Has anybody heard or know about this.

[rebel beck]

My husband was talking to someone and they told him the 79 Airstreams had somekind of problem with the rivets. Has anybody heard this please tell me it's not so. We just put an offer on a 79 model and if there is a problem with that year I may need to withdraw the offer.


Becky

[wkerfoot]

Originally Posted by rebel beck

My husband was talking to someone and they told him the 79 Airstreams had somekind of problem with the rivets. Has anybody heard this please tell me it's not so. We just put an offer on a 79 model and if there is a problem with that year I may need to withdraw the offer.


Becky

Becky,

You need to be a little more specific, we have had our 1979 23' Safari for three years without noticing any rivet problem.

Bill

[wahoonc]

Becky,
I have been working on 70's vintage Airstreams for a while and have never heard of a "problem" with rivets. Ask them for documentation

Aaron

[Ken J]

Don't think so - rivets are rivets......................

[LLB21]

Never heard of it and I'm an old-timer.

[tin sista]

Never heard of that. 1979's are great trailers from this unbiased perspective.
Sometimes the interior screws have worked loose, we just tighten them up, a job even a mechanically challenged person like me can do righty tighty!

[rebel beck]

Thank you thank you folks. I have been on Airstream forums night and day educating myself for a new old Airstream and had not read anything on a rivet malfunction. The quote from the gentleman that told my husband about it was the rivots were placed farther apart. Any way that's what he thinks so we will let him think that. You all have made me feel a whole lot better I just hope the owner takes us up and we get the Airstream.


Becky

[tin sista]

Good luck Becky, hope you find an Airstream soon. As we know things can and will go wrong, age catches up with all of us, parts will need replacing--batteries, tires, hips.
Keep that sense of humor/adventure and the tools in the truck! You've found a terrific place to get help with anything that can need fixing. We have loved our vintage 79 and have been very happy with the purchase over the years. Can't begin to tell you how much we've benefitted from the kindness of the forum folks.

[Inland RV Center, In]

rebel beck

You can and will hear many stories about Airstream and their construction methods that are simply not true.

They usually come from some one that wants an Airstream , but can't afford it.

Therefore, they justify in their mind, some negative things about the Airstream, making themselves feel good about their decision.

The 79 construction is no different than any other years.

Andy

[CanoeStream]

I've dealt with countless rivets on my Argosy. It seems if they weren't bucked, so very many of the exterior and interior pop riveting was done with steel centered rivets... I've removed too many for it to have been done by the one P.O. my unit had. Now that's no fun! That's an observation -- any other Argosy owners seen that?

[59toaster]

Originally Posted by rebel beck

My husband was talking to someone and they told him the 79 Airstreams had somekind of problem with the rivets. Has anybody heard this please tell me it's not so. We just put an offer on a 79 model and if there is a problem with that year I may need to withdraw the offer.


Becky

The things I would educate yourself on is tail sag and tail separation and frame damage mostly attributed to running gear out of balance.

This is mostly problems with the longer coaches. The frame would pull free of the floor/body. Stepping on the back bumper (without any levelers under the rear of the coach) is the test. If the bumper moves down away from the frame it may have a separation problem. Honestly not a horrible problem to fix but it is something to check for.

The frame damage will cause a buckler or crack in the frame that is normally visible in the wheel wells. The weight of the rear of the coach bouncing due to wheels not running true will eventually fatigue the frame. Extra weight in the rear of the coach makes the problem worse Things like spare tires and bike racks on the back bumper of longer coaches is a no no.

Click on Inland Andy's name. Then in the drop down pick the part for reading more posts.

Andy has been a Airstream dealer for a long time and is a weath of information. Read back through his posts and you will find a lot of information about seperations, Running gear problems and some excelent towing information.



Good luck and post pictures when you get one!!!!!!

Welcome to the forums!

[dwightdi]

You did not say what model you had bid on. The tail sag problems are caused by too much weight in the tail of 31 footers with the rear bath. no tail sag occurs unless the frame bends. Check for bending between the wheels by sighting down the web from that hanges down between them by looking from the front or back. If there is a wave (rather than straight) it has buckled because the frame bent. Unless you want to spend at least $2,500 to fix the problem avoid bidding on such a unit.