1966 Starcraft Holiday Engine Repower

[66Holiday924]

dont you love how much stuff is sold without directions? or even guidance?

Yeah, I called them and talked to them about it. I explained it to them, had them check the straps they sold me on their website to see that it doesn't explain about the orientation on the product page, then I directed them to the video I watched (on a different part of their site) where it is explained by one of their techs that the orientation matters, and then I explained that it did make the difference when I flipped mine.

They told me I was wrong! :grumpy: They said they don't know why their tech in the video says it matters, because it doesn't. I told them "I am physically holding one and it does make a difference". They still told me I was wrong, but said they haven't physically checked it with the parts for themselves, but however, are going to replace my hardware free of charge...
eace:wow... awful gutsy to doubt everybody when you haven't physically checked it for yourself. They did say the parts were all the way out in the warehouse... which has to involve minutes (maybe tens of minutes) of walking to go look... :facepalm:

 

[66Holiday924]

I got the new trailer straps and bolts yesterday. These ones, were the same as the last ones. The holes were tapered slightly so the knurls seated further in on one side. Got it all reinstalled. I used the nyloc and the bolts tightened down so the heads were flush. A few more packages and it'll be mobile again! :encouragement:

If you ever need to order a trailer axle, look hard. You can find them with the spring seats already welded on, free shipping, tax free. I ordered my axle and it ran $170 total. On another site it was $170 but another $120 for delivery...

 

[mfelthousen]

Catching up on your work- as a fellow Clevelander who is also restoring an old Starcraft ('77 Holiday 18 I/O) on a city lot, I appreciate what you've accomplished!

Mat

 

[66Holiday924]

Catching up on your work- as a fellow Clevelander who is also restoring an old Starcraft ('77 Holiday 18 I/O) on a city lot, I appreciate what you've accomplished!

:encouragement:Good to see another Clevelander! That's a good looking project you got. I think we have the same hull. I think for reference to hulls you can basically look at any 18' model Holiday or Chieftain. Is your project going to be a total rebuild? How do you plan on using your boat? Fishing? Skiing?

I hope my work is helpful. Sorry, I get lost in some of the more trivial details. I've been sitting here collecting trailer parts. I'm hoping to have my new axle with the hubs installed, ready to mount on the trailer as soon as we have good enough weather.

My best advice is that the transom welding is 100% worth having done, if you plan to rebuild the transom.

 

[mfelthousen]

:encouragement:Good to see another Clevelander! That's a good looking project you got. I think we have the same hull. I think for reference to hulls you can basically look at any 18' model Holiday or Chieftain. Is your project going to be a total rebuild? How do you plan on using your boat? Fishing? Skiing?

I hope my work is helpful. Sorry, I get lost in some of the more trivial details. I've been sitting here collecting trailer parts. I'm hoping to have my new axle with the hubs installed, ready to mount on the trailer as soon as we have good enough weather.

My best advice is that the transom welding is 100% worth having done, if you plan to rebuild the transom.

Thank you! I'm not going for a total rebuild, at least not initially. My goal was to get a solid deck so I could use the boat this summer (bought it on Memorial Day), but the project grew as I uncovered issues. I didn't originally plan to tackle the dog house or steps/console this year, for example. The transom is still solid, so the next woodwork I plan to do is refinish the teak pieces and the side panels. This will be a cruising / tubing boat, so I'm leaving the original layout in place.

Mat

 

[66Holiday924]

Where do you plan on taking it tubing around here? I've been on a mission to find a campground, on an all-sports lake, with docking. My vision is to combine RV Resorting with boating/fishing. Somewhere to take the kids, put the boat in for the weekend or whatever, with skiing, tubing and fishing. I see a lot of State Parks that have that set-up but I'm more looking for a private campground. So far I have a list of about 15-20 campgrounds that have that option, however, all but two of them are in Northern Indiana and in the Irish Hills in Michigan.

 

[66Holiday924]

I just installed the new hubs on my trailer axle. I bought pre-packed hubs. They were only $10 more. I installed them as per Dexter's instructional video and it was pretty simple. I've never did this before. They are a little stiff. They don't spin freely. I would say it takes in the neighborhood of 3-5 lbs. of force to spin them. I imagine they'll spin pretty good once they have wheels on them. Does this sound normal?

 

[Watermann]

Did they have that factory red colored stiff grease in the bearings? If so that could be it or you got the castle nut too tight.

Personally I like packing my own bearings using a marine trailer bearing grease. I have a tub of this stuff.
[h=1]Sta-Lube Marine Grease for Boat Trailer Wheel Bearings[/h]

 

[66Holiday924]

The instructions I have, had me tighten the castle nut down to 50 ft/lbs, back it off, and then adjust it by hand such that the cotter pin can go through, install the cotter pin. I used a torque wrench to get the 50 ft/lbs. When I was done the castle nut was not tight at all.

I used Lubrimatic Marine Grease. The hubs came with the bearings pre-packed with it. Then I filled them through the Accu-Lube zerk fitting, with that same grease, after the hubs were installed. I rotated the hubs as I pumped it in, and pumped until the grease came out around the castle nut, as instructed.

 

[froggy1150]

Set preload where you can just feel play when you grab wheel at 3 and 9 positions. Push with one hand while pulling with other back and forth. If you have a dial indicator you want about .001 to .002 play on spindle axis straight in / out

 

[mfelthousen]

Where do you plan on taking it tubing around here? I've been on a mission to find a campground, on an all-sports lake, with docking. My vision is to combine RV Resorting with boating/fishing. Somewhere to take the kids, put the boat in for the weekend or whatever, with skiing, tubing and fishing. I see a lot of State Parks that have that set-up but I'm more looking for a private campground. So far I have a list of about 15-20 campgrounds that have that option, however, all but two of them are in Northern Indiana and in the Irish Hills in Michigan.

I've only launched at Mosquito Lake a few times and West Branch once, so far. By the time I got the boat ready for launching I ran out of summer. Mosquito wasn't as busy and seems to be better suited for tubing. Both had campgrounds. I'm originally from upstate NY, so I also plan to go to the Finger Lakes quite a bit in the future.

 

[66Holiday924]

I'm originally from Toledo so I wasn't real familiar with what's here either. Mosquito is the only place I've put in. There are quite a few lakes I'd like to check out, mostly State Parks. Pleasant Hill Lake looks like a real nice set-up. It's similar to Mosquito but it isn't so spread out. The beach is right next to the docks. You can rent a dock for the season or you can store it there on the trailer pretty cheap, which is really nice. They said they have courtesy docks you can use for the day, if you don't rent a dock. The Portage Lakes look pretty cool. It's a chain of about 5 lakes. Some are good for fishing, with 5mph speed limits, two of them are 399hp limit and good for skiing & tubing. It looks like they have restaurants and bars that you can dock at for lunch or dinner. Other than that there's Fairport Harbor at the mouth of the Grand River. It's part of Lake Erie but there is a break wall there so it never gets rough. In the Summer they go skiing there and in the fall and late fall there is supposed to be really good steelhead fishing in there. They troll around fishing about 3' deep with plugs, dipsy divers and spoons, nothing all that expensive as far as fishing goes. I think our boats are perfect for the steelhead fishing. They're small and light enough to be maneuverable in there, but they're not too small that you'll be uncomfortable.

 

[66Holiday924]

Well... I took the another look at the hubs. I recalled that they weren't spinning any more freely as I loosened the castle nut, so I got a funny feeling that maybe the 50 ft/lbs with the torque wrench jammed them on somehow. So I wanted to see how easily they would pop off and I thought going through the process again might free them up a little more for some reason.

They popped off easy. So I was good there. Then I went through it again. I put the washer on, hand tightened the castlenut as far as I could, put the 50 ft/lbs on it with a torque wrench backed it off, hand tightened it down again as far as I could, backed it off 1/4 turn and put the cotter in. The first one has exactly the same feel as it did.

Then I did the other side and noticed it had the same feel as soon as I put the hub on, without a castlenut on at all. Taking a closer look, it appears that the inner plastic seal is the culprit, which kind of makes sense. That's why they weren't getting looser as I loosened the castlenut. That seal is hugging the spindle.

I got them both back on the way they were. They feel as tight as they did. I put the axle up on buckets put the wheels on and gave them a good spin. They rotated 10-15 times. You can see something is stopping them pre-mature. I'm pretty convinced it's the seals and I think they will "wear" within the first 10 miles of pulling the trailer.

 

[froggy1150]

Thick grease and tight seals will cause drag. Doing roller coasters I have run oil filled timkins and all different types of grease. Also have pulled Springs out of seals ( would not suggest in your application ) to reduce drag. The 50# speck is just to make sure rollers seat on races. When I seat races I visually make sure they are completely against stop in hub. As long as there is around .001 to .002 they won't be too tight. The grease will loosen up. The seals do need grease on them or they will burn up dry

 

[66Holiday924]

It was about 50 degrees here today, warm enough to work, so I took advantage, mounted my axle and took it for a test drive. I took it for about an hour and a half ride, and took it on the express way for about 25 miles. When I stopped to feel the bearings the were fine. I'll double check for any play in the wheel and make sure my U-bolts are still torqued down to spec. Other than that, I think we're gonna be good. :thumb:

 

[66Holiday924]

A couple pictures from yesterday.

 

[chevymaher]

Nice I can't wait to do my trailer in the spring

 

[66Holiday924]

I hope everybody had a nice Holiday.

I've been sitting here collecting some packages from the big brown truck. Today I got my rims, (Lionshead Jaguar). I'm happy with what I ended up going with, and this will make my trailer reliably mobile again. The tires on the old rims were rotted. Normally I wouldn't buy the new rims at this point but I figured why pay for new tires on these old rims, just to have to change them over to the new rims later. I was surprised at how much lighter these aluminum rims actually are.

My next step will be to get the trailer into the welder shop to have the fenders replaced and weld some pieces over the bent up part where the tail lights go.

On a side note, I checked my u-bolts and they were a little loose. I tightened them back down to spec and I plan to try them again and every time I use the trailer until they stay tightened to spec.

 

[chevymaher]

Had a great holiday thank you.

Santa drives a Brown Truck now?

LOL my son ask me how come I had to go to get my motor and how far was the north pole. He got it in his head santa is giving me the new boat motor in a few weeks.

Your trailer is gonna look great. The style you got is what i have. Nice big steps on it to climb in and out with.

 

[66Holiday924]

The style you got is what i have. Nice big steps on it to climb in and out with.

The steps on the side were a "must" for me. They make it so much easier to climb in and out of the boat, but they also eliminate the need for a ladder to load your fishing or skiing gear. This trailer, between the fenders and the steps will give me about a 7' platform to access the boat from while it's trailered. That's a lot of the reason I am going through so much trouble for it and I plan on keeping this whole rig for a 15 year minimum, probably closer to 25 or 30 years before I give it to one of my kids. So it's all worth it to me. For about a quarter of the price tag of brand new It'll be exactly what I want when it's done.