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Topic: Repair Cargo Door hinge rivet holes (Read 935 times) previous topic - next topic

Repair Cargo Door hinge rivet holes

I purchased GOOP Supermend and attempted to repair the top of a luggage door on my motorhome. The door had torn off the hinges after 15 years of service so there was quite a repair to do.
The Supermend was very slow to setup and even though I left it for a week, I could scrape out cured Supermend with my thumb nail.
I spent a day attempting this repair with Supermend and have now spent 3 hours scraping it all out. I am now attempting to do this repair with regular fiberglass gel and glass clothe. Messy and difficult to work with, but it is holding.

What have others used to repair luggage door? Three have torn off so far, so I will repair or reinforce them all and would prefer to work with a putty like compound then with messy fiberglass gel/clothe.

The GOOP Supermend color is very close to the white gel-coat on my 96 U320, which is helpful.

 
Wyatt
96 U320 40 WTFE, build 4943
84 Toyota Supra towd
2015 Jeep Wrangler towd
Victoria, BC, Canada

Re: Repair Cargo Door hinge rivet holes

Reply #1 –
Wyatt,
                Instead of the regular polyester resin, use a 2 part epoxy, something in the 15-30 minute working time range. Check with local auto body suppliers or maybe NAPA to see if the have something. Aircraft Spruce and Specialties has a variety of them. Mix it per the instructions. You can use the same glass cloth. You can lay the glass cloth onto plastic polyethelene sheeting, wet it with the epoxy resin (at this point you could also add more layers of glass cloth) and then pick up the whole thing and apply with the wet side toward the workpiece. You can roll it out to squeeze out excess epoxy. Allow to cure and peel the polyethelene sheet away when the epoxy is fully cured. You can experiment with some scrap before you attemp final repair. The epoxy has a more reliable way of measuring part A and part B, and is more controlled cure. It does not just all of a sudden cure off like polyester resin.
Good luck,

Poly Epoxy or West system stuff works great    search for epoxy
Pilot Supplies, Avionics, and Homebuilt Aircraft Parts from Aircraft Spruce and
Rick

Re: Repair Cargo Door hinge rivet holes

Reply #2 –
I repaired mine with blind rivets that I installed between originals.  Use a washer between the fiberglass and the rivet head to spread the load.  You should be able to find a hand-powered blind rivet squeezer, blind rivets and washers in any hardware store for about $25.  I dislike fiberglass work because I'm not very good at it.
Bob & Nadine Hall
98 U320
07 Honda CR-V

Re: Repair Cargo Door hinge rivet holes

Reply #3 –
I have 2 or 3 doors on which this was already done before it was my coach but they are not holding and yours may not hold for years either. I want a permanent solution which results in a hinge which is much stronger than the original by making the hinge mount area wider. I am using fiberglass resin with clothe, messy but effective after filling torn out areas with JB kwik set (2-3 minutes at 95F yesterday).

Thanks for your feedback
Quote
I repaired mine with blind rivets that I installed between originals. Use a washer between the fiberglass and the rivet head to spread the load. You should be able to find a hand-powered blind rivet squeezer, blind rivets and washers in any hardware store for about $25. I dislike fiberglass work because I'm not very good at it.

Bob & Nadine Hall
95 U280
trailed by a 03 Pontiac Vibe
Wyatt
96 U320 40 WTFE, build 4943
84 Toyota Supra towd
2015 Jeep Wrangler towd
Victoria, BC, Canada

Re: Repair Cargo Door hinge rivet holes

Reply #4 –
Thanks for this feedback.
I have worked with fiberglass for years using the techniques you described, which is messy and I was hoping to avoid.
The GOOP Supermend is a two part epoxy like you described, but is too thick after mixing to be used with clothe. Goop claims it does not require clothe because it becomes very strong when cured, but after a week of hot weather I could gouge out pieces with my thumb nail. I am now using JB Kwik to fill the pulled out holes and it is very strong when cured. I will, now, using your techniques, and layers of clothe with resin, reinforce the hinge mounting area for a permanent repair.

I sent an complaint email to the manufacturer of GOOP Supermend but have not had a response.

Quote
Wyatt,
Instead of the regular polyester resin, use a 2 part epoxy, something in the 15-30 minute working time range. Check with local auto body suppliers or maybe NAPA to see if the have something. Aircraft Spruce and Specialties has a variety of them. Mix it per the instructions. You can use the same glass cloth. You can lay the glass cloth onto plastic polyethelene sheeting, wet it with the epoxy resin (at this point you could also add more layers of glass cloth) and then pick up the whole thing and apply with the wet side toward the workpiece. You can roll it out to squeeze out excess epoxy. Allow to cure and peel the polyethelene sheet away when the epoxy is fully cured. You can experiment with some scrap before you attemp final repair. The epoxy has a more reliable way of measuring part A and part B, and is more controlled cure. It does not just all of a sudden cure off like polyester resin. Good luck,
Poly Epoxy or West system stuff works great Pilot Supplies, Avionics, and Homebuilt Aircraft Parts from Aircraft Spruce and
Rick
1995 U-300SE 40'
CAT 3176B
Wyatt
96 U320 40 WTFE, build 4943
84 Toyota Supra towd
2015 Jeep Wrangler towd
Victoria, BC, Canada

Re: Repair Cargo Door hinge rivet holes

Reply #5 –
what a timely post!  We are about to effect this exact repair on our bay door.  There are 3 areas that have been repaired previously, one with the rivets, and 2 with 3/4"  10/24 stainless bolts.  The repairs both involve short pieces of right angle metal, either aluminum or steel, and some JB Weld.  I had a tutorial from Rance, at Xtreme, and he said that the bolts were "a better and easier option" for the repair, after having used the rivets previously.  It is not necessary to drill all new holes into the fiberglass and the hinge.  One or two may be warranted, but the epoxy will be stronger than the fiberglass it is patching.  I am posting a few photos for illustration ... but give me a minute, please.  I'm not very good at that.
Carol & Jeff Savournin
Usta have a '93 U225 36', Usta have a '95 U320 40', Usta have a '02 U320 40'
Usta have a 2006 Born Free, Usta have a 2011 Phoenix Cruiser
Usta have a 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 4dr
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."  Steve Jobs

Re: Repair Cargo Door hinge rivet holes

Reply #6 –
Quote from: P. Wyatt Sabourin –
Thanks for this feedback.
I have worked with fiberglass for years using the techniques you described, which is messy and I was hoping to avoid.
The GOOP Supermend is a two part epoxy like you described, but is too thick after mixing to be used with clothe. Goop claims it does not require clothe because it becomes very strong when cured, but after a week of hot weather I could gouge out pieces with my thumb nail. I am now using JB Kwik to fill the pulled out holes and it is very strong when cured. I will, now, using your techniques, and layers of clothe with resin, reinforce the hinge mounting area for a permanent repair.

I sent an complaint email to the manufacturer of GOOP Supermend but have not had a response.

If you are filling any holes you can cut up some of the fiberglass cloth into small pieces with scissors and mix that in with some epoxy for a stronger more binding mixture. There are specialty products for this, flox, chopped fiberglass and micro ballons. You can also sandwich the layers of epoxy wet fiberglass sheets between two pieces of polyethelene sheeting and sqeeze out excess epoxy then peel one of the polyethelene sheets off and then place it onto the work area. Don't sqeeze out too much of the epoxy and it is a good idea to brush a light coating (just to whet the surface) of epoxy onto/into the work surface before placing the fiberglass on it to insure a good bond.
Rick

Re: Repair Cargo Door hinge rivet holes

Reply #7 –
The selected media item is not currently available.

I hope I am better at effecting this repair than I am at posting photos.  Hopefully I will get it right later.
Carol & Jeff Savournin
Usta have a '93 U225 36', Usta have a '95 U320 40', Usta have a '02 U320 40'
Usta have a 2006 Born Free, Usta have a 2011 Phoenix Cruiser
Usta have a 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 4dr
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."  Steve Jobs

Re: Repair Cargo Door hinge rivet holes

Reply #8 –
Repair complete!!  The photos I posted were of a previous repair using the 3/4" bolts and JB Weld. The biggest difficulty with this repair is getting the holes lined up on the "L" bracket to drill them properly.  We got the most important 4 and the lremaining 2 were just an outlet for the "goo" to ooze through. If I have to do it again, I will mix up a greater quantity of the JB Weld.  I was careful applying it, and did not get a lot of oozing.  It is rather warm here, and the stuff has a tendency to drip for the first few minutes.  There were no major glitches, and I can see spots on other doors where the original rivets were beginning to get loose, additional holes were drilled and Weld was buttered in between the fiberglass lip of the door and the hinge and a bolt was used to pull the two together.  This would be a proactive approach to having your rivets tear completely through the edge of the bay door.
Carol & Jeff Savournin
Usta have a '93 U225 36', Usta have a '95 U320 40', Usta have a '02 U320 40'
Usta have a 2006 Born Free, Usta have a 2011 Phoenix Cruiser
Usta have a 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 4dr
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."  Steve Jobs
 

Re: Repair Cargo Door hinge rivet holes

Reply #9 –
Way to go Carol. If the surface to be bonded was prepped properly, that fix should do the trick. JB Weld properly cured is a very strong product. Combining the adhesive with the mechanical strength of the bolted L bracket should provide the strongest fix possible.

By the way, I fully agree with Rick about using epoxy over polyester. However, there are many variations of epoxy available. Be sure to get an epoxy with some flexibility. Fast cures are generally more brittle than slower cures. The easiest to use is a one to one mix ratio like JB Weld. The greater the difference in the ratio the more critical the right mix is used. A 10/1 mix must be nearly perfect. My former company has a division in Detroit called Adtech Plastics that has all different kinds of of resin compounds. We used to sell direct to end users. Give them a call. Also Locktite and Permatex have always had great technical assistance.
The selected media item is not currently available.Kent Speers
Locust Grove, OK
1993 U300 SSE 40' (Restored at FOT 2009) Build 4323
720 watts Solar
6V92TA DDEC Silver Engine
2014 Subaru Outback