Belly pan completely off......????

[Jim & Susan]

I had the same problem with that back piece of the belly pan. It's very long. There were no fasteners around the axles, but it was jammed in there "real good". Just took a lot of pulling and tugging to finally get it outta there. Of course, all that said, some P.O. may have modified a few things over the years.

Jim

[gutsgolf]

Thanks Jim,
I actually thought about cutting that thing in half. Those axles have it locked tight. I got frustrated and tried to cut around one axle . big mistake , well i am learning. Don't think I got that much tug power in me. well got to go back at it .
wish me luck.

[Minno]

I’m thinking maybe you would be better off cutting the belly pan into 3 pieces. Make one cut just before the axels, and then another cut after the axels. Then you can fairly easily remove the front and rear pieces, and hopefully, flex the remaining piece enough to get it out from the axels.

When they build these puppies, the axels are installed after the floor and belly skin, which explains why things are the way they are now when you’re trying to remove it.

When you reinstall the belly skin, you’ll have to seam where you made the cuts. To do that, cut about a 4 or 6 inch wide strip of sheet aluminum and use that, along with pop rivets, to make the seam. If you can make the cut near one of the cross pieces that the belly is riveted to, then the seam reinforcement piece will be supported by additional rivets when you re-install it. Hopefully that makes sense.

The belly skin doesn’t need to be completely water tight, or necessarily really pretty, so having the extra seams would not be an issue. Plus, they might come in handy down the road if you need to get access up there again.

Just a thought.

Chris

[gutsgolf]

that sounds like a great idea. i shoved the brake wires up in there before i realized how bad that thing was going to be to get out. When i got to the back the sheet of metal that goes under the storage area was over the belly pan. it had caught on low curbs and spots had been pulled down an inch or so. would you put the pan over that so it will slide

[Minno]

Not sure I understand your question.

Chris

[putback]

If you are going to leave you axles in place it seems you'll have to slice the pan. No biggie, lot of folks do. As suggested above pop rivit alum strips on the inside of the pan to rejoin the sections you cut. Saging sections are common, the small rivit heads pull through. When you reatach use the lg dia. head rivits, 1/2 inch head I believe. Belly pans are supose to "leak", only place water can escape. The rivits I've seen holding the pan to the Xmembers are 3/16 dia. not 1/8. Look close when you drill, sometimes the whole rivit spins. Which way do your seams run, lengthways of the frame or crossways? Get ahold of Mike [?] on "dirtiest jobs" vidios! Your doing the absolout dirtiest, filthiest, most misserable job in the Airstream resto world and nothing showes for your effort when your done! But its the foundation for everything after that do'es show. And you will never give a second thought to any weakness under the floor.