Awning and Battery storage reinforcement



Nikki and I had two things on our list we wanted to complete this weekend: Reinforce the battery storage compartment and add support to the lower rear awning arm. Big thanks to Jason (again) for the help. He is an amazing welder and is always full of good ideas.



BATTERY STORAGE PROBLEM:

Most vintage airstream will most likely have this issue. The battery storage compartment has a problem with supporting the full weight of the battery. As time passes it becomes weak and starts to bow causing the battery door to open when you go over small bumps. The solution is to beef it up and to attach the lower part of the door to the new support. If you are having this same problem Jason is more then happy to pre-weld a custom fitted battery box just like the one in pictures and ship it to you.

Unsupported battery box.

Unsupported battery box.



The support is designed in a way to distribute all of the batteries weight to the ¾” floor of the airstream.

The bottom part of the door is now pulled up and secured to the bottom of the battery box. The door will not come open anymore and the battery will have plenty of support. The battery hold down is welded to the rear and uses a hook in the front for easy removal. 

AWNING ARM PROBLEM:

We purchased a used awning that was 19 feet long. Our 31 foot airstream normally would have a 21 foot awning installed. This means that we were unable to attach the rear of the awning to the rib of the airstream. Instead it’s attached to the thin aluminum body with no support.

This is were the lower rear part of the awning attached and will need reinforcement.

Jason came up with a cool design that used curved square tubing. Now it won’t take up a lot of room on the inside of the airstream. The area where this is mounted will become a shower.



It may be a little over kill but in the end I have total confidence that this arm isn't going anywhere and wont be causing any damage to the body.  



Complete. Four large bolts secured to the ¾ inch floor.





Airstream awning Installation with hood vent modification

Over the weekend we purchased a Zip Dee awning on craigslist. I’ve been searching for about 3 years for a used one to pop up in our area. I wanted to buy used because a new Zip Dee awning cost a little over $1800 bucks new. We bought this one for $500. I replaced one damaged bracket that I purchased from out-of-doors mart for 10 bucks. I also replaced all the nuts and bolts and polished all the parts. We will eventually replace the fabric with the  original airstream blue and logo.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

If you are going to buy new or used here are some tips that will help!

1.      If you have a 73 airstream or older, the stove hood will need to be modified or replaced. The awning will not be able to close due to clearance issues. I modified mine because the replacement only comes in fiberglass. Take a look at my photos to see how I did it.

2.      Make sure when you slide the fabric on that the stitching lip is facing away from the channel. My wife and I fought it about half way before we decided to slide it off and start from the other end.

3.      If you buy used, make sure to check everything! Slide all the arms all the way out to check for damage. I didnt realize until I got home that one arm was broke. Make sure that the awning isn’t cut short. It should reach out at least 8 ft.

Buffing the aluminum cover.

 

 Amazing "before" and "After Shots:

Painted the inside logo red. I used a small wire to drop paint into the small areas

Unfortunately This awning came up a little short and I was unable to mount the rear bracket in a location where the rib runs. The fix will be to remove a 2x2 foot section on the inside of the closet and build a steel frame that will support 100% of the arm. The steel frame will be mounted to the floor. I will post this fix soon.   

It was 110 degrees outside so I put temporary shade in the areas I would be working.

Its always worth the hassle.            

 Vent hood modification

OK, here is the vent hood off the airstream. The first thing I did was remove a section of

the hood that would allow the awning to close freely. I did this by using a band saw with a metal cutting blade. It barley fit sideways but I was able to get it done. I did remove about 1/8 of an inch on both sides to give myself room.      



Now that its removed I cut some aluminum to the shape I wanted.       

Here it is complete. I used 90 degree aluminum supports on the sides. You can see the rivet and the two rivets in the middle holding the slope. I drilled the three original holes in the rear.        

Not too bad and much better then a fiberglass replacement

Plenty of room! And the modification had very little effect on the airflow.           

Airstream axles

Finally new airstream axles. We have been riding on the old axles for way too long. We picked up the new axles from Auto Saftey house on friday. The axles are Dexter axles and we went with 22.5  degrees (which added 3 inches!)  . They came out to $446 each thanks to a friends discount. Orginally they would have been $550 but thats still much less then what the airstream websites would have charged. Inland RV was about 745 each plus shipping.  We had to drill new holes but it really wasnt that hard to do. I used a stepper bit from harbor fright that went right through the frame. We saved around $700 drilling our own holes.

 

UPDATE AS OF 08/27/2014:

(I have had a little over a year on the new axles and I am happy with the quality however, I would highly recommend going more than 22.5 degrees. If I could do it over I would do 26 to 32 degrees.)

before



after

Just looking at it you can tell its time to replace. It’s done its job for 40 years which is pretty amazing. I wonder if the new ones will last that long?   

I did research online and found that torsion axles really don’t need shocks. We are not installing shocks on the new axles. If for any reason in the future it becomes a problem I cut off the brackets from the old axles incase I want to weld them on.

Chris removing the first axle

Here you can see the new bolts. I used Grade 8 bolts that I bought from Napa auto parts. The bolts are not in the original holes on the airstream frame. We just picked a new spot and drilled away from the old holes and made sure we drilled as high as we could from the bottom of the frame using a stepper bit. Drill the new holes with the axles inplace. Drill through both axles and frame and just slide the bolt in.

Chris, Jason, Allen

Dad, helping out.

Thanks Jason for the help!

20"

23"



After everything was done we gained 3 inches!

If you are planning on doing axles yourself, I will be posting all the measurements, where I got the axles, tools I used and where I dilled the holes. Email me if I forget. It took about 3 hours.

You will need:  5/8 grade 8 bolts. I got 8 of them at napa auto parts. nuts bolts and washers came out to $35.

Suggestion: You could go with ½ inch bolts. They are MUCH easier to find and you can buy a half inch drill bit almost anywhere. If you do go with 5/8, Sears has 5/8 drill bits. If you use a stepper bit you will have to drill at a slight angle.

*Please feel free to email me if you would like more information