Back and side repairs

The wood framing at the rearmost lower areas would be removed, new ones made from a tracing of what we had left with a little imagination for what was gone. A bit of reworking and we had a perfect fit. The lower framing from these rear pieces up to and including the wheel wells was also replaced. These being nothing fancy were an easy fabrication. After cutting and fitting we trimmed any extra to achieve that just right look. A few vertical frame braces were also replaced as well as a few around the side windows. Instead of just stapeling these, as had originally been done, we chose to purchase a number of metal plates with holes precut and bridged the connecting points for a more stable build. Screws would be used for this task. Remember, these things were built as cheaply as the manufacturer could make them. (Nothing has changed in all these years, companies still build as cheaply as they can!!)

Now, with all this damage, the hind end of this poor little Cub was sagging terribly. To lift it into place I used an auto floor jack and a port-a-power. Working just a little at a time on each side, the proper alignment was reached and things were screwed into place. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in my measurments and the right rear side was going to need a little more attention. This I wouldn't find until much later.

The rear end was nothing but a mess. Even though those photos looked to be in fairly good shape, everything had been wet over the years and bowed outward far beyond use. At least the wood was good for parterns. Framing was rebuilt and the inner panel was cut and placed into its rightful position. If you look at the photos you can see that the skin was a messy looking pile of worthless metal from the rear glass down. Believe it or not, I was able to actually save it by reworking what was left into something acceptable. But the skin will be installed quite a way down the road and I am getting ahead of myself.

Here you see the early stages of repair being performed on the back of the trailer.

And another view.

Now this is a later shot with the wiring installed but shows the completed rear frame work.

From the inside.

You can see the new wood over the wheel wells and some added wood for the exterior table mount that the factory never had.That poor lower fit would be trimmed into a smooth and clean fit.

Here it is, damaged rear corner and sagging badly.

In this shot we find the rearmost lower frame support and the piece that would connect this with the wheel well. This shot is out of sequence with the previous photo as it was completed first. The wheel well would follow. That clean, almost white, piece of angled wood was the toughest part to cut. The photo below shows another shot of this devil of a piece of wood. Oh, I swore at it a number of times.. It has also been lifeted into its proper place. (Well, sort of. This side would require a little more lifting before it was all done.)

It's time for a break and a well earned beer. Margie has hers. WHERE'S MINE!!!??



Well, we're back and loads of work has been finished!!

Just a sample of what was instore for us!!

Notice my little black spider friend!!

This is what we had to look out for all through the process!!

As the title implies, we have done a lot to the old girl. To be honest, we just forgot about this blog and the work continued. Since we have rediscovered this place we figured to try and recall how the work went.

After that inspection we tried to figure just what we were in for. Now, I restore automobiles and this would seem to be so much easier. (This we would find to be totally WRONG!! Give me a car, even the newer ones with all its computers and I am right at home!! But me and wood just do not get along very well.)

Anyway, it was decided that we'd continue with the project. Since the trailer was mostly solid repairing the framing was first on the list. With that in mind we started removing all the lower siding as well as the complete rear skin. A total rebuild of the wood work in the rear will be performed. The lower 10 to 18 inches of the rearmost sides also needed replacment. That damaged door area will also be replaced with new wood. To our good fortune we were able to make templates from what was left of these areas.

So, off we went removing parts, making lists of what was needed, make templates and off to the local Big Box hardware store we went..

                                          Here we can see the left side from the rearward forward. Not as bad as we had thought but not as good as we had hoped for.

 While it looks pretty good in this photo, the bulge was bad enough to need to be torn out!!!