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Old 12-02-2020, 07:32 PM   #1
Winnebago Owner
 
Join Date: Oct 2020
Posts: 159
2009 Journey 39Z Wall structure issue

Since this isn't my first rodeo when it comes to Rv's I expect a few things being of need of repair. I got a great deal on the coach and the owner seemed like a nice guy. It was a garaged kept unit and very clean. Our madden voyage we had numerous problems to deal with and pretty much have them all on the mend.

So today on the passenger side behind the couch I wanted to see how to install on TV that I can raise and lower. I noticed I could see day light. I went outside and found the wall was pulling away. Now it sounds bad but it is self tapping screws that go into the metal frame. My concern is its do to the slide being miss adjusted causing it to go out to far pulling the wall away.

Has anyone experienced this or heard about it ??

Thank you in advance
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Old 12-04-2020, 11:00 AM   #2
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Well Sir,
This sounds *dangerously* identical to the same scenario we just went through. Long story, somewhat short. I went into the RV garage one night to do something and, before I could turn the lights on in the garage, I could see light on the floor, just below the RV. Hmmmm. I went over and investigated without turning the garage lights on. It seems a compartment light was on, with the compartment door still closed. I opened the compartment door and sort of "Slammed" it shut. No difference, the light still remained on. Oh, by the way, on our coach, the compartment lights, each one, turn on when the doors are opened, not by one single command switch.

Well, I thought the switch had kind-a got bent somehow and, put spacers behind the switch, to move the switch out some, to engage the door earlier, to turn off the lights as the door is closed. It worked and all was well.

That is, until a month or so later, another compartment door switch, was doing the same thing, right next to the one I fixed. Hmmmm. I did the same remedy. It worked. All was well. Untill...... it happened again, on a third door. Hmmmmmm. What in the world is going on here. And, before ya know it, the very first one I fixed, was doing it AGAIN!!

Ok, this has gone far enough, time to investigate. Well, as you can see in the pics below, it appears that, we had the same potential EXACT situation as you have. Winne/Itasca, in its infinite wisdom, decided that, self drilling/tapping screws, were and maybe still are, the best way to attach a wall to a floor plate. Well, at the very minimum, at least TWO coaches have failed in this issue, yours and ours. I have no idea if and how many others, are, have in the past, and or, will face the same dilemma in the future.

But, when I found out what the problem was, it was an adventure to find a cure. It was to say the least, a grand experiment. I started by removing the body side molding, that covers the compartment door hinges. That is done by, almost standing on your head (just kidding) and, with a compartment door open, looking up at the hinge area. You will see a tiny Phillips screw head, all by itself, about a foot apart or so, facing up at an angle. On Edit: those screws actually go through each hinge, and up into the *groove* to retain that body molding.

Those screws, are what retains that body side molding. As you begin to remove those small, about maybe 1/4" long screws, that body molding will begin to free up. And, I don't know about your particular coach but, ours is 36' long and, that painted (full body paint) molding is at least in 3 sections. The joints are very, very tight. You almost don't see the joints in that molding.

Now, once the molding is off, then, off comes the compartment doors. Those are easy. You simply do what's needed to disconnect the gas struts and, remove the screws that retain the hinges to the hinge mount plate. Once the doors are out of the way, THEN is when you will see the main aluminum extruded molding, that is used as a form of a full length *clamp* along with those self drilling/tapping screws, to actually *clamp* that wall to the floor plate. The screws, the ones that backed out or broke off, go through that aluminum molding and into the floor plate.

Here's what I did. I could back out, all the ones that had self-backed out of the floor plate. I could also remove the ones that broke off if, there was enough to get a small pair of needle nosed vice grips in there and grab the remaining tip of the screws. If I couldn't grab it, it stayed there.

Now, when all the screws were removed, I'd already used one as a sample when I went to the hardware store, to procure LARGER ones. I think the ones that Winne used/uses were maybe 10GA screws. I got 12GA versions. When I was ready to go to work, I have quite a few of welders clamps in my inventory. Welders clamps are basically vice grips with large C-type jaws. With the doors and hinges out of the way, I could literally put those welders clamps against a section of the aluminum molding and, the inside steel section of the compartment ceiling framing.

I'd squeeze the clamp and low and behold, the wall would start to move back in. The more clamps I used, along the length of that motorhome, the more the wall went back to its resting place, directly against the floor plate. Believe me, it took some pressure from those clamps, to make that wall come back to its home. But, once that wall was clamped in as many places as I had clamps for, the wall was ready to re-screw with the new screws.

I'd install the new 12GA screws right into the old holes. And they would tighten right up, even with my battery powered impact gun. I'd replaced oh, maybe 30 of those screws in the length of bad section, which was about 2/3 the length of the coach from the front door, to the rear duals. Then, I drilled more holes, in and around the areas where there were broken off original screws and installed more of the new ones in those newly drilled holes.

All in all, I'd used about 40 of a 50 count box of the new screws.

That wall, is now SECURELY put back, the way it was, when it left the factory. I then put the doors back, re-attached the gas struts, and re-installed the body painted molding. Yeah, it was kind-a a pain in the butt job but, the point is, at least for my situation, FIXABLE. Again, I don't know if anyone else on this forum, or in the real RV world with a Winne or Itasca with the same type of construction, has is is having, or will have, this type of separation of wall and floor plate. I too could see CARPET, if I looked up inside a compartment at that joint! NOT GOOD!

Hope I've potentially helped here.
Scott

P.S. Below are a series of pictures. The detail is kind-a hard to desipher but, if you look close enough, and or zoom in, you will see the tips of the screws that are backed out or, *pulled out* of the floor plate. And, you will see how it's supposed to look, in wall-to-floor relationship vs wall separating. Let me know if all this helps.
Scott


P.S. 2, If you click on the 5th picture down, then, click on it again 'till it's zoomed in as much as possible, you will get a good education as to what the problem is.
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Old 12-04-2020, 07:03 PM   #3
Winnebago Owner
 
Join Date: Oct 2020
Posts: 159
Quote:
Originally Posted by FIRE UP View Post
Well Sir,
This sounds *dangerously* identical to the same scenario we just went through. Long story, somewhat short. I went into the RV garage one night to do something and, before I could turn the lights on in the garage, I could see light on the floor, just below the RV. Hmmmm. I went over and investigated without turning the garage lights on. It seems a compartment light was on, with the compartment door still closed. I opened the compartment door and sort of "Slammed" it shut. No difference, the light still remained on. Oh, by the way, on our coach, the compartment lights, each one, turn on when the doors are opened, not by one single command switch.

Well, I thought the switch had kind-a got bent somehow and, put spacers behind the switch, to move the switch out some, to engage the door earlier, to turn off the lights as the door is closed. It worked and all was well.

That is, until a month or so later, another compartment door switch, was doing the same thing, right next to the one I fixed. Hmmmm. I did the same remedy. It worked. All was well. Untill...... it happened again, on a third door. Hmmmmmm. What in the world is going on here. And, before ya know it, the very first one I fixed, was doing it AGAIN!!

Ok, this has gone far enough, time to investigate. Well, as you can see in the pics below, it appears that, we had the same potential EXACT situation as you have. Winne/Itasca, in its infinite wisdom, decided that, self drilling/tapping screws, were and maybe still are, the best way to attach a wall to a floor plate. Well, at the very minimum, at least TWO coaches have failed in this issue, yours and ours. I have no idea if and how many others, are, have in the past, and or, will face the same dilemma in the future.

But, when I found out what the problem was, it was an adventure to find a cure. It was to say the least, a grand experiment. I started by removing the body side molding, that covers the compartment door hinges. That is done by, almost standing on your head (just kidding) and, with a compartment door open, looking up at the hinge area. You will see a tiny Phillips screw head, all by itself, about a foot apart or so, facing up at an angle. On Edit: those screws actually go through each hinge, and up into the *groove* to retain that body molding.

Those screws, are what retains that body side molding. As you begin to remove those small, about maybe 1/4" long screws, that body molding will begin to free up. And, I don't know about your particular coach but, ours is 36' long and, that painted (full body paint) molding is at least in 3 sections. The joints are very, very tight. You almost don't see the joints in that molding.

Now, once the molding is off, then, off comes the compartment doors. Those are easy. You simply do what's needed to disconnect the gas struts and, remove the screws that retain the hinges to the hinge mount plate. Once the doors are out of the way, THEN is when you will see the main aluminum extruded molding, that is used as a form of a full length *clamp* along with those self drilling/tapping screws, to actually *clamp* that wall to the floor plate. The screws, the ones that backed out or broke off, go through that aluminum molding and into the floor plate.

Here's what I did. I could back out, all the ones that had self-backed out of the floor plate. I could also remove the ones that broke off if, there was enough to get a small pair of needle nosed vice grips in there and grab the remaining tip of the screws. If I couldn't grab it, it stayed there.

Now, when all the screws were removed, I'd already used one as a sample when I went to the hardware store, to procure LARGER ones. I think the ones that Winne used/uses were maybe 10GA screws. I got 12GA versions. When I was ready to go to work, I have quite a few of welders clamps in my inventory. Welders clamps are basically vice grips with large C-type jaws. With the doors and hinges out of the way, I could literally put those welders clamps against a section of the aluminum molding and, the inside steel section of the compartment ceiling framing.

I'd squeeze the clamp and low and behold, the wall would start to move back in. The more clamps I used, along the length of that motorhome, the more the wall went back to its resting place, directly against the floor plate. Believe me, it took some pressure from those clamps, to make that wall come back to its home. But, once that wall was clamped in as many places as I had clamps for, the wall was ready to re-screw with the new screws.

I'd install the new 12GA screws right into the old holes. And they would tighten right up, even with my battery powered impact gun. I'd replaced oh, maybe 30 of those screws in the length of bad section, which was about 2/3 the length of the coach from the front door, to the rear duals. Then, I drilled more holes, in and around the areas where there were broken off original screws and installed more of the new ones in those newly drilled holes.

All in all, I'd used about 40 of a 50 count box of the new screws.

That wall, is now SECURELY put back, the way it was, when it left the factory. I then put the doors back, re-attached the gas struts, and re-installed the body painted molding. Yeah, it was kind-a a pain in the butt job but, the point is, at least for my situation, FIXABLE. Again, I don't know if anyone else on this forum, or in the real RV world with a Winne or Itasca with the same type of construction, has is is having, or will have, this type of separation of wall and floor plate. I too could see CARPET, if I looked up inside a compartment at that joint! NOT GOOD!

Hope I've potentially helped here.
Scott

P.S. Below are a series of pictures. The detail is kind-a hard to desipher but, if you look close enough, and or zoom in, you will see the tips of the screws that are backed out or, *pulled out* of the floor plate. And, you will see how it's supposed to look, in wall-to-floor relationship vs wall separating. Let me know if all this helps.
Scott


P.S. 2, If you click on the 5th picture down, then, click on it again 'till it's zoomed in as much as possible, you will get a good education as to what the problem is.
Most excellent sir except mine is in front of the slide not sure yours was. I'll have to look again because mine is a one piece molding. Like I side I was checking to see if I have room to put in a TV behind the couch that I can raise with a remote. Looked down and seen day light. Plus that cabinet door wouldn't close with the slide out. Bingo that is why because you can see day light looking down behind the couch. Hence why the the door wouldn't close because it was a 1/2' away from the body. So about 3 feet of the screws pull out every time you put out the slide. If they don't line up when you pull the slide in then the door is hard to latch.

So obviously this is an issue with Winnebago I'm sure other people have this issue and cant figure out why their compartment doors are not latching. I believe the slide is coming out to far putting pressure on that panel

Thank you so much for your input
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Old 02-26-2021, 11:18 AM   #4
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Here is a quick fix if anyone runs into this problem. One way of telling is the compartment door will not line up or be hard to shut. Now I'd imagine taking all the doors off might be a better fix but There is a 1" psace closest to the slide out and there ios the aluminum bar there. I ran a heavy duty self tapping stainless hex head screw in there actuall two and probl;e is fixe and has been fixed.
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Old 03-15-2021, 08:44 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by HollywoodGT View Post
Here is a quick fix if anyone runs into this problem. One way of telling is the compartment door will not line up or be hard to shut. Now I'd imagine taking all the doors off might be a better fix but There is a 1" psace closest to the slide out and there ios the aluminum bar there. I ran a heavy duty self tapping stainless hex head screw in there actuall two and probl;e is fixe and has been fixed.

It's only a band aide at best to a problem that needs stitches. The wall pulled out the one screw so the way to do it is as stated . Pull all the doors off and reattach with stronger screws.So I have to tackle this project in the next two weeks. I need though to determine if the slide is mis-adjusted causing undo stress on the wall. I will admit that the screws they use are not beefy enough or not enough screws installed handle the stress
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