Anyone interested in 83 Pace Arrow Tear down and Rebuild?

[fulltimin]

Started to look into some water damage in the kitchen of our 83 Pace Arrow. The more I looked, the more I found. I have some pics of the damage so far. Anyone interested in following a rebuild thread?

[fulltimin]

I was roaming around the big box store today for a little while, and I happened to see this. Lol...







I was a little surprised to see a piece of wood bent like that, still on the shelf, but hey, maybe someone wants to use one of them to build a slide of some sort. Lol. Just beware of splinters. Ouch!

I may have another idea for wheel wells. I want to look into it a little farther tomorrow, and update you tomorrow night.

As for tonight, it's still a secret! Lol.

[fulltimin]

STBRetired wrote:

fulltimin wrote:
I might get up tomorrow morning, look at that, and say, "that's just so ugly, I can't possibly install that".

Why not build a plywood box around them once they are installed. That way you don't need to look at them and you can place heavier objects on top of them or incorporate them into some cabinetry or furnishing.

BTW, I really like the Kreg jig. Comes in really handy for a lot of quick fabrication. Add a little glue and you get a really strong joint. Much quicker than mortice and tenon when making cabinet face frames and doors. Not as pretty, but not too bad if you use the wood plugs to fill the holes after the screws are installed. Have found that using hardwood dowel is a lot cheaper than using the plugs that Kreg sells. Just need to have a supplier that carries dowel in different species.

I do plan on building a box inside to cover up the wheel wells. After building the box, I also want to insulate in between the 2, so that will cut down on road noise.

Originally, they had some fiberglass laying on top of them. I'll probably use spray foam insulation.

As far as the Kreg goes, I don't have a lot of experience with it, but that is going to change, I think.

It seems to work extremely well with plywood, in making a good solid joint. Haven't done much with real wood and glue yet.

Originally, there were a lot of pocket holes and screws used in the construction of the cabinets of this motor home.

[fulltimin]

wildmanbaker wrote:
Your idea about steel is a good one. 11 gauge, or 1/8" would be a good choice. You could make card stock templates of the cover and sides with flanges for attachment under the floor. Have a shop cut and bend them so you can weld the sides to the top cover. The reason I recommend steel, is for road hazards. Lets face it, if something appears in the road in front of you, you are not going to try to serve to avoid it, with a top heavy rig. Duals seem to like to pick things up and fling them in random directions. This may prevent something from penetrating the wheel well and coming into the people tank. Just thinking out loud again.

Hey, nothing wrong with thinking out loud, (sometimes)! Lol.

Probably steel or even aluminum, if it's thick enough, would keep most stuff from coming up through there. What was there, covering the wheels, was very thin, and could easily be cut with a tin snips.

However, that being said, it did hold up for over 30 years. It didn't have any holes in it. Lol.

The steel that was used for the outside storage boxes was definitely thicker than what they used for the wheel wells.

My guess is, since I didn't measure it, is that it is probably 28 gauge steel, or something similar.

[STBRetired]

fulltimin wrote:
I might get up tomorrow morning, look at that, and say, "that's just so ugly, I can't possibly install that".

Why not build a plywood box around them once they are installed. That way you don't need to look at them and you can place heavier objects on top of them or incorporate them into some cabinetry or furnishing.

BTW, I really like the Kreg jig. Comes in really handy for a lot of quick fabrication. Add a little glue and you get a really strong joint. Much quicker than mortice and tenon when making cabinet face frames and doors. Not as pretty, but not too bad if you use the wood plugs to fill the holes after the screws are installed. Have found that using hardwood dowel is a lot cheaper than using the plugs that Kreg sells. Just need to have a supplier that carries dowel in different species.

[wildmanbaker]

Your idea about steel is a good one. 11 gauge, or 1/8" would be a good choice. You could make card stock templates of the cover and sides with flanges for attachment under the floor. Have a shop cut and bend them so you can weld the sides to the top cover. The reason I recommend steel, is for road hazards. Lets face it, if something appears in the road in front of you, you are not going to try to serve to avoid it, with a top heavy rig. Duals seem to like to pick things up and fling them in random directions. This may prevent something from penetrating the wheel well and coming into the people tank. Just thinking out loud again.

[fulltimin]

That means that the altered wheel well, will now fit the new wheel well holes, and all I have to do is to put them into place and screw them down!

Of course, I might get up tomorrow morning, look at that, and say, "that's just so ugly, I can't possibly install that".

I don't know. I'll sleep on it and see how I feel about it in the morning.

I can always buy some aluminum or even steel and make new ones. Then again, I could have them made.

Can you tell, I don't know exactly how I am going to finish this yet? Lol.

Like Scarlett O'Hara said ... I'll deal with it tomorrow! Lol.

[fulltimin]

Fit this ......

[fulltimin]

Why would anyone build a frame that looks like this?

Because if I can make this ...

[fulltimin]

Then we assemble a little frame just like this one.

[fulltimin]

Next step is to pull out the small Kreg pocket hole jig... and make some pocket holes....

[fulltimin]

Work today consisted of cutting some scrap lumber to a certain size, like this.

[fulltimin]

And now for the picture of the night! Lol.

While I was out looking for the rubber bumpers for the rear axle, I decided to take a picture of the underbelly, on the drivers side.

Even if it looks like they are wrong, all of the seams are correctly oriented, with the front ones overlapping the next one to the rear. That will keep air and debris from getting in there.

Of course, getting some boxes in there will also help that situation. Lol. Then again, down the center of the rig, will not have any boxes, and they are oriented the same way.

Again, thanks for all the ideas, everyone!

[fulltimin]

STBRetired wrote:
Have you measured how much travel the tires actually have? How much space is between the axle and the bump stop on the frame? How far below the floor are the tires now? You might be able to get the height of the wheel well even lower.

As others have said, I would line the wheel well with metal of some sort. Maybe you could just cut down the old wheel wells and use them as the liners for new boxes.

Thanks for the reminder. I wanted to do that, and had just forgotten.

I went out tonight, and had a look. There are no rubber bumpers there, as I believe the ones that were there, were probably replaced by the aftermarket air bags.

Based on that, the air bags could only compress a maximum of 6 inches, and that would put them completely flat, with the bottom bag bracket up against the frame and top air bag bracket.

As the top of the tires are currently just a touch below the bottom of the floor joists, I could indeed reduce the height of the box.

Between the 1.5" joist, and 3/4" plywood, we have a total of 2.25" to the top of the floor. Subtracting that from the 6 inches, we end up with 3.75" above the floor. I suppose I should leave a little extra just for good measure.

So, yeah, I guess I can lower the top of the box a little. Thanks for the reminder!

[fulltimin]

magik235 wrote:
I made wheel wells for my Jeep out of treated plywood covered in Gluvit then Herculiner more than 10 years ago. They still look good. The entire body of my Jeep is made from treated wood. 1/16 in diamond plate bends well. I emailed you pictures since Photo Bucket no longer works for posting pictures.

Thank you for the pics. I got them, and they look good! If the wood held up for 10 years, it will likely last much longer. Thanks!

[fulltimin]

blownstang01 wrote:
Those wheel wells would be very easy to replicate by any reputable sheet metal shop with a Pittsburgh Lock machine. Also would be lighter than the plywood. That would be my choice personally.

JoeH wrote:
I would not use plywood even if coated with POR and undercoating. A lot of debris will get tossed against the wheel wells and will likely penetrate the coatings. Yes I know POR is tough, but a piece of glass,sharp rock,etc at 50+mph will damage the coating and then subject teh plywood to water intrusion. Then you are getting back to what started this whole project !

PastorCharlie wrote:
I like fiberglass. If 3-4 coats of fiberglass were chopped and epoxyed over a frame it would be superior to the original.

magik235 wrote:
I made wheel wells for my Jeep out of treated plywood covered in Gluvit then Herculiner more than 10 years ago. They still look good. The entire body of my Jeep is made from treated wood. 1/16 in diamond plate bends well. I emailed you pictures since Photo Bucket no longer works for posting pictures.

As with most things, these are all good points. Using pressure treated wood, would eliminate the problem of deteriorating wood, even if debris broke through a coating that was applied.

Aluminum would be lighter.

Reworking what I have would be cheaper.

Fiberglass would make it water proof.

So, I guess I'll have to make a decision on what I am going to do.

I thank all of you for posting your ideas. I will give all of them some thought, and then make a decision.