Vintage Camper Trailer Frame Reinforcing

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I'm restoring a 1948 Spartan Manor camper trailer and have the frame out. I'm going to need to reinforce the frame and possibly fabricate a longer tongue.The tongues on these are about 22" out from the aluminum body so it's hard to make tight turns without crushing the panels.  I got a welder last year and have only done a few projects building mobile bases for some of my woodworking machines.  That's the extent of my experience...though i did a pretty good, clean job of it.   With that said, I was thinking of fabricating some reinforcements for the frame and tacking them up for a pro.  But i was wondering if you folks think I can do a majority of the welding on the project myself?  i don't know how critical the welds are. I'm wondering if i should get some tube...around 6"...that matches the C channel on the frame and sister weld it along the outside of the entire tongue back to the first main crossmember?  At that point it will be butted up to the outriggers...so i was thinking of continuing to run another short tube sistered to the straight run behind the crossmember? seems this would give it a few more inches of clearance and strengthen the tongue.  would this be a pretty conventional way of approaching this?  the other part that i thought would be less critical that i might be able to handle is boxing in some of the channel around the axle hangers where the frame seems like it might be a little stressed.  seems it would be hard to get that wrong.  any other thoughts?  am i in the wrong forum?  not much action in the Spartan forum.Last edited by Spit; 07-01-2012 at 07:36 PM.
Reply:Same age  I am and looks to be in about the same shape  Good luck on that.   Frames are touchy subject here; many fellas enjoy  the action... popcorn anyone?Lincoln Power MIG 215Lincoln WeldPak 3200HDLincon ProCut 25Lincoln WeldanPower 225 AC/DCIf all else fails... buy more tools
Reply:You beat me to it Papa.
Reply:The weakest point on the trailer is where the tongue members attach to the frame. If it wasn't for the mono-**** body. the frame would never hold together. I would buy a piece of Three by six by 3/16th tube about 12 ft long and run it straight from the hitch to the second or third stringer and just let it stick out in front however long you want your hitch. The original frame will give you plenty of triangulation.  The frame is in pretty good shape for its age.  Most of them are all rust by now. Since its easy to turn it over I would just weld all the flats on one side and then turn it over and finish the flats on the other side. I try to never  weld all the way across a tube, especially on the vertical. Mac
Reply:My 1st thought seeing the frame is that you need to start by having the whole thing sand blasted to see how bad the rust might be. That A frame looks pretty rusty. You can't weld to rust, it all needs to go.Definitely this is not a "learning" project. Strength critical welds like on the tongue require someone who can make code quality welds every time in all positions. As far as boxing in other areas, not sure why you need to do that. If it's due to rust, then chances are you'd be best off simply replacing the main members and rebuilding the frame from scratch if the rust is that bad. Over all, if properly executed I can't see why something can't be done to remedy the issues you've mentioned. One question to keep in mind is will it effect the value if you alter the original design. This may or may not matter, but if you are putting a lot of effort in to a "restoration", it would suck to do all the work just to find out you F'd yourself by changing something..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Tongue looks a little rough but the rest probably isn't all that bad. I would probably leave the tongue section as is except for the obvious over all clean up or blasting. With probably patching what looks like a large hole that someone cut into the tounge with a torch. New straight section of box retangular tube section starting about three rows back from the tongue. Extend it forward but under the existing structure. Just short of the hitch coupler, I would end that piece with a 45 cut and start another section just above overlaping the first section of new tube by about two feet. Plate the sides to tie the two together. Extend this section between the existing tongue area farther forward to get the new distance you are looking for, but don't try to get to carried away on the length of tounge. Tie the existing tounge shape into this new section as it extends past them.Your frame looks good for its age and is probably better built than what is sold for new today.Good Luck!  I would guess that 85% of projects never see completion even with good intentions.
Reply:I haven't read the responses, so apologies if this echos someone elses thoughts;First off, AWESOME project!! I love vintage RV trailers! Please show us pics as you go!Second, the remaining paint on that trailer indicates to me that the section under the trailer is still decent. I'd leave that part of the frame alone and box the existing channel. If you really need to extend the tongue, I'd add a rectangular tube on the centreline, straight through the first cross channel and connect it to the second. You could extend this rect tube past the old "A" coupler location and put a straight tongue on it. I prefer a 2-5/16" surge coupler myself. You could also box the existing channel (tongue) section and weld it solid at the trough pointLast edited by Canoe2fish; 07-02-2012 at 07:25 PM.Thermal Arc Fabricator 2101970 Lincoln RedfaceMiller 150 STLStill need a Syncrowave and a plasma and a milling machine and a lathe and a bigger shop and a....
Reply:I would run a box tube from the tounge back like others have said, box in the existing front frame and add 2x what ever c channle to the side of the exsisting A-frame. I would also either have the frame media blasted or get real friendly with a wire wheel. Now is the the time to do all of that before your project gets any farther along. I have seen someone do this on a 57 jewel that had simular issues. The manor is a decent sized trailer specially to be a single axel.  Where are you located? Used to be big into the vintage trailer circuit in CA.