Day 4
After the first 2 days that I was off being rainy, I was finally able to get outside yesterday and do a little work on the trailer. I went to Home Depot on Wednesday to buy some paint for the house (doors), and while I was there I picked up some Scotch Brite pads. I wanted the red ones like the auto body shop uses because that is what I have always used to prep for paint on the Jeep and everything else. They didn’t have the red, but the girl found some green “scouring pads” on the cleaning isle. They looked like they were a little more course (for lack of a better word), but I bought them anyway since my only other option was sand paper – I hate using sand paper! Only $2.99 for 9 of them – worth a try.
So yesterday I went outside and it was drizzling – I went to the shop anyway. I scuffed the wheels down inside and out. The green Scotch Brite pads gave just as fine of a finish as the red ones. By that time it had cleared up. I went outside and scuffed the axle and springs too. I took the wheels outside and wiped them down with mineral spirits before I got the Gillespie OD24087 spray bomb. I ran across a full case of this spray paint a couple of years ago on Steel Soldiers for $32 shipped. That’s less than half the price of a case before shipping from the distributors! Anyway, I used the spray cans to paint the wheels and running gear. I also has a few small parts ready for paint at the same time, so I sprayed them too.
While I was putting the second coat on the running gear, it started to drizzle AGAIN! I stopped painting and threw a tarp over it – and waited. After being clear for about 10 minutes (and 1 beer later), I uncovered it and finished the second coat.
Day 5
This afternoon I was able to get back to the trailer parts. I tore the casting and landing leg assembly down. It was pretty bad! All of the crown nuts and cotter pins were rusted together, and most of the crown nuts were rusted away! I was able to cut the cotter pins off on both sides of the nut and drive them out with a drift punch. The nuts came off with some Aero Kroil – no heat needed! If you’ve never used this stuff, you ought to try it – good stuff. PB Blaster is another one of my favorites. Anyway, the main 1″ bolt holding the pivot casting in place did not want to come out after I got the nut off. I tried hitting it with a hammer – nothing. Next, I thought it might be threaded in there. So I put the impact on it and loosened. It moved some, but bound up. So I sprayed some more Kroil and went backwards and forward until it spun freely – it WASN’T threaded after all! I took a hammer and old bolt and drove it out. It was covered with 60 years worth of mud!
After everything was apart, I wire brushed, scraped and SANDED until it was ready for primer. I brushed on a coat of Rust Metal Primer (by Rustoleum). Then I focused on the drawbars. They were in pretty good condition with a few rust spots and multiple layers of paint. So I went through the same process of wire brushing, scraping and sanding. I brushed on some Rusty Metal Primer. I cleaned up the lunette, spring, washers and crown nut and just sprayed some Rustoleum primer on these parts since they weren’t pitted (except for the crown nut, which will get replaced!). These small pieces are VERY time consuming!
You can see the pile in the front still needs cleaning and priming compared to the small amount that has been done!
That was the extent of my trailer work for the past 2 days. Tomorrow will be the last day I get to work on it on this week off because it is supposed to rain Mon-Wed, and I go back to work on Thurs. Tomorrow, I plan on getting the frame and tub separated and maybe get the rest of the hardware (that I can save and reuse), light brackets and handbrake cleaned up and primed. I will have to source new hardware. I don’t know if Tractor Supply has what I need – I might end up ordering some of this stuff.
I finally got a response from Rommel Juan (of MD Juan) on G503 forums. He acted like he was going to answer my questions about the reproduction floor pans they make. If it is a close enough reproduction, I might spend the money and buy one.
Rebirth of an M38A1 