Shell on floor replacement question

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by nseeger

Putting shims in the C-channel is an awesome idea-- as I didn't do that and now the front section of the trailer is sagging (back half still has subfloor). Any ideas on how to lift a saggy C-channel back up to subfloor height? I've tried pushing up manually to little avail....

Block up under the main frame rails about 1/2 way between the axle and the tongue. Gently retract the tongue jack and the whole front of the frame will droop down.

I did this on my 34' and it worked great if all of the creaking and popping sounds don't freak you out.

[Toolmanbt]

Ok back at it, replacing the floor. My goal for the day was to remove the rear bumper, slinky hose storage compartment, metal cover under the rear of the trailer and the grey water holding tank. First I had to figure which rivets to drill
out that held the slinky hose compartment door on. Then the bolts that hold the bumper to the rear frame would not budge at all, not even with liquid wrench and heat. Had to drill out the bumper bolts, that was fun not. Ok, on to removing the holding tank and the metal cover, they came right out great. I have now found that the rear frame cross member looks to be in poor condition, rusted out.

So I have a question about lifting the rear body just enough to work on the frame at the rear and remove what is left of the plywood back there.

Thinking about building some wood framing that would bolt to the ribs on both sides of the interior and just high enough to place two hydraulic jacks between the wood framing and the steel framing, (2" x 6" on top of the steel frame for jacking). I believe that I saw this technique on the forum ? Then slowly lift the body maybe an inch or two.

Anyone done this ? how did you go about working on the rear frame where the body is sitting on it. If you did lift the body at the rear, how much did you lift it ?

[Toolmanbt]

Rust pic, rear frame at storage compartment/bumper

[Aerowood]

I did something very similar, at one time I had the rear skin off and screwed some 2 X 4’s to the rear frames and jacked it up, and the another time I jacked up the back end with a couple of 2 X’s on the frame rails going up to a rib on top. Both worked out well for me.

[Toolmanbt]

Thanks Aerowood,

How much give was there in lifting the body ? how did you fasten the 2x4s to the ribs ? nut and bolt, wood screws through the ribs into the 2x4s ? any issue with the body wanting to spread out when lifting ?

Thanks

[Aerowood]

Being that I had the biggest share of the sidewall to frame fasteners removed it lifted very easily, I had also already removed the the belly pan and banana wraps and clecoed the skin back to the C channel so the shell was basically floating, I lifted it a couple of inches. When I had the rear skin off I nested the 2x's in the horizontal stringers at the vertical frames and just drove a couple of screws through the stringers. On the other way I just notched the 2x's to go around the frame and screwed it on. The shell splaying out was a none issue..

[Toolmanbt]

Progress today,

- raised the body off the rear frame check
- removed rusted bolts and leftover plywood in the C channel check
- removed the rusted out rear cross member check

a good day was had.

[Aerowood]

Looks like a good start. Keep posting

[Toolmanbt]

Ok some progress.
Fixed the rusted out frame sections, finally figured out where and how to add supports to house the new 40 gal. black and grey holding tanks, Very difficult process. I used 1 1/2" square tube for housing the new tanks and also designed in the ability to remove the holding tanks from the bottom, if needed. Made three new floor sections, the old plywood made fairly good template although the back section was bit more difficult due to missing floor at the rear. I replaced the 1/2" plywood with 5/8" plywood, had to mill the edge to 1/2" to fit back into the C channel. Treated the edge, top and bottom about 4 - 5". Used resin for that part and then oil based sealer for the the rest of the top, nothing on the bottom side except the the 4 - 5" edge. Just starting to figure out the rear section flashing (the trunk to body to plywood intersection). Planing on inserting some aluminum flashing between the body and the C channel extending below the plywood at the rear. I have seen others on the forum do this, think its a great idea. The angle iron located in this same area was badly rusted so I replaced it and added sheet rubber between the aluminum and angle iron due to the dissimilar metals and the corrosion. Next steps will be to secure the C channel to the body, secure the C channel to the plywood and then secure the plywood floor to the frame. Then I can start on removing the old plywood from the front of the trailer, hope the frame is ok up there. The new axels showed up also, so no lack of work.

[Toolmanbt]

Some pics of the progress.