New AS and 50 Amp service at home

Howdy all! We are having 50amp receptacle installed at home for our 1970 Safari. The previous owner stripped the interior except for the bathroom. The add stated that it had "new floor, new electric and new plumbing installed". Well the linoleum is new and we can see some new wires and some new pex plumbing. Don't know how extensively all of this "new" stuff was done. I was kind of astounded that the AS is outfitted with a 50 amp cord instead of the normal 30 amp. Heck, when we bought it I didn't know 50amp from the man in the moon! I didn't even know it had a power cable at all until we had it home for a couple of weeks because we were so overwhelmed with finally owning a vintage AS. We didn't know where to look for any of the umbilicals that accompany a travel trailer. Well, we are learning a bunch on this forum and by reading Tim Shepard's book "Restoring a Dream". The electrician who is doing the 50 amp service said that our AS was probably upgraded to 50 amp b/c the previous owner installed an electric demand water heater. He said it probably draws 30amps by itself when in use. Our unit has an air conditioner (condition unknown), some kind of power converter, a pump for the fresh water which is sitting on the floor, the normal 12v overhead lights and fans. All LP plumbing, tanks and even the tank mount was removed! The PO said that LP gas frightened her (sigh). Anyway, I managed to rewire the tow hookup to work everything on that side (just had to switch a few wires around) and was amazed that all of the interior lights came on when I plugged it into the TV. I spent an entire afternoon installing one exterior LED running light. That little bugger was a pain! The Blazer LED light has no clearance on the backside for the wires to tuck underneath so I had to Bubba dremel some space for the wires and connectors to tuck in far enough for the assembly to fit flush with the AS surface skin. I have since found an LED double bullseye from etrailer.com that has a cavity on the backside that will accommodate the wires and the compact butt connector which they sell for that application. Make sure you get the compact connector as a normal connector has too much thickness at the ends to fit flush underneath. I should get those next week. I feel like I'm writing my own book, sorry for the long winded post. Anyway, as far as towing...we read that the typical AS axle is only good for so many years and then will take a set and not provide proper suspension movement. Sure enough ours is dead. We ordered an axle assembly from Andy at Inland RV and are waiting for notification of shipment. We already have a shop that does RV work locally agree to install the axle assembly. I have read many posts on this forum of guys doing their own install but with only a gravel driveway to work on I opted to hire it out. We purchased new Yokohama MasterTrack PowerTouring tires. ST225 75R 15 Load E rating Speed Q rating 10 ply at 80 psi cold on the original steel wheel with hubcaps. I have read all of the INTENSE discussions about using ST vs LT tires but I am pretty confident that the Yokohamas that we bought should safely do the job.

I am in the process of repairing the entry door (KT latch assembly). It need some parts which I am in the process of researching availability and price. There are several places that list the pieces that I require but the price differences are significant. I have found that OutOfDoorsMart seems to have reasonable availability and pricing so far. I had to drill some of the interior door skin rivets out to remove the door latch assembly but didn't have any trouble removing it. I could just buy a whole new assembly for $500 ! Hah.

So having written this lengthy post I am happy to announce that we are having a PowerParty this evening when switching on the 50 amp service for the very first time in our Safari. It will either be a very large and hot weeny roast or a wonderful debut to our Airstreaming happiness! I will try to keep you all posted good, bad, or other. Tom