What is this near the front of the frame?

[CaCraig]

This is an Airstream I'm buying. It's a 1973 Ambassador, rear double, center bath.

I've looked at dozens of early to mid 70's Airstreams looking for something similar but haven't found another like this.

It looks like an added steel reinforcement with a stainless steel rod going through. The arrow is pointing to the rod, but you can see the breakaway is mounted to metal and that space is usually open.

Any idea? Thanks

[kidjedi]

I wouldn't think that is "factory." I would definitely take a look at where the "A" comes together (the point) to be sure nothing is fishy. It seems like everything should hold, maybe even be stronger with those two "cowls" over the a-frame, but I'd like to know *why* this was done. It's actually kind of convenient to have the extra "platform" space, but you should also be careful about extra tongue weight. Maybe it's part of an after market tongue jack?

[OTRA15]

More photos would help, especially from below.

Good luck with the purchase.

Peter

[vswingfield]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

More photos would help, especially from below.

Good luck with the purchase.

Peter

And while you're at it, how about making them large enough to zoom in and take a look. There's not much to see in a 551x328 image.


Everybody can take advantage of larger images now, it's not 1995 anymore. I usually still keep mine under 1920x1080, which is full-screen for HDTV and lots of monitors. I often use 1600 for the large dimension, just to keep the files small, but now even larger files transfer quickly.

[SteveSueMac]

My thoroughly uneducated guess...

It’s a hex nut, yes? It looks like that is holding on an a-frame widening device.

Be gentle. I literally have no clue but thought I’d take a shot....

[batman]

Can't say I have seen this before. I agree more photo's would be nice. As Kidjedi mentioned perhaps and after market tongue jack. Or perhaps an early WD hitch setup??

[CaCraig]

I zoomed in a lot to show detail of this thing. The original picture is the whole front of the Airstream. I didn’t notice it when I went to have a look. Only after I was home and going through my pictures did I see it.

Looking at the license plate tags I think this trailer has been sitting since 1982 so it was only on the road for 9 years.

This Airstream is an early ‘73 with a mid-bath. The tongue weight is 720 lbs. I thought maybe the factory did it to make the tongue stronger.

When I get it home I’ll post more/better pictures.