What Holds The Tanks in Place?

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by dkrukosky

Wow thanks for the pictures and measurements that will be a great help. those are some nice looking pans you have made up. May I ask where is everyone getting there metal supplies from?

I work for a company that does a variety of metal work, among other things, so I am ahead of the game there. HVAC shops can make up the pans for you, I am buying my angle iron from a local metal fab supply company. Doing most of my own welding or having a family heavy truck repair shop mechanic do it for me. He works cheap...beer and a steak. My sheetmetal is coming out of the stock pile at the shop. I need to replace the Alclad below my storage door, I am hoping my wife's uncle will find a piece for me in his metal collection (vintage aircraft guy) otherwise I will be shelling out for a full sheet of the stuff.

Aaron

[dkrukosky]

Originally Posted by Ora

I took a few pics of the tank pans with a couple of measurements. I hope the notes on the pics help some, I am a novice at using Paint program. I am close to finally getting these installed again.. My wifes new name for our " Rosie Rivets" has become "money pit"
I had the new pans made from a little heavier gage material , from 22 ga to 20 ga, for a little extra rigity. The weak point in my opinion is the small 2 1/2" hinges used at the forward mount. I went up to a little heavier grade 3" hinge. The pans are 42 3/4" long x 7" tall. Gray is 22" wide and the Black was 29 1/2". These were for my '74 Ambassador / 29ft rear bath, don't know if yours are the same, The styrofoam under the tanks, plus the plastic support trays allow for pop rivets / Olympic rivets to go into the support pans to hold the underbelly skin up. When I saw the rivets under there, I was afraid I had many holes in the tanks, but all was okay.

sorry a couple more questions? the new angle iron frames that you made up what is the size of this angle iron? also in your comparison photo of the new vs old frame the back piece of angle iron on your new one looks reversed from the original was there some reason for the original to be facing backward or is that actually a T shaped piece?
thanks

[Ora]

I'm a scrounger, so the new frames were made from discarded bedframes ( 1 3/8" angle & a little under 1/8" thick). The rear frame of the old one was made from "T" stock. After I posted the photo, I tack welded a lenth of 1/8 X 1/2" flat stock to duplicate the original piece as best as possible. I will try to drill and tap a few holes in this added piece to attach the " belly skin" that goes under the tank and the sheetmetal that closes in the rear bumper compartment. The whole job is taking a lot longer than expected. I received new axles yesterday, got to start on swapping them today and also working on 12v fresh water system also ... getting close to my planned vacation starting the 10th of next month!!!

[dkrukosky]

congrats on the new axles, I know what you mean about scrounging. Now I am thinking who's bed am I going to chuck on the floor

[dkrukosky]

Are there any reasons not to make the tank pans out of sheet aluminum instead of galvanized? (other than cost that is)

[dkrukosky]

Can anyone explain or post a picture of how the frames (that support the tanks)are held up at the back. There appears to be nothing to support them on my frame (rusted away).

[shadeemry]

The way the tanks are held in is with first the bubble pan mold, then the styrofoam, then the "pan". Its like a molded metal bucket with a 1 inch flat out flange. After that their is a small frame thats square and hinged at the back that connects to the crossmember. that allows the tanks to drop and come out of place for easier access. Some people have used the pan and bolted it on the c channel on the sides and rear most crossmember.

[shadeemry]

Originally Posted by Ora

I took a few pics of the tank pans with a couple of measurements. I hope the notes on the pics help some, I am a novice at using Paint program. I am close to finally getting these installed again.. My wifes new name for our " Rosie Rivets" has become "money pit"
I had the new pans made from a little heavier gage material , from 22 ga to 20 ga, for a little extra rigity. The weak point in my opinion is the small 2 1/2" hinges used at the forward mount. I went up to a little heavier grade 3" hinge. The pans are 42 3/4" long x 7" tall. Gray is 22" wide and the Black was 29 1/2". These were for my '74 Ambassador / 29ft rear bath, don't know if yours are the same, The styrofoam under the tanks, plus the plastic support trays allow for pop rivets / Olympic rivets to go into the support pans to hold the underbelly skin up. When I saw the rivets under there, I was afraid I had many holes in the tanks, but all was okay.

hey bud, anyway i can get the name of who fabricated yours pans and hinge frame? I would love to get my hands on those and do this right the first time around.

[Aage]

Originally Posted by Ora

The pans are 42 3/4" long x 7" tall. Gray is 22" wide and the Black was 29 1/2". These were for my '74 Ambassador / 29ft rear bath, don't know if yours are the same

The tanks for the original 27 to 31-footers (rear bath) from '74 and '75 are identical, so of course, the frames will be the same too.

[shadeemry]

Thx superman

[dkrukosky]

Originally Posted by shadeemry

The way the tanks are held in is with first the bubble pan mold, then the styrofoam, then the "pan". Its like a molded metal bucket with a 1 inch flat out flange. After that their is a small frame thats square and hinged at the back that connects to the crossmember. that allows the tanks to drop and come out of place for easier access. Some people have used the pan and bolted it on the c channel on the sides and rear most crossmember.

sorry I didn't ask my question very well. I have made new support frames and they are hinged at the front what I am unsure of is what holds them up in place at the back end? opposite the hinges It looks like from the image they bolt to a piece of C Steel that points down from the rear most cross member? Also do the bucket pans rest on there bottoms in the steel frames or hang from the flange at the top?

[195Pilot]

Shadeemry,
Your right in that the tank frames bolt into a C channel that hangs down off the rear cross member. Mine had rusted out tabs on the main frame on each side, I assume the side of the tank frames bolt into that tab, thats the way I am going to do it,
I have had sheet metal pans ordered for over a month and the shop has not got them made yet, So I'm thinking about framing up pans out of stryofoam and cover inside and out with epoxy/fiberglass, making composite pans.
Also the frames hinge off the forward cross member? Mine had a 1x2 c channel welded below the cross member and they were hinged off this. Is this correct or a poor repair at some time?

[shadeemry]

Originally Posted by 195Pilot

Shadeemry,
Your right in that the tank frames bolt into a C channel that hangs down off the rear cross member. Mine had rusted out tabs on the main frame on each side, I assume the side of the tank frames bolt into that tab, thats the way I am going to do it,
I have had sheet metal pans ordered for over a month and the shop has not got them made yet, So I'm thinking about framing up pans out of stryofoam and cover inside and out with epoxy/fiberglass, making composite pans.
Also the frames hinge off the forward cross member? Mine had a 1x2 c channel welded below the cross member and they were hinged off this. Is this correct or a poor repair at some time?

im in the process as we speak of creating a replica frame out c channel with smaller c channel skids welded in place, my frame roke at the cross member and when i went to drop the tanks, i had found what appeared to be a crude frame repair, the other airstreams i have seen of my make and model did not have their pan or tubs bolted into the frame, im not sure if this was an AS repair or what, but according to my shop manuel and the other airstreams i have found, they were exactly as illustraded in the diagram i had shown, the entire support was on the tank frame supports, (the frames with the hinges) that held the pans and tanks in place.

Fiberglass in my opinion would be a bad idea, the wrong rock , stress or vibration from the trailer could cause a whole mess of things from some of the people i have asked, i bet they would never rust out again being fiberglass, but one crack and i would presume it was over. thats my opinion however, i have no evidence or info to back it up.. i have heard of some fiberglass stuff that could take direct hammer hits and be fine, but im not sure what it was called.. you could always try that stuff..

if you need pages out of the manuel illustrating the rear frame and the tank information, let me know, and ill email it to you or post it here.

[195Pilot]

Shadeemry,
Sounds like you and I have the same trailer. Everything was rusted out to the point that there's just enough evidence to get you into trouble.
I live in very rural South Dakota, the nearest town is 40 miles away and only one sheet metal shop in town. So airstream pans are not high on the pecking order.
My thought of fiberglass over foam would incorporate the foam for insulation and the strength of the pan. This is the same technique Burt Rutan used in all his aircraft design. For a rock guard I could lay a sheet of galvanized material under the fiberglass box.
I have my frame welded up, everything is held up waiting on these pans, just trying to come up with something to hurry the process up before the first snow fall.
I made my skid plate out of 2x3 rect tube and I carried it forward stopping short of the rear axle, welding into the axle plates.
Good Luck,
Jack

[Ora]

It was a local heating supply company ... they cost me about $160, kind of pricey for this retired person, but I try to do things right (sometimes). I didn't want the tanks spread a mess on the highway. My first use of the Airstream was a 4500 mile trip to Texas, no mechanical problems.

[Ora]

Attached is a pic of the rear showing rear frame of holding tanks. the diagram in the earilier post is nice ... hope this clears it up some. I painted the new frames for the tanks with rustoleum blue (kind of matches the beltline stripe) not that anyone but me will ever see them.

[shadeemry]

Originally Posted by Ora

Attached is a pic of the rear showing rear frame of holding tanks. the diagram in the earilier post is nice ... hope this clears it up some. I painted the new frames for the tanks with rustoleum blue (kind of matches the beltline stripe) not that anyone but me will ever see them.

Awesome, that's exactly what I needed to see! Now I can get this done right.

[dkrukosky]

Originally Posted by Ora

Attached is a pic of the rear showing rear frame of holding tanks. the diagram in the earilier post is nice ... hope this clears it up some. I painted the new frames for the tanks with rustoleum blue (kind of matches the beltline stripe) not that anyone but me will ever see them.

Yes perfect thanks so much!

[dkrukosky]

ok got my new tank frames welded up and installed this past weekend. thanks to the pictures posted. Thanks again. Now its on to making pans...
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QhPpoA3NDh...-34-52_294.jpg

[dkrukosky]

On that note how thick is the galvanized steel that the pans are made of? also can galvanized steel be welded?