Lady - A 1969 23' Safari; Update and fixes

[0557]

Nice job

[BoCox]

Looks like the weather is finally on a warming trend. I've spent a bunch of time researching axles, you all know much fun that is. I have not decided on the vendor I'll send my cash to, but I do enjoy learning about them. I wish AS would post all the details on them and allow the owners to shop the vendors a little easier. I emailed C. Hyde and he was quick to respond. What i did not like was the fact that he recommends the wrong schocks. Even the manufacture Monroe says they not used for that application.

Called and emailed Andy on Monday....still no response? I even spoke to his assistant twice? Disappointed.

I have also spent some time researching new propane tanks. I could not understand why you can buy a horizontal tank for a whole lot less than a vertical one. So I called worthington and they gave me a distributor to call. Once being an inside salesman and knowing how to price items out I quickly learned that the markup online is over 3 times cost! eBay, vintage, everyone.... I guess I could start a new business selling them.

A quick call to an old contact and the tanks are coming to me for less than $100 each. I'll take the $200 windfall.

A few more purchase orders to cut and I hope to have a new AC for summer. I have an old Mach5. Not sure if I'm just going to replace what's there or get something low profile? More threads to research.

[Pams72]

Pam and I are pleased with the axles we ordered from Inland

The axles and shock mounts brakes, hubs and bearings all done on a saturday in about four hours.
We did have the advantage of no floor or belly pan at the time.

[BoCox]

It took about 30 minutes and an air rachet to take off the axle. Thanks to Greg in CA he was kind enough to confirm a few measurements. 61.375", 80", 22.5*, and 5000#. I will be upgrading to 32* and a larger weight (TBD).

I loaded the axle today and dropped it off at Raleigh Hitch. They get Dexter and buy from Redneck. They get stock deliveries every Tuesday so no freight. In speaking to them over the past few days they strongly recommend against NeverLube. Even the rep for Dexter said that if the axle is carrying an over weighted load it is likely to fail / cause issues.

Hope to have the order placed by tomorrow. Happy to support a local guy who will take responsibility should something be wrong. Initial quote should save me a few Jackson's.

Now for the funny pic.... Can someone please read it to me?

[tracker]

Originally Posted by BoCox

So the weather finally warmed on a day I could make it down to Lady's resting place. I was able to stir the POR15 and get the frame painted and top coated. I also took the opportunity to take a few projects home with me. I unbuttoned the back taillights, removed the AIRSTREAM and LAND YACHT emblems / badges off the tail section. I went ahead an pulled the trigger on shore power hookup. I decided on the Furrion 30AMP plug because I liked the way it looked versus the other options. My new water inlet will closely match the Furrion round look.

Thinking about options on the rear "tuna cans" I debated an answer in with I could be happy. Not trying to spend $40/light that vintage has on their website and not convinced that LED is the end-all, be-all solution for me I found a answer that I think works best. I am having a local powder coat company spray all four cans, all my AIRSTREAM lettering and my two badges. I considered chroming the LAND YACHT badges, however I like the fact the powder coat will be around for the long haul. I plan on painting the AIRSTREAM lettering after the powder coat is done, to add the blue accent.

Looking over your thread how did you remove the "cans" and then how did you reinstall them I am facing the same project . I see the rivits in the back but they look like they are rivited from the other side. Did you have to remove the entire tail light ass'y?

[BoCox]

It's simple. Take the three screws off of the light to get to the bulb
Take out the bulb. There is rivet holding the can into light assembly. Drill it out.
And the whole inside can should come out. The whole tail light assembly has to be removed from the inside, for me this was not necessary. Only the small inside can was rusted and needed work. I reinstalled the small can with an aluminum screw.

[BoCox]

My wife and I are preparing for our trip to Thousand Islands, NY to meet her grandparents. This will be the first year that we will tow Lady there. Now that I've installed a new axle, tires and added a new WD hitch I'm excited to have our own space this year rather than tent camp or find space in their camper. We will not be able to bring our fishing boat so I've made arrangements to rent one.

I've been procrastinating on the radio install for some time. Motivated I spent time on Amazon and bought a head unit and 2 speakers and installed them yesterday.

I bought a piece of 1/2 birch and made a box to install the radio, soldered all my connections and in a few hours installed the unit. I added a kill switch next to the unit to cut power if we ever need live off the battery.

I went a little overboard on the speakers and got 6x9 JBL 3 way speakers. They are too large to fit behind the plastic covers that hid the old speakers but the sound quality is worth it.

I saw in a post a while back where someone made their own wood frames to house their speakers. I did a similar thing and I think they look good. It did give up some of the vintage look, but they sound awesome.

I curious to know where AS prewired the other two speakers, but as of this moment they sound awesome as a pair.

The equipment I installed is Pioneer DEH-P8400BH and JBL GTO938 speakers. I love the Bluetooth connectivity and the HD radio the head unit offers. The unit also allows a USB connection on the back of it to connect another device.

[BoCox]

Here's a pic of the speaker in Lady.

[MrJim]

On our '71 Safari, there are 4 factory speakers. One is on each side of the trailer at the front, and another on each side of the trailer over the rear end each bunk bed below the overhead bins.

We haven't used them yet. They seem to work with the 8 track tape unit, (make humming noise at least) but we don't have any 8 track cartridges for it. The AM/FM radio doesn't power up, though all the fuses in the back of the trailer are known good. Getting that to work is low priority for now, but we'll get around to it eventually. Meanwhile, like you, we have places to go and people to see.