Flooring Completed.

April 18, 2016  /  David Beebe

The basic flooring is complete!
 If you've been following along, you might notice we didn't wind up with the bamboo flooring like I'd mentioned in the last post. After discussing the flooring options with the salesman at Lumber Liquidators, he suggested we go with a wholly synthetic product vs a natural or combination product.
His suggestion was based on the fact the trailer will be stored without heat during the winter and be subject to high temps and humidity during the summer. He predicted that we'd run into cupping/warping issues at some point and the synthetic product would be the only way to ensure we avoided those problems. So, we wound up selecting this hickory look vinyl product that's laid down with interlocking edges to simulate wood without the natural wood product concerns. We're really happy with the way it turned out. We'll be adding aluminium corner material on all the inside and outside edges around the pan (lowered section of floor). This should create a cool contrast against the wood grain and help maintain some of the retro feel we're looking for.

Now, onto the walls!

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Ready for flooring!

March 27, 2016  /  David Beebe

Sub-floor is completed and ready for flooring. Lumber Liquidators has bamboo flooring on sale for a price that is just a few cents more per square foot than the cheap "Pergo" type stuff you find at the big box stores. So for "solid wood" flooring it should be a great choice and really durable. A trip to Toledo will be happening soon!
Also working on laying out what's needed to rebuild the wheel tubs. Debating between aluminum or some galvanized sheet. I carefully tore one apart and will use it as a pattern. Looks like I'll need about 20 square feet of material, so even some .040 aluminum will only run about $30-$40, so not awful. But, maybe I'll even try some sheet steel and weld them up myself. With some good undercoating, should work just fine.

She's moving along now...
Thanks for checking in!

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Subfloor In Process

February 29, 2016  /  David Beebe

Over the weekend I made good progress on the subfloor. After studying the pictures from the teardown, I managed to complete what's shown in the pictures. I have a couple more framing pieces to add, then I'll pull them all up, coat them with a sealer and re-install them. Only issue I ran into was the supporting straps under the pan (the sunken floor section in the pictures) were of different depths on different sides. So I'll need to even that up as a final step before laying down the plywood. Aside from that small problem, pretty happy with the progress. My goal now is to complete the framing during this week and be ready to lay the plywood subfloor next weekend.

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A Rolling Chassis

February 21, 2016  /  David Beebe

A quick update...

The trailer is now mobile again.
I re-mounted the tires and got to mount the jack wheel to try it out. Works great so far, with no load of course. I could then move it out of the way and disassemble the car port without fear of something crashing down on top of the fresh work.

Measurements taken and plans made to start installing the new deck. Plan of attack is to build the main pan where you step in, then build out from that. The pictures from the tear down seem to look like it may have been done this way originally. Some of the support beams will be left long and trimmed to exact length/shape once the other pieces get put in place. That's the plan anyway, we'll see how it pans out.

Thanks again for checking in...

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The Foundation is Complete

February 10, 2016  /  David Beebe

Finally, the frame is complete - primed, painted - ready to start building on again.
The Eastwood paint & primer products worked really well. Used one quart each of their chassis primer and then a coat of the Extreme Chassis Black in a satin finish. The final coat I sprayed at ~60psi which seemed a little better than the primer, which I sprayed at about 55psi.  The cheap Kobalt paint gun worked great and laid the finishes down smooth. I had enough of the finish coat to put a couple coats on the tongue that'll be exposed up front. Only time will tell now, how it will hold up, but for now looks really good.

Next will be to start laying down the sub-floor and building up the new floor.
 

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A Bit More Progress

January 19, 2016  /  David Beebe

In the last few days, I was able to get the stabilizer jacks welded up. I also decided to replace the axle bushings (for lack of a better term). From the research I did, replacements for these are basically unavailable. So based on some forum posts I ran across, I decided to go with bronze replacements I found here.  These are ordered and on the way. After these arrive I can finally complete the trailer reassembly.

A few obligatory pics

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Slow Holiday Progress

January 06, 2016  /  David Beebe

Progress was slowed a little over the holidays. As you can imagine, part of this was due to normal holiday shenanigans and some of it to waiting on parts. During the teardown we somehow managed to break the adjustment spring on one of brake assemblies. This turned out to be a bit harder to find than I anticipated. I assumed, and was told, that you should be able to find these at your local NAPA or Advanced Auto type establishment. Well, the ones near me did not have a match. So, I finally found them on Amazon (cause they have everything ya know), but it was over a week to get them between the holiday delay and normal shipping. Another thing I was tracking down was a small piece of 1/8" steel diamond/tread plate. Turns out, surprisingly difficult to find if you only want a small piece. Aluminum plate is available everywhere it seems, but steel proved hard to find. Our local steel/scrap yard had it, but would only sell a full 4'x8' sheet for $120. This is actually a pretty good price for a full sheet, but all I needed was 12"x24". I eventually found Menards carries this in store ($26). The last thing I was debating about were the stabilizer jacks. For my taste the trailer without these is really too bouncy and unstable when moving about inside. I did some research as usual. For the price and intended use, I settled on some from Harbor Freight. I know the typical reaction to HF stuff is marginal, but the reviews are pretty good and the others I looked at on Amazon and the trailer equipment sites didn't appear much better and were reviewed harshly. Finally,  I procured all the necessary primer, paint etc. for the frame from Eastwood. So with these things in hand and miscellaneous new bolts, nuts and  washers for the axle mounts, I set to getting things put back together.

The brakes are now completely refreshed and re-assembled.
Before and After... (click to enlarge)

Diamond plate added to the tongue.

Diamond plate added to the tongue.

The jacks awaiting installation (HF item#96406).

The jacks awaiting installation (HF item#96406).

Before I can get the jacks installed, I need to fab up some mounting plates that will get welded to the frame rails. I'll then weld the jacks to these plates.

Well, that's just a quick update for now, soon as the trailer is completely re-assembled I'll post again. Then again, once it's primed and painted.

Thanks for stopping back!


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categories / Projects
tags / scottyrestore

The Demolition

December 13, 2015  /  David Beebe

Here's where it all comes apart.
Oh the humanity!
Enjoy the carnage.

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The "Patient" as she arrived...

December 13, 2015  /  David Beebe

To give some flavor to what we started with, we'll begin with a set of pics to show inside and out what we've gotten ourselves into.

As you can see, she was pretty rough all around. But nothing like what she was hiding under her skin.  We really have no idea regarding number of previous owners, so attributing all the bizarre colors and shoddy fixes to one person or persons isn't possible. But, based on what was there, they all attended the same classes in midnight engineering and jerry-rigging. 

Although not visible in all the pictures, the purple paint appears to have been rolled on. It must have been the largest possible roller that was available, because very little was spared from the purple menace including cabinet hardware, lighting fixtures or logos. She was in need of paint I guess, and nothing was gonna slow that job down by gosh. And hey, while we're at it, what can't be painted, we might as well cover with this swell paneling...we can attach it with these silver washer head screws, that'll fancy up the place!

All kidding aside, I can understand not wanting to spend a bunch on repairs, but wow, most of these "fixes" just made us shake our head and laugh. As I mentioned, we knew this was all going away, so we enjoyed tearing it all out just to see what was hiding behind each layer. Next I'll post the demolition gallery and you'll see the terror that lurked beneath.

 

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