Axle work completed!

Duane figured out what Monroe shocks to get as replacements for our 30-something year old ones.  It was not a simple task - the p/n's that were stamped on the cylinders of the old ones are not longer made and apparently don't cross reference to modern shocks....I know - spent hours with the parts manager at the local parts store.

Anyway, if you're remotely interested - it's Monroe 5751.....

Everything installed -

And the trailer is sitting on it's own wheels for the first time in a very long time!!!

More axle work

Much painting has been accomplished! 


Rust has been grinded....and "rusty metal primer" has been applied to the undercarriage.

The axles are all nicely prepped for re-installation

And the undercarriage has a nice black top-coat applied.

Axles re-installed!

View from under the trailer:

I know it doesn't look like much, but all these nice black axles were ALOT of work!!!  Hopefully they'll be ready for 40 more years of work!!

And in case you're wondering what we look like after a long day of working on the trailer.....Diane visited this afternoon and snapped this photo of me.   Sweet, right?

Axle removal

Did a bit of work on the axles - they are a bit rusty but in good shape otherwise. 

Same for the tires/wheels.  Tires are virtually new - a couple of hundred miles on them and they've been inside the hangar/out of UV.  The rims are just a bit rusty.

So, after a bit of wire brush rust removal, they're ready for some "Rusty Metal Rustoleum"!

Same for the axles themselves.  Rusty, but in good shape otherwise.

Brakes appear to be in good shape also.

I know it doesn't look too much different....but much paint has been applied!

Duane disassembled the axle for ease of painting and inspection.

 More painting.

And, next day starting to paint everything with more Rustoleum  - this time all black so it looks good when reassembled!

New potty

We thought we would be able to re-install the old toilet.  It looked to be in great shape.

But, we wisely decided to put water pressure on the toilet before we re-installed it.

And sure enough, it had a bad leak - probably had water left over that had frozen over the years.  It was a better deal to buy a new toilet than to buy the repair parts.

And here it is!

A little painting

I love all the little compartments in the trailer!

This is the storage area at the rear of the trailer for you to stash the power cable and (I suppose) the water hose.   It was in need of a good cleaning - the box itself is made out of galvanized sheet metal (unlike almost everything else on the exterior of trailer, which is aluminum).  So, it had some surface corrosion.

Nothing the old standby - Rust-Oleum primer can't handle!

And after that dried - a good coating of silver Rust-Oleum for good measure!

The potty ventilation

So, the potty needs ventilation, right??

One of the problems from the long term storage of the camper was that the overhead fan had leaked onto the bathroom floor....

I couldn't find an original photo, but here are the remains of the overhead bathroom fan....the very rusty motor was tossed into the garbage at some point.

We bought a new replacement fan - after much thought and more than  a day of alteration , the fan is finally wired up and installed!  I know it's not all that exciting, but each item seems to require much "hands on" involvement....nothing seems to be easy!

So now  we should have a breeze flowing thru the shower area while we are taking a bath!

(This photo is the ceiling over the shower).

Wow!! Back to work on the Avion!!

The weather has kept us housebound.....so we decided to work a little on the Avion!

The work for the foreseeable future is not terribly interesting.....lots of re-assembly of "systems".

For example....this is the "blackwater" tank.....ummmm.....the poop tank.  It was removed long ago when we needed to treat all the underlying framework rust issues.  Now it's time to re-install.

This is the interior shot in the bathroom  - new hole in the new flooring...

And here's the underside.... the tank is up above this - nicely supported and insulated.

I know....not real interesting... eventually, there will be a new sheet of aluminum riveted in place to protect this from the elements.  That's it for now!