1959 R23 complete gut job - help & advice

[DrFred]

I posted some of this in an old thread under introductions but I think it belongs here.

We have the inside skins down and the insulation out everywhere except in the very front and very rear, nose and tail. How do I get behind that molded material that isn’t an aluminum skin to get to the studs/insulation? Has anyone dropped those pieces and then reinstalled? Is it osb? masonite? Kind of stumped here.

After this is done, floor is coming out and planning to drop the belly pan jack up the shell and slowly pull the chassis out for inspection, some welding fixes and will get new axel and wheels.

Any and all help and advice appreciated.

Some pics of the project…

[TimYinger]

Mine is probably the same, it’s fiberglass and came out as one whole unit - one for the front and one for the back. Still not sure how we got it out the door

[KYAvion]

Old post, but how’s the progress coming on your trailers?

[TimYinger]

Hi @KYAvion , thanks for checking in! I’m getting close to taking off the shell to add a new subfloor to the frame- just a bit of the belly pan left. I’ve also been redoing the weather seal on the windows, and had the glass replaced in them. It’s been slow going! And I’m still not confident that I will be able to get it right. My main concerns are the windows and the door which is in rough shape. @DrFred how is yours coming along?

[KYAvion]

That’s definitely a big job. What material are you using for the subfloor? Before that, do you plan coat the frame with anything?

[TimYinger]

@KYAvion to be honest I’m not sure how much effort I want to put into the frame. Short of dragging it to a shop to have a pro get it shored up, I won’t be making it road ready- any advice? I’d be happy with just being able to relocate it within the property that it’s on. As far as subfloor, the idea is to cut rigid foam and place the pieces inside the frame squares, and then marine grade plywood on top screwed in to the metal. I don’t have it all figured out yet, I’ve been winging it so far.

[KYAvion]

One thought would be to use POR15 on the frame. I’ve not used the product myself, but I’ve read other people have been happy with. Since you’ve got things taken apart and the frame is accessible, this may be worth looking into.

I’ve got an 84 30R, and the floor is two thin pieces of plywood with (if I remember correctly) 1.5” thick foam board in the middle. I like your idea about putting foam inside the frame squares. Something that might be worth thinking about is cutting the foam smaller than necessary, and temporarily holding it in place with shims while using spray foam in the gap between the rigid foam and the frame. If you were to do a thinner plywood and foam sandwich on top, the foam would help to interrupt the thermal break of the metal frame.