...a new Trail Mite owner!

[joesuspense]

Hiya,

My name is Myke. We just picked up a 72 Trail Mite here in the Seattle area. I've only had it a few days and already love it. Any other Trail Mite owners out there?

The previous owner replaced the floor with 3/4 exterior treated plywood and resealed most of the windows, but otherwise it's pretty much stock. It has the bench seat/bunk beds in the front and the table/bed in the back. A water tank with a pump sink, electric hookup, and a propane stove, but that's about it.

The previous owner was restoring it in a garage. He claimed there are no leaks, but we'll soon see. He never used the water or propane either. We've freezing weather since I picked it up and unfortunately didn't get a chance to put antifreeze in the water tank.

I'll probably be looking to do the following soon:
-first check out the water tank and hopefully no damage has been done due to the freezing weather.
-possibly gut and rewire the electrical. Previous owner said that the breaker would pop if any more than 15 amps were thrown at it. Any suggestions on this stuff would be awesome. I'd also like to hook up a battery as well.
-test and replace propane lines.
-possibly replace the propane burner
-replace the ice box with a fridge
-replace the top vent

The previous owner claimed it to be around 900 lbs. I towed it home with my Subaru Forester and it seemed to do fine. I know they recommend electric braking assistance for anything over 1000 lbs on my car, but the Mite doesn't have electric brakes. Anybody recommendations on this? I've been reading up in the forums on this stuff, but there doesn't seem to be much consensus. I'll continue reading but if anybody wants to throw any recommendations my way, I'd be much obliged.

I'm really enjoying reading people's experiences and checking out other's campers. This seems like a cool community and I'm happy to be a part of it.

[WildBirder]

Hi Myke, Welcome to the Forum

that's a sweet looking trailer you've got there. It looks to be well taken care of. I'm sure there are some other Trail Mite owners here.

Brakes are definitely a good idea. You'll probably find that's a consensus here. New breaks are about the same as a new axle w/brakes included. It looks like your trailer is sitting pretty well though so the axle should be ok. Electric brakes need a flange on the axle to mount too. They should be visible if you take a look under the trailer. Like in this thread. http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...nge-46492.html

The weight of your trailer is most likely more. Get it weighed or weigh it yourself. Check out this thread. http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...rld-43010.html

[joesuspense]

Looking underneath, I don't think there actually is an axle on the Trail Mite. I didn't get a good look but it seems to be similar to this one:

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...tml#post437841


...I'm not sure brakes are going to be possible on this.

[Bob Miller]

Actually the good news is if it has an a real axle and leaf springs you have two possible choices:

1. Pull off a wheel and look to see if it has a mounting flange with "Ears" in place to take a set of backing plates. If so you should be able to get a set of brakes from any of the larger trailer supply houses and/or etrailer.com.

2. If not, an entire new axle with brakes installed isn't all that expensive or difficult to install and can be bought from the same sources.

If it doesn't have leaf springs and an axle, get back to us for more ideas.

But YES, get some brakes, it WILL weigh a lot more when you get some stuff inside.

[papa-t]

Hi Myke, Welcome to the Forum

[Donna D.]

The Trail Mite should have leaf springs. At least if it's like the three others I've seen.

[Bob Miller]

I was just going by the pics of a Trail Mite frame that is linked to in Joe's Post #3, it has leaf springs, variations may/must exist?

But, if his Trail Mite does have a torsion axle, it looks like it's time for a new one anyway.

[WildBirder]

Myke,

Your trailer's a rarer brand. Perhaps some pics will help us help you. We also love to see pics inside too.

Cheers,

[joesuspense]

Thanks everybody. I haven't had much time to get into checking out the camper as we've had some serious freezing whether and torrential rain. I'll get some photos of the inside and underneath and post them in the next few days. Thanks again!

[joesuspense]

I took a couple pictures of the frame. They're the best I could do on my phone in the pouring rain without crawling under. Kinda blurry.





I still can't really tell how these wheels mount or if there is any place to mount brakes. I'll have to take the wheel off when the whether lets up. It doesn't look like there is an axle though.

I posted more pics here for those that are curious. I'll post some more probably over the weekend.

[Bob Miller]

That looks like a simple square tube axle with spindle ends welded in
You may have to start from scratch to add brakes and add a few leaves or a whole new spring set while you are at it. I am guessing that there are two shackled ends to the springs and that the axle can move up and down.... right??? It kinda looks like the axle is welded to the frame, but that must just be the pic.

[kevin57]

That's just a hub on a spindle with no place to mount brakes. It's funky looking with a small leaf spring with a u-bolt cross wise behind spindle on what looks like to me a torsion axel set up.
Pic of torsion axel u can see where bakes would mount (if u had that) and how it looks a lot like what u have. It almost looks like it has an torsion with an after thought leaf spring installed. Strange.

[Bob Miller]

The pics are somewhat confusticating.
Maybe if her posts a pic (hint) with a wheel removed we will have a better understanding of what he has.

[joesuspense]

Yeah, I'm going to try to get it jacked up and pull the wheel off this weekend to get some better pics. The current pictures are confusing to me as well.

[joesuspense]

So, I took the Mite into a local shop that a few folks here have used. Mann's Welding in Shoreline, WA. It's been up there a few days and he's having somebody come out to measure it for a new axle. I discovered there were no brake flanges and figured a whole new axle would be needed.

Anybody have any ballpark ideas of what installation of a new axle with brakes should run? I'm figuring that it will probably be a Dexter #9 or similar and I know that their parts folks carry Dexter axles. I'm curious what I might be in for when the quote comes back.

[joesuspense]

Got the quote back. The axle will need to be replaced as I suspected. They're replacing with a Dexter #9 and we're going with a 22 degree angle. The cost of the axle and brakes was something around $460 and the whole installation will be around $1250 since they'll need to fabricate some parts to attach the axle to the frame. The axle should arrive in around 5-6 weeks at which point we'll get it replaced. Just wanted to update for anybody who's curious.

The fellas I've dealt with at Mann's Welding in Shoreline have been great so far. They said they've been seeing more work coming in for fiberglass trailers so I think they must be getting referrals from this group. Based off of my interactions thus far, I'd recommend them for anybody in the Seattle area. I'll give a full report once the work is done.

Thanks everybody for your help.

[kevin57]

Cool. Is it a Torsion or spring axle?

[joesuspense]

It's a torsion axle. The Trail Mite has some weird half leaf springs on it currently and I'm not sure if they'll just yank those or try to work with them.

[kevin57]

That's what I thought. Strange. Please let me know why they think it is there and what they do.

[joesuspense]

Now that I have a new axle, brakes, rims and tires, I've been focusing on the cosmetic stuff and getting the vent replaced.

Cabinets:

• Routed the edges of the "plank" doors in the front and rear to make them fit in better with the other cabinet doors
• Painted all cabinet doors red
• Cleaned rust off of all the hardware and painted with a hammered black Rustoleum finish. They look great!
• Glued in new spacer blocks and replaced all the cabinet door catches. They were completely rusted, so I made sure to paint the new hardware with Rustoleum to try to prevent the new stuff from rusting.

Vent:

• Used a heat gun to remove the old vent and putty. The old vent came off in pieces. The putty was a mess!
• The new vent was for a wall 1/2" thicker, so I created a spacer out of 1/2" plywood. This worked out great as I then had something to screw into from the top.

Curtains:

• Sewed new curtains for all the windows. The whole family had to agree on the pattern, so we ended up with a scandanavian-style woodland print.
• Drilled out and replaced all the old curtain hardware. Replaced with the same style in black rather than brass finish.

Front bunk:

• Removed the rickety fold out legs one of the POs had installed.
• Replaced legs with bunk poles from Scamp.
• Installed the bunk pole foot holders on the bottom bunk for the poles to sit in.
• The new bunk poles make it almost level, but not quite, so I made some spacers to bring along if needed. I ended up using a 3/4" non-threaded-to-1/2" threaded PVC connector, which works perfectly. The pole sits in the 3/4" section and the 1/2" section sits perfectly in the foot holder. This raises the bunk about 1/2" if needed for leveling.
• Made a PVC bunk rail so the kid won't fall out (see pic).

I've also fixed the door hinges that were missing the ball in them and installed/tested all the propane hookups. I just finished painting the icebox door to match the cabinets. We're pretty much ready to get out and test it out. Unfortunately my tow vehicle decided to take a dump and needs a new engine. It's in the shop as I type this and hopefully will be ready for our maiden voyage to the Taidnapam rally!