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Charlee · 07-01-2013, 09:21 PM

Some pictures of my makeshift lift. You can see the existing leaf springs and gas shocks in the pictures. The airbags I'm installing go just outside of where the bottle jacks are - on top of the leaf springs. Do I need to remove the gas shocks? I'm going to leave them and see what happens unless someone says different, but it seems like the airbags will take their place.

I also include a picture if my dogs enjoying the cover to the front gaucho. We are going to try and salvage the original orange corduroy. My wife has removed the covers and is patching the bad spots with extra fabric from other areas in the coach. The dogs love it!

WineStream · 07-01-2013, 09:49 PM

My advice...

Leave the shocks. The shocks are dampers. They go beyond support, they prevent bouncing. Airbags might do this to some degree, but not what shocks can do.

Stephenssg · 07-05-2013, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ViewRVs

We love our orange interior (fabric and carpet). Our Argosy has a nice warm feel inside.

We just bought our 77 28' Argosy motor home. I'm wondering if you have any idea where we can get some of that wonderful, original orange corduroy upholstery fabric?

overlander64 · 07-05-2013, 05:42 PM

Greetings Stephenssg!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephenssg

We just bought our 77 28' Argosy motor home. I'm wondering if you have any idea where we can get some of that wonderful, original orange corduroy upholstery fabric?

There is a resurgence of interest in some of the upholstery fabrics and colors of the 1970s. You might try your nearest full-line fabric store to see if they have any upholstery fabric catalogs. Another possibility would be to contact Arlene and Henry Fowler of Fowler RV Interiors in Symsonia, Kentucky . . . they specialize in Airstream and Argosy interiors and had a number of fabric/color samples representing 1970s era fabrics and colors that last time that I visited one of their displays.

Good luck with your search!

Kevin

Charlee · 07-08-2013, 09:21 AM

Well I ordered the wrong parts so I didn't get my airbags installed. I have the correct (I Think!) parts ordered and they will be here Tuesday.

We have made pretty good progress salvaging the orange corduroy. The gaucho covers zip off and remove from the cushions. You have to cut the threads holding the buttons in place, but easy work.

There is a large piece of the orange fabric behind the cushions on both gauchos in our coach that is attached to the wall and serves as a pad/barrier when the bed is folded out. We are using that as extra/replacement fabric to patch a couple of bad spots on the covers, and will replace it with something else.

Charlee · 07-12-2013, 09:30 AM

I got the rear airbags installed and working. I haven't completed the front or plumbed the air lines, compressor and tank yet. It took much longer to install the airbags than I expected. My coach has gas/air shock mounted to the axle right where the airbag support mounts. This created much more work trying to figure out how to get everything in place. I probably installed and uninstalled the first one 5 times before I got it right, learning a little more each time.

I will get some pictures up of the airbags and of the coach with them fully inflated/deflated. I get about 5 - 6 inches of lift at the rear of the coach when fully inflated.

bkahler · 07-12-2013, 06:53 PM

Charles,

Looking forward to those pictures!

Charlee · 07-21-2013, 03:39 PM

Update!

It's been a while and I've been busy. I got the rear air bags, compressor, and tank installed a bad working. I get about 3 1/2 inches of lift in the rear which is enough to get up the driveway. I took a nice long cruise yesterday and the ride is noticeably different as you adjust the air bags. I'm not sure what the sweet spot is.

Charlee · 07-21-2013, 03:44 PM

Window and door gaskets.

While I was working on the air bags I got my wife started on the window and door seals. We replaced all the seals. I ordered everything from Andy at inland RV. They were able to tell me exactly what I needed and how much. I probably have 3 to 4 feet extra of each of the three seals/gaskets.

The first window took a while, but once we figured it out it went pretty fast. We did all 9 windows and the door in about 10 hours.

My dogs love the orange corduroy.

Charlee · 07-21-2013, 03:47 PM

I installed a fantastic fan in place of the old cent fan that was not working. Until I get the AC working this will have to do. It moves some serious air. I have not installed the interior trim piece since I had to order the correct airstream specific part and don't have it yet. I didn't take any pictures of the install. It was pretty straight forward, but a huge pain to remove the old fan that had 50 plus rivets and Cullen on the inside ( between the panels) and outside.

Charlee · 07-21-2013, 03:53 PM

Dash.

I removed the dash because I am going to replace it and I needed to work on some electrical and dash AC. I found some great rust that I posted about in another thread.

I'm pretty sure airstream trained monkeys to wire the argosy dash. There is no rhyme or reason to the wiring. I have been hunting for another fuse panel with no luck. I found it so far under the dash that the only way to get to it was to remove the entire dash.

Charlee · 07-23-2013, 06:03 PM

I managed to remove the rusty panel from below the windshield, but I'm not sure exactly how to go about creating a new one out of aluminum.

The old piece is so rusted that it can't really be used for a template. I can use parts of it, and I can probably figure out the rest with cardboard.

First, I need to remove the remainder of the rusted steel from the gap between the windshield rubber seal and the frame. This is held in place with vulkem and is extremely difficult to remove.

I'll try and get some pictures that show what I am talking about, but I am looking for suggestions to break up the vulkem. Can anyone recommend a solvent? Heat gun? because of the close proximity to the windshield rubber seal I need to be careful here.

bkahler · 07-23-2013, 07:20 PM

Charlee,

I still have the aluminum dash plate out of my Argosy as I'm not quite ready to re-install. I'm sure I could get a fairly accurate tracing of mine if that would help. I would just need to find a long enough sheet of brown kraft paper to make the tracing with.

As far as removing the vulkem I used this Multi-Tool with a scraper blade on it. It's amazing how well it removes vulkem without really damaging anything else. The one thing you can do to help with the scraping process is to make sure all of the screws and rivets are removed.

There are many other brands out the with Fein probably being the best but I have several Porter Cable tools and since purchasing this one I've used it quite a bit working on my Argosy. It's done everything from scraping vulkem, cutting wood, removing rivet heads and cutting square holes in aluminum skin.

Brad

Charlee · 01-13-2014, 01:28 PM

It has been slow going on the Ronald Lee. It seems like I am moving backwards, but I am getting very close to the point that I can't take anything else out and will have to start putting back in.

Mechanically everything seems great except for a transmission fluid leak coming from under the radiator. I suspect a busted hose or loose connection, but I have been struggling to get the front grill off to locate it.

The interior is moving backwards. I have re-wired almost the entire under-dash electrical, installed a new heater blower motor, replaced the old inverter with a modern one, removed all the old silicone sealant from around the windshield so I can re-seal.

I managed to fabricate a new plate out of aluminum to replace the rusty panel under my dash. I took a picture, but can't find it.

I have pulled out the entire galley, refrigerator, and closet on the driver side. There is one wall remaining that I may or may not remove. I have started rebuilding the walls and shelves to put back in. I have been waiting on finding a replacement refrigerator to go further, and I found a 5 year old Dometic that has been sitting in a storage room and never used. I paid $300 for it. and can move forward.

I had already replaced all the plumbing north of the water pump, but when I got started figuring out how the new fridge would fit I decided to pull the rest of the plumbing out. I pulled out the water tank too. I'm glad I did because in addition to the rat skeletons, rat nests, and snake skeleton I found a section of rotten floor under the tank. The inlet for filling the water tank is cracked and leaks down between tank and floor when filling. The wiring for the tank is also chewed up.

I'm going to post some pics.