by DJ Davis » Wed Sep 15, 2021 7:01 pm
Yep...I'll whole-heartedly admit now that you're never finished with a teardrop.
After having a wiring issue with the roof vent fan that made me (reluctantly) turn back homeward on the way to the Home Built Teardrop Gathering at Bull Shoals, AR the second weekend of Jun, I decided I was going to remedy that and go with backup. I soldered the wires to the fan and installed a 5K BTU window shaker on top of a reconfigured tongue box. I'm now four-season capable.
I also picked up a pair of Flexiride torsion half axles, made my own cross brace, and installed those. This weekend will be the test run for the axles and see what settings to put the roof vent fan on to get the A/C to cool AND dehumidify the air in the camper before the compressor shuts off. I got pics of the A/C install and updated my I'bles page, but, no, I didn't take any pics of the axle fabrication steps. I did some drawings for that and can share those if anyone's interested.
FYI: I bought the metal I needed, invested in a mig welding set up and angle grinder after I was told the axle brace job would cost about $1400. Materials were about $150, the welding gear was $400 (HF Labor Day sale), and I learned some mig welding techniques from YouTube videos. Would I say it was easy? Yes. I took my time and "learned" how to lay a decent bead on out of sight areas, but I must say, if you're going to just jump feet first into welding, mig's th' way t' go! I thought it looked easy and IMHO, it was.
After this "major" task, the next will be making some fender mounting brackets. The new axle/cross brace and torsion half axles extend outside the edge of the cabin walls. I did that so I could upgrade to 13" rims and 24" diameter tires. The old HF fenders are too narrow, but will make do for now. Later I'll order some new ones from etrailer.
In closing, just to throw it out there, South Padre Island has their Sandcastle days competition the first weekend of Oct. We're booked at the SPI KOA. Nice place! If'n any of y'all ain't got nuthin' better t' do and feel like driving almost half way 'cross Texas, come down and see it. Oh, and call the KOA instead of using the online reservation system. The website always says "Only two sites left" when you can have a pick of quite a few. The staff are wonderful and will help you choose a good site.
Later!
DJ
DJ
They say "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." I've noted that if it doesn't kill you, it waits patiently for another opportunity.