Two of my bay doors have rivets at the top hinges that are loose. Or the rivets have proven to be stronger than the fiberglass. See pics. What is involved in the repair and where to go? MOT, FOT, Extreme, Tennessee RV, or another shop?
Bob
2000 U270
Bob,
Mine were fixed at Xtreme by Rance. They are staying fixed as Rance is so very good at fiberglass repair. He has several of these repairs for experience at just what you need.
Bob, if you are still in Crossville, give Allen Stanifer at TN RV's body shop a call. His folks will do a very good job on this. If you have migrated to Texas, then FOT or James Smallings at Xtreme would be good.
Some suggestions. Fixing Broken Rivet on Fiberglass Door (http://beamalarm.com/Documents/fixing_broken_rivet_on_fiberglass_door.html)
Hinge rivets may be harder to fix without doing some FG rework. Rudy was at out place in July and had a bay door latch that had rivets pulling out. We removed the latch, cut an aluminium plate about 3/32" thick x 2" bigger in each direction than the latch. We riveted that where it needed to be and riveted the latch to it. We did not glue it on since it was going to be a temporary fix but some cleanup and some epoxy would have made it quite permanent. Easy to adjust the latch pin for the additional thickness.
Roger
Hmmmm. I always default to Xtreme, but TN RV or Parliament Coach in ST Pete FL could probably handle just fine.
I had my bay door repaired at Xtreme P&G. Rance rebuilt the top edge of the door.
A door came off in my hand while I was opening (or closing?) it while parked in the driveway at home. I could see that a previous repair was done by drilling new holes through the door and hinge, then placing new rivets. There was enough room and structural integrity for that repair to be effective for several years.
The gas struts exert a force that is effective in tearing the rivets from the fiberglass. Another vulnerable place is the side edge of the door near the water heater vent. My door broke where the strut is attached. Rance fixed that a couple of years prior to the failure of the attachments to the hinge. You may want to inspect that area if a fiberglass expert is going to fix the door.
I repaired one some years back,opened door, pulled the panel back in position, clamped with vice grip, drilled holes for 10/32x1/2 inch stainless steel button head screws with washer, lock washer, and nut, no problem so far.
Just my opinion but I suspect that in some cases the hinge failure is due to the wrong struts being installed. With added pressure to the hinge area the rivets could be pulled out. I repaired the RF Bay door on my 280 with JB WELD, but I had to do it again due to too strong a struts.
Gary B