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Old 03-01-2014, 08:38 PM   #1
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Name: Ted
Trailer: Burro
California
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Burro

How do I figure out what year my Burro was mfg? So far I'm just guessing...no title
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Old 03-01-2014, 09:27 PM   #2
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Trailer: '98 BURRO 17WB
Delaware
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This 2006 post by Roger H. is a good starting point.

"The Burro story, as I've been able to figure it out is roughly as follows...

In the early '70s someone in St. Cloud MN manufactured a trailer called the "Cloud". The Cloud looked very much like the Burro. In the late '70s the first Burros were produced in Plymouth MN, less than a hundred miles from St. Cloud. Interestingly, the Burro was double-wall construction while the Cloud was apparently single walled. Burro was manufactured in Plymouth MN until the early 80s. Burro re-appeared in Sac City IA and began production in the mid 80s and had a production run until about 1990. Sac City saw the introduction of the 17' wide body along with the 13' standard Burros. Apparently the business was poorly managed and investors seized the molds and production equipment. Burro resurfaced in Escondido CA with new molds that were fabricated in Mexico in 1998 or thereabouts.

Again because of a variety of factors, Burro went out of business. According to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office, the owners ran into significant legal difficulties and seem to have disappeared, along with the molds and equipment."

I've heard 2001 or 2 was the last year of production for Burro Trailer of Escondido, CA. and know for certain that owners report trailers from '98 thru 2000. Photo of your trailer would allow someone here to at least assign it to the Plymouth MN/Sac City IA or the Escondido vintage as the trailers do have noticeable exterior dissimilarities.

jack
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Old 03-01-2014, 09:53 PM   #3
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Trailer: Burro
California
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Thanks Jack,
From the pictures on line and the manuals I found on ebay I think this one is from the early eighties. I was hoping there might be some way of telling from the serial numbers I found on the tongue of the trailer...
Ted
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Old 03-02-2014, 09:42 AM   #4
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Trailer: '98 BURRO 17WB
Delaware
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Ted, I haven't heard of a compiled list or total produced by yr. for any of the concerns mentioned. It's entirely possible you might encounter a Burro owner with a s/n close to yours and with a knowledge of the trailer's origin or provenance. If serial numbers can be trusted to be applied serially as the trailers are produced (always exceptions and mistakes which put this in question) that sort of info and a bit of extrapolation should put you in the ballpark on your trailer's YOP. This is easier of accomplishment with the Escondido production as more likely with the later trailers that they're still in the possession of their original owners.

jack
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Old 03-02-2014, 09:46 AM   #5
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Thanks Jack,

I'll pursue that!

Ted
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Old 03-02-2014, 10:41 AM   #6
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Trailer: '98 BURRO 17WB
Delaware
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I didn't even think to ask if you've found the s/n? On Escondido trailers, it's a printed sticker on both tongue rail and rear side of door jamb. For the earlier incarnations or in the case of your example, is it a stamp on the tongue or elsewhere on frame? Sorry, reading your posts a second time, I see you found it on the tongue. Good luck with your search.

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Old 03-02-2014, 10:44 AM   #7
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Trailer: 1969 Boler (Flat Top)
British Columbia
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Burro

Burros were advertised as "do it yourself" kits in Popular Mechanics magazine in the 70's and early 80's. I'm not sure how this would affect series number. Perhaps they needed to be registered as home built?
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Old 03-02-2014, 10:59 AM   #8
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Delaware
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I'd guess that the kit builds might further muddy the waters. The hand drawn and lettered assembly manuals for the '81 kit trailers can be found in the document center.

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Old 03-17-2014, 12:26 PM   #9
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Trailer: '83 Burro
Virginia
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My '83 Burro came with the same "hand drawn" instruction book, provided in photocopy form from the factory. AFAIK, the old company used this method to provide a custom, updated version of their instructions with each trailer sold; and since a big part of the finish work was often done by the end user, this was a valuable part of the package. If you are a new owner of an old Burro 13 footer, I can't overemphasize the value of a copy of this manual... I printed out a hard copy from this site of the pages of my copy that had been damaged over the years.

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Old 03-17-2014, 12:40 PM   #10
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Delaware
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I have an "original" of the assembly manual under discussion. They are all photocopies of course. Can there be an original photocopy? Please feel free to overemphasize the value of these and I'll put mine in the classifieds with a price befitting its value.

jack
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Old 03-17-2014, 01:24 PM   #11
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Too late Rabbit! We already have the electronic version posted and downloadable! But if you do find some suckers (oops, I mean "customers") for hardcopies of the "original" I'll be happy to share time at the copy machine for a piece of the action!

What I really meant was that having access to those instructions while doing any kind of work on one's Burro was more important than I could describe. I stand by that. I found a little reinforced plastic zipper type portfolio that was just right to carry the booklet and various other instructions and warrantee brochures that apply to my Burro, and that's the most important part of my tool kit.

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Old 03-17-2014, 05:34 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by Green Frog View Post
Too late Rabbit! We already have the electronic version posted and downloadable! But if you do find some suckers (oops, I mean "customers") for hardcopies of the "original" I'll be happy to share time at the copy machine for a piece of the action!

What I really meant was that having access to those instructions while doing any kind of work on one's Burro was more important than I could describe. I stand by that. I found a little reinforced plastic zipper type portfolio that was just right to carry the booklet and various other instructions and warrantee brochures that apply to my Burro, and that's the most important part of my tool kit.

Froggie
I purchased a Burro kit in 1982. When it was delivered it had that vin# already on it as on a metal sticker of some sort on the street side, and perhaps on the frame somewhere up front near the tongue. They came road ready. The kit part was finishing the interior as you wanted and with what ever stage of parts for assembly you bought at time of purchase. Only the interior was unfinished, except for adding the propane tank outside if you bought that. Just FYI. My instructions even back then was copies of hand drawn type.
A truck with a flatbed trailer brought mine with about 5 or so Burros on it.
Mine was loaded to the rear to be dropped off first on the rounds being made by the delivery truck traveling throughout the country making drop-offs.
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Old 03-17-2014, 06:01 PM   #13
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Great info Weldon. Where's your Burro now? What number of Egg are you on?

Cheers
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Old 03-17-2014, 08:09 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by WildBirder View Post
Great info Weldon. Where's your Burro now? What number of Egg are you on?

Cheers
Outgrew it and sold it. Always missed it. Bought a second one a few years back. When I saw the eggcamper, it was similar in the design, but bigger. I even stuck with eggcamper kit, back in 2007, still similar to burro idea. I am settled with the eggcamper. The burro #2, found new home in Tenn.
I prefer the ease of cleaning the gelcoat inside.

I will have to look at my number. I am not sure..
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Old 03-17-2014, 09:42 PM   #15
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Thanks for the info, Rabbit. That was pretty much what I had gathered from a variety of sources, but it's good to have it confirmed first hand. As near as I can find from the fairly complete paperwork that came with my '83, it went through at least 4 owners before it came to me and the last previous owner began a frame-off resto. I got what I assume was the original instruction "booklet" with it... marked up as though it were used as a sort of check list as the original owner did the finish work, so I made up new copies of the marked up pages using the electronic copy on this site.

There is no sign of the metal sticker, but the VIN is still stamped into the side of the tongue, and it matches the paperwork, so I guess that works wherever I take it... they gave me a VA registration on that anyway. As soon as I finish reconnecting the wiring and the stove, I plan to just put a carpet strip in along the ridge line as was shown in our original instructions, but since the last PO gave the new HD plywood floor a heavy coating of textured pickup liner spray, so I'm going to put a couple of throw rugs in and call it good. About the only thing I'm still waffling on is what to do about an ice box or fridge... I camp off the electric grid more often than not, so I either have to go with a three way (which mine originally had) or just use an ice box in the old slot. Right now I'm just using a couple of coolers. I also have to install some sort of fresh water tank as there is nothing at all there now... just the hose from the faucet pump going down to... nothing!

BTW, how did you finish your front seat/bed? I'm thinking of leaving the rear set up as a bed all the time and making the two person mini-dinette in the front as was shown in my instructions as an option. Since I camp alone and never feed a crowd inside (like I could get a crowd inside a 13' Burro!) that makes more sense to me.

Froggie
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Old 03-18-2014, 05:42 AM   #16
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Trailer: '98 BURRO 17WB
Delaware
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Only my wife and I and a couple of dogs so we have the later B17 set up with a "permanent" dinette up front. Have the cushions so the possibility of reverting to convertible both ends remains. No Perspex gun turrets of course.

Most Burro and UHaul owners understand Weldon's allegiance to biwall construction.

jack
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Old 03-18-2014, 08:36 AM   #17
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Trailer: 1980 13 ft. burro
Pennsylvania
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I had one of those Burros where there was no evidence whatsoever of a VIN anyplace on the trailer. If there ever was a metal plate on the body/inside the door it was long gone. Nothing turned up on the frame.

The seller had two numbers associated with it - the number it came with when he purchased it from its first owner which was in some of his paperwork, and the VIN listed on the Minnesota title...which was different. I established with the Minnesota vehicle services folks that it wasn't in fact listed as stolen. And then my dad and I borrowed a set of metal stamps and stamped the MN VIN on the tongue to avoid the PA title-giving people giving me the stink-eye about it. We even scraped up the paint a little for dramatic "it's been there forever!" effect for the photos that I had to include with the title transfer application (I forget all the details but that's the basic outline). It all worked out just fine.

Froggie, I also have a 13' trailer and mine came with a dinette-ready interior mold. It has the two "seats" with a space in the middle into which a porta-pottie originally lived. I re-created seat cushions and set up a dinette table, and I leave the bed down permanently as a bed. It works great both for when I'm camping alone and with my husband.
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Old 03-18-2014, 09:41 AM   #18
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jen b, that front arrangement you describe sounds like just what I have in mind. The moulded part in mine has the same two "seats" with a space between bridged by what would be the table. Since the whole floor was replaced, the table base is gone, but I plan to use the same type of heavy pole and base that was in the rear. I also plan to make the table top a little more substantial than the original since it will be my primary table and probably will remain set up rather than having to be folded away. My original cushions are long since replaced with a one piece mattress in the rear and (IIRC) a three piece in the front. Since it's just me in the trailer, I plan to use what I have with a "full time" bed in the rear and just use the side cushions and new-made pedestal table for my mini-dinette. I don't know whether I'll even fool with vertical cushions for my back. BTW, if you could post the front dinette mode arrangement of your Burro, it would be great.

As for the VIN on the tongue of my '83 Burro, it was pretty tough to spot under the heavy (and multiple?) coats of paint but it was there on the side where it was supposed to be. Once I found it the first time, I've just used what was written on the registration, since it matches, and to be honest I'd have a pretty hard time finding it now. (But I found it once, so I know it's there!! )

Froggie
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