The Brown Crown

[Tango]

For the record...the calculated life of most any tire, on, off or stored, is rated at five about years. After that...they become a hazard.

I know..."my friends runs 15 year old tires with no problems". But from a liability standpoint...figure five years.

Diamonds may be forever...but not rubber.

[crazycal]

Originally Posted by The-Breeze

Are you saying that a spare tire, never been used, should be replaced due to age? I would think it would be fine if kept out of the elements.

Tires deteriorate with age even if they look brand new. I got a flat once in the Excursion and put my brand new looking spare on. I didn't make it a half mile before pow. On my trailers, I'll put anything on because they are magnets for nails but my car or bus is a different story.

[Tango]

Absolutely they age & deteriorate. Some tire shops will refuse to mount an unused spare if it's datestamp is beyond a certain age.

[browncrown]

Originally Posted by Tango

Absolutely they age & deteriorate. Some tire shops will refuse to mount an unused spare if it's datestamp is beyond a certain age.

Yes Tango, you are on target. Here in CA state law mandates a 10 year max, and then no shop can work on them. I used to think that was just another BS law, but not anymore. I know cost is tremendous, but safety first I think.

[Tango]

Roger that. Hell...I have several "great looking tires" that came with my bus.
Virtually new looking tread.

Two of them are coded 1962 and one is...get this...from what I can tell...1958.

Am I running them?

Not.

And to top it off, one is on an actual "Widowmaker" rim. An old Firestone RH5. Which reminds me...I need to pick up some chain to wrap that sucker with. I don't like having it in my shop, but won't even attempt to deflate it without the chains.

[browncrown]

Originally Posted by Tango

Roger that. Hell...I have several "great looking tires" that came with my bus.
Virtually new looking tread.

Two of them are coded 1962 and one is...get this...from what I can tell...1958.

Am I running them?

Not.

And to top it off, one is on an actual "Widowmaker" rim. An old Firestone RH5. Which reminds me...I need to pick up some chain to wrap that sucker with. I don't like having it in my shop, but won't even attempt to deflate it without the chains.

The spare I took out of the trunk of BC has one of those lock ring wheels. I didn't have any help at the time, so used a pry bar do get it up over the lip of the trunk, then attached a pulley to my Jeep to get it on out...the whole time trying to shield myself from that rim. Not only was the tire too dangerous to have, the wheel was even worse

[browncrown]

Dang Tano...1958? That's almost as old as me and Disneyland

[Tango]

Older for sure..."but it looks OK and has plenty of tread".

Wish I could say the same for myself. After all..."...it's not you feel, it's how you look dahling".

[browncrown]

Been awhile since I did some work on BC...just been enjoying all the years of work on her and traveling But recently took down the window trim around the front windows and replaced it with something a little brighter. The old paneling around the windows was beginning to fade from the sun and I decided I wanted a little more color as well. So I put up new window trim and like the way it turned out.

Windows before:



Windows after:

[gbstewart]

looks great,
seems like we just get our builds done, then we start to upgrade and improve things,
enjoy looks good
gbstewart

[browncrown]

Thanks gb...a skoolie's work is never done...next project is going to be an awning. I need to study how to adapt it to the curved body of the Crown without having to spend a ton of money

[sdwarf36]

Mounting on the top is no problem-but the bottom gets more tricky. I built stands to go from straight poles to curved side.

[gbstewart]

I wonder how close the body style of those old chevy travco motor homes are to the crown?, they have a curved body, and if you can see one with a awning it might give you some ideas
gbstewart

[browncrown]

sdwarf, is it working out ok for you?

[browncrown]

I found a pic on the web with one mounted...looks like it is doable with a little engineering

[sdwarf36]

Yup-works great. Everytime the bus is used its set up for the weekend. The only problem (same for everyone) are the arms coming back to the body. Luckily my front one is in front of the door. Where you set up your tables-where you plan on walking around etc vs. a pole at a 45* to the body. You can detatch the arms + go straight vertical if the wind in light. My Sunsetter came off a house-the had the original mount kit that came with it. It had mounts that you would mount in your patio. I attached them to a couple heavy weights to the times where that works better.

[Arvik]

great looking build BC !! top notch. i dig the carpet on the ceiling, and the metal behind the sink.

[jenn]

I just bought a 76 Crown 2 weeks ago in Chicago to convert. We are very excited, but also very stressed, it was used as a party bus for 12 years and has a lot of serious rust on it. I think I'm going to have to replace the entire back window emergency exit. And all my Crown decals were taken off. But, I paid $3500 for it and we are going to have a long future together

[Stu & Filo. T]

Welcome , nice to see another Crown on the site, gotta say coming from Ill, where I grew up by the way about 100 miles west of Chicago, I went to Freeport schools but born & raised in the country between Freeport & Lena, I hope the rust doesn't discourage you.

[jenn]

trying to not let it bring me down. my buddy the welder said he would do the labor for free but it would take a lot of materials and a lot of time. I'm just sad to see what this bus has become. I really want to restore it to it's former glory, but it looks like it's gonna cost a lot more than I thought to do it. A little discouraged, but still determined.