Doin' the Full Monte

[utee94]

That's great. My 63 of course didn't come with a control panel of any kind, but I've thought about adding one, either up in the front overhead, or somewhere in the galley. My wife really liked one we saw in a 68 that we almost bought, so she'd love to see me build something similar in ours.

[biggoofball]

Thanks for the complements. I wish I could take credit for it. The PO was very meticulous and ingenious. A good combo.

[Jim & Susan]

Guess what I'm fixin' to do? Anybody know where I can buy new axles for this thing?

Jim

[biggoofball]

I don't think it's possible. Like I did, you'll have to remove the old rubber and string some rubber through. Should be easy for you as you are handy. If you use high quantities of small diameter rubber you will get a smoother ride. Large diameters and small quantity, firmer. The real fun starts when you mix smaller and larger. And don't get me started on multiple diameters. The matrix gets huge. And that is neglecting weight!! As soon as you factor in the weights the matrix ends up being an Excel spreadsheet 57,936 pages long.

Just in case - This is a joke.


Are you getting them from Andy or Dexter or Axis? I still have not decided where I will get mine when I finally do them.

[Lothlorian]

Jim:

No comment on where to buy new axels.

You are going to need two guys and I would use two Jacks. If you need help and my wife and I have nothing going on that weekend I will help you.

Brian

[Jim & Susan]

Brian, I'm going with your guy! Brian and I have a mutual forums friend that is an expert in this field. He used to own a utility trailer company and was able to explain to me in about 5 minutes how to properly measure everything to get the correctly sized axles for the Overlander. Obviously, I'm not publishing his name for a reason. If he would allow it, I will answer questions concerning his identity via PM. Otherwise, mums the word.

I intend to get estimates from all three of the manufacturers that are well known here on the forums; Inland, Dexter and Axis. I will openly publish the full costs for all three. I will also publish how to correctly measure for the new axles. I suspect I've read about half of the axle threads here and have never been able to determine precisely how to get a good measurement for new axles. It's almost like the suppliers want to confuse and insert obfuscation on the subject. In reality, it's not that complicated. Unbelieveable.

Now, having said all of that, once the new axles arrive and they actually fit as advertised according to my own abilities to measure them properly, I'll fill y'all in on how to do this. Is everybody reading between the line at this point?

I'll get back to 'ya in a few days.

Jim

[utee94]

Looking forward to it. We need more frank discussions, and fewer emotional ones, on this topic.

Also, is "your guy" willing to come down to Texas and help a brother out, let's see, maybe around next February? I'll offer him all the BBQ he can eat!

-Marcus

[Jim & Susan]

He's REALLY into BBQ. I'll check with him.....

O'course, you Texans think BBQ has something to do with beef. Us Georgians normally think pork. Might be a conflict there.....

Lone Star beer and Bob Wills music might be able to make up the difference, however.

Jim

[utee94]

Oh, I can fix pork if necessary. That thread linked above involves some pork ribs as I recall, and I'm also pretty darn good at smoked pork tenderloin. I make a fair pork butt/pulled pork, but the one thing I can not do is Whole Hog. I leave that to the Southeastern Masters.

But, after he's had some of my brisket, he won't need any of that piggy stuff anyway.

[Jim & Susan]

I LOVE brisket, unfortunately, Susan doesn't, dangit. So I only get it once in a while.

Why don't you start a "brisket thread" over in the cooking forum? The few times I've tried to cook it, it didn't come out too well. It can be really tricky to smoke properly. I'd love a good tutorial. Maybe I (You!) can change Susan's tastes.

Jim

[utee94]

Hey Jim, my Texas BBQ Full Monty thread linked above and right here (and now on the first page of the portal since I just posted to it) started out all about brisket and ribs, and I made it pretty detailed.

At the time I wrote it, over a year ago, I felt I was getting a lot out of the Forums, but since I didn't yet have a trailer and therefore no renovation to document, I decided to do a Full Monte thread on Texas BBQ, to try to give back to the Airstream community. And give yourself a pat on the back, since the thread title I chose was quite obviously based on this very thread of yours!

Like this thread and so many others, my BBQ Monty thread meanders around with lots of interjections from enthusiastic food lovers, but I do provide pretty much all of the details on how to do it.

Check it out, and if you have any questions, please feel free either to PM me or just post them onto that thread, so others can see the answers as well.\

-Marcus

[gutsgolf]

Brian, what is that material that looks like a ribon, is that a filler to put in the bathroom trim

[gutsgolf]

sorry brian, i was referring to a pic you had in the bath, with the trim behind the toilet

[Jim & Susan]

Richard, Brian and Adrian were over here earlier today and I asked them about that material. They said it is a "marine vinyl". Don't know the brand name and didn't think to ask. You might send him a PM. They have quit a bit of left over and might be wiling to sell you a piece. I've seen their trailer (a '73 Overlander very similar to ours). They have done a beautiful job restoring that rascal.

Jim

[Jim & Susan]

So, we got the bedroom roughed in. We replaced all of that dark, old, dirty plastic with real wood. This is 1/4" birch stained with red pecan by Minwax and two coats of polyurethane. It's a lot lighter than it looks in some of the pictures.

Jim

[Jim & Susan]

Here's a shot of the roadside bed area. We decided to keep this side pretty much as the original. The old bed frames were pretty much shot, so we just rebuilt them. We "load tested" it last night with me, son-in-law, and daughter sitting on it together. Seems very sturdy.

[Jim & Susan]

And the curbside bed. This side is going to be open underneath because the battery will be moved from the back of the camper to over the axles (to get some of the weight of the tail of the camper). The Univolt is to be replaced with a more modern unit and will be placed under the bed as well. I figure this took probably 100 lbs of weight out by making these few changes. The old beds are metal and very heavy. The old Univolt is also very heavy.

Jim

[Jim & Susan]

Before doing the finish work in the bedroom, we have decided to rough out the kitchen and gaucho area, again with real wood. Winter will be here before long and it will be too cold outside to work with stains, paints and so forth. If I can get the job down to small pieces before cold weather, then I can complete those items in doors in the warm air.

Got a request for you guys following along. Since Eric and I are not cabinet makers, does anybody know of a good website to "tutor" us along on the kitchen cabinets and overhead lockers?? Eric is very talented, I have a lot of "sweat" to put in the project. But neither of us has ever built cabinetry.

Jim

[utee94]

Jim, the progress looks great!

I don't know of any website for building cabinetry, but what I did was simply to read every detail that Jordan, Uwe, and Carlos put into their threads (you have the benefit of living fairly close to Jordan, I bet he'd let you take some closer looks if you wanted to do so). I also looked closely at Frank's blog for even more details and ideas.

After that, measure twice, and cut 57 times!

[Jim & Susan]

You know, I really need to go visit Jordan again. He lives about a mile from one of my work sites. Now I just need to find an excuse to get up to Woodstock! Thanks for getting my brain in gear, bubba.

Jim