RinTin
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Post by RinTin on Jun 27, 2015 13:11:03 GMT -8
Thanks Monabones, I like to think of this as more of a"how I did it" rather than a tutorial. Used up all my free Photobucket space, now I have to pay to play. No more ads!! Instead of replacing the wall paneling at this time I decided to first finish installing the flooring. One reason was that the trailer frame was partially blocking access to my table saw; the other was to minimize exposing the newly paneled walls to me knocking about the shop. From the measurements I had taken before removing the old floor, I cut out the wheel well openings:   Although the floor was square and centered on the frame, measuring from the main C-channel frame rails to the outside edges of the floor there was about a 1” difference between each side. This was due to the frame itself being out of square.   This was disconcerting because I feared it may cause trouble when changing tires. The original floor was still intact so I checked it and saw that it too was offset from the frame at the wheel well cutouts. In the first picture you can see where the main frame rail was and how the staple holes, where the wheel well flange was fastened to the underside of the belly pan, sit over the top of the rail. Originally the wheel wells had to have been installed prior to fastening the floor to the frame rails.   Compared to the original floor, I am off by only about ¼” so I decided to go with it and take my chances instead of re-doing the floor. Worst case, I may have to deflate 1 tire in order the change it. Here you can see where the original plywood joint was located to the rear of the wheel well cutout. That narrow strip cantilevers off the frame rail, unsupported and weak:  Here you can see the joint re-located, much better:  Next I checked the fit of the wheel wells. I had to trim the flange on one of them, and then I sprayed the undersides with rubberized auto body undercoating. Uncharacteristically, I bought the cheapest one on the shelf and do not recommend using the pictured Duplicolor brand as it doesn’t adhere well at all. I re-coated with another product recommended by my local auto parts store, unfortunately I tossed the cans and can’t recall what brand they were. How do you like my rusty old framing square?   I didn’t want to use another underlayment over the plywood sub flooring, so back in character; I opted to do it the hard way. All the voids in the plywood were filled with Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty, and then I sanded the entire floor with my belt sander.   The heads of a couple carriage bolts were too high. Nothing a 4” belt sander and 60 grit sand paper couldn’t make quick work of.  The plywood was now ready for flooring. |
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RinTin
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Post by RinTin on Jun 27, 2015 16:16:50 GMT -8
Originally the trailer had vinyl flooring which was fine with me. I wanted a seamless floor and thought that I’d have to buy a commercial vinyl to get something in a 12’ width. As I small business owner, I also prefer to buy locally so I stopped by a couple floor shops to see what was available. The first store was a bust, but the second steered me towards Armstrong’s CushionStep line. It is a residential grade vinyl backed, rather than cloth backed product available in 12’ widths. I chose the Kyoto Camel pattern, which is very neutral and resembled the counter and table tops. www.armstrong.com/flooring/vinyl-sheet/kyoto-camel-resilient-vinyl-sheet-G3103/floor-120696.aspI know, boring:  First the vinyl was laid out over the deck and allowed to relax overnight:  Fortunately, the vinyl was cut perfectly square, so I aligned the vinyl with the back end and one side of the deck, clamped it into position, traced the underside of the vinyl around the perimeter of the deck, rolled it back up over itself and with some backing plus a straight edge, trimmed the excess with a utility knife.     Next I masked off the perimeter of the vinyl, figuring if I was going to get glue anywhere it would be along the edges, plus I planned to also seal the edges of the plywood subfloor and wanted to protect it from that. I then clamped one end, rolled the vinyl up and spread glue and rolled the vinyl back over the glue a couple feet at a time. Back end clamped, vinyl rolled up:  Finishing off gluing down the front:  Rear end then rolled up back to where I started:  To spread the glue, I didn’t have a trowel with the recommended tooth spacing and depth. Checking our local hardware store, they didn’t have anything as close as what I already owned. Instead of driving 30 minutes each way to check another store, I went with the trowel I had. I also don’t have a 100lb vinyl roller, so I used my old broken down laminate roller. Most guys have a triple roller, not me, just a single. Starting in the middle, leaning heavily on my old roller, the vinyl was rolled out, pushing the air bubbles and excess glue towards the perimeter in an ever widening circle. This sure seemed like the hard way. My trowel applied a bit more glue than was required which made rolling it out that much more fun. In the end, it came out fine. With your cheek on the deck, in the right raking light, you can just see the vinyl barely rippling across the surface. With the walls up and ceiling on, the only one that will know is me. As a matter of fact, I can say that about numerous things on this build.  |
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mel
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1964 Shasta Airflyte
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Post by mel on Jun 27, 2015 16:24:41 GMT -8
Ready for re-assembly, but not yet:  putting the new breaks on the old hubs? or did you get new hubs too? |
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RinTin
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Post by RinTin on Jun 27, 2015 18:15:36 GMT -8
Ready for re-assembly, but not yet: putting the new breaks on the old hubs? or did you get new hubs too?New brake assemblies, old hubs and drums. Mine fit fine, the wear on my original drums was imperceptible. I considered turning the old drums and arcing the new shoes but smarter minds than mine felt it wasn't necessary. |
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Post by Teachndad on Jun 27, 2015 22:06:29 GMT -8
As always, Greg, top drawer! Just a few questions: 1. Do you remember the color pattern on the cans of the spray coating you preferred and used on underside of the wheel wells, by chance? 2. After filling the voids on the plywood with Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty, what was the grit of the sand paper you used on the belt sander? a. Would a woodblock with sand paper around it work better? My concern would be, even with a fine grit sand paper, would the surface be susceptible to gouging no matter how much you kept the belt sander level? 3. Some of us like the boring linoleum pattern you chose. It’s easier on the eyes, IMHO. 4. Love the linoleum sandwich with the spicy clamps to start off laying the linoleum. Coool Idea! 5. Rolling out the air bubbles and excess glue: a. When you started in the middle, leaning heavily on your old roller, the vinyl was rolled out, pushing the air bubbles and excess glue towards the perimeter in an ever widening circle, did you mean you worked outward like spokes on a wheel or an ever growing wider spiral? 6. Were the hex heads ground down because you didn't countersink them enough? Any concerns about grinding the surrounding wood when you ground down the hex heads? Thanks,  Rod |
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RinTin
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Post by RinTin on Jun 29, 2015 15:17:53 GMT -8
As always, Greg, top drawer! Just a few questions: 1. Do you remember the color pattern on the cans of the spray coating you preferred and used on underside of the wheel wells, by chance? 2. After filling the voids on the plywood with Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty, what was the grit of the sand paper you used on the belt sander? a. Would a woodblock with sand paper around it work better? My concern would be, even with a fine grit sand paper, would the surface be susceptible to gouging no matter how much you kept the belt sander level? 3. Some of us like the boring linoleum pattern you chose. It’s easier on the eyes, IMHO. 4. Love the linoleum sandwich with the spicy clamps to start off laying the linoleum. Coool Idea! 5. Rolling out the air bubbles and excess glue: a. When you started in the middle, leaning heavily on your old roller, the vinyl was rolled out, pushing the air bubbles and excess glue towards the perimeter in an ever widening circle, did you mean you worked outward like spokes on a wheel or an ever growing wider spiral? 6. Were the hex heads ground down because you didn't countersink them enough? Any concerns about grinding the surrounding wood when you ground down the hex heads? Thanks, Rod OK Rod, lets see 1. The good undercoating I used was USC (U.S. Chemical) #51030. Spray on truck bed liner would work great too, maybe even better. 2. 60 grit. Anything finer will take forever. The surface is being prepared for glue, not finishing. Hand sanding with a wood block would be tortuous. The biggest mistake people make when using a belt sander is they press down way too hard instead of letting the tool do do the work. Also, most people have too small a belt sander for the task at hand. I used my big heavy 4" sander, applying just enough pressure to keep it under control, which is next to nothing. The sander must be kept in constant motion to avoid gouging. Very easy technique to learn, but you must pay constant attention to what you are doing. Took about 30 minutes to sand the floor. 3. I sometimes fear my total ignorance of style plagues me when making these kinds of decisions. I have the function part down pretty well, its form that challenges me. 4. Clamps are one of mankind's greatest inventions. I rely on them heavily. Can't have too many, essential for trailer restoration work. 5. Spokes 6. I didn't countersink the carriage bolts deep enough. With good sanding technique, no concerns at all. Experience helps too. Anything else? |
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Post by RinTin on Jul 16, 2015 11:30:37 GMT -8
The edges of the plywood sub-floor and the skirt boards (perimeter sub floor framing) will be coated with an asphalt sealer for additional moisture protection. I first sealed the wheel well area in preparation for installing the wheel wells.    The wheel wells were primed and painted with a cheap rattle can spray enamel. They were installed with 1” truss head screws fastened along the underside of the flange as well as through the inside wall into the edge of the plywood sub-floor. Before installing, a heavy bead of rubberized roofing mastic was applied along the wheel well flange. To insure a good seal, enough mastic was applied so that when the wheel wells were pushed up into position, mastic squeezed out around the entire edge of the flanges. The excess mastic was cleaned up, and the screw heads sealed with mastic then coated with a final application of underbody coating. I had this process in mind when I masked off the flooring perimeter as it was a messy job, thus no pictures. The only way the edges of the plywood sub-floor will ever get wet in this area is if the wheel wells rust out. The metal is a heavy gauge, and after 50 years there was only a very small amount of surface rust on them. They should be good for another 50 easily. With the wheel wells installed, I began to lay out the axle parts:   I compared all the individual leafs and matched all the leaves with a greater arc to be used on the heavier curb side. The trailer sat nice and level before the build began, but this seemed like a good idea to me. To rebuild the axle, I pretty much followed 48 Rob’s tutorial from Repairing Yesterday’s Trailers: vintagetraileraxle.blogspot.com/  Not much shackle angle but I’m sure it will settle in once the weight of the trailer is sitting on it. The ends of the U-bolts are cut off on the curb side; the street side was cut off also:   Earlier in the build, while working on the frame, I noticed that the spring hangers were not centered on the frame rails. Thinking it was due to sloppy work, I measured from the tip of each spindle to the center of the coupler to check if the axle was perpendicular. Each side measured exactly the same, just as it should have. When the trailer frame was originally built, the hangers had actually been adjusted to compensate for the out of square frame so the coupler and axle were correctly positioned. My faith in humanity restored, I then installed the brake assembly, hub and drum, and the wheels and tires. It was beginning to feel like I was making progress.   |
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Post by vikx on Jul 16, 2015 21:04:46 GMT -8
REALLY looks great RinTin!
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RinTin
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Post by RinTin on Jul 23, 2015 17:35:43 GMT -8
The walls were laid flat on the shop floor to replace the paneling. In hindsight, it would have been easier to do this on the trailer deck before I installed the vinyl flooring, as working off the shop floor was a bit of a challenge. Originally, the trailer had what I believe was called Japanese Ash paneling, which was in poor shape. I don’t intend to be a slave to originality with this trailer, and since ash is not locally available, it was an easy decision to use ¼” natural birch plywood, which I prefer anyway. To insure the walls would keep their shape during this process, the panels were replaced individually, pulling off one piece of the old and immediately replacing it with a new piece. The new paneling was hand nailed with 1” zinc plated screw nails (twisty nails) where the fasteners would be visible, and stapled with 7/8”x ¼” crown staples around the door, windows, joints and anywhere the fasteners would eventually be covered. I like using staples wherever I can as they hold very well. Once fastened, the openings and outside edges were cut out with a router using a bearing guided flush cut bit.   The wheel well area will be subject to the most moisture due the road spray from the tires and how the trailer comes together here. To hopefully mitigate this somewhat, asphalt sealer was applied to the back side of the paneling and the framing around the wheel wells.   Curb side finished:  Street side finished:  |
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RinTin
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Post by RinTin on Jul 23, 2015 18:57:06 GMT -8
After the new paneling was installed, the walls were finished with three coats of amber shellac followed by two coats of clear. This was my first experience with shellac and I wanted to do it by hand to get a good feel for it. I used the French polish method, applying the shellac with a rag. I never quite got the hang of it; in fact the last coat was sprayed as I grew weary of the struggle. The results were OK, but not what I had hoped for. First coat:  Curb side finished:   Street side finished:  The area around the wheel wells and the sill plates were then coated with asphalt sealer.   Next I finished applying sealer to the skirt boards and the edges of the plywood sub floor.  On this trailer, the wheel wells do not extend to the bottom of the skirt board. Since the walls do extend to the bottom, this leaves some of the interior plywood wall paneling totally exposed to road spray at the front and rear ends inside of the wheel wells. This is the absolute worse place for this to be. A couple pieces of flashing were fabricated; then sealed and riveted to the wheel well to give the paneling some protection here. The flashing will eventually be cut to fit and bent under the bottom of the wall’s wheel well cutouts. Not the best solution but it should help.   The trailer was now ready for the walls to be re-attached. |
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RinTin
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Post by RinTin on Jul 24, 2015 10:16:05 GMT -8
To make setting the walls easier, 2x3 outriggers extending 9” or so were screwed to the underside of the skirt boards. A strip of ¼” x 1/8” medium density foam tape was then applied to the edge of the wheel wells. I though this might help reduce the wear on the walls plus provide an additional seal.   Water can collect and saturate wherever two pieces of wood meet. If you have ever left a stack of boards lying outside, often times when you pull the stack apart, the outsides will be bone dry where exposed to the air but sopping wet where the boards were laid against each other. The underside of a trailer can be subjected to a lot of moisture and I believe this can be a factor in the sills and skirt boards rotting out. To prevent this, in addition to applying the asphalt sealer, before setting the walls a thick bead of rubberized roofing mastic was laid along the sill plate. Enough mastic was applied that it would squeeze out along the underside of the entire length of the sill plate to skirt board connection, insuring a continuous water tight seal.  My daughter helped me lift the walls up onto the 2x3 outriggers and steadied them while I clamped them into position and braced them off. Leaving the sill plates long helped make managing this easier, they made great handles.     Close ups of the corners from the top side. Here you can also see how the screw nails look after finishing over them.     The fit is not quite perfect but about as good as you can expect to get. You can tell I am very pleased with how it turned out as I got a little picture happy.         The corners from the underside:     Exterior curb side shot:  Sills screwed to skirt boards with #10 x 2-1/2” zinc coated screws:  I must say I am very pleased with how it came back together. In retrospect, although lifting the body from the frame was a fun exercise, it was unnecessary and in the end a waste of time; I should instead have just taken the body apart. Oh well, lesson learned, one of many. |
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azshastanut
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Post by azshastanut on Jul 24, 2015 12:49:59 GMT -8
Very nice work! Well documented! Wish I had a shop like yours to work in.
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Post by vikx on Jul 24, 2015 22:22:44 GMT -8
Was gonna "like" your post RinTin, but already did! Thanks for the great photos.
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Post by Teachndad on Jul 25, 2015 5:12:00 GMT -8
Mannnnn!, So Sweeeet. Looks MAGNIFICENT, Greg. You are a master builder.  Rod. |
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RinTin
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Post by RinTin on Jul 25, 2015 6:57:51 GMT -8
The compliments are appreciated, thank you all. Positive criticism or other commentary are welcome, I have pretty thick skin, done a lot of sales work over the years.
Having a shop is nice, no doubt. I made my living working outdoors year around for many years so I feel that I paid my dues.
Master Builder? My fragile male ego has now been fed. Seriously, if it wasn't for people like vikx and mobiltec, along with many others, I don't know if I would have ever even considered a restoration. I am just following in their footsteps and applying what I've learned in various trades over the years.
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