Hi all,
I'm starting my frame-off restoration! I've had a couple weeks off in between jobs and have started it. I've got everything out and the frame off. I'll periodically post. I'm imagining this takes a couple more months as I start the new gig Monday 9/20/21.
Here's what I started with:
}Empty & store stuff =1day (cookware, clothes, etc)
}Ripped out cabinetry =2days (measuring a little, videoing a lot) saving the fronts of the galley and the closet so I can cut new plywood to match; also saving the two 'sides' of the galley & closet so I can replicate the curve of the wall to ceiling.
}Took the door off including wood around the door frame. The top of the wood was "glassed" in which I learned was the term for when
fiberglass was laid over the wood helping to keep it in. The aluminum door framing was in bad shape all the sides and tops were mostly separated from each other. **Not sure what I'm going to do about this yet, haven't researched aluminum repair.
}Started on the
windows but some schmuck (yours truly) used silicone to stop up some
leaks and I need a few hours to scrape that off to release the
windows. The aforementioned schmuck has since researched
windows and knows the correct tape to use when re-sealing them...
}Separate the body from the frame. =1day This was rough. Even though there were only about 8-10 bolts, half of the heads of them broke off. I wound up needing to use my angle grinder on the bottoms of most of them and had to grind out a couple from inside Maude as well. Side note: To the person who put in a couple of random drywall screws (I think for a ground ironically) may you step on a Lego with your bare feet; To the person that invented ridiculously strong drywall screws that literally held the entire frame to the body and was impossible to see (till by brother and I pushed up on the body and stood on the 'bumper' to break the final bond), may your feet be shoed around said Legos and your
fridge full of beer.
The other fun part of this was jacking up the body high enough to set on a couple of 2x4s which spanned my jacks, so that I could pull the frame out from underneath it. It may or may not have involved pavers, an old spare tire, and me taking up religion again in my efforts to have it stay on the jacks 2 feet in the air.
}Today I ground off the tongue and most of the axel =half-day
Tomorrow inspect the frame and then weld two extra cross beams, a handful of gussets, and a new tongue w/ a 2" ball.
Also, I've been following K Corbin's posts for a while.
I'm handy enough to be dangerous but not skilled enough to be helpful.