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dbj216 · 05-29-2021, 06:26 PM

That dent looks like maybe a tree branch fell on the trailer at one time. I have read, but never tried, about people "sucking" out big dents with a shop vac, an inner tube, and a piece of plywood. Search the Forums and maybe the process would be of some help to you.

David

PA BAMBI II · 07-25-2021, 03:06 PM

While patiently awaiting assistance with frame repairs/welding (I have plenty of folks who could help...tools to borrow...just can't get it all lined up!!), I have been working on some smaller items.

Three of the six main windows have been rebuilt. This included tediously scraping tons of 40-year-old silicone "sealant" from the window panes and frames, cleaning the frames, seating the glass in fresh tape, and installing glazing strips. Three more to go...only one of which has the dreaded silicon!

Also, I am in the process of adding a second Hehr window clasp to the bottom of two of the window frames. These only had one clasp from factory, and both lower corners without the clasps stuck out from the body openings...creating 60 years of leaks. I ordered the catches online. Someone machined them. I bought ten (lowest number available), but only needed two. They work well with a bit of refinement. Cutting the slots for the new clasps was easier than I thought it would be.

I have also been removing superfluous items from the exterior and patching the leftover holes with aluminum patch panels, Olympic rivets, and Trempro 635. She is starting to look more streamlined!

dbj216 · 07-25-2021, 05:47 PM

There you are: Thanks for the update. Overhauling window frames is a tedious process for sure. I wish there was a chemical way to lift silicone, but I haven't found any. Pick and grin is the only thing that works reasonably well. Here is some silicone that was slobbered on my Trade Wind windows.

And I've patched a lot of hole similar to your method. Some folks make an outline of their home state. I do the same thing as Colorado is basically square.

David

Slats · 07-27-2021, 03:03 AM

Yes, David. I killed two holes with one state. The machine shop I got my aluminum Missouri from had templates for all 50 states.

rasmuw · 07-30-2021, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbj216

I wish there was a chemical way to lift silicone, but I haven't found any. Pick and grin is the only thing that works reasonably well.

Goo Gone and Goof Off have some products that are advertised as effective for silicone, specifically Goof Off Professional Strength Remover and Goo Gone Pro Power. I haven't tried either of them, but I did use McKanica Silicone Caulk Remover Gel with great success. The drawback is that it takes a long time to work, but then there are so many other projects to get done on a trailer while this stuff is working!

I bought the remover at an Ace Hardware store in a 3 ounce tube. Unfortunately, the product doesn't seem to be currently available there or at large online distributors.

PA BAMBI II · 10-06-2021, 08:15 PM

I tried for months to get a welder here to fix up the frame. A dear old friend finally came to the rescue...just the right kind of guy. He built his own hot rod, and has a sticker on the back that states: "If you didn't build it, it's not yours."

Well, this Airstream will be mine, because except for my lack of welding skills, I will be doing everything else.

Prep for welding day (it's Wednesday...we weld on Friday!!! Can't wait!) has been the order of my evenings and free Saturdays for a week or so. I am preparing all of the metal by shaping it, laying it out, cleaning it, and priming it. Hopefully when Sam gets here, we can clamp things together and FRY THAT METAL!

Note I am extending the rear frame by about 10". This is to accommodate the aluminum bumper box that I already had made. This will be for storage of sewer hoses, etc. I think it will be a more elegant solution than the galvanized metal holder that was attached just ahead of the wheels under the belly pan...from which you would drag the sewer hose out to the curbside...and directly into your outdoor living space. Mmmmmm...sanitary!

In total, I am putting in 65" of 4" x 2" tube/frame rail in the back of the trailer (both sides). I had cross members bent out of 1/8" thick plate steel. Outriggers were also bent from 1/8" plate steel and cut with a grinder/cutting wheel to shape. One cross member will be moved to accommodate the under-belly gray tank.

I had been told by another welder that we would have to replace the A-frame up front. It is too far gone, she said. Indeed, it did look VERY rusty under the equalizer bar snap-up bracket reinforcement plates. When Sam saw it for the first time, he asked for a grinder and a hammer. He cut and beat the frame reinforcement plate off one side and whacked on the A-frame metal tube several times with the hammer. It is solid he said. I removed the other reinforcement plate, and low and behold, with the exception of a few spots of rust-through, the frame up front really is quite intact. We are going to weld on reinforcement plates (again) where needed as well as a stainless front cross member and hold-down plate.

She'll be the most solid she has been in 60 years within 48 hours.

dbj216 · 10-07-2021, 06:20 PM

We're lucky to have a mobile welder right here in my neighborhood. He repaired my 75 Overlander 27', my friends 76 Sovereign 31', and another friend's 78 Trade Wind 25'. We all made our repair plans, purchased and cut the steel, made sure it fit, and called the welder and he came right over. He gave good advice and made changes to our plans in some minor cases. Job was done.

Getting the body "married" back to the frame is a major milestone. There is a lot of bolting and riveting involved as you well know. Getting it buttoned up before winter is a good thing.

David

PA BAMBI II · 10-07-2021, 08:28 PM

[QUOTE=dbj216;2544993]We're lucky to have a mobile welder right here in my neighborhood. He repaired my 75 Overlander 27', my friends 76 Sovereign 31', and another friend's 78 Trade Wind 25'. We all made our repair plans, purchased and cut the steel, made sure it fit, and called the welder and he came right over. He gave good advice and made changes to our plans in some minor cases. Job was done.

Getting the body "married" back to the frame is a major milestone. There is a lot of bolting and riveting involved as you well know. Getting it buttoned up before winter is a good thing.

David[/QUOT

You are lucky indeed. I tried unsuccessfully to get four different folks out to help me. Super frustrating. I had plenty to do to keep me busy, but it would have been nice to get the structure up to par months ago.

It will be great to get the old girl sewn back together again. It is a weird stage right now...I put out no less than 20 different pieces of metal (fish plates, outriggers, cross members, frame rail)...in little organized piles in preparation to make tomorrow's welding session go smoothly and more quickly. Will be interesting to see it all welded into one piece!

dbj216 · 10-08-2021, 07:03 PM

Fish plate? Sounds like something a restaurant might have. Just today, I had a friend mention a bent fish plate. I didn't know what he was talking about. Then he mentioned axles. I call the axle mounting plate the axle mounting plate. He and maybe you call it the fish plate. I wonder if that is the official Airstream drawing part description. I'm always to learn new things.

David

PA BAMBI II · 10-08-2021, 08:10 PM

Fish plate is just a generic term for a plate welded across a butt joint to reinforce the joint.

My welder used less than I thought he would on the replaced rear frame rails. He was concerned about making the frame/repair too tight and stiff. He said, as we all know, that a certain amount of flex needs to take place in a frame such as that on an Airstream.

dbj216 · 10-09-2021, 06:36 PM

Thanks for the explanation. I did not know that, and never heard the term "fish plate" used before. When replacing a subfloor, we call a piece of wood under a joint a "splice" as it adds strength to the joint. Maybe it should be called a fish plate.

David

Slats · 10-10-2021, 02:59 PM

Actually, that would be called a fish stick.

dbj216 · 10-10-2021, 07:01 PM

Well, you folks in Kansas City use biscuits to hold your subfloor together. That is about the same as fish sticks. Maybe your tongue and groove is better yet.

Funny names people think of for various parts and processes.

David

PA BAMBI II · 10-30-2021, 07:38 PM

Well, welding day came and went. My friend Sam was here from noon until 6:30 and we had to take three breaks because we were working at it so hard, the welder overheated. We fixed the front tongue, added an angle iron crossmember up front to help support the belly pan, and replaced about 5' of frame rail, two crossmembers, and four outriggers in the rear.

A restful evening was followed by a Saturday morning grinding session. I tidied up all the welds, primed some areas, and then Lynn and I primed all of the metal to protect it. Since then, I have added three coats of Rustoleum paint to the exposed metal.

Now I have moved on to cutting new subfloor sections, and have coated them with two coats of penetrating epoxy.

I have dropped off the bathtub with a fiberglass wizard and took the folding main step to a local fabricator to have it rebuilt. The plan is to have the step "track" outriggers cut from 1/8" stainless so they will be more sturdy and LAST.

The other evening, I began fabrication of the hangers for the gray tank, and put it in place to check fitment and inlet/vent hole placement to transfer to the new subfloor pieces.

Today, I created a new license plate hanger for the rear from a scrap piece of offset aluminum, put in the bulb seal for the front window, began to take apart the old rock guard for modifications and repair, cut and sanded the plywood spanners to connect new subfloor to old, and cut up the old subfloor and placed it in the burn barrel.

Phew! Will be fun to watch that old plywood go up in flames tomorrow!

Bubba L · 10-30-2021, 08:51 PM

You ARE making progress. Good progress. Another big bite out of that elephant. Looking good.

PA BAMBI II · 10-30-2021, 09:17 PM

Yes, Bubba, thanks. I knew once the welding got finished I would be able to kick into high gear as much of the work is repetitive of the work I did on the Bambi. Now I am just working against the arrival of Fall and Winter in PA. I had thought I would be to my current point by August. Oh well. We will keep plugging away.

dbj216 · 10-31-2021, 06:10 PM

I wish I had learned to weld and was practiced at it. I've "watched" welders repair my Overlander frame, my friends Sovereign, and another friends Trade Wind. These are all 1970s trailers which seem more prone to rusting.

Looks like you got your A frame well repaired as well as the rear end of your Trade Wind. Now you can start adding new stuff like the subfloor and the like.

David

PA BAMBI II · 11-01-2021, 08:38 AM

Here are some pictures of the gray water tank placement, sealed/epoxied sub floor pieces, and the license plate bracket I made from some extruded aluminum scrap I found at work. I got three of the metal pieces so I could make more in the future if I needed to.

The license plate bracket as found when we got the trailer had been replicated from stainless and it broke when I tried to bend it a bit to make more room for the attaching bolts/nuts. I am also moving the license plate to center under the rear window instead of off to the left as it was originally. I have no idea why they placed it there in the first place.

PA BAMBI II · 12-05-2021, 07:02 AM

On Monday of the long Thanksgiving weekend, I finally got to burn the old subfloor. I had gotten the new front and rear subfloor sections installed after taking two partial personal days to capitalize on some beautiful, warm November afternoons here in PA. This was necessary for the glue to dry.

It was a great afternoon when, with Lynn's help, we were able to cinch up the replaced rear frame tightly to the new subfloor and rear body shell. Note that I added a pretty hefty length of aluminum angle inside the c-channel on each side in the rear to help support the whole structure.

I also made some c-channel from a piece of old belly pan aluminum to replace a few feet that had corroded.

It is cool to think that the trailer is more structurally sound than it has been for decades. Strange that it is stronger now than it was when we towed it home a bit over a year ago.

PA BAMBI II · 12-05-2021, 07:35 AM

The Bargman #5 license plate light assembly was stored (none too safely) in a box of Airstream parts in the basement. I came down one day to find the box on the floor, and the Bargman license plate light assembly on the bottom of the mess. Its fragile glass tube had broken.

I searched for a replacement....initially with no luck. These have been reproduced, but the one company I had located was out of stock. Another source was eventually found, with repros at around $40 a pop.

In the meantime, I found that a standard Listerine bottle's neck had about the same ID. With a bit of beveling with a Dremel tool and sanding drum (just where the Listerine bottle's cap threads are), it slid onto the Bargman unit tightly. Finally, I cut it to length.

I am not sure how well this will hold up, but we go through a good bit of Listerine, so I will make a few extras should I need to replace the replacement. The plastic is pretty thick, so I have high hopes.

Simple and cheap.