1974 Westfalia Essen Trailer

[notchboy]

On my 77, most wires go into my right passenger TS housing. Only the left turn wire goes over the top of the engine bay. From what I recall. I haven't had any issue with load on the stock circuit or fuses.

Sorry no good pics, just this.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8198958#8198958
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[crofty]

[notchboy]

I put new ends on the og wires. The female with male piggyback. Space is tight under the TS cap.
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[Globusoverland]

Any luck on these Otiswesty? Did it fit??

[white74westy]

Been a very long time since I posted anything regarding the trailer. As luck would have it, everything comes in at one time. My engine case for the '74 westy rebuild has arrived. In the meantime, I've picked up another camper...this time a water cooled Eurovan. Now, the panels for the trailer are ready.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I have a friend that has been working on the panels for quite some time. Last week when I was visiting, he told me that he was real close and that he had one of them for me to look at. The one he brought me was amazing. The finish was beautiful and warm in color. He wanted to put one more coat of spar varnish on it, to finish things up.

This afternoon he sent me some pictures.

This was the first go round:

The first panel had one coat of a sealer applied. The second had one coat of glaze, and of course the last panel is the original

We're starting to get close to a finished product:

This was the photo he sent me today:

He applied the final coat of spar varnish, in a high gloss finish. I'm really excited to be picking these up on Friday. I know its a little tough to tell from the images captured by the camera, but the colors are really close to the "unweathered" or less weathered pieces that are found on the outer edges of the panels. Either way, I'm really happy with the finish, and I'll be sure to post photos of the process, once I start putting it back together.

[notchboy]

Looks sweet! I'd wager its 100x better than when it left the factory floor.
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[white74westy]

[white74westy]

Lots of back and forth, between several projects. Do a little here, get stuck waiting on a part, or for PB Blaster to soak on bolts etc. move to another project, and do a little there, until the next hurdle presents itself. No worries! I'm having a lot of fun putting all the projects together!

A quick look at what I'm working with:

These suckers had been on there a long time! They did not want to come off willingly. I applied PB Blaster a couple times a day for a few days. After letting everything soak, I pried the rubber grommets that sit behind the reflectors off the post. This allowed me to push the reflectors inwards, showing more of the bolt heads. These are actually barrel nuts. Again, there age made it horribly difficult to remove them, and this was made no easier given the very shallow flat head slots. Initially I was going to notch an additional slot in them and make them Philips heads. However, I soon realized that would be a losing proposition. I ended up using my channel locks and quickly managed to get them off. Naturally that meant that I would need to source new ones! Good thing I also needed to order new hardware for the trailer, so I sat down and spent some time on Belmetric's website, finding the odds and sods I needed. It just so happens that a nice little care package showed up today:

While I was waiting for the hardware to show up, I managed to spend a little time on the fenders yesterday. Started by pulling the fenders from the body, by removing the pop rivets:

Once I had them free, I decided to spend a little time cleaning some of the oxidation off the frames. I sat in front of the grinding wheel, with a coarse wire wheel and enjoyed the beautiful weather outside, as I worked away. Having reached a point where I was satisfied, I applied a rust preventative and started on the fenders themselves. I plan to rattle can them. In doing so, I spent another couple of hours with red, 3M pad, scuffing them. I wanted to spray them this afternoon, but it was far too windy for that. I'll have to wait for another day.

[white74westy]

Well...I've made some decent progress, but it never feels like enough, not to mention, I'm kinda stuck. We'll get to that in a little bit.

When I left off last, I had spent some time cleaning up the wheel carriers. Shortly thereafter, I remembered that I still needed to clean up the galvenized steel corners that hold the panels in place. They were covered in either some sort of poly or spar varnish. You'll notice the yellow, discolored, crusties that are starting to be removed:

Fire up the ol' propane torch and carefully heat up the stain, then scrape away:

All done. Covered them with rust preventative:

I must give credit where its due. This is the gentleman that masterfully applied the finish, that best approximated what I asked for:

Just an awesome human being!!! He's been a cabinet maker/carpenter for nearly as long as I've been alive. He did an incredible job and I am proud to be able to show off some of his work. As I may have mentioned earlier in the thread, I almost feel bad even using the panels. They are so beautifully finished, and it is almost a shame to take them out. Naaaahhhh...we'll put them to good use!

In trying to my best to emulate his efforts, I spent several days sanding, prepping and varnishing the piece of 2x2 that acts as the spine, along which the wiring harness for the rear lights run. Pretty proud of myself. This required far more patience than I am accustomed to having to display:

So the next step was to start riveting the buttons to the sides of the panels:

It took a little longer than I would have liked, for no other reason than the pneumatic rivet gun I bought a couple of years ago needed to be rebuilt, as it wasn't functioning properly. Good way to waste a half a day.

I mounted the panels into the sides of the trailer frame. Lots more blind rivets. Off the top of my head, I can't remember where I sourced the rivets, because it was a long time ago, but they match the rivets that were originally used at the factory. I opted to use stainless rivets, so hopefully that will add another layer to the overall longevity of the project:

That was a good place to stop for the night. For the sake of full disclosure, you might notice the scuff marks near one of the rivets in the photo above. Perhaps a little insight into my aggravation mentioned above regarding a malfunctioning riveter. I can laugh now...wasn't funny at the time.

The next morning, I came out to this:

A little bummed out. I didn't have my phone when I first walked out, so the light was slightly different when I captured the shot. Either way, still quite a beautiful glow:

Made a little progress, adding the axle and the tongue:

Continuing to clean things up, I put these in the ultrasonic with a very, very, mild vinegar/simple green solution to get rid of the rust. Started like this:

Ended up with these:

Much better!

Next was on to the wheel carriers. This is where things have since gone a little sideways. Originally, I thought it had only been a couple of years since I purchased all of these supplies. Having gone through my receipts, I now realize what was only a couple of years in my mind, was actually five! Holy Shnikeys!!! Where did the time go?!?!?! Life has a funny way of passing by! Anyhow, when I opened the package on the cellasto dampers, they were slightly discolored. I guess that's what ya get for not getting to the project any sooner:

I installed the glide bearings. They took a little bit of effort:

And now we're stuck! The ID fits the axle well. However, as you can see, in the OD is thicker than the OG bearings. I installed them and then attempted to put the wheel carrier on the axle. I managed to get it good and stuck. I should have really stopped much sooner than I did. Quite foolishly, I continued to struggle mightily, when it would have been much wiser to have walked away and tried again another day. Fatigue and self-imposed deadlines can make for some stupid decisions. With hindsight being what it is, I should have dropped back to punt. I sent an email to Westy Trailers, the parts house that I got all my goodies from, to ask if anyone else had experienced the same. I still haven't heard back from them. I went on to the website, and lo and behold, plain as day. It states that you might have to sand them a little to get them to fit properly. Ah well, no one to blame but myself. I guess that's what you get for trying to remember tiny details, five years after you've bought parts. No worries, I'll get it sorted out eventually.

[notchboy]

Did you ask the boys over on the FB group?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/259975957415954/?ref=bookmarks
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[white74westy]

[white74westy]

As mentioned above, I had to come up with some creative thinking in order to free the wheel carrier from the axle. Once that was done, it was time to focus my attention towards resizing the glide bearings. Much like the inspiration that came for how to get the axle situation sorted, the glide bearings also came to me while I was asleep. I sat up in bed, some time around 3 a.m. with eureka moments, and promptly fell back asleep. Each time I recall thinking, 'I hope I remember this when I wake up!' Also, it goes to show how much headspace these projects consume. I can't wait to have all the big stuff done...hopefully then, I'll be able to get some rest!

With the axle sorted out, I was back to square one:

Next I set about coming up with a solution for removing material from the glode bearings. As I stated last week, the website mentioned the need for sanding them down, in order to get them to fit. I don't remember that little detail being there when I made the initial purchase. Either way, it had to be done.

I started by tracing the inner diameter of the glide bearing and used a jig saw to cut the wood to be slightly bigger:

You get the idea:

I hoped this would provide enough force to keep the bearing on the wood. The image above was just for the sake of the photo. I actually flush mounted the bearing to the part of the glide bearing that has the lip and mounted that on my grinding wheel. From there it was simply a matter of getting a paint stick, you know, the kind they give you at one of the Big Box stores when you order a gallon of paint. I wrapped that with some 60 grit sand paper and held that under the spinning bearing, removing tiny amounts of material at a time. I had the wheel carrier next to me, to continually test fit. It worked out really well!

With that behind me, it was time to start on the lid. When I pulled it apart, there was some sort of asphalt impregnated material between the wood panel and the frame. I searched high and low. This is the best I could come up with:

I cut the strips to fit and installed them on the underside of the trailer lid:

Put the wood in place and riveted it, just like the rest of the panels on the trailer. I think it came out pretty well:

I have a few little things left to do. I have reinstalled the ID plate that goes on the trailer arm:

I still need to do the same for the one that goes on the side of the trailer. But first, I needed to clean it up. Like the rest of the trailer, the tag had been coated with either Spar varnish, or eurathane:

Little crusty.

Took the torch to it and scrubbed the remnents off. Here's how she ended up:

Much better!

Very little left to do! I've got stickers coming that will be mounted, add the VIN plate, and a couple other little things left to do. Once that's all done, I'll go through all the nuts and bolt, make sure everything is properly tightened/fastened and hopefully call it a day. All that will be left will be to hopefully enjoy lots of good travels!

[Globusoverland]

Very nice to see. Good job.
And: thanks for sharing and the pictures.

[white74westy]

[white74westy]

So I'm still not quite done with the trailer. I'm close, I mean really close. I have one more sticker to add, and the latch for the lock and I believe that should do it. I may have one other thing left to do, but I haven't fully decided on that one yet.

Anyhow, the trailer has managed to see its first action and get its first battle scars, without even having hit the road. Last week we went on a family vacation up to North Carolina, to visit some family. A little ways in to the road trip, I got a call from my neighbor stating there'd been an accident. A tree limb had fallen off the tree and come through the skylight on the porch:

Naturally, all the debris landed on the trailer and left a couple of nasty dings and scratches:

We'll have to see about having it repaired. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

[bus guy]

Ah man! That sucks. Looks amazing though.

[white74westy]

[bus guy]

True, but still hard to deal with when it’s perfect. I’m planning to eventually find a similar trailer to go with my ‘69 Westy; I already scored an original Westfalia hitch for it.

[notchboy]

Dang, bummer. You going to have the same guy that restored them, fix this issue?
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[white74westy]