1967 Project, THE Big Fix!

[Joyflea]

New here . Did the intro and now on to the show . Wife and I acquired a 26 overlander international a few years back . Was told it had been particularly redone . There were some new stuff done inside and had a beautiful polish job with new tires and we had been looking for so long ....... it followed us home .

Befor we got far the 7 way smoked . Pulled into a truck stop and four of the wires were going to ground . I can fix that ......long story made short , we needed major repairs . The rear bath felt spongy , but the owner told me he had replaced most of the wood . I can fix that ......

Pulled the cover off black water tank and yes it looked to be new plywood ...... who ever replaced used 1/2 3 ply deckingwith beg holes cut in it . The black tank was broke in around the connection for the pot , and someone put it back togeather with foam insulation ....

I CAN FIX THAT .

2 moths ago I started fixing thing . For now I’ll show you how it looked when we got her . Then I’ll startposting on the FIX . It’s going slow .

[Joyflea]

Well one of the first things I did was document where everything was . Then it was strip out the interior. It’s been really hot I Texas this summer. Working under a metal shed without insulation gets hot , so I only work til around 1pm .

[Joyflea]

The next week a drilled all the rivets out of the bottom . I found lots of scary thing in the belly. The wiring had been ate up by rats and mice . Found dried up bodies of each as well as a 3’ long skeleton of a snake . I could see lots of water damage to the sub floor as well as a rusty frame .

I can fix that .

Next day of work I started drill out the rivets that hold on the inside walls and insulation so I could get to the body bolts and such to pull some of the rotted wood . Once I got started I realized almost all of lt needed to be replaced . There was 5/8 , 3/4 , and 1/2 in there and had been ground down and filled to be sort of flat .

I would have liked to ,and should have , pull the body . I work by myself and thought I could do it with out taking the body off .

Little info on where I live . It’s a long way to anything . And it’s a long way to get most supplies.

Got the subfloor out and found some bad frame members that needed work . I could get some perlins ,14ga same as cross members but no big or small angle or flat plate in town . Had to drive a ways .

[Joyflea]

Well the next week I ended up with the steel I needed . I ground all the areas I needed to repair and finished it off with a treatment of acid , and a good cleaning . Cut out all the rot back to good metal . Fitted all the new metal after I tried up frame straight and level . Tacked and checked to make sure it was still level then welded in solid and ground . I did some over lap in places that needed more support . I coated it first with weld through primer befor welding . I then wire brushed for a day and got from wheels forward clean and two coated with Por 15 .
The next day I fittedthe front three boards , coated with waterproof poly , and slid in place .
Ordered new black and gray tank . Also ordered new axels from Colin Hyde and many other parts . A before and after of frame repair .

[Minno]

You CAN fix that! Looks like you have the skill set for it. We did a complete gut job and rebuild of interior including wiring, plumbing, and insulation, new cabinetry, new sub floor, etc, etc, etc. Not to scare you but it took us 4 years up on blocks in the back yard to get her functional and roadworthy(insurance requirement). HOWEVER, we live with winter which shut us down 6 months of the year. Now, it's 10 years after purchase and we are done, and loving it!
There are many threads here to help you, and even a thread that lists all the rebuild threads. We used them extensively to help us. Ours is : Little Girl Refurb in the 70's section.

Kay

[Bubba L]

The frame is really looking good. Alpine is a long way from just about anything. I don’t see how you’re dealing the the heat we’re having. You have the welding skill set I don’t. Best I could do was cut everything to fit, tack it in place and sneak the frame up to a certified welder a couple of miles away. I can weld out a gate, but any parts that fall off I can find. Will you install hold down plates or a spare tire rack? Looking good, Bubba

[Joyflea]

Originally Posted by Bubba L

The frame is really looking good. Alpine is a long way from just about anything. I don’t see how you’re dealing the the heat we’re having. You have the welding skill set I don’t. Best I could do was cut everything to fit, tack it in place and sneak the frame up to a certified welder a couple of miles away. I can weld out a gate, but any parts that fall off I can find. Will you install hold down plates or a spare tire rack? Looking good, Bubba

It came with a front rack that I will reinforce.

I hope it doesn’t take me four years !

The next week was making some frame changes to the rear of the frame wheels back . Put in a 8” Perlin across the back , then 3 more to enclose the tank areas . Came up with a design to hold the tanks with very small gaps , no mice allowed! Taking a lunch break right now and will have all my welding done before dark .
Tomorrow I will wire brush and clean , the Por 15 the rest of the frame . Hopping to install the rear sub floor Monday and start cutting holes and mounting tanks .

Also pulled the ac off , took it apart , . New unit came in , much smaller and lighter .

This catches me up to now . Will take better photos of the progress . Should go faster now as I’m not taking on any outside work till April .

[Minno]

Yeah, well, 4 years at 6 months per year with full time jobs including travel. With no job or travel, we would have been much less like maybe a year or so.
But, we're happy with it now.
I hope it takes you much less!
Kay

[Joyflea]

Got an email today and my axels have shipped .
Finished all the welding on the frame on Saturday and ground and wired brushed before cleaning . Got up Sunday and put two coats of por15 on and now I’m ready to mount and insulate the tanks . First I need to decide on hole placement in rearsubfloor . Started on that today . Hope to get the rear board in tomorrow and start building some new sheet metal wheel cover tubs and covers for my tanks .







Also ran some conduit for the taillights before it all gets covered up , hate working on my back . The braces above the tanks in the center are2x1 1/8 tubeing and will have rigid insulation on both sides .

[Joyflea]

Today was one of those days . Got the rear subfloor board cut and sealed and should be able to install tomorrow. Also got the wheel well covers cutout and ready for the brake . Sold my big brake a few years ago , only have a 4’ one now . Will take it to a friends in town .
Wife was off today and she got after stripping the vinyl off the interior panels . She got 7 panels done today and used a gallon and half of paint stripper . Will take a while .

[Joyflea]

After working 20 of the last 21 days on the Airstream I took it easy today .
Took my cut up sheets of 20ga to town to bend up . Spent the day in town looking for stuff , which I couldn’t find .
Came home and made some small cuts in the seam , then using my 1939 Whitney Ropper combination brake did my last bends . 45 min to set up and 10 min to fold . Clamped it up and will Huck rivet it up tomorrow and wait for some seam sealer , one of the things I couldn’t find in town . As you can see the old needed to be replaced .

[Dingo Girl]

Nice work!

[57Vintage]

I would suggest you consider doing more conduit for the 110 V and 12 V for the interior. I did some, but turned out not quite enough. Suggest not doing 1" like I did, but 1-1/2" or 2", especially side to side.

[Joyflea]

Originally Posted by 57Vintage

I would suggest you consider doing more conduit for the 110 V and 12 V for the interior. I did some, but turned out not quite enough. Suggest not doing 1" like I did, but 1-1/2" or 2", especially side to side.

Attachment 317466 Attachment 317464

Attachment 317465

Will be doing just that once my wife decides on floor plan .!:

Wheel tubs done . One less I can fix that .

[Joyflea]

Because of the heat only working a couple of hours a day . Got my black tank all cut into the rear subfloor ,put a piece of 1” insulation on top and it’s pulled up tight to floor . Will do finishing on mounts after floor is all screwed down .

My axels will be here tomorrow and will have them all mounted by the end of the day on Tuesday if all goes well . Then I will true up frame and screw it all down after mounting the last two boards which I’ve already cut and finished .
Hard to get good photos from underneath with my pos camera. I am happy with the way the fit of the rear subfloor .

[Aerowood]

Nice shop

[Joyflea]

Axels got here today . One day late but that’s not bad for living out in the last frontier. Been working under the frame not much to report . Will have to drill new 5/8 holes through frame for axel . Maybe tomorrow I’ll get it done if not too hot . Not looking to unload and put in position by my self . It’s all good , no rest for the wicked .

[Joyflea]

Got the axels in yesterday and did the shocks this morning. If you are going to replace your axels : suggestion 1 grind the fillet weld a little on both sides of the tube , fits much better .
2 the mount plate is not the same size as original or holes not in same place . Making a pattern of hole placement and pre drilling ahead of time would make it easier .
3 if you have your floors out mount the axels before installing new ones. I done up to wheel wells and the two front holes were not easy . Also got new shocks mounted up . Had to replace two of the studs on frame .

Wife still stripping interior panels on her days off .

Try to finish wheel tubs and floor next . Thanks for watching . Blue

[Dingo Girl]

I did my axle while the floor was out too.
Pretty sure that made it a whole lot easier.

[dbj216]

Hi Joyflea: I stumbled onto your "I can fix that" project thread and thought I would follow along. "I can fix that" applies to me only on lesser items; e.g. not including frame welding.

I did quite a bit of "fixing" on a 66 Trade Wind twin bed, one year older than your Overlander, and 2' shorter. The trailers have a lot of similarity. I see yours is the "International" trim level. Mine was not.

I hear ya on the heat. We've had a hot, dry summer here in Colorado and I'll be glad when it is over. I hope my place doesn't burn up. Minno speaks of Minnesota winters. I'll take that anyday over this dog gone heat.

Here are a couple photos of my old Trade Wind. I traded it for a 75 Overlander last year, and that's what I'm working on now. It needed some fixing. It may take me 4+ years, but not because of work, or weather, or what else, only because I'm really slow. I spent 3 years on the Trade Wind.

We did make a new axle hole location template when I installed my new axles. It helped. Say, what kind of drill tool did you use to poke new 5/8" axle bolt holes in your axle plate? A twist drill, or maybe one of those step drills? I've got that job to do on my Overlander.

David