Miles and Miles of Aluminum

[HiHoAgRV]

Well the three stars lined up today - Craigs List, a maturing C.D. and the Misses desire for a larger bedroom.

We drug home a 1991 34' Excella tonight...

So we currently have our 29' '77 in the back yard getting prepped for this weekends outing and the ocean alumina-liner in the driveway. The neighbors are gathering and whispering

As it turns out, this unit has a history here on the forums, going back to 2002, two owners back

We will do some updating of the flooring, fix a few soft spots, she is gonna need new axles and tires ( I found the thread where the previous, previous owner replaced them after a blow out in 2002/03) and give her a few tweeks per the misses, add a second AC unit...

Then the sad part, finding a new home for our much traveled and loved Ambassador

[HiHoAgRV]

Interior photo per a very timely request...
Light blue carpet has seen better days, Window treatments are also well worn.
Lots of new stuff to tinker back into operating condition. It's hard for us to fathom that our '77 is in better condition

[Dakota's Dad]

Lookin' good. Plenty of room for that border caollie to run...lol

[overlander63]

The pics don't look bad, though I think I'd lose the blue carpet.
For a name, how about "Long John"?

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by overlander63

...For a name, how about "Long John"?

Long John Silver?

After all it's an Arrrrrr Veeeeee mate!

Plus me thinks the scuppers are in need of a good cleanin'

[HiHoAgRV]

Well so far we have found the floor "soft spots" are gonna need a little more attention than originally planned -
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f36/...oor-54952.html
But we did decide on a type of floor covering, Allure Traffic Master Oak from Home Depot. It's just under $2/sq ft, we installed it in or '77 Ambassador and the only complaint is the end joints opening in cold weather. To minimize this we will install it crosswise.

A $150 order from Vintage Trailer Supply will let me POR the A frame and the exposed sub floor frame, seal the seams and re sew the curtain slides.

We do have a fairly new 3 stage charger (the good news) and a leak in the fresh water tank (the bad). Found out the Goodyear Marathons only have 200 miles on them (good) since they were manufactured in 2000 (bad). Also found out that Goodyear has no stock for the next 4 weeks. Found out the rear Fantastic fan is toasted (didn't even know it had a Fantastic Fan...) and the low speed fan in the AC unit is non-functional (planned on a AC upgrade anyway).

We took the '77 Ambassador camping this past weekend and actually headed home at 8:30 sunday morning to continue cleaning "Mrs. HiHo's new camper"

[HiHoAgRV]

The bulk of the effort over the last 30 days has been on the flooring but a few other items are finally getting done. Today I repacked the wheel bearings - as it turns out only 2 brakes were in good shape. I have one bad magnet, 3 of the wheels had broken springs and one actually had the adjuster fall out when I pulled the hub. It had been bouncing around for a while...

Since I was lifting the trailer and pulling wheels I decided to take a look under the fresh tanks access panel. It wouldn't hold water and I was hoping I didn't have to pull the tank .As it turns out the main drain plug was almost ready to fall out . Some teflon tape and my leak went away.

I did notice a leak in the main fill tubing so I went ahead and pulled it. Ya'll might wanna check yours if you have the white flex tube.Mine was cracked in 3 places and the upper one was leaking above the floor - bad news...

I wonder if I could get by with double towing - I figure I'd be close to 85 feet long..

[redstart]

i wish i had a yard like that that could fit 85 feet of aluminum!!!

[HiHoAgRV]

We decided to do a 1st time out dry run this weekend-and why not take BOTH Airstreams....? We will have our own little mini rally, me and Mrs HIHO in the 34', our son in the 29'. Registration at the camping area flipped out "you can't stay in 2 sites!" so we have a made up name for one of the two.

So far, so good with the big-o-34'er.

[jimmini]

Miles and miles of shiny aluminum.
Come polish this.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by jimmini

Miles and miles of shiny aluminum.
Come polish this.

That is one fine P-38. The first time I saw one was at Oshkosh and my hair still stands on end hearing those twin engines whistling by on the deck. Did you know that this aircraft originated an aerobatic manuver? It's called a Lomcevak and it resulted when Bob Hoover rode out a single engine loss of control that all previous pilots bailed from.

Polish it? No way. I watched some friends spend an entire summer strip and polish a Luscombe.

[HiHoAgRV]

Whadda pile 'O' rubber. Two good things to go with the new GYM's...
Made in the USA
and
Manufactured in Mid August...6 weeks back.

[Emerson75]

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

Two good things to go with the new GYM's...
Made in the USA
and
Manufactured in Mid August...6 weeks back.

I'm jealous! Those are the exact tires I wanted for our new '75 Trade Wind, but couldn't get them just a few weeks ago. I knew from others that GY was making them in the states again, but my tire guy couldn't get any made in the USA. I live about 25 mins from a huge GY distibution center (overhead doors for as far as the eye can see) my tire dealer called them and they looked in their inventory for American made versions and according to them they still have all Chinese made stock. I had to go with Maxxis, which according to others, are very good, but its irritating every time I see that "Made in Thailand" stamp. The next set will be GYM's made in America unless Maxxis are making them here by then. I think those GYM may be the only American made trailer tires on the market today. Possibly Denman, but I couldn't find those either, I called the closest dealer about an hour away and they could only get me 2 now, and the other 2 would take at least a month or longer.

Good luck with the new 34'er, and I thought having to buy 2 axles and 4 tires was expensive!

Cheers,
Eric

[HiHoAgRV]

It's the GYM shuffle!

Loosen lugs on tires 1,2,3,4.
ramps in front of tires 3 and 5
pull foward
remove tire 1 and install spare #1
back up
ramps in front of of tires 1 and 5
pull foward
remove tire 3
ramps in front of tires 4 and 6
pull foward
remove tire 2 and install spare #2
back up
ramps in front of of tires 2 and 6
pull foward
remove tire 4
WHEW!
Haul 4 tires/rims + 4 new tires to the tire store for metal valve stems, mounting new tires and balancing.

Tomorrow I get to reverse the process to install 4 tires THEN pull tires 5 and 6 and back to the tire store we go...

I suddenly realized I have 18 Goodyear Marathons here...the regional warehouse only has 9 as of last night...

[Airslide]

Thats alot of rubber!

These airstreams sure are addictive huh...

Vin

[HiHoAgRV]

Does anyone have a photo of the outside portion of the shower vent for a '91 34'? the original was a 'ventline van vent'? Mine was a groovy assembly of aluminum tape over a fanless 12 motor. I would like to recreate the assembly.

As of this afternoon it's the bottom 1/2" of one of Mrs HiHo's 8" pans...

[vswingfield]

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

Does anyone have a photo of the outside portion of the shower vent for a '91 34'? the original was a 'ventline van vent'? Mine was a groovy assembly of aluminum tape over a fanless 12 motor. I would like to recreate the assembly.

As of this afternoon it's the bottom 1/2" of one of Mrs HiHo's 8" pans...

Dang! You got 5 feet of Airstream on me.

Take a look here for the cover:
Ventline Van Air Power Roof Vent Cover Smoke Vanair Trailer RV BVA0502-03 BVA050203

and here for the entire vent:
Ventline Power Roof Vent Van Air Polar White 6-1/4 inch opening Trailer RV Vanair VP-43 VP43

I have seen them other places, but these photos were some of the largest. Shop around for prices.

I have a groovy chromed plastic lid on my Excella. My fan blades are ok, too. Unfortunately, the motor sounds like I'm running cats through a blender. Just started, so I have been look at the Ventline Van Air units lately. Out-of-Doors mart has the Ventline units at:
Ventline Van Vent - Powered 65734 - $67.95 : ODMRV , Out-of-Doors Mart
but my motor doesn't match either of those shown in the replacement parts. If I can't locate a new motor reasonably, I may be getting a new vent in the near future.

[wmarsha]

your photos confused me-are you going to reuse the aluminum wheels on the 34'r? if not I may step up and buy a couple...
ol Bill-shamelessly looking for deals...

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by vswingfield

Dang! You got 5 feet of Airstream on me.

Take a look here for the cover:
Ventline Van Air Power Roof Vent Cover Smoke Vanair Trailer RV BVA0502-03 BVA050203

and here for the entire vent:
Ventline Power Roof Vent Van Air Polar White 6-1/4 inch opening Trailer RV Vanair VP-43 VP43

I have seen them other places, but these photos were some of the largest. Shop around for prices.

I have a groovy chromed plastic lid on my Excella. My fan blades are ok, too. Unfortunately, the motor sounds like I'm running cats through a blender. Just started, so I have been look at the Ventline Van Air units lately. Out-of-Doors mart has the Ventline units at:
Ventline Van Vent - Powered 65734 - $67.95 : ODMRV , Out-of-Doors Mart
but my motor doesn't match either of those shown in the replacement parts. If I can't locate a new motor reasonably, I may be getting a new vent in the near future.

That's what I was lookin' 4!
Mine looks like the bottom of a cornbread pan..(I ain't told Mrs. HiHo yet...)

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by wmarsha

your photos confused me-are you going to reuse the aluminum wheels on the 34'r? if not I may step up and buy a couple...
ol Bill-shamelessly looking for deals...

I wish I had Mag's ...All my stuff is steel and looks like a Dukes of Hazzard take off.
Thank goodness for chrome trim rings