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BIGED52 · 05-16-2006, 11:05 PM

Ingrid, Mel Brooks would be proud of me for that userped and butchered phrase! Well, Let me see what I can tell you on my windows.....Nada! You remember all that rain you guys were having.......Well! Just guess where it has been for the last three weeks....Right-tee-oh! We have had the drought from last year (15 inch) completely wiped out....and it is still raining every stinkin' day! Enough already! I have lived here in the Quad Cities Area since 1974 and have never seen this much rainy overcast weather in all those years. It looks like maybe Thursday we might get a small reprieve for a day or so! One can only hope as I am getting...can you say C A B I N F E V E R... I knew you could! Really though I am holding off installing the windows until I can install all new Clips (16) from VTS...Steve says he hopes to have them in by the end of the month. I sure hope so, I need to get the rest of these things installed so I can move on to cleaning and re-caulking the panel seams with Vulkem or Parbond. Then once the coach is water proof I will get to work on the things inside that need attention. I am getting Refridgerator parts from some other forums members to replaced the missing/cracked items on my unit. Then I will be seeing about replacing the umbilical cord from the trailer to the TV. The end of the original one was torn off when it was still with the PO. I have it but need to change over from 7 round pin to 7 flat pin end as that is what my 1999 GMC Sierra 1500 has on it. After that is corrected I need to test and repair/re-seal all the running lights to get them all in good working order. It never ends does it. But I feel so good about getting this stuff all in ship shape/running condition that I am beginning to enjoy the working on it and knowing that when I'm done it will be...Good to Go...as they say in the Taco Bell commercials. Have you tried Met-all polish on you window sills? It is supposed to be good on aluminum for cleaning and polishing. I believe you can even try chrome polish like Mothers' on it and see what that does. Coke old formula removes rusty stains...wonder if it would work on your window sills... might be a cheap trick to try! Let me know how you make out on them. I'll keep you updated on my progress too! Ed

AYRSTRM2 · 05-17-2006, 10:15 AM

Ed, any luck with the electrical issues?

crowbar68 · 05-17-2006, 12:16 PM

I use up about one bit per assembly. The brown one works best but for the lighter stuff I use the other one. I just wish I knew a good way to use a drill with a bit to poish the inside of the window frames, they are the ones with the white rust problem. They're in good strong condition however.

can't you use a drill w/ a wire wheel to polish straight edges and when you get in the tight corners go to the drremel? if so definetly wear leather gloves , long sleeves and safety glasses. you can get brass wire wheels so as to not damage the aluminum as much as steel ones, use a variable speed drill and lower rpm,s so you don't burn the aluminum.

crowbar

overlander63 · 05-17-2006, 06:23 PM

They make really small, stiff wire brushes for a Dremel (or drill) that is made from plastic bristles. I just measured the one for mine, and it is almost 5/16" across. The bristles point straight out parallel to the shaft, instead of in a big circle, so it will go into the channel.

BIGED52 · 05-18-2006, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AYRSTRM2

Ed, any luck with the electrical issues?

John, Not resolved yet! Waiting on a member in Arizona to send me a working Univolt from a 1967 Safari so I can see if the 12 volt system works then. Ed

pinkflamingoes · 05-20-2006, 12:54 PM

Ugh Ed I don't envy you. We have had clear weather for a few weeks here, every single baseball and soccer team is fighting over the fields in town to get in makeup games. Glad to hear the progress.

Overlander and crowbar, I tried various bits that are those brushes of extremely hard plastic. They got off some of the rust but not really enough. I'm not sure if I'm going to try sandpaper or just leave it as is after the brush cleaning, but I'm going to check out the Dremel bits and see what I can accomplish with those.

Thanks for the input...Ed, the rain won't last forever, I know it seems like it...

pinkflamingoes · 05-27-2006, 01:10 AM

Hey Ed,

How's the weather treating you?

I am almost done cleaning my window frames and Sunday or Monday we plan to install one more window. I used a wire brush attachment on a power drill to clean the frames, nothing else would get off all the crud. It looks fine.

I have a question: when you re-installed your window cranking device, the one that pulls the pane shut at the window clip, did you use some kind of glue to put the plate back down that is under the whole mechanism? When I removed it and cleaned the frames I there was a lot of white residue left from some kind of stuff, was that glue, and is it necessary to replace it (the glue?)

Frostyone · 05-27-2006, 10:16 PM

Not much to add - but I have enjoyed reading this thread. We have just started pulling and rebuilding the windows in our Caravel. My wife started with the kitchen window as it's the smallest. Somewhere in time a clever PO used the dreaded silicone to glaze the window - it's a bit of a trick to get that off...

Anyhow we have had good success polishing our window and screen frames with a scotch brite pad like disk - 3M Roloc and Bristle Disks on a die grinder (or in a 3/8 drill). The only thing to watch for is the swirl from the abrasive pad. For the time expenditure, these disks are great. I would rather have little swirls on a shiny frame than the corosion that was there before...

S & S

BIGED52 · 05-28-2006, 12:20 AM

INGRID, The stuff that looked like glue is not to hold the base plate down it should be free floating but held in place by the four screws that hold the wormgear assembly to the sill frame. That plate is to protect the sill from the wormgear. The gluelike residue is from old dried up lubricant deposits. Most likely White Lithium Grease. This is more preferable to use on the wormgear than any other type of gear lube as it will stay on the worm assembly a very long time and doesn't get sticky as it dries out. It also does not tend to liquify so the lube will stay put! That way you don't end up it liquid lube leeching out of the assemblies and on to the sill frame where dust and dirt can stick to it. The weather here has made a BIG turn toward HOT in the last two weeks. It was 89 here today and very muggy. Tomorrow into the nineties with threats of more thunderstorms like it has been for the last week or so. I still haven't put in the remaining new windows as Steve from VTS told me they would have clips soon. I'm to check back with him on Tuesday. I decided to wait for all new ones. He even says they will have them available for the old Corning glass windows. He is going to have them for Corning glass with or without the metal/aluminum trim frames. I am going to remove the 4 clips that I got from Inland and put on the two small windows (Galley and the window to the right of the main door) as I want them all to match. I need 16 to do all the glass on "Landshark" but it will be worth the wait. I am progessing on the wiring and plumbing with PEX is next as soon as I get all the 12 volt stuff checked out. Hope you get those other windows installed without any more trouble. I see the floor is causing you some grief at the moment. Is it all the corners that are a problem or just one? It may be that the shell has slightly bowed inward while it was free. See if you can use a catspaw prybar to gently ease it over the flooring. If it is straight up and down on the sides and fits over new floor there then it should also go back over the floor in the curved sections on the corners. If it doesn't want to go over the floor without deforming the look of the shell then just trim off the excess plywood until it fits good and looks right and reattach the shell to the floor&frame. Let me know how you guys fair on getting it back together and keep taking those pictures. They give a better idea of what is going on to others who may be able to lend some advice. Ed

pinkflamingoes · 05-28-2006, 02:10 PM

Ah! You're alive and well. Good.

Lube: gotcha. Do you think I should lube the mechanisms? I'll worry about that later.

Floor: I think we may have cut it ever so slightly larger than the trailer frame corner. I'm thinking as long as it fits and holds the shell together in a fairly Airstreamish fashion and is structurally sound we're just going to trim. We'll do our best to make it fit, but not force it. Probably end up trimming it. It's just that one corner that's sticking out, the other side fits fine. We are tearing out and putting back in, one section of floor at a time. What you see is the only part that is not working correctly right now. The rest of the trailer floor is still the old floor and is attached completely.

Frostyone: I agree, the slight swirls look a heck of a lot better than the dirt. I ordered a fine wire end brush to do the corners and I'm done. The P.O. had painted the interior and slopped it all over the inside window edges so I got that off nicely too.

Ed, thanks for everything...I'll keep you posted...

BIGED52 · 05-29-2006, 08:30 AM

Ingrid, Lube everything when putting it back together for the final time. All the openers, levers, wormgears, lifting mechanisms, hinge pins, door hinges, Etc. They all should at a minimum have a silicone based lube applied to ease the years of wear and allow for free movement. Oh yeah, don't forget the hinge on the toilet paper comparment door.LoL

I am watching all your progess. Trimming the corner of the floor back is okay just be careful not to remove too much material. Ed

pinkflamingoes · 05-29-2006, 01:02 PM

Nice to be watched over....thank you. It gets lonely, I love to work with my husband on this but he's incredibly overworked so I try not to bug him about it. I'm trying to get you, Uwe, Moogie32 and a few others to move to my block and help, or just sit around and drink my beer and tell me jokes. No one's rung my doorbell yet...

Anyway, will do. I did attach one with new screws to be sure it would work (and to admire the shininess) and I have to say they look damn good!

How is yours, got pix?

BIGED52 · 06-01-2006, 11:18 PM

Ingrid, Mine is still holding on the windows. (See Your PROGESS Post) I could never live out there.... too darn many people.

I like to visit the coasts but I really like it out here near Hooterville!

You appear to be rolling along and gaining on it all the time now. Won't it be a great feeling when the coach is all back together! What to take with you for a camping trip will be the big question about the trailer? That light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter now and will continue to get closer every day! I am still pulling for you and I know your husband sure is proud of the work and care you are putting in to the trailer. My sincere hope is that you will relish all the work you have done and will continue to do at somepoint in the future. You'll both be spending a great camping trip with the kids and while sitting outside of your trailer someone will walk up and say " What a great looking trailer you have there!" Think about that whenever you get tired or discouraged by all the work. Yes, And once you are done with it you will always have those memories of how you made it look great by all that hard work. You have my admiration for all you have accomplished and for all you still have to do. Keep up the good work. Ed