Bob&Patty
Founders of SoCal Chapter
Well, this week I really went after trying to find the reason for the front overhang/frame flex when hooked to the TV. This has been getting progressively worse for the last 2 years. Lippert..."NORMAL" Yea right.
Well, after almost removing all of the overhang lower cover to check the bolts that hold the B/R floor to the frame.....I FOUND THE PROBLEM. You will never believe this.
1st...I removed all the self tapping screws that hold the B/R floor to the frame. Applied lots of "loctite" and reinstalled them. Hooked up to the TV. NO HELP...
2nd...Looked at every inch of frame work I could see. No cracks..no broken weld....NO NOTHING. BUT, I can still push a screwdriver thru the "V" molding that goes up and across the over hang. WHAT THE &^%@.
3rd...I opened the LP doors and started looking around. In the outer front corner you can see where the side wall aluminum frame and the front compartment aluminum frames come together. Now one would think that they would be glued, screwed or somehow attached together at corner. Well, you would be WRONG....VERY WRONG. On this BH...built 07 of 2006....there is at least a 1/2" gap between the 2. While inspecting all this, I happened to run my fingers up and down the gaps. Guess what I found. A very febble attempt to fasten them together. Are you ready for this??? Before the overhang cardboard/fiberglass cover was installed...someone at the plant thought..." hum..4 #10X2" self tapping screws should hold both these walls together". WHAT???? 3 of them where rusted thru and broken 1 was still hanging in there..barely. I'm not a mechanical engineer by any means....but "COME ON MAN"... 4#10 sheet metal screws to hold the front compartment frame to the coach wall frames!!!!
4th...So now I have to figure out how the fix this. After accessing this problem, the lite came on ....6..1/4" X 4 1/2" long sheet metal screws and 6 1/4" washers where used to screw the wall frames together. This required removing the molding trim on the front overhang....AGAIN....and... AGAIN (installed a zipper this last time). Notching out the overhang material for the screws and washers. That way they would not protrude to interfear with the molding trim. Drilling a 3/16th hole thru both the front and side framing members and screwing them together with a liberal amount of "locktite". Even after doing this, there was still a gap between the 2 frames. So then I had to make shims from some 1/4" plywood, remove the screws and make the shims one at a time.
The good news is that the problem is now solved. No sag in the moldings now. The front of the BH won't fall off now. If anyone has an older BH and has the sagging molding problem....look at what I did and do an inspection. This may be your problem.
I hope that "KaryKratz" read's this and looks to see how these units are built. Kary, all that was holding the front overhang on our BH was "1" #10 sheet metal screw. "1" screw dude. Am I an unhappy camper....yes I am. Just spent 2 days (my weekend) putting our BH back together for a trip in 3 weeks. OH, BTW, it was 102* both days and it wont fit in the house where the A/C was on.
JB, Jimtoo, Cookie...sorry about this rant......BUT. I never owned a coach that I have spent so much time piecing back together after every trip than this BH. It's always just little things...screws falling out..trim falling off. Then this last thing. I really don't mind spending some time on maintaining this thing...but every weekend? I have better things to do with my time. JB, I saved the 1 screw and I'm bringing it to Buellton and you can give it to Kary at the plant.
Well, after almost removing all of the overhang lower cover to check the bolts that hold the B/R floor to the frame.....I FOUND THE PROBLEM. You will never believe this.
1st...I removed all the self tapping screws that hold the B/R floor to the frame. Applied lots of "loctite" and reinstalled them. Hooked up to the TV. NO HELP...
2nd...Looked at every inch of frame work I could see. No cracks..no broken weld....NO NOTHING. BUT, I can still push a screwdriver thru the "V" molding that goes up and across the over hang. WHAT THE &^%@.
3rd...I opened the LP doors and started looking around. In the outer front corner you can see where the side wall aluminum frame and the front compartment aluminum frames come together. Now one would think that they would be glued, screwed or somehow attached together at corner. Well, you would be WRONG....VERY WRONG. On this BH...built 07 of 2006....there is at least a 1/2" gap between the 2. While inspecting all this, I happened to run my fingers up and down the gaps. Guess what I found. A very febble attempt to fasten them together. Are you ready for this??? Before the overhang cardboard/fiberglass cover was installed...someone at the plant thought..." hum..4 #10X2" self tapping screws should hold both these walls together". WHAT???? 3 of them where rusted thru and broken 1 was still hanging in there..barely. I'm not a mechanical engineer by any means....but "COME ON MAN"... 4#10 sheet metal screws to hold the front compartment frame to the coach wall frames!!!!
4th...So now I have to figure out how the fix this. After accessing this problem, the lite came on ....6..1/4" X 4 1/2" long sheet metal screws and 6 1/4" washers where used to screw the wall frames together. This required removing the molding trim on the front overhang....AGAIN....and... AGAIN (installed a zipper this last time). Notching out the overhang material for the screws and washers. That way they would not protrude to interfear with the molding trim. Drilling a 3/16th hole thru both the front and side framing members and screwing them together with a liberal amount of "locktite". Even after doing this, there was still a gap between the 2 frames. So then I had to make shims from some 1/4" plywood, remove the screws and make the shims one at a time.
The good news is that the problem is now solved. No sag in the moldings now. The front of the BH won't fall off now. If anyone has an older BH and has the sagging molding problem....look at what I did and do an inspection. This may be your problem.
I hope that "KaryKratz" read's this and looks to see how these units are built. Kary, all that was holding the front overhang on our BH was "1" #10 sheet metal screw. "1" screw dude. Am I an unhappy camper....yes I am. Just spent 2 days (my weekend) putting our BH back together for a trip in 3 weeks. OH, BTW, it was 102* both days and it wont fit in the house where the A/C was on.
JB, Jimtoo, Cookie...sorry about this rant......BUT. I never owned a coach that I have spent so much time piecing back together after every trip than this BH. It's always just little things...screws falling out..trim falling off. Then this last thing. I really don't mind spending some time on maintaining this thing...but every weekend? I have better things to do with my time. JB, I saved the 1 screw and I'm bringing it to Buellton and you can give it to Kary at the plant.
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