13' Boler Restoration (Gypsy Wagon)

[Jan Dyke]

thank you for the axle imfo. A project for next year for mine
Jan

[Roy in TO]

Originally Posted by fofobraselio

The axle I ordered Is a dexter flexiride adjustable axle fabricated from Pacific spring and axle from Langley B. C

If it is a Flexiride, it is not a Dexter. They are competing brands.

The Dexter Torflex is ordered in preset start angles.
The Flexiride has a spline where you can adjust your start angle in 6 degree increments.

[fofobraselio]

Originally Posted by Roy in TO

If it is a Flexiride, it is not a Dexter. They are competing brands.

The Dexter Torflex is ordered in preset start angles.
The Flexiride has a spline where you can adjust your start angle in 6 degree increments.

Yikes! Looks like I got confused looking back when I purchased it. Thanks for clarifying. It is indeed a flexiride adjustable axle.

[Beattie clan]

Why electric if the trailer is so light? I'm just finding out an issue for my 74 where the body shifted on the frame, thought the axle was blown but mechanic says frame and axle are both decent. 28 screws and bolts eh? Any starting point you can lead me with....

[fofobraselio]

Originally Posted by Beattie clan

Why electric if the trailer is so light? I'm just finding out an issue for my 74 where the body shifted on the frame, thought the axle was blown but mechanic says frame and axle are both decent. 28 screws and bolts eh? Any starting point you can lead me with....

Hey Beattie,

After researching to decide if I wanted brakes and what kind of brakes, I've decided on electrical. Although the trailer is light, brakes give me peace of mind if I need to stop quickly in an emergency. It also puts less stress on the tow vehicle's brakes, more piece of mind if for some reason (moving) I may need to load the trailer with heavier things and the fact that some states require trailer brakes.
http://www.brakebuddy.com/towing-laws

If you are absolutely sure the frame and axle are fine, I would find out where the trailer is bolted / screwed onto the frame and look for any loose fasteners.

Im not sure why there was so many bolts and screws attaching the body to frame.

[David B.]

Craig, the trailer body is purposefulll mounted slightly to one side, so I don't think it has shifted. Check with Scamp (Boler American) with your measurements and concerns.
Dave & Paula

[Beattie clan]

The spacing between the tire and The body on one side is really tight and the driver's side has more space. Ideas??

[David B.]

The body is mounted "off set" to give more counter space, in relation to the drop down floor which is mounted between the frame rails.
Dave & Paula

[fofobraselio]

My metal fabricator friend and I are making wicked progress on the new frame.
It took us about a day of cutting and grinding, a couple days of welding (also checking measurements 100s of times) and currently we are on to painting.

[fofobraselio]

To shed some $$$ on the project saving on sandblasting and powder coating, we decided to go with hand wire brushing, vigorous sanding, and a few good coats of Tremclad. The first coast was brushed on leaving a not so smooth surface. We will try a high density foam roller for the remaining coats to see if we can't smooth it out

[Elkhorn]

What did you use to design your new frame? Making it look easy!

[fofobraselio]

Hey Elkhorn,
I used a mix of Ian G's drawings for a list of materials from www.proud-canadian.com as well as many, Many measurements of my own as every boler seems to be made differently. Lots of mathematics involved.

[fofobraselio]

Our new frame, all painted up and ready.

[fofobraselio]

With a few extra hands, we managed to shimmy the new frame underneath the trailer.

[hudsonnhawk]

Awesome work Mark! I just got my 13' Boler and ordered my Flexiride axle from the same place last week. Starting my frame build next week. I will be watching your progress, any plans for the inside this year?

[fofobraselio]

Originally Posted by hudsonnhawk

Awesome work Mark! I just got my 13' Boler and ordered my Flexiride axle from the same place last week. Starting my frame build next week. I will be watching your progress, any plans for the inside this year?

Heya,
Thanks for following.
I believe we are going to repaint the furniture, swap out the side windows for more modern 'sliding' windows, reinforce the right hand side of the door looking in while also creating a screen door. Custom latex matress with drawers underneath.. The list can go on.
I'll be doing structural work, my better half will take care of all the aesthetics and decorating

Hope your frame build turns out great, hit me with a link to your build

[fofobraselio]

Our annual camping trip is happening soon so it's time to crunch what we can do to get this thing operational!

Our new frame has extended frame rails, so in order to accommodate the extra length I needed to cut the openings on the front of the trailer so it could sit on the frame properly.



I plan to fiberglass in the wider gap I had made at a later date.

Placing the trailer on the frame proved to be a bit of a task.
We slid the frame from behind, jacked up the trailer from the rear, removed the support post holding it up, then slowly eased it down on the frame. We did the exact same thing but on the front side. Then we jacked up the frame with the body on it so we could mount the tires and then we fastened it all together using 3/8 x 1 1/2 SS bolts with large fender washers, lock nuts, lock washers and some blue loctite.

The trailer did not quite fit as the support blocks we welded in above the axle were poking out just a couple of millimeters...Not only that but the body has sort of bent to the shape of the old warped frame and it wasn't quite sitting on the frame rails, only making contact on each corner.
So my buddy hopped in the trailer, jumped and wiggled around a bit and voila, she's a fit!!!

[Buggeee]

Incredible that you built a frame from scratch! Very motivating to see the results.

[fofobraselio]

We took the trailer down some rough roads on it's old frame and axle in the past.. This caused the door to swing open once we would hit a bump and some of our belongings would fall out. The curtain rods would dismount and the trailer would just be a total mess from all the bouncing around.

The lock mechanism had enough, it decided to stop working and just hang off the door.


I ordered a door lock assembly from Vintage Trailer Supply and we did some fiberglass work on the door to make way for the new lock.

[fofobraselio]

To attach the latch, I drilled in the holes, made some 2 part epoxy to coat the back of the latch and the holes I made. I then riveted through the holes and clamped it all down for 24 hours..
Tough as nails!

The latch can be found at vintagetrailersupply.com