'74 Excella - bracing shell for removal question

[Aage]

Originally Posted by DanielB

Great thought, but I think that this is a little more that I can handle by myself.

I thought it sounded trivial, compared to what you have done so far. Go for it, dude!

[marzboy]

Daniel I am exactly where you are right now. I am hopeing to roll the trailer out from under the shell today (in a few hours). You are right on the money about the cribbing. The Shell supports it self pretty good. The jack points are the important parts. Good luck I will be following along. You will meet some great people with alot of advice here. Take it in and use what works for you in your situation. I am going to meet up with a guy I met here. He has a lot of info, I will be shareing ALL of it.

[DanielB]

Originally Posted by Aage

I thought it sounded trivial, compared to what you have done so far. Go for it, dude!

Thanks but welds can be tricky. I took welding in high school and remember that a weld can be pretty, but still not very good.

[DanielB]

Originally Posted by marzboy

Daniel I am exactly where you are right now. I am hopeing to roll the trailer out from under the shell today (in a few hours). You are right on the money about the cribbing. The Shell supports it self pretty good. The jack points are the important parts. Good luck I will be following along. You will meet some great people with alot of advice here. Take it in and use what works for you in your situation. I am going to meet up with a guy I met here. He has a lot of info, I will be shareing ALL of it.

Read your blog and couldn't help but laugh. Pretty nasty work, huh? I'm looking forward to seeing what you will be doing. Awesome.

[marzboy]

Originally Posted by DanielB

Read your blog and couldn't help but laugh. Pretty nasty work, huh? I'm looking forward to seeing what you will be doing. Awesome.

Haha I laugh when I'm not freaking out. It can be pretty overwhelming, just try to focus on one task at a time. I met up with a guy I met here. He has a 65 globetrotter, got some pretty great ideas!

[DanielB]

Well, I turned the old chassis over to a fabricator. They came and picked it up today. Said it would take a week or so. Cost $2,300. Labor and materials. All made out of C5x6.7 C channel. We'll see how it turns out.

[DanielB]

Just in case anyone is interested, I emailed Airstream service and what they use for the chassis frames today is 10 ga. 2" x 5" tube.

[claudebo]

Hi Daniel B

.1406"X2" X 5" X sounds light for a 31' trailer.

for what lenght trailer was this?

[DanielB]

I didnt ask.. here is the email. The guy's email is rmcneeley@airstream.com

Daniel,

We use a 10 GA 2" X 5" tube today.

Randy
Airstream Customer Support.
-----Original Message-----
Subject: Airstream chassis metal

Chris,

I was hoping that you could maybe answer this question. I've been
looking and looking but no luck.

I have a 1974 Excella and am going to have a new chassis fabricated.
I am wondering what type of C channel was/can be used.
The local steel places sell standard C5x6.7 and C5x9 C channel, but I
see that the c channel used on the original chassis is quite light/thin.

I'm already on my way to using C5x6.7 because that is what is available.

Any information is appreciated.

Thanks
Daniel

[DanielB]

The moment of truth approaches. I have to decide now on subfloor material. Good quality, regular 3/4 plywood, sealed up really good.. mistake?

[Dave Park]

It will be better than what was there before, and that has already lasted how many years?

[VIKING]

Hi Daniel,
If your crossmembers are spaced at 48" on center and you want to lap the seams from one sheet to the next you will need plywood that is slightly wider than 48". I went with 5/8" exterior siding with 1/2" lap joints on the long edges only. It comes in 48-1/2" widths, so it fits the spacing perfectly. I glued the laps together when I laid the floor, and then I bolted through the seam into the crossmembers. The construction is the same as original for my model and year with the addition of waterproof glue at the seams. The seam at the door was rotten from the doorway to the center of the floor, because the seam acted as a wick and allowed the water to travel along it almost 4'.
I also sealed the sheets on all surfaces with water-based floor finish and exterior latex paint on the bottom and edges as well. Water-based floor finish is very good at holding up to water exposure and readily available.
For bolts I used the ones from VTS and I installed them with large flat washers, to back-up the thin steel of the crossmembers, and then locking washers and ny-lock nuts. By tightening them with an impact driver I was able to pull the large boltheads into the plywood surface flush in most cases. Where they went through knots in the surface ply they have to be drilled in with a spade bit a little more than 1/16" so they will sit flush or lower. On some of them the flat head of the bolt cupped down in the center and left the edges above the surface. I whacked those with a hammer to set them, and then went back down to the basement and re-tightened them.
I feel no need to bend the bolts over with this set-up.

Best of the holidays to you,
Rich the Viking

[DanielB]

Thanks Rich. I didn't even consider exterior siding. I've been preoccupied with being baffled by why the tongue in groove flooring breaks on 47 1/2", and complaining to everyone who would listen (and some who didn't) how ridiculous it is for them to make it like that when all house floor systems are 16" oc. The guy at the lumber yard said that you have to lay the t.i.g. long-wase.
Anyway, exterior lap sheathing just might be the trick. To Lowes with my tape I go..

[DanielB]

Rich, was this T1 11 that you used? If so, does it have grooves in it?

[Dave Park]

I would say T1-11 has way too much flex to be useful in this application. It's great in compression, but it twists really easily, and it's useless in tension.

[claudebo]

ditto on Dave Park comment. The effective (strenght) width of T1-11 is the width at the grove.

T & G Plywood flooring is usually 3/4"(23/32). Run the 8 foot length on the shortest span between supports. Leave an 1/8"gap between between sheets to allow for expansion. Sealing ends is a great idea IMHO.

Making progress almost to the fun part. Don'y forget to run your wires prior to closing up you floor.

Regards

[VIKING]

If you can get the stuff without the grooves you will not have any issues with flexing. The face of the plywood that I got was a bandsawn surface, which I used as the bottom. The back was smooth faced but with knot holes which I am filling with bondo prior to laying the final floor. With my seams glued and bolted through the frame it's as close to a single sheet floor as I could make.

Best of the Holidays to you,
Rich the Viking

[marzboy]

Hey Daniel, you may want to conceder at least marine grade ply with varnish. The floor has so put up with many forces (heat, cold, vibration etc). I am at this cross road too. Since it is a structural element, you have to do your research well. Remember what a bitch it was to do all of this? You don't want to do it again any time soon! I am also considering going with Nyloboard. It is a composite made from recycled carpet. I got a sample of the 3/4" and its pretty nice.

[DanielB]

Understood. This is an important decision. Still, I'm leaning heavily toward using some good 3/4" plywood. I believe that it can be sealed well against moisture.

The one think that makes me very nervous about this is where the floor meets the shell. From what I understand plywood is most vulnerable on the edges, and, in my mind this is the biggest moisture threat. Because condensation inside the shell has nowhere to go except down... right to the bottom of the shell.. at the edge of the plywood. If I can get some peace of mind that this threat can be neutralized, I think that I'm going to go with the wood.

[Dave Park]

Don't feel bad about using wood. Just seal it well, seal the edges, and after drilling holes, seal the inside of those too. The existing wood had none of the sealing benefits yours will, and it lasted 36 years. You'll get significantly more than that from your well-prepared replacement wood floor.