Considering a rehab? Rank Amateur's renovation

[RankAm]

I have not posted since July, but I have been working away, and in the coming days, I will be posting on quite a few different projects on 8038.

I have left Montana and 8038 for the winter, and I will return probably in April to get back to work on 8038.

Hank

[RankAm]

I need to finish up the description of my work on the curbside baggage hatch door, and this post is about installation of the lock mechanism.

I had ordered two same-keyed baggage hatch locks from Vintage Trailer Supply. I will end up with a baggage hatch under the rear window in addition to the curbside baggage hatch, and I wanted them to have the same key.

To distribute the pressure from the nut (screwed on from the inside of the door) that attaches the lock to the door, I used a wooden ring that I made from a scrap of 1/4" plywood. Make the ring with a hole in the center just large enough for the lock to pass through. Make the outer diameter of the ring as large as possible that will fit in the available space. Depending on the location of the lock, the ring may have to be more narrow on the side closest to the edge of the door.



For weatherproofing, I (1) applied a small bead of TremPro around the lock mechanism's rim that would fit against the exterior wall of the door and (2) used on the inside wall of the door a rubberized gasket around the hole for the lock mechanism. The gasket was cut, roughly in a circle with a hole in the middle, to fit and then placed over the shaft of the lock and snugged against the inside wall of the door. The wooden ring was placed over the shaft of the lock and on top of the gasket, and then I screwed on the nut that snugs the lock in place. Experiment with the lock mechanism so that the rotating locking arm (which can be set in different positions) is in the correct position to lock the hatch as you wish.



Hank

[RankAm]

This post was my last on the bumper trunk. Since then I have finished the bumper trunk.

1. Finishing the cover. I wanted to round the corners of trunk cover, and I used a large washer to mark and cut the radius of the curve:


I cut around that line and then filed and sanded the rough edge until it was smooth to the touch.

2. Clecoeing the pieces together. I then began dry assembling all the pieces of the bumper trunk. Note in the image below the wave in the trunk cover. I misaligned something, but the cover will close flat, and I am not going to rebuild all that. Another imperfection I have added to 8038!


You can see the two sets of rivets involved: (1) the rivets attaching the piano hinge to the trailer and (2) the rivets attaching the trunk cover to the piano hinge. To make sure that the trunk cover would fully close, I spaced the rivets so that rivets from (1) would not hit rivets from (2).


3. Installation of latches. I then installed the VTS-251 cover latches ), which are zinc-plated steel. This requires (1) drilling a hole through the top of the bumper for each latch (2) cutting through the hatch cover a hole and slit for the part of the latch that passes through the cover when it is locked in place, and (3) dissembling the latch mechanism (as described on the VTS webpage) to install the latch through the bumper and then reassembling the latch. I ended up having to cut off some of the spring of one of the latches in order to get the latch to fit properly.

[RankAm]

In this post, I describe the welding that was done to the frame of the entry step. I decided that I wanted to isolate the step frame from the rest of the belly of the trailer (hoping to keep critters out of the coach). When my neighbor was welding, he welded a tab onto each side of the step frame so that I could fabricate an enclosure. You can see the tab in the image here.

I used my Harbor Freight bending brake to make two aluminum sheet enclosures like the one in this image (which is the one on the right side of the step frame):


The new tab is where the left end of the enclosure above attaches to the step frame.

I caulked generously around the perimeter of each enclosure, and I hope that no rodent can go any farther than that enclosure.

Hank

[RankAm]

I ordered a new torsion axle for 8038, and when it arrived, I decided it was time to remove the original axle.

Removal of the axle involved a good bit of time under 8038, on my back, on a creeper, using a high-speed grinder with a cut-off wheel. As I have said before, being under the trailer on my back using a grinder is not one of my favorite restoration activities, and it certainly is one of the more dangerous ones. Be very careful if you take on this task. Wear protective clothing (I wore a heavy fabric one-piece work coverall, gloves, and full face shield), and keep the grinder away from your body. I had no major incidents with the grinder, but once in placing the grinder on the floor of the garage I did manage to twist my hand and arm so that the cutoff wheel sliced into my thumb. A bandaid took care of the cut, but it did bleed for a while.

Tools.
Rust-penetrating oil.
Wrenches to fit the nuts and bolts.
Cutoff tool for any nuts/bolts that require cutting.
Prybar.
Automotive floor jack (with cradle to hold the axle to be removed).
Protective clothing.

Tasks.
I started by applying (for several days before trying to remove the nuts) rust-penetrating oil to each of the shackle bolts and nuts that would have to come off to remove the axle. In the image below, the nut and bolt to remove are the ones at the top of the image where the leaf spring attaches to the frame, not to the hanger assembly.


I made a scrap wood cradle that would temporarily attach to the floor jack and would hold the leaf spring axle to be removed from 8038. I had the floor jack in place before I removed the first shackle bolt.


Most of the nuts came off by wrench, but I had to cutoff some them using the grinder with the cutoff wheel.

After the nut came off (and with the floor jack in place holding the axle), I drove the shackle bolt through the hanging bracket to remove the bolt. After the bolt was removed, I used my prybar to drop that end of the leaf spring from the mounting bracket.


After all four of the mounting shackle bolts were removed and freed from the mounting brackets, the axle was held by the floor jack. I actually ended up using two floor jacks, which may have been a mistake, as it was very awkward to get the axle out from underneath 8038 while it was attached to two floor jacks (each of which wanted to move in a different direction).

I suspect that it would be simpler to use only one floor jack. The axle is several hundred pounds, and the typical floor jack has capacity way in excess of that weight.

To help make the belly pan metal fit flat, I decided to cut off (1) the ears on the two front leaf spring mounting brackets and (2) the round barrel bracket (through which the shackle bolt passed) of the two rear leaf spring mounting brackets. Cutting through the two ears was easy:

Cutting through the two round barrels (sorry, I have no photo) was a bigger task.

After that, it was back under 8038 with the grinder and a grinding wheel to smooth out the parts of the frame that had been roughed up by the cutting of the mounting brackets.

I have some POR-15 painting to do the parts of the frame that now have exposed metal.

Hank

[RankAm]

My previous posts on the roof patch (to replace a roof air conditioning unit) are here and here.

My patch was larger than the A/C mounting plate that I had removed. I thought for a while about trying to install flush-mount/countersunk rivets in all the many holes in the roof from the prior mounting plate, but on the advice of Aerowood on this Forum, I left those holes, which would be fully covered by the roof patch piece. After dry fitting, I thinned Trempro with mineral spirits and applied the thinned sealant with a narrow paint roller (that I discarded after that use) to the entire underside of the patch:

We then riveted away, and now the roof patch is permanently in place.

Hank

[RankAm]

Rehabbing the nameplate had given me some problems (see here), but I now have it finished.

One warning about sealing the plate: I had sprayed on the blue paint (details in the link above), and I wanted to apply a topcoat sealer, so I bought a rattle can of lacquer, but applying that would have been a BIG mistake and probably would have melted the paint again (see the link above). I spent some time researching and realized that I needed to apply clear gloss enamel. I sprayed on the clear enamel, and the underlying blue paint did not melt.

The nameplate originally had been attached to the curbside baggage hatch door, but I have moved the nameplate to the new rear baggage hatch door that I installed. See here and following. I also will describe the new rear panel and baggage hatch in a posting below.

Hank

[RankAm]

When I bought 8038, the installed clearance lights were not all original Bargmans. When I rummaged through a box of miscellaneous parts that came with 8038, I found the missing original Bargmans. I cleaned and nickel plated the Bargmans.

After polishing around the installation point, I placed a cork gasket on the back of the light base, applied lots of Trempro (using the green tape to catch squeeze out), and riveted the bases in place:


I decided to rivet the bases to the sidewall, hoping that would make for a better and tighter fit.

I hope that my installation will make for a waterproof seal around the light fixture, but I am not sure whether the aluminum rivets will adequately electrically ground the light fixture (so that I can run just one positive wire to the light bulb).

I looked for an LED bulb for the clearance lights, but I could not find one that would fit the three fixtures that had the bulb extending away from the sidewall of the trailer (one of the fixtures had the bulb running parallel to the sidewall). The clearance lights will be on only when 8038 is connected to the tow vehicle, so I am not particularly concerned about the amps drawn by the clearance lights.

Hank

[RankAm]

In my demolition of 8038, I decided to remove all of the window/door/hatch drip caps for cleaning, reforming (if necessary), and polishing.

To polish the drip caps, I built a simple jig from a scrap board, and I clamped the jig to the benchtop (it must be anchored when the drip cap is being polished). I used panhead screws to attach the drip cap to the jig (a panhead screw will not enlarge the rivet hole), and then I polished the drip caps. As described here, I use the Jestco polishing method.

I moved the jig and drip cap around so that I could apply the buffer to the surface I was trying to polish.






My main focus for polishing was the exterior/top of the drip cap, but I did try to remove the worst of the junk from the inside of the drip cap (that is not very visible).

Hank

[RankAm]

I wanted to do what I could to distribute the force of anything that would hit into, or hang off of, the sidewall of 8038. In particular, I was concerned about: (1) where the entry door (when fully open) would contact the sidewall, (2) where the upper and lower entry door hinges are attached to the sidewall, and (3) where the mounting bracket for an LP grill attaches to the sidewall.

1. Contact point of door with sidewall. The entry door contact point with the sidewall is where the door latch attaches to the sidewall. I fabricated a piece of standard c channel to distribute the force across the span of the c channel piece and to the stringers above and below the contact point (by pop riveting legs of the c channel to the stringers). The image shows that I made some relief cuts on the c channel so that the c channel could bend to conform to the curvature of the sidewall. The rivets for the door latch pass through the latch, the sidewall, and the reinforcing c channel.



2. Upper and lower entry door hinges. I had heard from numerous sources that the design of the door hinges on 8038 was not particularly strong and that the hinge would be stronger if it were connected to the heavy-gauge aluminum door frame and/or a sidewall rib. I had a piece of 1/8” aluminum angle that I cut (with a grinder and a cutoff wheel) at the vise, and I fabricated it to create a bracket (that will be flush against the inside of the sidewall sheet) that had wings:


In the image immediately above, (1) the left wing will attach to the entry door frame (with a flush mount bucked rivet), (2) the rear wing will fit against the sidewall directly behind the door hinge, and (3) the right wing will attach with a bucked rivet to the adjacent sidewall rib.

The door hinge rivet would pass through (1) the hinge base on the exterior of the sidewall, (2) the sidewall, and (3) the bracket on the inside of the sidewall.

I made two of these pieces, one to support each of the upper and lower hinges. As I now recall, I was able to pass only one of the three hinge rivets through the fabricated bracket (the aluminum angle I had was not large enough for multiple rivets).

3. Mounting bracket for Camco grill. I bought a Camco 5500 LP (low LP pressure) grill. A Camco bracket (which came out of the box painted, but which is solid aluminum and does polish) can be attached to the sidewall, and then the grill will hang on the exterior of the coach (for outside cooking):


I was stumped for a while in trying to attach the bracket to the sidewall. The bracket comes with screws for mounting, but I wanted to use aluminum rivets to attach the bracket. The problem was that the opening in the bracket to get to the screw/rivet holes was very narrow, and I could not get the rivet gun punch to fit in the opening. I took the punch to the grinder and reduced the diameter of the head, but when I decided to stop grinding, the head still would not fit. Upon the advice of Aerowood on this forum, I used long-shank flathead/flush mount rivets inserted from the outside of 8038 and through (1) the exterior mounting bracket, (2) the sidewall, and (3) a piece of reinforcing c channel (that had been tied into adjacent ribs & stringers like the piece of c channel in the first image above, but it was horizontal and attached to a rib to the front and to the rear of the mounting bracket).

My bucking partner and I ended up doing the riveting in reverse. I fabricated from a railroad spike a narrow-head bucking bar, which fit into the opening of the mounting bracket:


The rivet shank (not the head) was driven/deformed from the inside (using a roundhead rivet driving punch) while my partner on the outside held the narrow-head bucking bar against the flat head of the rivet. Backwards, but it worked.

Hank

[RankAm]

I was lucky in that none of the original screens was ripped or unusable. I removed (carefully, trying to retain the rolled-over edges that hold the screen in place), scrubbed, and reinstalled all the original screening except for the entry door.

Tools. I used various putty knives and a screen roller. The entry door screening was made of different material, and the metal had discolored, so I decided to replace it with new galvanized screening from VTS.

Tasks.
1. Window screens. After cleaning the screen with soapy water and a scrub brush, I began reinstalling by (1) placing the rolledover edge under the flange on the window frame (I started with one of the short sides of the frame), (2) painter taped that side of the screen in place, and (3) worked my way around the screen until all four sides were in place. I used the screen roller to get a snug fit.



2. Door screen. I used the old screening as a template to make a new screen for the door. My advice as to mounting a new screen to the entry door (to get a tight fit) is to first secure (I used clecos) the new screening to the horizontal bottom and top pieces of the door frame. After that, secure the screen to the vertical sides. Because of the curvature of the door, the securing of the screen to the sides (after securing the screening to the top and bottom) will tighten the screening for a good fit.

Hank

[RankAm]

When I was in the demolition stage, I removed and cleaned the original Bargman entry door lock. I took a lot of photos, hoping that they would help me get it back together:


I re-plated the handle and the base plate of the lock.

I decided to use a cork gasket on the back of the Bargman door lock so that the sidewall of the door would not be in contact with the dissimilar metal of the Bargman lock. I traced an outline of the base plate onto a piece a paper and then transferred that to a piece of cork gasket material (bought at a craft store), and then I trimmed back the gasket so that the cork would not show.



I applied a lot of Trempro to the back of the baseplate before securing the lock to the door. I cleaned up the squeeze-out of the Trempro with mineral spirits.

[RankAm]

I totally disassembled all of the entry door (by drilling out lots of rivets) and gave every part a cleaning (and paint stripping for the painted parts on the inside of the door). I mostly used Citristrip (with nitrile gloves, plastic scrapers, and scrub pads) for paint removal:


The corrosion on the bottom cross piece of the door-in-a-door opening was so bad that I replaced the piece with a new piece of regular c channel.


I applied Trempro to the new cross piece (the side facing to the outside wall of the door) before riveting it to the door. I also applied Trempro to the joints where the cross piece met the two upright ribs. I hope the Trempro will keep water from getting inside the door.

I insulated the door with Prodex and 3M 3350 HVAC tape. I spent a good bit of time cutting the Prodex to fit in the various cavities in the door. I also used small spacer pieces for dead air space:


You can see in the image above that I cut the piece of Prodex so that it would fit around the rib in the door.

Eventually, I will repaint (with Zolatone paint) most of the many interior side pieces of the door, so after installing the Prodex, I clecoed the interior pieces of the door back together so that I could get the door out of the way by re-hanging it on 8038.

Also in the future, I will install this VTS deadbolt, and that will require a new hole in the interior and exterior sidewalls of the door.

Hank

[Bubba L]

RankAm,
I'm not to the point of refurbishing the door yet, where did you have the hardware replated? Mine is in fairly good shape, just pitted. I'm quite a ways out from that task, still waiting on the axle. Thanks

[RankAm]

Originally Posted by Bubba L

RankAm,
I'm not to the point of refurbishing the door yet, where did you have the hardware replated? Mine is in fairly good shape, just pitted. I'm quite a ways out from that task, still waiting on the axle. Thanks

Bubba, I found a local replating shop in Dallas that nickel plated the lock. As I recall, it was not cheap. I encourage you to clean up and smooth the surface of anything that you will replate, as you will get a better appearance if you do that.

Hank

[RankAm]

During the demolition of 8038, I drilled out, removed, and rebuilt all of the windows. See here and here (and following posts).

Based on advice from Uwe, I decided not to replace the original Hehr window backframe gasket (for the VTS replacement gasket, see here). The problem with that original-style gasket is that, when the gasket needs replacement, the entire window must be removed from the sidewall of the trailer.

Instead, I decided to flush mount the backframes (using Trempro, but with no gasket between the backframe and sidewall). By doing that, the backframe will remain attached to the sidewall even if I have to replace the gasket.

Some kind of gasket is necessary to keep out water, dust, etc. I intend to place a “D”-shaped gasket on the inside of the swinging window frame that will seal the window when the swinging window is closed against the backframe. To get a good seal, however, the “D” gasket needs to press against a flat surface. If the backframe were to be riveted to the sidewall with round head rivets, the gasket seal would not be good. Instead, flathead/flushmount (“blind”) rivets will permit a better seal with the “D” gasket.

To use the flathead rivets, the rivet hole must be countersunk (so that the flathead rivet head sits flush with the outside surface of the backframe). The countersink drilling requires a special tool (see here). Unfortunately, the countersink tool is not designed for drilling through the relatively thin sheet metal window backframes (the tool is designed to countersink through thicker metal), but that is what must be done to use the “D” gasket. The effect of the countersink drill is to enlarge the hole, which permits the tool to wander around as it is drilling the countersink. As a result, it is difficult to drill the hole exactly where desired, and the hole often does not end up nicely round and uniform. This was a frustrating task that lead to not very nice looking holes, but I hope that driving of the flathead rivet will fill the hole.

If you have a drill press with a large table, you might be able to avoid the wandering problem by (1) mounting the countersink tool to the drill chuck and (2) anchoring the backframe to the table. I have a drill press, but I had not thought of using it for the backframes. I did the countersink drilling with a hand-held drill.



I did this countersinking to all the backframes. By the way, do not countersink drill the swinging portion of the rear escape window (which did have holes through the frame) because that portion is not riveted. I mistakenly did drill that frame.

Tools and equipment. For this task, I used (1) a 110 v power drill, (2) a countersink drill attachment to the drill, and (3) a work surface to which I could anchor the backframe as I drilled the countersink holes (you need to have both hands on the drill to keep it in place).

Hank

[RankAm]

8038 had the original Bargman #9 taillight cans, lenses, and trim rings.

1. Rehabbing of cans. I rehabbed the Bargman #9 cans as best I could. They suffered from some significant corrosion, and some of the metal was quite thin. I decided to paint the cans bright white for better reflection from the bulb.



2. Gasket for cans. I installed cork gasket around the inside rim of the cans (to reduce potential future corrosion by keeping the metal of the can from touching the aluminum sidewall). I made the gasket from craft shop cork sheet (with an adhesive backing) by tracing the outline of the can to a piece of paper and then transferring that to the cork sheet (but making the diameter of the perimeter smaller than the original tracing so that the gasket will not show when the can is installed into the sidewall.) The gasket also must be made into a ring that fits around the perimeter of the can:



3. LED bulbs. I installed new bulb bases (and wiring) and switched to LED bulbs:



I understand that the single 1157-R27-T bulb will serve as the tail/running light, the stop light, and the turn light. Consequently, I do not need a second bulb in the can, but I did not know that when I was rehabbing the cans, and I decided to leave in place the bracket for a second bulb.

The 1157-R27-T bulb has a bayonet lug on opposite sides and at different heights. One of the bulbs fit immediately into the mounting bracket, but I had considerable trouble getting the other bulb to fit into the mounting bracket of the other can. The bulb would not go deep enough into the bracket for the lugs to engage. I tried to remove material from the top of the mounting bracket and from the bulb itself (removing a blob of solder at the base of the bulb). Eventually, I cut/ground the mounting bracket so that the bulb would fit higher in the bracket (by enlarging the slots for the lugs to permit the bulb to sit higher in the bracket). I used all of the following tools in making the LED bulb fit:



4. Installation of cans. I decided (for a better attachment and less corrosion) to aluminum rivet the cans to the sidewall of the trailer. Because the trim ring will sit on top of the can, I decided to use countersunk rivets to attach the can to the sidewall:





Keep separate (1) the rivet holes that attach the can to the sidewall and (2) the holes for screwing the trim ring to the can (you need screws so that you can replace the bulb). I generously applied Trempro to the back of the can before clecoing and riveting the can to the sidewall.

5. Trim rings. I replated the exterior trim rings, but the metal was corroded and so thin that the trim rings ended up with holes and were unusable. A fellow Forum member made replacement trim rings for me, so the taillights will be mostly original, but not the trim rigs (which everyone will see).

I have not finished the trim ring installation. I expect to make another cork ring gasket to mount on the back of the trim ring and then screw the trim ring to the can.

Hank

[Aerowood]

Originally Posted by RankAm;

To use the flathead rivets, the rivet hole must be countersunk (so that the flathead rivet head sits flush with the outside surface of the backframe). The countersink drilling requires a special tool (see [URL="http://www.browntool.com/Listview/tabid/344/txtSearch/countersink/ProductID/223/Default.aspx"

here[/URL]). Unfortunately, the countersink tool is not designed for drilling through the relatively thin sheet metal window backframes (the tool is designed to countersink through thicker metal), but that is what must be done to use the “D” gasket. The effect of the countersink drill is to enlarge the hole, which permits the tool to wander around as it is drilling the countersink. As a result, it is difficult to drill the hole exactly where desired, and the hole often does not end up nicely round and uniform. This was a frustrating task that lead to not very nice looking holes, but I hope that driving of the flathead rivet will fill the hole.

If you have a drill press with a large table, you might be able to avoid the wandering problem by (1) mounting the countersink tool to the drill chuck and (2) anchoring the backframe to the table. I have a drill press, but I had not thought of using it for the backframes. I did the countersink drilling with a hand-held drill

Hank

To keep from wallowing out the countersink with the microstop, all you have to do is clamp a backer with a matching hole size of the cutter pilot on the backside of the material being countersunk for the pilot of the cutter to guide into. Wood or aluminum, it doesn't matter as all you need to do is keep the pilot of the countersink from moving around. You can also reduce the size of the countersink by using a NAS1097 rivet that has a reduced size countersink head. A #5 rivet will have the head size of a #4, and a #4 will have the head size of a #3.

[RankAm]

Originally Posted by Aerowood

To keep from wallowing out the countersink with the microstop, all you have to do is clamp a backer with a matching hole size of the cutter pilot on the backside of the material being countersunk for the pilot of the cutter to guide into. Wood or aluminum, it doesn't matter as all you need to do is keep the pilot of the countersink from moving around. You can also reduce the size of the countersink by using a NAS1097 rivet that has a reduced size countersink head. A #5 rivet will have the head size of a #4, and a #4 will have the head size of a #3.

Thanks, Kip, for providing that advice. I wish that I had known your technique when I was countersinking my window frames!

People like Kip, who generously share their knowledge, make this Forum priceless!

Hank

[RankAm]

I decided to use solid foam as insulation in the belly pan. I chose 2” solid foam boards that came in 4’ x 8’ sheets. I had to special order the sheets from my local hardware/lumber store.

I (1) measured the various belly pan sections so that the foam board piece would fit within the frame members and outriggers, (2) marked the foam boards, and (3) cut the pieces (with a hand saw).


At some places, I had to make cutouts for things extending into the belly pan from the bottom of the subfloor:


I attached the foam board pieces with Liquid Nails and screws. After applying the Liquid Nails, I placed the board in position, pressed up so that the Liquid Nails would help hold the foam board, and then installed (using a battery drill) from below and through the foam board 3 or 4 2 ¼” wood screws with large fender washers (to prevent the screw head from going through the foam board as the screw tightened). Do not overtighten the screws; if you do you might either (1) have the tip of the screw all the way through the subfloor and protruding into the cabin or (2) the screw may break out the foam. After screwing in the pieces, I caulked around the edges of each foam board piece. I had a lot of old caulk around, and I put it to use.

Eventually, I ended up sawing back (with a hand saw) the edges of the boards along the outside where the board met the sidewall. I needed more room to fit the belly pan sheet metal that will come up and bend around the curve of the outriggers.


In my next post, I will describe the belly pan hatches that I made. I did not install a foam board piece into the bays within the belly pan where the hatches were to be.

Hank