Reeeeeally exciting weekend! Despite getting on the road a little later than hoped for, we were able to get over to the shipping depot before it closed to pick up our axles! (For posterity, axles are #3500 axle with 12" brakes, powder coated tubes, 32 degrees torsion arms down angle, EZ lube spindles, with shock brackets welded in place.) I felt like I was in the movie Cars, watching the forklifts zip around the warehouse--it was so COOL!
The next morning Peter got to disassembling while I was on rust-bust duty. Thankfully the wheel covers popped off pretty easily and once Peter was able to break through the first revolution, the lug nuts spun off easily. (For posterity, #21.) Then he detached the mysterious water tank and, ew, it still had water in it. He had been spraying the bolts on the old axles with WD-40 for weeks in preparation for this, and it paid off because he was able to drop the old axles with minimal finagling. We took a wire brush bit and a sander to the frame, but I was again so pleased to see what good condition it was in.
Ostensibly, getting the new axles in place could be a two-person job, but only if the second person is a lot stronger than me. We put one end on a sheet of plywood, and Peter lifted the other end while I pulled the plywood under it was in place under the Airstream. I am not sure at all all how we lifted the first axle into place: it was some combo of Peter benching the axle while wiggling blocks underneath until it was up off the ground enough to lift it the rest of the way with a bottle jack. Peter had watched enough install videos on Youtube to learn that the axle slots in the frame would need to be widened half an inch to the back, so he used a jigsaw to make those cuts. He also made the slot a bit deeper so there would be more contact between the frame and the axle.
We called in the calvary for the second axle. Amanda and Prudence lifted one end end while Peter lifted the other, and I stacked blocks, but it slipped and nearly crushed the four of us, so instead Peter and Amanda did the lifting while Prudence and I slipped temporary bolts into place to hold it against the frame, which worked a lot better.
Instead of balancing the jack in the middle, Peter put it under the bracket where the bolt was so that we could then use a sledgehammer to adjust the alignment. What was amazing was the brackets were tight against the frame, so you really had to get it lined up just right for both sides to go up into their slots, but strangely this wasn't too challenging, and the extra tension from that tightness also helped hold the axles up while we adjusted for the bolts. What was also amazing was that once the axle was fitted into its slot, Peter could finish the installation all by himself.
Peter tried to install the shocks, too, but they didn't quite fit, so he is going to do a bit more research. For a second I thought maybe we installed the axles upside down. His theory is that since we changed the torsion angle from the standard, it is making the shocks just a little too short. While Peter finished bolting the axles on, I used the wire brush & drill on the wheels to get the rust off. Once the axles were bolted on, we put the wheels back on and voila! Kind of crazy to think that we are just 4 tires away from being able to safely tow this thing! Like the subfloor, axles were a huge project I was super intimidated by, but my baby just got in there and got it done!
In preparation for reinstalling the fresh water tank, we added plywood reinforcement to the subfloor seams in that compartment before we called it quits for the day. Lots of crawling around under the Airstream today, but thankfully no snake encounters.
Before we got out of Dodge on Sunday, we insulated the last back corner and put the last piece of original skin into place. Now all the walls are up except for the back end cap. The back end cap will take some finessing because it is "deeper" and covers more area without rib support than the front end cap. But Peter is also working with the benefit of experience now.
Will is coming to run the propane lines and wrap up loose ends with the electric. I expect the back end cap will take a chunk of time, but since the tank venting is already mostly dry-fitted, we could be working on plumbing really soon!
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