Winnebago F17 1967

[Bad Bolt]

It's going to be fun replacing the damaged floor area around the side door. I think I did see a fat screw on the left side of the door going into the flooring material.

The side panel belt line between the silver painted bottom and the white area has a thin one inch wide horizontal strip of textured painted blue aluminum that, I think, covers those screws. I need to be very careful taking that off for the floor repairs.

The paint job, overall, looks to be completely original.

I am the third owner. The first and second were father and son...

[Bad Bolt]

Just a little update, as there has been a lot of rain and my brother in law has not been able to do a lot.

Here's where we are:

Replace front and rear U-joints on the drive shaft.

Removed the secondary fuel tank that was beyond repair and not even plumbed correctly. Being that this camper will be used for more local camps, not a problem.

Ordered a new universal accelerator, cut to fit, cable from Summit.

All the brake lines look good and were still going to check the drums, shoes and wheel cylinders for any issues. I DON'T like the fact that this system is not using a proportional valve, meaning if a line breaks, no brakes! Brother in law says he can find any fluid reservoir and that the plunger in the master cylinder is vertical not horizontal. This is where he's wondering where the fluid is filled and flushed...

He's trying to figure out how to understand and fix the parking brake. It's a drum mounted onto the transmission tail shaft and there is a metal band that clamps down on the drum when the lever is actuated. The lever works, but the cable just bends in the cab and nothing is pulling the cable back or forth at the trans side.

[Bad Bolt]

Got a decent amount of work done to date. The Winnie is still on stands waiting for the shocks to be installed and brake system bleed.

I also was able to finally identify that I have a Dana 60. The info tag was pretty rusted. I'll post that next time when I can clean it up.

Here's what we're working on and finished:

New throttle cable. Had to have one made custom and it works perfect with the correct ends.

New shocks should be on this weekend.

New brakes on the rear and fronts look good.

New differential oil.

New parking brake cable. Need to have that one made custom.

Figure out how to bleed this strange master cylinder...see pictures.

Fix problem with the shift lever not going fully into park. With the linkage disconnected at the trans, it goes fully into park. Manipulating the rusty/crusty linkage at the end of the steering column under the floor boards she goes and locks into park. Yet, from the shift lever it won't stay in park.

New tires/rims next week. The original wheel/tire size is oddball and very limiting on tire choices.

Larger gas tank if one will work.

Brother in law working hard!!



Gas tank:



Parking brake cable is bad:



Wonky looking shift mechanism under floor board:



New custom throttle cable showing both ends:




Weird vertical master cylinder. The casting IS the fluid reservior:





Differential:

[sjweave]

Just got back to a cell signal....lol. Something I'm learning to enjoy.
The pictures of the master cylinder seems familiar to me but that's from growing up at the farm and dealing with old tractors. Still scratching my head about it though.
Looks like your progress is moving right along and I'm curious if there are current systems available to upgrade your master cylinder and parking brake.
Checking in every chance I can 😀.

[beamisl]

Wow, Love these old Winnie's. Glad you are willing to bring her back to living.

I would contact Winnebago and ask them if they have any manuals or books on the MH. They may be able to get you some blue prints or something on the structure and engine that might help.

Please keep posting pics, plan to watch this one. Lynne

[Bad Bolt]

The truth is that Winnebago has pretty much nothing of great use to offer on these old first year coaches. I'm seeing quite a few retrofit items that are custom to make the FORD chassis work with their coach work.

There is absolutely no room to switch to a horizontal master cylinder without cutting open the front nose of the coach. I'd imagine this is why they used this wonky unit to start with. Kind of a no solution situation.

I just dropped off the old parking brake cable off to use as a template for the new cable. The fitting ends that they use today are a bit more narrow than what I have, so the guy worked out a different and just about as good a work around. I should have it by Thursday.

I should have this chassis wrapped up pretty soon, except the dash wiring. My main chassis repairs are getting the shift lever to stay in park and have the running and tail lights working.

By the end of this week, I'll have the tires/wheels, brake system bleed, parking brake completed. May even be able to do a quick run around the block. I really worry about the condition of the brake fluid...

New throttle cable:



New Michelins. Got a Super deal on Craigslist:



Junk secondary fuel tank:



Parking brake cable complete with bends:



Parking brake cable end connectors:

[BurienTimmer]

For the master cylinder, you might want to consider an under the floor style that was used in 53-56 Ford pickups.

[Bad Bolt]

Originally Posted by BurienTimmer

For the master cylinder, you might want to consider an under the floor style that was used in 53-56 Ford pickups.

I have a contact for an estimate on a frame mount retrofit. If it's not too much $$, I'll have it done.

[tizzel]

We had a 72 Indian and the master cylinder was mounted under the floor ,maybe try looking for a junked 70 or newer and remove the complete brake assembly associated with the pedal to master cylinder .

[Bad Bolt]

Received new parking brake cable. All shocks installed. Wheels and tires should be on by weekend.

Only things now would be the brake bleeding and keeping the shift lever in park.

May be able to do a short road test this weekend of we can do the brakes in time.

[Bad Bolt]

New wheels and tires. Hope to drive this weekend...

[Bad Bolt]

Well, I spent some time taking a look at how the walls and ceiling are constructed before I begin to replace the rotted floor and was very surprised to discover there is no actual wood structure, except for the luan paneling that makes up the interior wall surface....no studs, crossmembers....nothing.

The entire thing is aluminum bonded to foam bonded to paneling. Then the window holes are routed out and the walls are screwed to the plywood floor. That's it...

Wow...

Anyone know where I can source some new cieling/roof panels?

One thing is for sure, you didn't dare walk on the roof of these early Winnies. There's just noting that is strong enough to hold any significant weight.

If I want a new roof A/C unit, I guess I'd have to figure out a way to frame a new roof. Not sure how that would work.

And, since the walls are fastened to the ends of the plywood floor and not sitting on the floor, that presents a problem removing the floor that the walls are held up by...

[tizzel]

Your statement about the wall construction is not completely correct ,some areas are reinforced with plywood (3/4"),most of the wall construction is as you have described ,on the side walls areas where major items like bunks interior wall connections and the entire roof line is 3/4" plywood and 3/4" blue structural foam with the aluminum skin and luan ply board ,the roof when in perfect sound condition ,is very rigid and can be walked on anywhere ,the roof construction as manufactured is similar to the sidewall but is only1" thick with 3/4"blue structural foam, luan ply board interior,luan ply board and aluminum exterior with the exception of 3/4" plywood wall to wall at the location of an AC unit and the perimeter of the roof is made up of 1x2 so that the roof can be screwed and stapled to the sidewalls 3/4" plywood, all of this information is from when I rebuilt our (late) 1972 D22 indian that I owned for 45 years , sold it this spring as there was no need for two motor homes any more .

[tizzel]

I forgot to mentioned the wall construction at the floor line it is made up of a aluminum skin ,2"x4"on edge and luan ply board interior .