Hensley Paint Failure

[crispyboy]

Sean,
I would look into the quality of the welder doing the work. Make sure they are certified and have the proper experience. Check out the welding rods, type of metal, heat range, quality welding machine etc and make sure they are using quality materials. I'm sure you could get consistent welding from a robot but happier seeing you give a man a job to feed his family. People have been welding a lot longer than robots - just watch what type of work they are doing.
Steve

[Sean Woodruff]

Originally Posted by overlander63

I know you can't answer current production questions, since you no longer are there (duh!), but was the orange a powder coat, or did that start with the black color?

Yes, the orange is powder coat too.

[Sean Woodruff]

Originally Posted by crispyboy

Sean,
I would look into the quality of the welder doing the work. Make sure they are certified and have the proper experience. Check out the welding rods, type of metal, heat range, quality welding machine etc and make sure they are using quality materials. I'm sure you could get consistent welding from a robot but happier seeing you give a man a job to feed his family. People have been welding a lot longer than robots - just watch what type of work they are doing.
Steve

Thanks for the tips Steve. They are certified and do A LOT of welding work for various manufacturers. I'll keep these things in mind and ask specifically the next time I'm there.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, this is getting really exciting so I have to step in here too.

First: when it comes to these hitches, and anything else related to your tow vehicle and your trailer, I don't like to use the word "Cheap". Let's use "Inexpensive".

Second: I think a few of you nice people in "Airstream Land" are almost as old as I am and remember the good old days when we had good paint [and gas] that had lead in it. Then the government said we had to use water base paints on our cars; Do you remember the late 80's when all of our [painted in this country] vehicles started shedding their skins like a snake? I do. But somehow they were able to make it stick, But don't try to buff these out like we did with the old Laquer and Enamel cars we used to own. I don't know if powder coating was reformulated, but I don't think it is as good as it used to be either.

Third: I don't blame these companies for the crappy paint jobs; When was the last time you tried to make chicken soup out of chicken $#!+?

[2airishuman]

nice positive posting robert...

so take it some where ELSE will ya!!!

just kidding (not)

on my hitch, with no major trauma except the shipping

sections of ORANGE paint come off in 4" by 6" card size slabs...

and it obvious the entire orange body has a base layer of rust.

i could pick off most of the paint in 5 minutes with a toothpick.

and the surface shows NO SIGNS of chips or other nidus for this

EVEN the paint under the "OFFICIAL" label with the serial number is about to fly off.

so i've taken PHOTOS of the label still attached with the sn visible.

because once THAT piece goes, in theory, so does the id and warranty.

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

... When was the last time you tried to make chicken soup out of chicken $#!+?

not made with ceeekans but bird's nest soup is EXACTLY this product...

boiled from the nests and made into poop soup....

and pretty tasty too!

cheers
2air'


por 15 makes chip resistant coating that work NICELY on the haha, and there are many others....

it just seems to me that....
1. the metal prep isn't ideal before coating...
2. the actual process used for the coating is inferior...
3. the quality of the pigments in the powdered paint is suspect too.

they could do a 180 makeover on this coating issue in 2 weeks and at 20=50$ per unit.

then decide wether to eat the costs or jack the price.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

...
sections of ORANGE paint come off in 4" by 6" card size slabs...

and it obvious the entire orange body has a base layer of rust.

i could pick off most of the paint in 5 minutes with a toothpick.

and the surface shows NO SIGNS of chips or other nidus for this

EVEN the paint under the "OFFICIAL" label with the serial number is about to fly off....por 15 makes chip resistant coating that work NICELY on the haha, and there are many others....

it just seems to me that....
1. the metal prep isn't ideal before coating...
2. the actual process used for the coating is inferior...
3. the quality of the pigments in the powdered paint is suspect too.
...

That exactly describes my new-2-me HaHa...

The orange paint is credit card thick and pops off with little or no effort. It's soooo thick that citrius (Orange ) stripper took 4 passes to get down to the metal in the few places where it was attached.

I gave up and hauled it to my sand blaster buddy and now have a nekked HaHa

BTW, tennis balls stuffed into the bearing cups keeps the sand off very well!

[slowmover]

Now that is the right way to do it, blasting. I scuffed and sanded mine with minor disassembly, got Zen with blue tape, and hit it with Krylon in black and silver. Good enough for storage!

[HiHoAgRV]

My order of POR15 metal prep arrived. I followed the instructions and sprayed the liquid on the fresh, white blasted metal for 20 minutes then washed.

I now have a light gray hitch.

The prep is kind of a pickling agent, we will see how well the black POR15 sticks.

[r carl]

If I was going to paint a hitch with a durable paint job I would sandblast it and spray multiple coats of Dupont Variprime primer, then paint it with Dupont Imron or another polyurethane paint. This procedure works! If you paint or powdercoat without sandblasting first to get off the millscale, slag, ect. it will come off in places and then your back to where you started.

[HiHoAgRV]

It's painted...
After the pickling came the sprayed on POR15 (man that stuff is almost too thick to spray!)....
Then the POR etching primer 2 days later...
Then the shake-a-can black topcoat :30 later...

Tonight it was grease all the bearings, hammer in the seals, install the nuts and cotter pins and fuss/cuss while re-installing the caps .

I will repaint the locking bars in the future, if I get around to it...

[HiHoAgRV]

And it's done...well almost.
Peeled everything off the tongue, primed and put the final color on it. Hung the hitch and went thru all the gyrations to bolt it up.
Even re-sprayed the plastic top opn the propane cover.

I will say the new paint don't chip as easy as the old stuff!

Now for some decals....

[2airishuman]

looking REALLY good there vernon...

nice job, hope u get to tow with it soon.

cheers
2air'

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

... hope u get to tow with it soon.

cheers
2air'

Me tooo..

Dang 7 pin harness is 2" too short...go figure...I guessed at the chain extensions and they are perfect.

[2airishuman]

2 inches? oh man that stinks...

must be one of those really looooooong custom stingers.

cheers
2air'

[Sean Woodruff]

Orange looks good redressed in ProPride black...



-

[Secguru]

Originally Posted by craftsman

Low quality food from McDonalds and all the other fast food stores.

McDonald's Stock Slides As More Consumers Turn To Food | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by Secguru

" Low quality food from McDonalds and all the other fast food stores."

McDonald's Stock Slides As More Consumers Turn To Food | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Perfect diversion...love "the onion".