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Old 08-08-2008, 08:09 PM   #41
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Originally Posted by soldiermedic View Post
Is it ill advised to weld the chain directly to the coupler?

Steve
If you do, it's two less bolts to make sure are tight. A good thing. Our current trailer has them welded on the end of the A-frame, by the coupler.
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Old 08-08-2008, 08:35 PM   #42
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More pictures

There is a pull out step with "Peerless" on it. I don't know if this is original, but pretty unique if you ask me.

I plan to replace the original HUGE sconces in the rear area with smaller ones...PM me if you are interested in them.

Check out the tread on the tire in the pics below.

My door's frame is cracked from when it opened some time ago while in transit. It dented the panel behind the door, but cracked the door frame. Dunno what I will be doing with it. The openers that unlock the inner door are both missing. Anyone know where I can get a replacement (I don't think VTS has them).

The marvel fridge is on right now and cooling off. I am still not sure I want to have an electric only refer, but there is no vent for a gas refer.

Looks like someone replaced flooring sections before, but it is all going. Some areas have a layer of masonite on top.
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Old 08-08-2008, 08:38 PM   #43
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Quote:
Originally Posted by soldiermedic View Post
There is a pull out step with "Peerless" on it. I don't know if this is original, but pretty unique if you ask me.

I plan to replace the original HUGE sconces in the rear area with smaller ones...PM me if you are interested in them.

Check out the tread on the tire in the pics below.

My door's frame is cracked from when it opened some time ago while in transit. It dented the panel behind the door, but cracked the door frame. Dunno what I will be doing with it. The openers that unlock the inner door are both missing. Anyone know where I can get a replacement (I don't think VTS has them).

The marvel fridge is on right now and cooling off. I am still not sure I want to have an electric only refer, but there is no vent for a gas refer.
Steve,

Which part of the openers on the inner door are you missing, the slide bolt or the other part?

Bill
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Old 08-08-2008, 09:01 PM   #44
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Bill,

If you look at the pic above, you can see a fork holding the doors together. On the lower lock, there is nothing (Both parts are missing).

Steve
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Old 08-08-2008, 09:07 PM   #45
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Bill,

If you look at the pic above, you can see a fork holding the doors together. On the lower lock, there is nothing (Both parts are missing).

Steve
Steve,

I got it, hence the fork. The slide bolt should be easy to replace, the piece on the door more of a problem. I will let you know when I replace the hinges on both of my doors, since I broke the piece on the front door when the hinge came off the body. I think the Erasmo at MELtrailers can probably make the piece on the door.

Bill
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Old 08-09-2008, 06:44 PM   #46
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110 V water heater is shot, and will be replaced. We will have to cut a hole in the skin since the last unit was inside the trailer. What is the best way to go about this? Tracing the pattern on the kin, making sure I am not over a rib, and cutting with shears? I think electric ones may work better, but they may be a little pricey.

Of course, this won't be till after the frame, floor, and axle are done.

Steve
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Old 08-09-2008, 07:35 PM   #47
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Good to see another FC in my neck of the woods. Please put me on your list to see photos as you go along. I am in a very long restoration project with my 50 Flying Cloud. BTW, yours looks like the Ritz compared to mine. I am curently shopping for showers and toilets and time.
Good luck to us both.
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Old 08-09-2008, 08:24 PM   #48
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We will have to cut a hole in the skin since the last unit was inside the trailer. What is the best way to go about this? Tracing the pattern on the skin, making sure I am not over a rib, and cutting with shears?
I cut my hole for the new replacement water heater from the inside and cut there first following the pattern supplied with the Suburban. Ribs were easy to locate based on rivet location. Once the holes were cut, I installed 1 1/2" aluminum 'C' channels between the skins both above and below plus on both sides for extra support for the water heater exterior trim and door. The rivets are noticeable in the picture below.

Here's a pic before cutting the exerior skin and the galley cabinet out of the way.

Brad
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Old 08-10-2008, 03:39 AM   #49
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Steve, I do not see why you are so nervous about the water heater installation. You are going to have all that interior skin out when you fix the frame and floor, so you will see exactly where it goes and what is needed to do a good job. I think if you can keep a soldier from bleeding out, you will be able to handle this job just fine.
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Old 08-11-2008, 04:34 PM   #50
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New Parts added

Earlier in the week, I went to the etrailer.com warehouse to buy a new coupler, jack, and safety chains. While looking for a welder today, I found a guy in my neighborhood who runs a welding business out of his house.

I took the Cloud over to his house and dropped it off. An hour , and $50.00 later, I have a trailer with a new 2 5/16 coupler (So I can use the same Dual Cam as the Ambassador), a new jack, and safety chains.

The guy has worked on trailers for a long time, and told me that my axle was, "One hell of a beefy axle," and that I shouldn't change it. The reason I wanted to change it to begin with was to get a new complete axle with brakes that was fresh. This one has drum brakes, but who knows the condition. At least I know I don't have to get rid of the springs.

Another thing I noticed on the interior....all the panels other than the end caps and the central panel up top seem to be held in with slotted screws. I know the other rivets are buck rivets, but could these really be screws?

Steve
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Old 08-31-2008, 05:17 PM   #51
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It has been three weeks and I finally had a chance to work the FC.

The main objective was getting out the fridge cabinet, wardrobe, and the dreaded bathroom structure.

After figuring out how the marvel was held in, I was able to take it out. Behind it, I found an old writing pad that had scribbles on it from who I assume was the original owner. Much of it talked about moving out to the midwest to a home worth $115,000. They were remodeling the home, and he lost his job. The marriage became strained, and who knows what happened after that. We thought perhaps he had moved into the trailer full time to live after the marriage went south.

The bathroom structure was unique, and extremely difficult to get out. It was several pieces of aluminum that were riveted together, but was reinforced. Since we are going with a new bathroom, I ended up destroying it to remove it from the trailer (It still took me over 30 minutes with a Sawz-all and hammer).

I have started to get ready to take the interior panels out, and have begun removing hundreds of slotted screws that are in the place of rivets. This had to be original since behind some of the walls, the screws were the original paint color, and not the white which was done by the PO.

Speaking of the original paint, this California trailer was not covered in zolatone. The color is a solid beige color. I find it odd that the interior skin is not riveted and is not zolatoned.

Behind the street side wheel well is where I found the worst of the floor rot so far. After removing the bathroom, I could see the pink fiberglass insulation in the floor. It was PINK, and not black and moldy. I figure I will likely place 3/4 inch foam board under the new floor when it is reinstalled.

Good to finally get back at it and wok on her. The only think left in the interior is the old bed frame that I will have out the next time I work on it.

Pictures later...sometime in the future.

Steve
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Old 09-01-2008, 02:55 AM   #52
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Prior renovation?

Quote:
Originally Posted by soldiermedic View Post

I have started to get ready to take the interior panels out, and have begun removing hundreds of slotted screws that are in the place of rivets. This had to be original since behind some of the walls, the screws were the original paint color, and not the white which was done by the PO.

Speaking of the original paint, this California trailer was not covered in zolatone. The color is a solid beige color. I find it odd that the interior skin is not riveted and is not zolatoned.

Behind the street side wheel well is where I found the worst of the floor rot so far. After removing the bathroom, I could see the pink fiberglass insulation in the floor. It was PINK, and not black and moldy. I figure I will likely place 3/4 inch foam board under the new floor when it is reinstalled.

Good to finally get back at it and wok on her. The only think left in the interior is the old bed frame that I will have out the next time I work on it.

Pictures later...sometime in the future.

Steve

Hey Steve,

From what you described, I wonder if your trailer was renovated more than once in a prior life. The slotted screws and pink insulation are interesting and I wonder if someone had done a renovation back in the day. It would be interesting to know when they started using pink insulation in the past. Both my 56 and 65 were yellow insulation.

Good luck. Keep posting.

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Old 09-01-2008, 08:02 AM   #53
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Doug,

I suppose a prior renovation is possible, but the woodwork is all original from what I can tell. My walls and ceiling have yellow insulation, and the pink was in the floor. There has been a partial floor replacement that you can see in the earlier pics. They also added a layer of Masonite over a lot of the floor.

Steve
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Old 09-01-2008, 09:03 AM   #54
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Congrats on the "new" trailer!

Couple of things...

1) in '53 and earlier, the walls were not Zolatone'd they were painted either a peachy/beige or a minty/green. Sounds like that's what you have under the white paint.
2) the screws are also the way they did things in the early 50's. I've seen them on '53 & older models. My guess (and it's just that) is that pop rivets weren't as readily available or invented yet...hmmm, gotta research that one. Regardless, the screws were used to put the parts together that couldn't be done with bucked rivets.

Looks like you are making some good progress...good luck!

Shari
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Old 09-01-2008, 04:39 PM   #55
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Shari!

I took an overhead cabinet to a friends house today for a little stripping. I laid aircraft stripper on thick and it took the latex right off. The beige was another story. Aircraft stripper wasn't working all that well. I used my scraper a little, and saw "Minty" green under the beige. The beige and green are very solid and tough paints. So tough in fact that even stripper and scraping was barely producing results. I may look into soda blasting everything instead of taking the time and cost to strip everything.

Thanks for the info Shari.

Steve
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Old 09-14-2008, 09:29 PM   #56
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Pics from todays work.

More detailed write up in the blog located in my sig.

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Old 09-15-2008, 05:06 AM   #57
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Thumbs up Great vintage find!

Wow! Steve! Congratulations on such a great vintage coach. It's been touch and go on the forums for me for the last month or two, and look what I missed. What a cool trailer.

I've caught up on the thread now. You have so many interesting things going on with it. This will be a learning experience for lots of us, not just you. Don't you wish these old rigs could talk. Don't bet on this being an aluminitis cure, but at least a long term distraction.
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Old 09-18-2008, 06:05 PM   #58
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Just what the heck have I gotten myself into?

Check the blog in my sig.
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Old 09-18-2008, 07:47 PM   #59
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I have been waiting for this post. The post in which I question just what the hell I am doing with this Airstream. Today was my neighbors day off, and last night he asked me what I was doing on Thursday. I told him I had no plans and that I planned to watch Collin and if time permitted, do some Airstream work. The thing is, my neighbor is the manager of a local full service Meineke shop, and he knew I needed to learn to weld for when I work on the trailer frame. We found a sitter for Collin last night, and I was set to go this morning. My neighbor took me up to his work and had his best welder show me the ropes of welding. He explained the process, and showed me a few tricks of the trade before sending me off to practice. While I only welded three things, he told me all were acceptable welds, and with a little grinding would all be sent out to customers. My neighbor's shop is closed on Sunday's and he offered to take the welder home on the Saturday night before I begin welding on the frame. Below are some shots of the work. Be nice...I'm a newbie.

My First Attempt.



My second pipe was MUCH better.


Needs a little grinding but it wil do.
I took my friend to lunch for his kindness and we went home. After I dropped him off, I visited Harbor Freight to buy as many 1/8 drill bits I could find. They had packages of 10 Carbide tipped bits for $1.89 on sale. I bought six packages of them knowing I was going to be drilling out a bunch of rivets on the exterior.

With Collin at the sitters, I decided to spend all the time I could on the trailer that I could stand. This is the part where I try to figure out what I have done. I finished removing the lower interior panels within about 30 minutes. I am glad I decided to rewire this thing. No junction boxes, splices everywhere, it's amazing these things didn't catch on fire. The area where the floor was replaced on the curbside has a huge snake of silicone along the edge of the skin and the wood. The person who replaced it cur the new floor too short, and the channel wasn't fully supported.

Really safe wiring.


Curbside silicone snake



More silicone.

Pink insulation added when flooring was replaced.



The last interior lower panels are out.

Unsatisfied, I decided to move on to try to get the rear end cap out. After careful review, I realized the ceiling had to come out. I know the ceiling is comprised of three separate pieces of aluminum that are buck riveted together. When taken down, it is supposed to roll into a really long tube. To start with, I had to take down the interior control panel for the 50 year old AC unit. After getting that down, I started removing my clecos to lower the ceiling. I was able to get the sheet down by myself (Pretty scary when it dropped), but that is all I can do with it for now. The rear end cap had some rivets holding it in, and I drilled those out. Pretty difficult to get it out of there with the ceiling skin still in it, but it's one less thing to deal with now.

Ceiling on the floor.


Now you see it.


Now you don't.



Rear end cap resting on the lawn awaiting stripping.


I tried my damnedest, but I just couldn't get the ceiling rolled into a tube. Rob Baker tells me I need several people to do it, but please feel free to chime in on the subject. I also need to take the front window out of the trailer so I can remove the ceiling once rolled. Since the floor is getting replaced, I will just take the window out and rebuild it and not put in back in till I am ready. No need to worry about that wonderful solid floor in the trailer.

The last thing I will post about is what I found under the old pieces of rubber the PO had installed like rock guards on the front. It seems that there was a dent and it was filled with Bondo, and painted. When that looked like crap, they applied the rubber mats over the parts. Since I won a new pair of Milwaukee metal shears, and recently purchased some tools for riveting, I will look to replace this front panel with new aluminum. A shame since that was not something I planned to do for a cost saving measure. Here are some pictures of the damage.




I guess a shipment from VTS is a good thing on a day like today.

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Old 09-18-2008, 07:59 PM   #60
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Looks familiar to me. I removed one row of rivets on the three ceiling panels. It made removal by only me much easier, but then I have two doors to get stuff out.

Bill
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