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vhariable · 03-07-2011, 11:36 AM

This was a busy week and it feels like a lot happened, but not much visible change to most people. The entire frame was cleaned with a wire wheel and then cleaned using the marine cleaner from POR-15 in preparation for the POR-15. The frame looks almost new after all of that work and I need to take a picture of how the tongue and bumper look after the cleanup process! The new floor was all cut out, with the exception of the last rear piece. We spent some time trying to find someone locally that could fabricate a new bent piece of c-channel for the rear as it is broken into 3 pieces. I found a place with a 12′ brake and a mammoth bender, but the c-channel material is too flimsy to make it through the bender. We are just going to repair the channel ourselves, but someday might try to weld two c-channels together and then see if that would run through the bender. All of the old c-channel has been cleaning up pretty nicely. The exterior wheel wells also began getting a restoration and pictures will follow later this week as that project gets finished.

The welders came and began the process of fixing all of the various things that were wrong with the frame, and there were many things in need of attention! There had obviously been some frame damage at some point in this trailer’s life. The fix that had been performed has not held up well, so we decided to fix the issue, instead of just putting on another band-aid. First there was about 4′ of frame to the bumper that needed to be completely replaced. Once that was removed, repairs had to be made rear of the axles to the damaged frame. The frame was almost 2″ out of level from about two feet behind the axles to the bumper. The frame had been seriously bent where one of the shock mounts was welded to the frame and they fixed and reinforced that area. The welders really did an awesome job and they even took the time to straighten out the bumper, which was badly crooked. I didn’t take finished pictures of all of the frame repairs on Friday as the batteries in the camera died, but I will do that this week and post them as the frame is now in excellent shape!

We removed the old axles and traded them to the welder, who is going to make a 30′ pipe trailer out of them. You can see from the pictures below how arched the old axles are! The new axles went in fairly smoothly, but we had to wait a few days for the axle shock mounts to arrive as they didn’t come with the axles originally as they should have. The new wheels/tires are also all assembled and ready to go onto the trailer after it is painted this week.

The welders also built us a set of 13′ custom A-frames. They are really nice and each one is built in 3 separate pieces that can easily be torn down and stored if needed. The sides connect to the beam with several bolts and are very stout. These frames are huge, but will allow us to lift the frame for painting early this week and then later this week we will move them inside the shop and use them to lower the shell onto the frame.

The next few weeks should be much more interesting visually as we are going to paint the frame, paint the floor with an epoxy, install the floor, and then get the shell back on the frame. I need to order the aluminum for the banana wraps, so we might have to lift the shell off in the near future again to properly install the banana wraps, but we can get a lot of polishing work done and easily raise the shell as needed with the new hoists.

TheDrake · 03-11-2011, 07:46 AM

Vhariable,

I have the exact same floor plan and what appears to be the exact trailer that you have but I have not been able to confirm with the vin. My VIN is LD7-39-KD

Is your VIN similar?? Oh by the way, I played football for ACU in the early 90's...how's abilene?

vhariable · 03-11-2011, 11:10 AM

My VIN is I307S185. You might already know, but you can find information about your VIN here: Airstream, Inc :: 60s. I am not as familiar with the format of your VIN. What condition is your trailer in?

Always nice to meet someone that lived in Abilene at one time or another! Abilene is basically the same place that it was in the 90ies. There are more stores and restaurants. The recession basically had little to no impact to this area at all. Let me know if you drive by and this area sometime and you can check out the trailer.

The frame has several coats of POR-15 and the wheel wells are almost completely restored and ready to be installed. The a-frames have been moved into the shop and are now holding up the shell. That is the way to do that job. I will post some pictures this weekend.

TheDrake · 03-11-2011, 12:25 PM

Is your vin stamped on the A-frame? My trailer is in pretty decent shape, everything works, the interior is extremely clean.

Next time I'm in Abilene, i'll come check
Out your trailer, same for you if you are ever near san marcos. I graduated in 95 and have not been back to Abilene since.

vhariable · 03-16-2011, 06:22 PM

TheDrake: I didn't notice it on my a-frame, but I will double check tomorrow. I found my VIN on the plate by the door.

vhariable · 03-16-2011, 06:28 PM

Last week was a fairly productive week with the frame being coated with POR-15, installed the wheels, repaired the exterior wheel well covers, and worked on dry fitting the floor. The first picture below is of the repaired frame from the previous week.

The POR-15 went on really well with two coats. We will be putting on a top coat of POR-15 black chassis paint on the axles, frame wheel well area, and the exterior wheel well covers later this week. It took a gallon to coat the bumper to most of the hitch area two times. We will finish the bumper and hitch later and then have a silver top coat of POR-15 that is UV resistant.

We moved the a-frames into the shop and lifted the shell off of the 4×4 supports. The a-frames make this such an easy process and took no time at all to setup. We then moved the frame under the shell to get it ready for a dry fit. The shell looks a little crooked in the pictures, but we added some counter weights later and that got it to sit perfectly level.

The floor has been cutout and waiting for a week or so now. We dry fitted the floor and it looks pretty good. The front curved area was partially rotted, but we were able to use the c-channel that was still in great shape to create our pattern. The rear was almost completely rotted and the c-channel had broken into three different pieces. We are going to use a combination of the c-channel that has been spliced back together and the curve of the shell to trace a pattern and get the rear floor cutout probably sometime tomorrow.

The floor has now been partially bolted down for a final dry fit. The shell went on almost perfectly and a notch was made for where the door frame is inset into the floor. We are still awaiting aluminum so the shell will have to come up again once we have the front banana wraps and the rear belly pan aluminum ready to install. The new hoist system makes lifting and lower the shell a one man job that takes very little effort.

JGS · 01-02-2012, 08:42 AM

Anyone know if As used+ LAtex or Oil based paints? My recently purchased 1967 Sovreign iternational interior skins are in good shape. Now I want to do Kil latex and then paint but don't wantr to go over oil with lates if they used oil. Anyhelp would be great. Also need pic if frame under rear bathroom.

Thanks, John

BIGED52 · 01-02-2012, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JGS

Anyone know if As used+ LAtex or Oil based paints? My recently purchased 1967 Sovreign iternational interior skins are in good shape. Now I want to do Kil latex and then paint but don't wantr to go over oil with lates if they used oil. Anyhelp would be great. Also need pic if frame under rear bathroom.

Thanks, John

John, The interior was vinyl paint called Zolatone and is very hard to remove from the aluminum interior skins. I have heard about and seen some interiors that have been painted. As to how the paint was prep/applied or how it has held up over time I don't really know. The Zolatone paint product can be purchased from most brand named paint stores so they should be able to tell you how to paint over that product. Be sure that the interior is cleaned to degrease the finish before you prep for painting. Ed