windborn
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1957 Sportcraft 15
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Post by windborn on May 16, 2015 9:10:17 GMT -8
Are y'all sick of me asking questions without any progress photos yet? They'll come soon, I promise! I'm still in the planning phase and just trying to get a sense for what's ahead of me. I've got some wall drop going on on my street side -- it's about 1.5in shorter than curb-side and warped about an inch away from the floor. The kitchen cabinet has warped/moved with it and is a bit off. (The bottom drawer doesn't fit anymore. Interestingly, the PO said it did when she bought it which was only last fall.) So I have a few questions: I'm assuming the wall dropped due to lots of rot that I'll uncover when I get the skins off, but will buying better jacks and getting it level help at all? I bought some simple screw ones to try to compensate for the less-than-level driveway, but they're too short to help much. My intuition says it's more than that, but I have no experience with these things. And do you have advice for how to deal with this when I begin the rebuild? My plan was to just copy everything that's already there, though that doesn't make sense if it's not currently as it should be. I could copy the other wall of course, but would love to hear any tricks if you have 'em. Here's some daylight shining through under the street-side bench. To the left is the wall of the kitchen cabinets.
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mobiltec
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I make mistakes so you don't have to...
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1954 Jewel In Progress...
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Post by mobiltec on May 16, 2015 12:42:01 GMT -8
This happens a lot with these old trailers. And this is why it's bad to just cover up the rot with new paneling. The entire trailer box will follow through and drop right off the frame. Probably the only thing holding it up right now is the cabinets. You will most likely need to do a complete frame off rebuild of the trailer. You will know more when you get all of the outside metal skin off.
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Ten
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70 Shasta 16SC + 1964 Airflyte
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Post by Ten on May 16, 2015 18:28:26 GMT -8
And don't start taking the skin off without bracing the roof from inside. Once she starts to sag, it is really tough to get any clear measurements and a true picture of what you are trying to rebuild.
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Post by bigbill on May 16, 2015 19:53:52 GMT -8
I had a major drop on the current Shasta that I am doing. Before taking anything apart I placed a 3 foot 2x8 on the floor then a hydraulic bottle jack next, then cut a 2x4 2 inches short of the ceiling then placed another 2x8 length wise at the ceiling before raising the wall back to it's original height with the jack.You may need to raise the ceiling in two or three places. I then removed exterior siding and repaired/replaced framing as needed. My floor was solid but about a foot or so of the lower framing was toast. All the way around the trailer but the street side was the worst. The 2x8 blocks were used to distribute the load over a larger area.
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lakewoodgirl
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1954 Lakewood
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Post by lakewoodgirl on May 16, 2015 20:29:56 GMT -8
My curbside dropped and I'm squaring her up now. It happens. It's frustrating. Sometimes you need to walk away, clear your head, then get back in there.
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Post by vikx on May 16, 2015 21:47:10 GMT -8
My Loliner had a huge sag and bulge at the street side wall. Wheel well was dropped two inches, stove had sunk, gaps between wall and cabinets...
I loosened the kitchenette side supports and pulled them back almost 3/4" to facilitate the wall "un-bulge". LOL.
Hang in there.
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windborn
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1957 Sportcraft 15
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Post by windborn on May 18, 2015 13:11:34 GMT -8
Thanks everyone! This is the kind of advice I was looking for. I'll definitely be careful to brace the ceiling and I'll remove the cabinets to try to get it straightened out. I may try the hydraulic jack, bigbill. Though I'm just imagining a lot of snap, crackle, pop!
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