Well the used parts came today and I got to work on prepping them for paint and installation. Unfortunately I won’t be using the inner slide I ordered as it has a through bolt that has broken off and is seized in place. I tried to get it out but that just ended up making things worse. No problem, since the inner slide I originally had is usable.

I spent most of today stripping paint off a bunch of the smaller parts and painting them silver. I also prepped and painted the new shock.

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Tonight I put the first two coats of paint on the trailer jack. I’ve also managed to strip 95% of the old paint off the hitch assembly the past couple of evenings. Tomorrow I’ll pickup some fresh silver paint and hopefully get a coat or two on the assembly.

I’ll also be picking up some parts from the post office in the morning, hopefully that will get the ball rolling and see the hitch assembly complete and ready for brake line installation next week. After we return from a weekend away over the Thanksgiving long weekend, I plan to attack the axle and brake assemblies in an effort to have that disassembled before the end of the month and have new parts on order.

Considering the brake system was not my original winter project, and just a small maintenance task, it’s grown in size, but most of that is my own fault due to wanting to get some fresh paint on the parts. This takes most of my time, but good preparation ends with a decent paint job, not that I’m after perfection.

I still haven’t taken any new pictures but hopefully I’ll get a chance to snap a few pictures tomorrow in the daylight.

Since I’m waiting on parts and I haven’t moved the axle up on to the workbench yet, I thought I’d take the hitch jack apart for servicing tonight. It’s not in bad shape, a bit of lube on the bearing and the threads and it’ll continue to be operational for years to come.

I also stripped all of the paint off in preparation for a fresh coat of paint, though I’m not sure if I’ll use the black or silver on this part, I do intend to keep the silver on the main hitch coupler, but this might be a nice bit of contrast.

UPDATE: I’ve posted some pictures after painting the hitch jack.

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Well this weekend has been fairly busy for us, but that’s pretty normal. After getting the axle out of the trailer yesterday, I’ve decided to wait until more parts show up. I may putter away at removing some parts from the axle this week but I think I may need to invest in some PB blaster or something, moovit seems to be a bit weak.

I’ve also just ordered some parts from WKS today, so hopefully once they show up I’ll get the ball rolling and finish up the brake system by November, though my planned brake completion goal is December, so that I can spend the new year creating the new roof for the trailer and be ready to camp in late spring.

I still have a few pictures to shoot and post but the camera decided to grow legs and run away, so that has to wait for now, no doubt when I find it the battery will be dead…

Well the axle came out today. After a good soak in moovit overnight, and the help of the air impact, all four bolts came out with a bit of effort and patience. This will make rebuilding the brakes and lines on the axle much, much easier. Anytime you can avoid being on your back and working upside down, that’s a big benefit in my eyes.

I haven’t taken any pictures yet but will hopefully take some and post them later tonight or tomorrow and post a bit more information.

The last couple of days have been pretty quiet around here, mostly due to illness — no, not H1N1 — moving through our household. Now that everyone, including myself, has pretty much recovered, things are getting back to the normal type of chaos our household usually resembles.

I haven’t done much to the trailer in the last couple of days other than soak a few bolts in penetrating lube in the hopes that they may come off.

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As expected, the new master cylinder arrived today and I have just finished a quick test fit to make sure everything lined up. 100% success! Sadly, when I came out this morning, the shock absorber had leaked a bunch of the fluid so it looks like that part will need to be replaced.

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