TOPIC: '59 Tee Nee Restoration

I acquired a 1959 Tee Nee trailer to go with my '59 Lake N Sea , And will be restoring it so it is ready to go when the boat is....

It started out looking like this-





I want to do a thorough job of the restoration, so first I wanted to take it all apart... After a few hours, a couple cans of PB Blaster (I LOVE that stuff!), and a few choice words, I had a big pile of parts-



It's all in pretty good shape. I was amazed that the nuts & bolts came off so easily, I only had to cut two of them, and one was because a previous owner had decided to weld a fender on.

Next- The fun process of removing all the paint and rust, Priming, then painting!

-Andrew

That will be quite the set up. You know we'll need photo's from start to finish!

Good to have you back Andrew, glad you made it home safe and sound! It rained all day down here, so it was "inside the garage" work for me, supposed to be like that all weekend. Great to see your progress reports showing up here again.

Thanks, Mark...

It rained off and on here all day, too- Mostly pretty light stuff, so I was able to work through it. I think your rain made it here, though- It's raining pretty hard now!!

Now that I've got the trailer in pieces, I can work on it inside as I need to on rainy days. I want to have it ready when the Lake N Sea hull is done, so I can put it on the trailer to finish it... Makes it a lot easier!

It was a great day here today, once the storms passed! I took advantage of the nice weather to do some work on the trailer... This was a 'dirty' day- Stripping the paint and rust off the trailer. Definitely something that should be done OUTSIDE! I wish I could have taken it in to be media blasted, but that's just not in the budget.

A grinder with a knotted wire wheel makes pretty quick work of this-


After a few LONG hours, I had a bunch of nice, clean parts-





I found a bit of hidden rust. There was some in the tongue, a few spots on the bottom near the hitch have rusted through. It seems as if sometime in the past, water 'pooled' there, inside the beam. It seems strong enough still, but I think for peace of mind I'm going to weld a piece of channel stock on to reinforce it.

There was also a little rust under the winch stand, and on the side of the winch stand itself. It is pretty minor stuff, I'll be able to weld some patches in place- Once I get my new welder. One is on the way- should be here in the next week or so!

Once I got everything stripped down, I primed it all. I don't like to leave steel bare for long if I can avoid it- It's amazing how quick surface rust can form!



I've still got a few other parts to strip... Then it'll be time to shoot some yellow paint!

-Andrew

Tee Nee used that channel stock on the main piece and there is nowhere for any water to run off and drain. Poor design in the beginning but it looked nice. I had so much rust I had to replace mine in the front . It was a bit different than yours so I only had to re-place about 7' of steel. Looks like you got alot of grinding done in a short period of time ! Looks good - thanks for the pictures

cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Vintage-Tee-Nee-Trailer-I-D-Tags-/270899159789?pt=Boat_Parts_Accessories_Gear&hash=item3f12d922ed

Thanks for the link to that tag- Luckily, the original serial # plate was still on my trailer, so I'll be able to re-use it, although I know that others have been looking for that in the past.

Looks like it'll be another GREAT day today- I've got one more part I need to get off, prep, and prime... BUT I can't find my 1 1/8" wrench... I put all my big wrenches together in their carrier before I left town last time, and must have put them someplace REALLY safe, 'cuz I can't find 'em anywhere. Grrr.

-Andrew

I got some color on today-




I was using a new spray gun, and it took me a while to get all the settings dialed in right, but once I got it set up, it went well... It'll need another good coat to cover the dark primer all the way.

The black parts are painted, too-



The fenders need to be repaired a bit more than I had thought- So I've got to wait until my welder is here.

It'll be time to start putting it all together soon. I need to find the right shock absorbers- They are different than the other ones that people have used on the forum for Tee-Nees, This is a smaller trailer with smaller shocks. The old ones were Gabriels, and I emailed the company to see if there is a modern equivalent to them. Hopefully there is- or I'll have to start digging through catalogs to see if anything is close

-Andrew

Most of the paint is done, and i reassembled the main parts-



The fenders aren't done yet. I still need to weld a bit on the fenders, to fix a few cracks, then prime & paint them.

All the rollers have to be replaced, too. They're on order. I had to be a bit creative with them, since I couldn't get exact replacements, but I think that the solution I found is going to work fine. I've also got to find lights that look good on her, too

I've got small wheels on there now- But, I'll be replacing them with 'original' 12" wheels once I get the tires on them.

I think it's going to look good under the Lake N Sea!

-Andrew

Great job. It looks like you used rust oxide primer. Actuall I'm taking a welding class at Cerritos College, Cal. I just passed my test for 6013 and 7018. Monday, were going into the details of oxyacetalene torch cutting. The reason I bring this up, is that I'm building my own trailer. I can design it my self. Should I start a new thread? My original thread is on the Bearcat and Homelite section. Anyway, I'm getting my parts from trailerparts.com. I'm going to start it in a couple of weeks.

I got the cracks in the fenders welded today- Don't laugh too hard at my welding 'skills'...



I'm not a great welder, and I have a pretty crappy wire feed welder that likes to spatter. But, I get the job done.

After some grinding with a flap disc-



I ran a pretty good bead on the back, too, for strength. A little filler and you'll never know it was ever damaged. There were about half a dozen cracks like that on each fender.

Then, I finished stripping off the paint, and got the inside primed-



The plan is to coat the insides of the fenders with the same black rubberized undercoating that is used on wheelwells and car frames, I think it'll stand up to road use better than paint. Then, I'll prime and paint the outside.

-Andrew

The weld looks ok. Probably the amps were too low. Practice makes perfect. Cool looking fenders.

It's an "ok" weld. Enough to get the job done, the welder I was using was a cheap 110v wire feed, so that's all the amperage I'm going to get. The penetration was fine, it's just sloppy looking, which is one of the drawbacks of a wire feed like that. Should have my new MIG unit in a few weeks, though. Then we'll be cooking with gas.

it looks great andrew,as usual,john

It's back together now-



with the exception of a few parts that are on the way, like the step pads and rollers. The decals need to go on there, too- But that'll probably wait until spring.

I found new shocks that work well- They were Gabriel G60015. They are a little bigger in Diameter than the old ones were, but they fit just fine. I went through MANY pages of the paper catalog (Yes, those DO still exist!) before I found one that would work, It's got the same travel and same mounts as the old ones.

I've got a set of original 12" wheels waiting for some rubber, too. Once I get the tires on, I'll "Whitewall" them like I did the Gator trailer, just for that last finishing touch. Then I need to track down some chrome hubcaps!

Now all I have to do is get the boat ready to put on it!

-Andrew

Looks great Andrew, better move it around to the back yard before somebody steals it! LOL Are you going to put a jack on it, or would that not be "period correct"? (Honest question, not trying to be a smart axx.)

Yeah, I'm going to move it round back and lock it up... Don't want it to wander off!

I will probably put a jack on it- I used one of the harbor freight ones on my Gator. They bolt on without modifications, so if I want it to look 'period' I can always take it off.

-Andrew

Looks really nice ! Could you post a picture of one of your shocks so I can see how it bolts up to the axle ? Want to see if it's the same as mine. I will have to change my shocks someday and will save the # you posted. On my Tee Nee I used a small jack that fit under the tongue and just clicked up and out of the way. Did not want that big chrome jack getting in the way. Works real well and you hardly notice it.
www.easternmarine.com/Marine-Trailer-Jacks-Manual-Electric/

I finally got around to doing the metal work that I needed to do on the Tee Nee- Since I've finally got the welder, and got some practice in!

I wanted to add some reinforcement to the tongue- There was some rust on the bottom, which looks like it was caused by water getting trapped inside. It wasn't that bad, and only on the bottom, so it probably would have been fine, But I don't like the word 'probably' when I'm cruising down the highway at 65 MPH

So, I welded a couple of lengths of 1" angle stock to the bottom-



Painted it up-

[img]http://www.agott.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/10001/0328Tounge2.jpg{/img] There was also a spot on the winch stand that had rusted through. It looks like something got trapped between the stand and the trailer, and got wet, and stayed that way long enough to rust the metal through. It's more of a cosmetic issue than anything, but I figured I'd fix it anyway- [img]http://www.agott.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/10001/0328WinchStand1.jpg

I cut out the damaged area, with my 3" metal saw & body saw, & wire brushed the paint so I'd have clean metal to weld to-



Then, I cut a patch out of 18 ga steel to fit, leaving a small gap around the edge-



Then I tack welded it, and then slowly welded it all around. I took plenty of breaks so I didn't warp the relatively thin metal by overheating it!-



Then, I ground it all down smooth-



Primed it with self etching primer-



And painted it-



You'd be hard pressed to tell there was ever damage there! I love that MIG welder. It does a great job on sheet metal like this, I've used it a lot on my truck!!

I also got the step pads on today. I need to get the new rollers, so It's ready to go when the hull is!

-Andrew

I finally got the new step pads on the fenders, as well as the decals-



As soon as the rollers, lights, and other hardware gets here, I'll be able to get it all done!

-Andrew

Very nice Andrew!!! Keep us posted!!!

Jim S.

Pretty nice welding. I have only 5 more weeks of welding school then I get my certificate. I passed my 7018 verticle up. You wouldn't think that wedling in a verticle position would be hard. Man, was I wrong. Very frustrating, but, I got it. Remember, "smiley face".

Yeah, My welds would have been a LOT better if I'd have been using the equipment I've got now... I was using an 85 amp flux core unit, without any power adjustment, only a wire feed adjustment. Made for a LOT of grinding. You don't realize the difference that a shielding gas makes if you've never used it!

Yeah, My welds would have been a LOT better if I'd have been using the equipment I've got now... I was using an 85 amp flux core unit, without any power adjustment, only a wire feed adjustment. Made for a LOT of grinding. You don't realize the difference that a shielding gas makes if you've never used it!

She's looking great Andrew, you're making some SERIOUS progress on three different projects up there! Congrats on the new job, BTW.

I got the new tires on the 12" rims... If course, they need white walls.

I masked them off-



Sprayed on many, MANY thin coats of Matte white- 2 cans worth!



They look decent. Yeah, that's a Dilly hubcap, Still looking for tee nee OR blank ones for this trailer!



Then, I installed them on the trailer. She's rollin' on 12's like she's supposed to now!!



The last of the hardware & parts should be here any day now, so I can finally finish it up!

-Andrew

Really nice job on the trailer. Those white walls really are just the right size for it. Great welding job on the winch stand. I know it can be a real pain in the butt to weld that thin metal on some of the older stuff. Keep up the great work and looking forward to seeing it finished. Skip.

Slowly but surely coming along... I SHOULD have the last of the parts today or tomorrow. I did finally get the rollers made-



And, Installed-



Of course, they've got to be adjusted to the boat still.

The lights and a few other Misc. parts are still on the way, for some reason every place I ordered something from had one or two items out of stock, so I'd have to find another source... I ended up having to get parts from several places, I HATE paying the shipping for that, but oh well!

I did finally locate some chrome hubcaps, too... I'm still kicking myself for not buying the NOS ones when they were still available.

-Andrew

The last of the parts are here, and installed, and it's all wired and ready to go-



And, for a finishing touch, a 1959 Michigan License plate... The Lake N Sea was built in Michigan, after all



All that's left is to do the final adjustments to the rollers, once the boat is on. All I need to do is get the boat done now

-Andrew

Very nice.

Looks great Andrew.
Neil

Excellent wok Andrew. The trailer came out awesome!!!!

Bob

I remember you talking about the flip down wheels for the tounge, Andrew. I knew I had seen them (store bought) somewhere, just couldn't remember where. Finally came to me, check this out;
www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Zinc-Plated-Trailer-Stand&i=71673

Go back 3 months ago and I posted a link that will save you $5.00 on the same jack - Penny saved is a penny earned It works good and does not have that big old crank sticking up blocking the winch stand.

Nice little trailer when we going to see it with a boat on top ?

I searched for your thread/post Rick, but couldn't seem to find it. (I did remember you posting something on it, just couldn't recall where!) Just as a side note, Overton's is shipping free freight now, so that would make a difference in the final cost too, right? (I'm all about saving a buck too! )

That's really a nice looking trailer. Good work.