Here you can see here the previous owner cut off the ends of the rotten stringers and added the cross piece between both frames. The cross piece is removed. With the floor completely removed, it was easy to see the work that needed to be done to the frame. Some rust removal for sure, some straightening of bent supports, and some welding type of repairs. I noticed when pulling Otis to the shop that the trailer appeared to “bounce” or rock forward and backward. Once I got to this stage of the teardown, I realized why. The frame had two serious stress cracks in the wimpy c-channel where they were welded/attached to the front L-channel cross member support. It’s apparent that the weight of the body puts a lot of stress in this area. I would eventually repair this with an extra plate of steel in these areas. I would also weld some brackets in the areas of the leafspring eye supports the width of the c-channel, in a sense, boxing in those 4 areas. There were also ...
Bringing Otis to his new home. Anytime I am on the road, I am constantly looking on peoples property for forgotten vintage trailers. For years I was hoping that little gem would be found. Other than a few for sale here and there that really didn’t fit what I was looking for on the typical online websites, locating a small vintage trailer is really hard, especially locally. So, for years, I just kept my eyes peeled, although I wasn’t putting serious effort into the search. I truly believed that if the right little trailer came to be, it would present itself with little effort. Kitchen One day during the summer of 2017, my wife went to visit a sick friend of ours that lives a couple blocks down the road. After the visit, when she got home, she informed me that there was a small little trailer across the street from our friend’s house for sale. I think I remember her mentioning how run down it looked. When she told me about the trailer, I couldn’t get there fast enou...
Time to construct the sidewall framing. I put together the aluminum siding so that I could use it as a template. When I compared both sides of the assembled aluminum siding, I noticed that the sides didn’t match. Since I wanted to make two identical frames (the perimeter), I knew I would need to fudge the aluminum siding on one side to fit the frame when that time came. Drivers side This is the inside of the passenger side skinned with 1/8” birch. I used a polyuerathane construction adhesive to glue the birch plywood to the frame. I used bricks as weights to keep pressure on the frame against the birch until the adhesive dried. Passenger side frame. I used exterior type 3 wood glue and pocket hole screws for the joints. The frames are made of 3/4” marine grade plywood. I copied the original frames for the most part. I did add some bonus pieces in select areas for strength or where a hole might be drilled or a fixture attached.
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