Airstream Window Repair Part Two

Windows usually come in two styles: open and closed. All the windows on the AS open, expect the Vista Views (the curvy expensive ones to replace). Each window has two latches, so that's about twenty latches to take off and clean. Most cooperated. Well, barely 66% did (Golden Mean....something going on here?).

First, remove a bolt in order to remove the paddle in order to take the opener from the AS window frame. A little WD 40 and all the bolts, and paddles were easily removed. Now comes the second bolt on the shaft, to sandwich the saddle in place. Six of those nut/bolt combinations were so corroded that the bolt literally twisted apart like plasticine (if you're old enough, you'll recognize the word).

Two cleaned window bolts on the bottom.
Just above, the shredded bolts.

There's a supplier that sells these bolts for $6 USD, so I hope a guy in town (a metal wizard, I'm told) can reproduce these locally.

Check out the paddles.

Dirty on top, clean on bottom.

Crud from inside the chrome latch handle.

Shiny new/old bolt.

Next in line, the handle itself. The spring-loaded bolt shaft runs through a square hollowed nut, attaching itself to the lever with a 1/8 Cauter pin. One was seized due to rust, and two others partially tore the thread. Confusing? Yes. Let's try pictures. Below, observe the bolts are inserted into the square nuts. The lock washer on the left nut secures the mechanism on the AS window frame. The right nut tore because the bolt was seized to the wall of the nut, rendering the entire window latch unusable.  Once again, I hope the local wizard can fabricate this part otherwise it's $50USD for one complete new latch.

The grime on these parts was truly remarkable, as I don't believe anyone in the trailer's 45 years of life ever cleaned them. EVER. I've learned that brake cleaning fluid is my new best friend. It's a miracle fluid!  

Above are parts I soaked in brake fluid (minus the chrome pieces). I put the pieces in a Bon Mama jam jar, gave it the shaken, not stirred action, waited and voila! Clean parts. After a few hours of scrubbing, I have pristine latches once more. Aside from the six I need bolts for, etc. (FYI, no paddles attached. To be reattached when windows are in place). 

Some might call me crazy, to go to such lengths. Those of you who know me know the reasons why. For the rest of you out there in Vacuum Land, why restore an Airstream and do a crap job while you're at it? To me it makes no sense. Am I OCD? Not even close, but I do think that decades of teaching choir and focusing on the minutiae within a given piece of music has made me realize, even more than my psych prof Dr. Ron Laye would ever realize, the whole is never greater than the sum of its parts. 

Take that, Mr. Gestalt, your theory in real time.