I wanted to start my own thread to post what I'm doing to my
Burro. We bought the trailer last Saturday and drove it home. I wasn't sure if it would even make it home after seeing the condition of the
tires. But it made it w/o issues.
Taking some time off this week to do work around the house and dedicate part of each day to work on the
Burro. I'll post some pics soon.
First up was to replace all three
tires. The DOT date on the two
tires being used was from 2002. The tires looked okay but didn't want to take a chance. They were also 175/70R13's. I replaced them with Carlisle Radials in ST175/80R13 at the local Discount Tire. The spare tires was so old it was cracked all over. And it wasn't even the same make, model or size as the other two. It got tossed and replaced as well.
Today I decided to inspect the wheel bearings and replace or re-grease. After seeing what poor condition there were in I decided they needed to be replaced. Took one of the bearings and one of the grease seals down to the local bearing supplier in Colorado Springs and got new Timken units. On my old 82 each wheel has 2 wheel bearings which are identicial tapered roller bearings and one grease/dust seal. So bought 4 bearings and 2 seals. It took a bit of work with a hammer and a drift to remove the old outer bearing races but got it all done carefully. Installed the new outer races, greased the new bearings, and got the hubs back on the trailer.
At one point my
Burro had electric
brakes or something. Inside of both hubs are old brake shoes that are completely rusted over. I see wires on the left but none on the right. I have no idea what the wires went to as there was no
electrical or other mechanism inside the hubs to actuate the brake shoes against the drums. My guess is there used to be something in there that a previous owner removed. Since my trailer weighs about 1000+ lbs and my tow vehicle almost 4000 I won't worry for now.
Tomorrow I will mount the tires/wheels back onto the Burro and take it for a spin.
Next up is to upgrade my flat-4 wiring harness on my Toyota to a 7-Round. I ordered the parts from e-trailer and they should be here in a few days. I also ordered a new 8' lead for my trailer as well as the previous owner horked up the wiring and it looks pretty shabby.
Got the new plates for the unit on Monday as well.
Next up is to start working on the
electrical. I need to understand if my trailer will charge the 12v
battery if I plug it into 110 volts at home or if I need to get a charger. My trailer came with a nice Optima
battery that is < 1 year old.
Also bought a new Honda EU2000i
generator but have not taken it out of the box. Bought the middle and high-elevation carb jets for it as well and need to decide which to install. Most of our use will be in the 7000-11000' elevation range. Maybe the middle size jet for now.
Spent some time at Home Depot eyeing some replacement vinyl flooring as my Burro came with old stick on 12" tiles that are a bit old and decrepit. I think something new will happen in a week.
Still looking for the right "rubber rope" to put on the seam of the trailer on the outside. I can't find anything online that seems to be the right size. The stuff on my trailer should have been replaced 10 years ago.
That's it for now. Pictures soon.
Tom
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