More work on Smokey

A couple of things have been done.  The TV antenna inside handle was gone and the rotating part was broken.  So with a new handle on the shaft I had my wife turn the handle while I was on the roof oiling and helping it up.  And after some oil and working on it the thing cranks up and rotates just like it should.  I never had one of these Winegard antennas before so now I am moving up from rabbit ears to a rooftop antenna.

The some cleaning was done.

I cleaned the leafs and crud out of this roof vent.

The bedroom with some new mini blinds up.

Summer is here..........almost

With the temperature up to almost 70 today it seems like Summer to me.
The cleaning and fix up continues with removing the couch, cleaning under it and other parts of the carpet.  This coach had a dog in it and so there were spots that smelled of a dog.  My favorite carpet cleaner is Folex.

It works good on most stains on carpet and upholstery.

I put up some more mini blinds.  And then I got really carried away and replaced the straps on the window awnings.  I have 2 A&E awnings and 1 Carefree.  The A&E ones were super easy to change but the Carefree needed a little work with a drill to make it easy to do.

I still think this is a good looking Bago.  And look at those new window awning straps. LOL

Then I did work on the TV antenna.  It was missing the inside handle and turning part.  Well part of it was there but broken.  So I put the new handle on it and had my wife turn it while I worked on it from the roof.  It looks like it will work after all. 

Ant killer

Have you ever had ants in your house???  I know where I live every few years either they show up before I spray or for whatever I see a few in my house.  So I tried something I read about and thought I would share it with you.  It is using Dawn dish washing detergent and water.
http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/1620457.aspx

And another place with Dawn info
http://usesforeverydaythings.com/dishwashing-liquid/dawn/

So does it work?  I just sprayed inside the house with Dawn and outside with my regular pest spray.  The ones inside stopped moving so that is a good sign.  Maybe I will leave them just stuck to the wall overnight, in case some more come in and when they see the others they might just turn around and leave.

I did put up a blind on the dinette window in Smokey today.  Nothing fancy but it is better than no covering.

When you pull the string on the left it pulls up every other slat.
Kind of a neat feature.

Body work on the Wagon

Those of you who know the history on my '93 Subaru Wagon know that I never thought I would keep very long but I like it so now to fix it up.  I have some rust holes and started by searching for products to use for filling holes and stopping the rust.  What I decided to use is called chassis saver made by Magnet Paints.  And after seeing it at the local auto parts place, Stuarts Auto Parts for $39.95 I looked on line and found an Ebay auction with 9 minutes left.  The 1 bid posted was for $25.00 and with a $26.00 bid I bought it.  So that was how I choise to use this stuff.
Take a look http://www.magnetpaints.com/underbody.asp .

Here are the starting pictures of the bad spots on the wagon

 And then after using the pressure washer and a pin point tip to blast off paint and rust.

So now to remove a few trim parts and clean up before the Chassis Saver arrives.
And the Bondo I plan to use is waterproof.  I hope it sticks to the chassis Saver paint.

Here's the king pin parts.  I guess the top cap is just held on with two bolts.  And the grease should come in from the bottom fitting and work its way up.  Probably the biggest job will be to clean all the old grease off so I can see what I am doing.

OK I went out and fixed the seal but not like I thought I would.  Sure it seemed easy enough and all went great, except you can't get both bolts out unless you remove the brake part that holds the brake caliper.
But look at the pictures and see what I did.

Looking down from the top the grease flows out easy.

Before removing the bolts.

Looking up at the bottom of the cap you can see the missing piece of gasket.

The new piece of gasket going in.

Grease comes out where I want it to.

This job is done.  Kind of makes a person wonder who greased this before and what they thought was going on.  I guess if I used a pneumatic gun I couldn't feel how easy the grease came out.   Another good reason to use hand tools sometimes,  and that I am to cheap to buy a new grease gun.

Greasing the Superchief

Yea I really wanted to check the underside of the Big Bago so today I got out the grease gun and found the drive line fittings, steering arms and things like that, but when it got time to do the king pins I ran out of grease in my gun.  So after a trip to the parts store I was back in business.  The levelers make quick work of lifting the front wheels off the ground.  But I think I need to change the gasket for the top of the right side king pin cap.  It leaks grease out real fast when I put the grease in the top fitting.  Only two bolts hold it on so that is a job for another day.
  There was a nut missing on one of the rear air bag mounting bolts so that was taken care of today.  And I did scrub on the carpet inside where it had a big old stain.  Some day I might have the carpet all clean and then everyone who wants to see the inside will need to take their shoes off when the come inside.
  I also found out something I had thought might be going on.  When I first drove Smokey it seemed like it would want to straight when you let go of the steering wheel.  So today when I lifted the front end off the ground the wheels were turned but as soon as they were off the ground the wheels straightened out all by themselves   So that means that the big old shock looking thing connected to the front end works like that or some gremlins are in the steering.  You decide.

And thanks again for looking at an ad on my Blog.  I am in line to get another check from Google ads soon.  It is only taking me a year to hit the $100 mark.  And then they send me a check.  Now how cool is that.

Look at the new lawn ornament

When you have friends like mine, you have to understand that having one Winnebago is never enough.  And when the opportunity comes up, you have to do what you can to save one more from the scrap heap.  I'm not sure this one will survive except for parts, but look what I was sent.

So who do you know that has 2 '68 Bago's???????????????????