bed & a place to eat! Are you going to install a gray tank and a fresh water tank, of so, under the floor? Black water tank above the floor?
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Rick & JJ, teenage sons Tommy & Will 1961 26' Overlander International Land Yacht 1963 19' Globetrotter
WBCCI #9275
Yup, I'm going for a 40 something gallon fresh and similar grey under the floor. They are 7 inches deep so the frame and shroud under them will be 4" lower than the stock belly pan. This is almost exactly the same height as the bar running between the axles containing the torsion rubber. I figure that if anything I run over is going to take out a tank it'll have wrecked the axles too. The black tank will be smaller and located inside the trailer (under the bed I hope). I'm shooting for the 18 Gallon unit but the Vacuflush system is supposed to use very little water, 1 pint per flush rather than 4.
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preparing for the maiden voyage in 2010...
Post welding it'll be sandblasted then POR'd up. I'm toying with the idea of doing the bumper in red chrome but we'll see.
The wheels and tires are the ones that came with; trust me the rims look horrid close up (but they do have what look like moon clips), the tires are good but the wrong size. I have a sweet set of mags and marathons waiting to go on when all the messy stuff is done.
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preparing for the maiden voyage in 2010...
Excellent. If I find a good condition shell (cheap), I'm going to copy you--but make the shortest possible two-axle mid-bath. I've got an idea that it can be done in 18 or 19 feet.
Yesterday I scraped all the gunk and stuff of off the the chassis and gave it a swift pressure washing. I whipped the Reese set up and brake lines off to make it easier.
Today I towed it for an hour to welding heaven. It flapped around a bit and I wouldn't want to tow it further without the weight distributing bars on.
As soon as the steel is sourced we'll start the welding. I say we but in reality I'll probably be a relatively innocent bystander (I don't want to set fire to my shoes or anything like that). We'll be using 6" x 3" Formed L stock in 12 gauge, 3 1/2" x 3/16" flat stock, 2" x 3/16" flat stock, 1" x 1" x 1/8" angle and some assorted bits and bobs as needed. This might change a bit depending what's out there.
Most of the above is for the tank enclosures, a little angle is to shore up some corrosion on the rear cross-members and the flat stock is to tie the modified cross-members together for extra rigidity. They'll be a little work done on the axle mounting plates as now the shell and floor are off there are some small improvements we can make. We're going to drill through the new plates in the same spot as the holes in the old chassis and put bolts through. I'm told that holes like that are prone to cracking. It sounds odd to me but given the experience of my welding inspector mentor I'll take the advice as gospel.
I'm adding little things like safety chain mounting points too...I thought it would be wise to, you know, just in case. (kidding, I can't believe it just had chain wrapped around the frame when I bought it). Four balance jack mounts will be added and the tongue jack will be replaced, maybe the coupler too if it makes sense.
I ordered up some JET air shears and JET air nibblers today and got a quote of $229 for 6 x 8' pieces of 20 Gauge C channel to re-attach the shell, made to my spec so I'm feeling on a roll. The old Channel was corroded, bent and full of rivet backs.
The aluminum C channel guy took a piece and traced the profile onto the quote sheet. I'm not sure if it started out life with 90 degree angles but it looks more like 100 now, any suggestions on what angle to go with for the final order would be most handy.
I expect to get photos of the next steps as the UPS van is winging it's way across Canada as we speak with a shiny new Canon for me.
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preparing for the maiden voyage in 2010...
I gather the steel is on hand and ready to go so things should get moving on the chassis this week.
I got a quote back on the C channel, $229 for 6 x 8' sections, probably a bit high but I think it'll make the install smoother.
I wanted to order the aluminum sheet for the belly pan but I'm still mulling the options over. 4' x10' sheets of 0.025" 'utility grade', which I think is 3003, are available locally, $56 (CAD) a sheet, two weeks lead time. Option two is to go with Airparts, I'd like their 5052 which I think would be better but the shipping is a killer to Canada. I think it ends up at $212 CAD a sheet so nearly 4 times as much. I guess I'll go with the 3003 and save the dollars for the shell and all the 14' sheets I need!
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preparing for the maiden voyage in 2010...
Just some snaps showing the early parts of todays work.
-we torched out some cross-members and moved them a little to accommodate decent sized tanks
-added flat stock between the tanks under the main rails so simplify installing the belly pan
-drilled out all the holes from the original suspension into the inland RV mounting plate ready for bolts
-added the 6" x 2" L formed steel that partially drops down from the moved cross-members
Tomorrow we hope to get the 6" x 2" L shaped stuff on one end of the tank cavities and make brackets to mount up the other ends, which will be removable to get the tanks in and out. Maybe we'll repair the holes from old plumbing butchery and get the re-inforcements in on the back cross-members too.
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preparing for the maiden voyage in 2010...
If the snow isn't too bad we should wrap up welding tomorrow and I'll post up some tank cavity shots.
I have realized that although I've ordered up lots of stuff lately I'll need some Vulkem soon. Specifically I need something to bed the galvanized wheel wells down into on the steel chassis before the floor goes in. Can I use Vulkem 116 for this or do I need something else? maybe butyl tape?
Lastly I was planning on the belly pan attaching to the C channel with mechanical fasteners, no Vulkem, is this correct?
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preparing for the maiden voyage in 2010...
Lastly I was planning on the belly pan attaching to the C channel with mechanical fasteners, no Vulkem, is this correct?
I put some vulkem in-between as best I could, both between the channel and bellypan, and the bellypan and outer shell (when you get to that point). And then from the inside, just before installing insulation and reinstalling the ineterior panels, I lined the union of those three sheets of aluminum with butyl tape. But the mechanical fasteners-- specifically solid rivets-- are doing the real work.
I gather the steel is on hand and ready to go so things should get moving on the chassis this week.
I got a quote back on the C channel, $229 for 6 x 8' sections, probably a bit high but I think it'll make the install smoother.
I wanted to order the aluminum sheet for the belly pan but I'm still mulling the options over. 4' x10' sheets of 0.025" 'utility grade', which I think is 3003, are available locally, $56 (CAD) a sheet, two weeks lead time. Option two is to go with Airparts, I'd like their 5052 which I think would be better but the shipping is a killer to Canada. I think it ends up at $212 CAD a sheet so nearly 4 times as much. I guess I'll go with the 3003 and save the dollars for the shell and all the 14' sheets I need!
I had C channel bent in 4' lengths and don't remember paying that much in adjusted USD). They were bent at a right angle, you can adjust as you install the belly if needed.
The belly material I used is 5052-H32 in 0.025. I got 4' x 10' sheets locally for about $25 USD ea. Looks like they stock it in canada:
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