RE: [SilverStreak]Hinge Project Update

["Ralph Cooke" <rcooke@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Bryan,

I was in a similar situation.  I bought a set of hinges on Ebay from
Bob Ashby's Son a little over a year ago.  At that time I paid $450+
Freight of $25-$40(I don't remember exactly).  I was also reluctant to
install the hinges and tried to find a metal shop that could or would
produce some hinges out of Stainless Steel.  Then In April of this
year the top door hinge pulled out of the trailer body and the door
came completely off.  I was very fortunate in finding the door after
retracing my route for 12 miles.

I spent a lot of time trying to find someone to fabricate a set of
Stainless Steel Hinges.  Check on Tom's web site under Silver Streak
Trailer and Other and there will be a number of pictures and an
explanation of my difficulty in getting a set of Stainless Steel
Hinges made up.  I was finally successful in having an excellent set
of Stainless Steel Hinges fabricated by hand, using one of my new OEM
hinges as a pattern.  My total cost was $540.00 + some gas money to
cover going to the shop several times.

As Eddie and others have pointed out, the chances of getting
satisfactory hinges "Cast" at anything approaching the cost of one off
Stainless Hinges are "0".

Eddie is working with a big Hinge Manufacture, to try to get some
Stainless Steel Hinges fabricated, by using one of my New OEM Pot
Metal Hinges as a pattern.  At this point I don't think Eddie has
definitive information as to the actual feasibility of making up the
hinges.  The number of hinge sets would be very small, compared to the
usual "Thousands" of hinge sets they normally make up for their other
customers.  If the Co. can make up the hinges there won't be an
accurate estimate of the cost until they actually make up a sample
hinge.

In my case the first rough estimate for the cost for fabricating a set
of Stainless Steel Hinges was $200-$300.  After the hinges were made
up, the cost had climbed to $540 per set and they really were not that
interested in getting into the hinge business, as each set of hinges
took 6+ hours of shop labor, and they only had "ONE guy who could or
would make them up.  The shop owner is not really happy with his best
TIG welding expert being tied up for essentially a full day for a set
of hinges.  He did offer to make up more hinge sets, as a personal
favor, if I paid for them in advance and gave him a week or more per
hinge set, so his normal business would not be disrupted.

I am very happy with my new hinges, and am sure they will far outlast
the OEM Cast Hinge.  When I get my Original OEM Hinges back from the
two shops, I plan on selling them to someone who wants a set of OEM
Hinges for an exact restoration.   The shop I utilized, is making up
two more hand made sets of hinges for people that have seen my hinges.
Neither of these people are on the SS list.  I've asked them to go to
the list and see what we are doing, but as of now have not seen any
posts from them.  I'll ask them again when they pick up the hinges.

Regards,

Ralph