1974 Westfalia Essen Trailer

[crofty]

How thick is the wood on that trailer?
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[white74westy]

[white74westy]

Not too much action on the trailer, as of yet. Hoping to spend a little time on her this weekend. I did however get the freshly powder coated, tow hitch installed:

[white74westy]

Over the past several weeks, I've been doing bit and pieces for the trailer. I've been working with a friend of mine, that is an extremely talented carpenter. He has done cabinetry for years. He's been helping me figure out ways to stain the wood in a manner that I'm happy with. Man, I'm glad I asked for help. I would have probably thrown a color on there and called it a day. He wants to layer this on top of that and all kinds of stuff, that I would have never dreamed of doing. In the meantime, while all of that is going on, I've also done a couple of little things.

Grimy old coupling - years of hardened grease and road grime:

Degreased:

I'll re-lubricate it, once I start putting it all back together.
A little polish:

Also spent a little time with the wiring harness for the trailer. There was originally a black, plastic, 13-pin Hella plug on there. I didn't like it, so I bought a 7-pin, alloy plug to replace it. The old wires were cut down, cleaned up and reinstalled onto the new plug:

Slapped it all back together:

What she will eventually look like, once the trailer is all back together:

Slow, but steady...still making progress, albeit very slow, but progress, nonetheless.

[white74westy]

Still fiddling around with odds and sods on the trailer, in between bouts, working on the bus. The past couple of days have been spent, cleaning up the old nuts and bolts for the wheels. I just couldn't stomach the idea of having the trailer powder coated and sticking the old hardware on there, looking dingy. Off to the bench grinder we go. I put a new wire wheel on the bench grinder and started to remove some more grime.

Started out with a pile of nuts and bolts, that looked like this:

This was the first one:

I liked the way it came out and decided to see if I could come up with something that would help me make up some time, as well as give me a better way to hold things in front of the wheel:

A little more industrious:

Once I finished all of them, I put a protective coating on them:

I learned about this stuff when echebus was restoring his machine.

Final product:

Still got a long way to go on the trailer, and it really hasn't been at the top of the list of priorities. Hopefully, that will change before too long!

[white74westy]

I have a question for any of the Essen, trailer experts. Does it truly matter, which direction the nuts and bolts face on the split rims?

Here's what they look like:

All the images I've seen, seem to show the nut on the outside of the rim. I have not been able to ascertain the orientation of nut/bolt direction, through any of the images taken inside the Westfalia factory. The pictures are always too grainy for me to tell. If anyone knows what the proper orientation is, I would be grateful.

Thanks!

a.

[notchboy]

Im willing to bet it doesn't matter. Ill look at all mine and see if they follow a pattern.
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[white74westy]

[wcfvw69]

These look good but I'm just curious why you didn't have these re-zinc plated? I think it would provide longer protection.

Keep up the good work!
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[white74westy]

[white74westy]

Really, not very much to report I'm afraid. I did however, get a chance to get the trailer hitch wired up, and working properly. As you probably know by now, the trailer is still not back together. So, I attached the pig tail from the "loose" trailer lights, into the socket on the hitch, and checked the lights. Amazingly, they all work. It stands as good motivation to get cracking on the trailer!

I'm still waiting to meet up with my carpenter, friend, that is helping me match the original stain, for all the wood panels. I hope to meet with him tomorrow. Perhaps, he'll have good news?

I have also managed to purchase some ABUS no. 30 locks for the trailer. I will not need all of them, and wonder if there are any Essen, trailer owners out there, that might be interested in buying one? I should have them in the next few weeks, as they are coming from Europe. Once I have them in hand and can take an inventory of what's there, I'd be happy to part with a few of them. I guess this is kind of a feeler ad, to see if there is any interest in adding the finishing touches to your trailer? They supposedly all work and have keys. If you have ever tried to hunt down a key for these things, you'll know how much of PITA it is!!! Anyhow, just thought I'd throw it out there. Any interest, let me know.

[Globusoverland]

Hi Alexis,

Please let me give my 2 cents
The official parts catalogue doesnt clear up our questions regarding the bolts and nuts.

However, I managed to find an original spare wheel and holder that shows the way of mounting the bolts/nuts in relation with the tire valve. The one I have shows the valve on the same side as the nuts.

Maybe they went this way because of tightening the nuts easier during maintenance? No need to crawl underneath it?
By the way: do you see the diffence in rims in the various pics I posted? That would be a nice new topic: lets talk rims! (there have been at least 4 kinds of rims for these Essen trailers!)


However, To me it looks much nicer to have the nuts "inside". That's why I mounted them this way:

Hope this is of help.
Keep up the good work buddy!

[white74westy]

[obieoberstar]

I would think that the nuts should be on the outside of the rim. That way they are visible and it will be easy to check that all are still there. The nuts will fall off first

[Kirk]

What a great thread. I'm super jealous and wish I had one of these. That '78 you had would have been perfect.
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[white74westy]

[white74westy]

[notchboy]

[Kirk]

[notchboy]

Yeah. You've wanted one for quite some time brother. See what Eric has or comb the German eBay Classys
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