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wolfpack · 10-24-2009, 09:28 PM

drove 1400 miles in two days from Reno to northern Idaho and then trailered the 59 Overlander home 700 miles traveling about 60 mph with my 1/2 ton chevy pickup and it towed great. I kept stopping and feeling the wheel bearings and were always cool. the previous owner of 25 yrs change the wheels out to 15" 6 lug standard chevy rims....they look good on the trailer, one strange thing from the first owners, the front axle had electric brakes, the rear axle had worn out old hydraulic brakes that were disconnected. it seem like just having brakes on one axle is more than enough given the trailers light weight.
the wiring to my plug was weird too. I already had a brake controller on my pickup, it works perfectly with my old trailer, when plugged into the A/S all the lights worked but when my pickups headlights were turned on , the brake controller lost power, thus, no brakes. during daylight hours and truck lights off, brake controller has power and trailer brakes worked well, thought it might be a bad ground so I added a second ground to the frame, no change. still confused on that one. the trailer needs interior renovating and the water tank burst and the front floor rotted out so will need some new sub floor, new water tank and water lines. the sewer tank is said to be good but havnt checked. the wall furnace is said to work too but havnt checked it out. the outside door handle is cracked but still works.....looks like I'll have to drill a hole above the door handle to add a modern dead bolt to secure it in the RV storage lot. the original owner converted the twin beds to one double but I will restore back to twin bed configuration as that works better for my needs. It has the old leaf spring axles and I have heard these were very beefy from tractors or ??? if thats true does this mean I can keep them and not have to dole out big $$$ like the guys with worn out torsion axles? As time goes on I'll ask people their opinion on restoring but bringing it up to more contemporary as well but dont want to ruin it for resale if I need to sell down the line . I see some folks paint the metal interior walls which I think would make it look better but if thats a big NO NO to A/S purists I wont do that. the big skylight up front is fiberglass and has yellowed and faded with fiberglass fibers exposed on top, dont know to if to restore that or replace? again, I dont want to do stupid stuff to hurt its value down the road even though I am buying it to enjoy and keep long term. anyway, enough rambling, just very happy to finally own a classic.

goransons · 10-24-2009, 09:51 PM

Great find, thats a long recovery, but bet it was fun. Had a great time going to cali to get our safari. Fiberglass cover can likely be repaired. You should post some photos, people will be able to provide more accurate answers for you. Enjoy the new project!!

Frank's Trailer Works · 10-25-2009, 04:10 AM

Don't worry about resale, worry about getting it to the state it can be camped.

Aage · 10-25-2009, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skittles

the wiring to my plug was weird too. I already had a brake controller on my pickup, it works perfectly with my old trailer, when plugged into the A/S all the lights worked but when my pickups headlights were turned on , the brake controller lost power, thus, no brakes. during daylight hours and truck lights off, brake controller has power and trailer brakes worked well, thought it might be a bad ground so I added a second ground to the frame, no change. still confused on that one.

The plug was wired differently between (I think) 1966 and 1981. When my '74 got towed out of his home of the last ten years, connecting the umbilical to the TV turned on Henri's (my TT) brakes.

What it was before 1966, I do not know, but I found the old diagram for 66-81 and attached it.

wolfpack · 10-27-2009, 07:27 PM

Here are some outside shots of our new old trailer. sim card was full so dont have interior yet. body is pretty straight except for tear above wheel well.