Windshield issues-1995 Foretravel Grandvilla u280
We had some major shifting when we moved the coach this spring...checked for delamination (NONE)....however, the gasket was in rough shape...ordered a new one...finally found someone willing pull the old windows to install new gasket...they came a few weeks ago...broke both windshields...turns out they were after market windshields...ordered new windshields directly from FT....they were delivered to a new glass place (this guy is contracted by RV insurance carrier)...anyway, coach was dropped off Tuesday...today the guy calls me and tells me after removing and reinstalling 16 times, he can't get the windshields in...he says the windshield is 4 inches too big....is there a trick? I read a post on the forum that said the coach should be lifted and not leveled? Or something.
Of course it's Saturday and I can't call Foretravel for technical advice.
Several people on this forum have replaced at least one side, myself included, and I don't recall anyone having problems like you are describing. It sounds like Foretravel sent you the wrong windshields but the installer should have realized that before he even started -- or at least after the 1st try.
Are you SURE there is no delamination between the front cap and the wood below the dash board?
Condensation on the windshield can run down and rot out that wood.
Look UP from inside the nose with a flashlight.
Wouldn't the rotting make the opening larger not smaller?
The front cap would sag where there is delam. Depending on what area sags would determine change in opening shape.
Ya, guess it could be something more substantial as our friend in Australia, Mr B3 found out. If not delam of the dash attachment, do a search for his posts on his front cap issues.
That's what I was wondering...?
Think Foretravel can only tell you what we are saying,fill out the signature area with as much info as possible and tell us where you are,may be close to somebody,also think I would find a new windshield installer,most would have quit after one or 2 tries not 16.
Almost sounds like you have a 96 inch wide coach and got the windshields for a 102 inch wide coach.
If it is a 1995 U280, it is a 102".
The one thing that has not been said is about the difference in coach width.
HeatherT and a friend should take a tape measure and measure underneath, from the outside, the width of her coach from one outside wall to the other. It is 96" or 102"?
Toolmaker training kicking in here.
When I pick up my underwear in the morning I always check the size first.
HeatherT should tell the collective here exactly what here ride is and the measured width.
Art
PS Burnt too many times by "Should be . . ."
Foretravel should have known from the build number. "Normally", if it has a plastic bumper it is 102.
Then that would mean that the wooden supporting the Grand Villa nose has shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible! If HeatherT wants to keep it in Maine, she needs to find a craftsman, maybe a boat builder, to do the necessary repair. I wonder if there's anyone in Maine with boat building skills?
FWIW the metal bumper on our '92 U225 shows no damage after taking out the grill, grill trim, front sheetmetal, condenser and radiator of the Studebaker.
Okay...here is more information
1995-U280–wide body-plastic bumper
Delamination question (my husband has checked and says none)....but, here is the question...doesn't delamination cause the shifting of the windshields and makes them "loose"....If yes, why then would it cause the new windshields to not go back in? the other day the glass guy had the passenger side perfectly in...but couldn't get the top left corner of the drivers side in...took everything apart and now the driver's side is perfectly in and the passengers side right top corner won't go in...
I suggested filling the driver's side air bag and dumping the passenger side to see if it twists it back in or something with the air bags...but he has 20 yrs experience and says he has tried all the tricks...nobody up here knows about these coaches...I feel like I am talking until I am blue in the face...I'm looking at it like it's a puzzle...
At this point I just want the windshields in and then this fall we can get to FT for a full assessment
Can you post some pictures,may help.
Perhaps the frame has been twisted. That could explain the original gasket problem, the broken windshields and the inability to install both sides.
Something unusual is causing the problem.
HeatherT
Delamination of the skin is different from the wooden support inside the nose fiberglass coming loose from age or rot. Foretravels don't "delaminate" because of the way they're constructed.
The frame does twist. The air bag suspension keeps everything square, but when the house is sitting on the lower stops the surface the tires upon which the tires are sitting determines twist. There are a few people on this list with "interesting" driveways. One person who drove through a concrete drain in the dark and one who balanced his FT on diagonal wheels.
You have delamination...!! Take a look at my post from a few years back. I had the identical problem.
Broken windshield on our U300 (https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=29341.msg252422#msg252422)
Hans
X2 on what Hans says. Sure is nice to have people that have already been down this path with the answers
Think the easiest solution is to verify from Foretravel that you have the correct windshields,if they are the right ones then you have
another problem,without seeing the coach all were doing is wild guessing.